Simplicity

Last night one of the local boys got married. For a change of pace, the parents made it simple. Israel is a (please excuse the spelling!) nouveau riche country and materialistic "excesses" are worse than common. Lots of money is wasted on fancy "affairs." Flowers and food are thrown out in such quantity, and of course money is wasted. Sometimes the logistics of getting to the hall put people in hysteria, since not everyone has cars, and public transportation gets complicated to most directions and "the last bus" is always too early.

So last night's wedding was very close by; it was in Ulpanat Ofra, the girls high school in Ofra, ten minutes away. For a pleasant change, I didn't have to arrange a ride; I just walked down to the "exit" and waited a few minutes for someone going. Of course when I got there I saw my next door neighbor who asked me why I hadn't gone with them.

The chuppah, wedding canopy, was set up outside. The dry Indian-summer we're having made it the perfect location. Another neighbor had set it up, minimalist and gorgeous. Simple and elegant. A few well-placed glass vases with regal white flowers, white chuppah... What can I tell you? It didn't need more.

The band was "leibedik", energetic, and the food was enough, not too much.

The young couple and their families looked overjoyed.

There were hundreds and hundreds of people, as one would expect from our neighbors.

MAZAL TOV to them all.