FAQs – How can I support you and your loved ones?

Blending rituals can be beautiful, deeply creative, and very meaningful. I’ve yet to find a religious or spiritual path that doesn’t contain some sort of ritual for all the significant moments in life, from birth to death, and everything in between. And while the ritual may look different from one religion and/or culture to the next, the underlying psychological significance is the same.

Here’s an example.

Jewish tradition, as well as many Christian traditions (not all!), have wedding rituals that involve wine. In the Jewish tradition, weddings have a Kiddush, which is a blessing sanctifying a Kosher wine, and by extension, the marriage. In Christian faiths, wine is utilized as a central instrument of sanctification, blessing, and covenant as well. While Jews and Christians have different understandings of covenant in some significant ways, both recognize that marriage itself is a covenantal relationship between the two marriers, and it is understood to be “holy”, that is, set apart from all the other relationships that each partner has.

So, here’s how I, as a Jewish/Interfaith Wedding Officiant, have “blended” the Jewish and Christian wine traditions.

Under the Chuppah (marriage canopy) of an Israeli Jewish and Mexican Catholic Interfaith wedding ceremony (yes!) I had 2 cups of wine, the Kosher wine (Manischewitz, what else?) and a lovely white wine. When it was time for the Kiddush – sanctifying the marriage with the blessing over the wine – I started the prayer in Hebrew, “Baruch Atah, Adonai Eloheinu Melech HaOlam/Blessed are You, Creator of All…” and then, after a few more words, I went into an English interpretive part of the prayer that included: “…Just as the grapevine requires care, time, and nourishment to grow, so too has your love been nurtured by your families, friends, and your commitment to one another.”

After I recited the prayer in Hebrew and in English, the bride and groom simultaneously poured the wine that was in each of their individual goblets into a third, shared goblet. In effect, they were blending their respective religious and cultural traditions. Then, they each took a sip from the shared goblet.

In this way, both the bride and groom felt honored.

One other blending of wedding rituals stands out to me that I want to tell you about.

I had the honor of officiating the wedding ceremony of a Jewish bride and her Black groom.

A very significant Black wedding ritual is the Jumping of the Broom. This ritual symbolizes cleansing the marriage ceremony from evil spirits while also representing the couple’s commitment to each other to set up their new life together in a home they call their own.

I decided to combine this ritual with the Jewish Breaking of the Glass, in which the groom (or both marriers) stomp on a glass at the conclusion of the wedding ceremony. This ritual has historic significance for Jewish people, as it commemorates the destruction of the Second Temple in the year 70 AD by the Romans. And, too, it symbolizes the work couples must do to balance extreme joy with the reality of human vulnerability. Breaking the Glass reminds the couple that relationships are fragile, sorrow coexists with happiness, and mindful commitment is required to sustain a lifelong bond.

To honor both traditions, Black and Jewish, at the conclusion of the wedding ceremony, before the pronouncement of marriage, I invited the couple to jump over the broom, right onto the glass.

These are just two examples of how rituals from different faiths can be blended, and how they can co-exist harmoniously together, just like the marriers. No one has to give up anything. Humans, with all of our differences and nuances, can in fact live together with joy and a sense of excitement, as we learn all the colorful ways of being human, together.