Jewish Traditions (XP to Jewish board)

emeejeeayen

My mom was raised Catholic, my dad Jewish; not sure if either of them are familiar with any traditions beyond Christmas and Hannukah. Actually, pretty sure my dad isn't very familiar with Hannukah. 

My fiance, however, is Jewish. His mom converted to marry his dad, they attend an orthodox synnagogue even though they're not orthodox, etc. I will not be converting.

FH doesn't keep kosher (not even for Passover), and hasn't been to synnagogue in probably a couple of years, but I'd still like to incorporate a few Jewish traditions into the wedding. His parents had a super small wedding (5 people?) and are unfamiliar with any real traditions. I've read a bit online, but I'm so unaquainted with Jewish traditions that it's difficult to really get a sense.

Notes: Our officiant will be a friend (his grandfather was a rabbi, but he knows little about Jewish traditions); FH synnagogue is in NYC and we will be married in CA; my dad (he's a large-scale artist) will build our huppah to the specifications I designate; I will also be including a few generic Christian elements. 

Can someone walk me through a few options and the specifics for the ceremony and reception? (For instance, I'm familiar with the breaking of the glass and the chair dance during the reception, but I'm not sure what's said, how they work, etc.)

Thank you tons!

fallbride1109

We had an interfaith ceremony.  My DH is Jewish.  If you'd like to look in my planning bio, I have our ceremony outlined and also in our program.  We had a rabbi and a minister.  We did not have a huppah.  We had a Jewish blessing and broke the glass and had the rabbi recite a benediction.  We also lit the unity candle, and the minister read a passage from the New Testament.

We also had a Ketubah but we signed it privately before the ceremony and had it displayed outside the ballroom at the reception.  We didn't dance the Hora (where they lift you on chairs).

There are many things you can say for the breaking of the glass.  I'd be glad to send you ours if you want to PM me.

laurenmo0re

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_customs-traditions_jewish-traditions-xp-to-jewish-board?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:36Discussion:5e14729b-f3c6-4968-9389-ef9447660022Post:c2cd1e26-208e-4cfa-927e-b892c48f42a2">Re: Jewish Traditions (XP to Jewish board)</a>:
[QUOTE]We had an interfaith ceremony.  My DH is Jewish.  If you'd like to look in my planning bio, I have our ceremony outlined and also in our program.  We had a rabbi and a minister.  We did not have a huppah.  We had a Jewish blessing and broke the glass and had the rabbi recite a benediction.  We also lit the unity candle, and the minister read a passage from the New Testament. We also had a Ketubah but we signed it privately before the ceremony and had it displayed outside the ballroom at the reception.  We didn't dance the Hora (where they lift you on chairs). There are many things you can say for the breaking of the glass.  I'd be glad to send you ours if you want to PM me.
Posted by stephiehall[/QUOTE]

<div>
</div><div>We are having a Jewish wedding even though my fiancee is Catholic. I decided the most important things to me to have included in the ceremony is the chuppah, the Ketubah, the breaking of the glass, and the Seven Circles.  You can search them all online to find the meanings and Ketubah.com offers ketubah's in english as well as interfaith ketubah's.</div>

jxladner

My fiance' and I are both Christian, but I interned at Hillel in grad school and fell in love with the religion, so I wanted a few Jewish elements in my wedding. I asked 2 of my Jewish friends to sing the 7 traditional Jewish wedding blessings in Hebrew (we'll provide English translation in the program) and we'll stand under a chuppah during the ceremony. I took an Intro to Judaism class a few years ago at a local JCC and my teacher spent a lot of time during our 'life cycle" class session going over wedding traditions. I bet you could reach out to the education dept at your local JCC for help with this. They should be understanding about an interfaith couple:) (most of the people in my class were interfaith couples and one was converting...i was there b-c i thought it was interesting!)

WLevine75

I am also doing the crowning of the mom's (mom and step mom) this is when your last child gets married.