The Rabbi and The Rebbetzin (23 page)

The
application was received in Philadelphia with great appreciation. There were
perennial vacancies in certain sections of south Philadelphia, and Aaron’s
application received early consideration. The school system avoided sending
women to schools in poorer neighborhoods. Aaron was American-born and he had
degrees from high-ranked American colleges. He was invited for an interview at
the Philadelphia Board of Education during the spring semester. He arranged for
it to coincide with Shulamit’s return to her studies after the Passover holiday.
Bernie, who had driven Shulamit to Pittsburgh, would now be able to drive both
of them back to Philadelphia after spending the first two days of the Passover holiday
with the Levine family. On the way back to Pittsburgh, Aaron would have to take
a plane.

Shula
completed her second-year studies at the law school. She made the Dean’s List
again, although not as the head of the list. She realized that the distractions
of the forthcoming wedding had affected her grades, but she had no regrets. She
felt that certain things in life were more important than a few grade points.
As soon as the semester was over, she forgot about school and concentrated on
the wedding.

Abe
and his wife Chana started working on the wedding invitations even before Shulamit
got around to it. Abe asked Aaron to approve the Hebrew text because of certain
complexities. Pittsburgh wasn’t known for invitations in Hebrew and only one
printer could handle them. The English text was faxed to Shulamit for her
approval. Aaron provided the names of teachers in the yeshiva and the day
school who were to receive personal invitations for the religious ceremonies as
well as others in the same category. The Levines provided a list of names of those
who were to receive invitations to the evening reception. Arrangements were
made with the caterer who usually worked at the shul and had rights to work at
the Hotel Pittsburgh.

Shulamit
understood that her mother was overburdened with the details of the menu and
the apparel for both wedding segments and she decided to come home in the
second week of July to offer her assistance. Things went well, and, with the
exception of some late panicky incidents, everything fell into place in time.

Aaron and Shula tie the
knot. It was a beautiful wedding.

Aaron discovers an old
synagogue in Philadelphia near his home.

The
day of the wedding dawned with the weather clear and not too muggy for late
August. Aaron credited Shulamit for the good weather as he did for everything
else that went right. He and Shulamit had observed the customary separation
before the wedding. The married couple did not have to fast because the day of
the wedding coincided with the festival of Tu-B’Av.

Aaron
felt that it would be nice to honor the dean of the yeshiva with the first two
blessings of
Kedushin
(betrothal), but he was hesitant to convey the
invitation to the dean personally because he had not maintained close contact
with him since he took the position at Beth Israel. He asked Abe Levine to do
it for him and explained that it would be more meaningful if the father of the
bride spoke to Rabbi Rosenberg. Both men understood that the dean would be in
no position to deny such a request from the main patron of the yeshiva.

The
dean accepted the honor and overlooked any misgivings that he may have had on
the matter. Shulamit was an observant girl by American Orthodox standards, and
Aaron was the leading student of his ordination class. He knew that Aaron would
remain personally observant and maintain the strictest religious home that was
possible despite his secular work.

The
remaining honors for the wedding ritual were distributed to members of the
yeshiva faculty and members of the families of the bride and groom. Rabbi
Martin, who was a cantor, was honored with the seventh wedding blessing, which
required good singing ability. Rabbi Bernstein was asked to deliver the wedding
sermon and Rabbi Weiss was honored with reading the
Ketubah,
the
marriage contract.

The
wedding ceremony started with
bedekin,
veiling of the bride. Aaron and
Mrs. Levine carefully lowered the veil over Shulamit’s face and the appropriate
prayers were pronounced by Rabbi Rosenberg. As soon as this was completed, the
wedding procession began.

When
Aaron reached the canopy, he was helped to don a
kittel
(white robe) to
be worn during the ceremony. The bridal procession than followed and took a
long time to accommodate the maids of honor, the flower girls and the bride’s
mother. When the bride reached the canopy she circled around the groom seven
times. Rabbi Rosenberg chanted the
Kedushin
blessings and Aaron and Shulamit
drank the wine from the cup. Mrs. Levine lifted Shulamit’s veil so that she
could drink. The rest of the wedding ritual followed in order and ended when
Aaron stepped on a cup and broke it.

The
highlights of the entire ceremony were recorded on film and photographs.
Shulamit employed the services of a famous photographer who had taken the
beautiful pictures that she desired.

Unknown
to Shulamit, there was another photographer present. Andrea Cohen, editor of
the law school newspaper, was determined to share the happy event with all the law
school students, but Shulamit made no effort to invite her to the ceremony. Andrea
convinced Eli Jacobson, a reporter for
Law School Briefs
, to drive her
to Pittsburgh with his camera equipment. Eli had occasionally photographed
Jewish weddings to supplement his income and was the ranking photographer on
the paper. She knew that she would not be allowed to approach the canopy where
females were not welcome. She instructed Eli to follow the professional
photographer and snap pictures as required. Andrea had no hope of getting into
the reception at night. There were security guards checking the invitations,
because the governor of Pennsylvania, one U.S. senator, several congressmen and
the mayor of Pittsburgh were all on hand. Andrea felt that the pictures she
would get at the religious ceremony would be sufficient for the special issue
of
Law School Briefs
. When Eli was admitted to the synagogue, he set up
his equipment near the photography area and was able to snap his pictures.

In
the course of her reviewing this problem with Eli, she discovered that Eli had
a set of legitimate press identification cards from a well-known New York
newspaper. The paper needed a Jewish photographer to cover a religious affair
and they provided him with a press card which he kept. The main aim of this plan
was to secure entry to the reception area where the bride and groom could be
photographed together in their wedding apparel. The professional photographer
would be taking many pictures of the scene and could convince Aaron to at least
embrace Shulamit for the photograph.

When
the wedding blessings were over, Aaron and Shulamit were escorted into the
Yichud
(seclusion) room by two witnesses who could attest that they were united alone
in a room as only married couples could be. While they were alone in the room,
Shulamit asked Aaron how long they would have to be confined. Aaron advised her
that some rabbis find a few minutes sufficient, but the late Rabbi Joseph
Soloveitchick, of blessed memory, required seven minutes.

She
then asked Aaron, “Do you know how to go about kissing a girl, or will you need
a book?”

Aaron
took her seriously and responded, “When I asked Rabbi Bernstein about it he
told me, ‘Adam and Eve did not attend a sex education class. They followed
their instincts and they did very well.’”

“How
do you know that?” Shulamit inquired. “You certainly weren’t with them in the Garden.”

“The
Midrash tells us that when Eve was presented to Adam and the angels were
singing, Adam kissed and hugged his bride and was very happy. Furthermore, if
you were listening to the wedding blessings as you should have done, you would
remember the blessing, ‘Gladden the hearts of the beloved newlyweds, as you
gladdened your creations in the Garden of Eden in the time of yore.’”

Shulamit
said, “Aaron, I’m delighted when you share your knowledge with me and I hope
that you will do so at the appropriate times. Right now, you have only five
minutes left for instinctive behavior to start reducing the pain of my years of
celibacy in our relationship.”

Aaron
knew what he had to do, and he did so to the best of his instinctive ability
until the witness discreetly knocked on the door and summoned them to return to
the auditorium.

When
they entered the shul, the band erupted in wedding music and the dancing began
in separate circles. The men raised Aaron on a chair and paraded with him. The
women also lifted Shulamit on a chair, but they were not strong enough to hold
her steady for long. As the chair swayed, Shulamit held on for dear life. She
was much relieved when she reached terra firma. When the dancing subsided, the
caterer served the meal.

After
a few speeches by faculty members of the yeshiva and Abe Levine, the first
wedding segment ended and people left the synagogue. The bride and groom went
to their suite in the hotel for a much needed period of rest and freshening up
for the reception.

The
reception started on time, and the program was conducted by the director of
public events at Telacomp. He had conducted many meetings and affairs at global
Telacomp and was quite experienced. The guests had milled around for about a
quarter of an hour before the program started, waiting for the bride and groom
to enter while enjoying hors d’oeuvres served by waitresses.

The
emcee then signaled for silence and said, “Let’s all rise in honor of Rabbi
Aaron Adler and his gorgeous bride, the lovely Shulamit Levine Adler.” The band
started playing the melody welcoming the new couple and the audience gave the
newlyweds a tumultuous ovation. Some traditional dancing followed, and once
again a chair was prepared for Shulamit. She refused to undergo the experience
once again, and jokingly told the would-be chair bearers that she was pregnant
and couldn’t risk another brush with disaster.

      
When the traditional dancing ended, a receiving line was formed along one wall
of the hall. In the center of the line were Aaron and Shulamit. They were
flanked on either side by members of the Levine and Adler families. As they
went down the line, the guest greeted Abe Levine, his wife and the bride and
groom. They also greeted the Adler family and wished the newlyweds congratulations.

After
the greetings, the mixed dancing started. Shulamit danced with her father,
mother and siblings. Aaron, who did not know how to dance, stood quietly by the
side. The photographer then went to work and set up an area for family pictures.
He started with portraits of the bride and groom and didn’t object when Eli
took some snaps along with him. When the dancing came to an end, dinner was
served. Ignoring the meal, Shulamit and Aaron retreated to their suite to start
their married life.

The
next morning, Aaron and Shulamit driving the sports car left the hotel on their
honeymoon at one of the more expensive luxury hotels in the Catskills. Bernie
drove Aaron’s Ford packed with Aaron’s belongings. He felt that since he was
doing a mitzvah, the Ford would last until it reached Shula’s apartment. It
barely did, and Bernie gave thanks to the spirit of Henry Ford.

 Many
other newlywed couples from New York were also enjoying themselves at the
hotel.
Sheva Brachot
(post-wedding blessings) were conducted nightly,
and three times on the Sabbath. To gather a minyan, Aaron combined his dining room
table with an adjacent table to provide the necessary quorum. A few other guests
joined the grace after meals out of curiosity.

All
good things come to an end as did the very happy honeymoon. The new couple
drove the sports car from the Catskills, starting with Route 17 and continuing
on to the New Jersey Turnpike to Philadelphia. They found their belongings
stored in the bedroom together with the new furnishings and extra bed that
Shula had added to their room.

On
the next morning, Bernie left early with Aaron to shul and then to the public
school. When Bernie returned to the apartment, he drove Shula to the law school.
The minute she reached the campus, she was besieged by well-wishers who seemed
to know all about her recent wedding and asked her many questions. Shula
smelled a rat and asked one of the girls how she knew all about the wedding.
The girl gave her a copy of the special edition of
Law School Briefs
.
The paper had the regular eight pages plus a four-page insert printed on glossy
paper. The insert had a large headline reading, ‘THE REBBETZIN TIES THE KNOT.’ The
subheading read:

In
a spectacular Pittsburgh wedding

Rabbi
Aaron Adler and the

Campus
Queen made it Official.

Below
the headlines was a full page picture of Shula in her wedding gown embraced by
her husband. This was the first time that Shula had seen her wedding picture.
Her photographer had told her that it would take a couple of weeks for her
pictures to be ready.
Law School Briefs
had the pictures ready in two
days.

The
centerfold of the insert had a montage of smaller pictures of the wedding
ceremony. Each picture bore a short explanation of what was happening. These
titles bore headings such as “The groom dons the white robe,” “The bride
circles the groom seven times,” The groom gives the bride a ring,” “The groom
breaks the glass cup.” A note at the bottom of the page said that those who were
not familiar with a traditional Jewish wedding should read the last page of the
insert where these customs were explained.

The
back page contained a long article by the editor in chief, Andrea Cohen, which
described her experiences in Pittsburgh. Shulamit was flabbergasted by the
extent of the coverage and the audacity of the staff of
Law School Briefs
.
She didn’t know whether to sue them for their invasion of her privacy or to
look upon the matter as a compliment to her popularity at the school. She chose
the latter option. As she walked through the courtyard she noticed that copies
of the insert were posted on every bulletin board. The title “Rebbetzin” coined
by Andrea stuck with her, and everyone she knew greeted her with it. She basked
in her glory for a while and then resumed her classes.

Aaron
was very happy with Shula and enjoyed her apartment. The one problem he had was
finding a place to daven. In the middle of the week, Bernie was able to drive
Aaron to a shul that was fifteen minutes away by car. Traffic was not too heavy
going but became congested on the way back to the couple’s apartment because
many students were driving to the university in time for 8:00 AM classes. Shula
had no classes Friday morning, so Bernie did not have to rush back home to
drive Shula to school and was able to drive slowly.

When
he reached Sansom Street before the apartment, Aaron noticed a stately gray
building. He had seen it before, but it looked deserted and he didn’t pay
serious attention to it. The building was only four blocks away from his
apartment. Today there was a group of elderly people congregated in front of
the building and they looked very Jewish. He asked Bernie to stop in front of
the building and when Bernie parked, Aaron stepped out of the car. He heard two
of the older men conversing in Yiddish. Aaron entered the gate in front of the
building and greeted the entire group with a hearty
Shalom Aleichem
. Aaron,
who had learned Yiddish at home and in Rabbi Kurland’s class, understood the
language, but found it easier to speak in English. One of the men who spoke
English asked him, “Who are you?”