To Give is To Receive
When I was getting married, I’d asked a person I thought was a good friend to officiate at our wedding in the Galilee. We’d gone over all the texts, and, aside from a mutual trade of rings, was fairly straightforward. He looked it over, then met with us. “You don’t need two rings,” he told us in his gentle, unyielding voice. “You see,” he said, “to give a ring, is to receive one as well.” The (il)logic of this was somehow connected to the fact that if I purchased her from her father, I would receive a bride. I give, I receive.
We dumped him, had our wedding at the crack of dawn, officiated by the town rabbi in his competitor’s synagogue. That afternoon, in front of friends and family, we had a mutual exchange of love, of vows, and of rings.
Today (and this is quoted from the Jerusalem Post):
“Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski … called for a cancellation of the parade. “This is a time to prove real tolerance and maturity and to cancel the march in the heart of Jerusalem for the benefit of all of us,” said the mayor, adding that a cancellation would “renew the strength, recognition, understanding and togetherness which encompass the city.”
I’m slow. To which togetherness was he referring? The violence of the UltraOrthodox, their death threats, and their fascist behavior? The togetherness of joining with Moslem fanatics in an orgy of hatred of that which is other? Or the togetherness where people can celebrate their freedom to be different, and not inflict their will on others?
The funny thing is that Mayor Lupolanski, an UltraOrthodox Jew himself, was stoned by his fellow zealots as he left a
These guys are nuts! Nuttier, in my humble opinion, than the guys dressed in girls clothing with clothespins on their nipples (or angels, like the beefcake above). At least they aren’t out to hurt anyone with anything more than bad style!