Jewish Wedding (Lubavitch Hasidic), Crown Heights, NY, 1984
Item Description
Faigie is the last daughter to be married and so her father comes to the women's side so that she and her sisters can dance the mazinka around their seated parents to a Yiddish tune, "Mazinka ois g'geben"/ "the youngest is given."
Katrina Thomas's notes: More than populate Israel, there are an estimated 5.7 million Jews in the U.S. In addition to two nationality backgrounds, Ashkenazi and Sephardic, they belong to four movements, Orthodox, Conservative, Reform and Hasidic. Jewish weddings today combine elements, dating back to biblical times when two separate rites were performed, perhaps months or years apart, known in Jewish law, as kiddushin and nissu'in. The first is betrothal, during which the ring is given, and the second, the actual marriage. Over a period of twenty-five years, I photographed a variety of weddings, some with hundreds of guests and some small, all of them essentially the same but different in regard to details. All couples are united under a chuppah, both rites performed at one time. In general, traditions are kept more reverently by Jews than are customs retained more casually by other religions and ethnic groups.
Photographer's categories: Feast and reception , Dancing , Bride , Honoring , Parents , Siblings , Music and song