Non­fic­tion

100 Jew­ish Brides: Sto­ries from Around the World

  • Review
By – June 10, 2024

Tra­di­tion, tra­di­tion,” exclaim the Jews of Anat­ev­ka in Fid­dler on the Roof, cap­tur­ing so much of their lives in one word. A thread of tra­di­tion also unites the sto­ries in Bar­bara Vinick and Shu­lamit Reinharz’s 100 Jew­ish Brides.

In this engag­ing book, one hun­dred women from eighty-three coun­tries recount their rela­tion­ships over the past cen­tu­ry. Their per­son­al his­to­ries are root­ed in places like African enclaves, Mid­dle East­ern Arab lands, East­ern Europe Sovi­et-Bloc coun­tries, Latin Amer­i­ca, Europe, the US, and Israel. Many were immi­grants or WWII refugees, while oth­ers had deep gen­er­a­tional roots in their coun­tries. What so many of these sto­ries have in com­mon is that the brides and their fam­i­lies want­ed to proud­ly cel­e­brate their Sephardic and Ashke­nazi tra­di­tions and cus­toms at their wed­dings, pre­serv­ing their her­itage and his­to­ry while also adapt­ing to our mod­ern times. 

There are many sim­i­lar­i­ties between wed­dings through­out the sto­ries. Betrothal cus­toms, ketubah sign­ings, the chup­pah, rings, bless­ings, wine, and glass-break­ing all make appear­ances. Dif­fer­ent cul­tures incor­po­rate their own foods, dress, dowry nego­ti­a­tions, hen­na par­ties, mik­vah cer­e­monies, tal­lit stylings, degree of fam­i­ly involve­ment, and the rel­a­tive­ly new addi­tion of danc­ing the hora.

The book is orga­nized by chap­ters that dis­cuss courtship, con­ver­sion, venues, arranged and forced mar­riages, inter­mar­riage, and mar­riage issues in Israel, among oth­er top­ics. Each sec­tion pro­vides fas­ci­nat­ing and often pow­er­ful sto­ries, told with can­dor and nos­tal­gia by brave, astute, defi­ant, and believ­ing and non­be­liev­ing Jew­ish women.

Before each piece, a help­ful and infor­ma­tive com­men­tary suc­cinct­ly places each bride’s nar­ra­tive in a his­tor­i­cal, soci­o­log­i­cal, and reli­gious con­text. The edi­tors also include many endear­ing fam­i­ly pho­tographs. (This is the third col­lab­o­ra­tion by the edi­tors, who are friends and hon­ored soci­ol­o­gists. They obtained many of the sto­ries and accounts through their aca­d­e­m­ic and vol­un­teer connections.)

Read­ers will enjoy get­ting to know the per­son­al­i­ties of these brides as they remem­ber first meet­ings, women bond­ing through wed­ding prepa­ra­tions, fam­i­ly inter­ac­tions, com­mu­ni­ty expec­ta­tions, and his­tor­i­cal events. Their sto­ries, which hail from so many cor­ners of the Dias­po­ra, are emo­tion­al — whether their wed­dings were min­i­mal or lav­ish, pro­duced hap­py or unhap­py mar­riages, occurred dur­ing war or peace, hap­pened amid threat­en­ing or non­threat­en­ing cir­cum­stances, or involved gifts of cows and chick­ens or sil­ver and gold. Many mod­ern wed­dings now reflect the brides’ and grooms’ life expe­ri­ences and choic­es as they incor­po­rate their own beliefs and pri­or­i­ties into their ceremonies.

Reni­ta Last is a mem­ber of the Nas­sau Region of Hadassah’s Exec­u­tive Board. She has coor­di­nat­ed the Film Forum Series for the Region and served as Pro­gram­ming and Health Coor­di­na­tors and as a mem­ber of the Advo­ca­cy Committee.

She has vol­un­teered as a docent at the Holo­caust Memo­r­i­al and Tol­er­ance Cen­ter of Nas­sau Coun­ty teach­ing the all- impor­tant lessons of the Holo­caust and tol­er­ance. A retired teacher of the Gift­ed and Tal­ent­ed, she loves par­tic­i­pat­ing in book clubs and writ­ing projects.

Discussion Questions