Re: dance of death

[Sylvia Schildt <creativa...>]

on 7/3/02 2:01 PM, SamWeiss (at) bellatlantic(dot)net at SamWeiss (at) 
bellatlantic(dot)net
wrote:

> At 09:49 AM 7/3/02, r l reid wrote:
>> Today, at the point where it's time to take the chasen to the kallah,
>> the mothers-in-law-to-be come into the men's room and break a dish
>> together.
>> Is this by chance an abbreviated form of the broyges tantz?
>> Or does it serve another purpose entirely?
> 
> Another purpose entirely.  This is the traditional gesture that clinches
> the ceremony of writing the Conditions of Engagement Contract
> ("Tenaim").  It mirrors the breaking of an item made of glass at the close
> of the wedding ceremony.  The explanations given for this act are various
> and sundry, and are probably ultimately related to universal gestures of
> superstition and good luck.
> 
> 
>Re: Tnoyim -- I had read that it symbolizes the breaking of all previous
engagements or understandings -- they are free to marry. We did a program on
the shtetl wedding last year and this came up on the OU website.

Sylvia Schildt
> _____________________________________________________________
> Cantor Sam Weiss === Jewish Community Center of Paramus, NJ
> 
> 

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