Many people have asked us why we wanted a Rabbi instead of a justice of the peace or a non-denominational minister.  And I think that I would like to try to answer the question:

Have you ever just felt inside that something needed to be a certain way?  Maybe it was because of your upbringing or maybe it was because of your education.  But you just knew in your heart of hearts that if it wasn’t done that way that it would not feel as complete as you needed it to be.  Well.  I have just always known that I would be married by a Rabbi. This put Lu in a tough spot and I think added to the depth of our quest. I’ve felt that a Rabbi would be most amenable to the soul searching and thought that we sensed should be present in our wedding ceremony.  That is not to say that a non-denominational minister wouldn’t do just as good of a job.  I mean.  My own mother, Miki Young, is a non-denominational minister who often officiates at interfaith ceremonies.  And she is AWESOME.  I just feel better trusting this most important moment in our lives to a Rabbi.  It’s just important to me.

Our search for her was not as easy as we would have liked and I think much of it had to do with us in the end:

First, my need to have a Rabbi didn’t make it easy for Lu.  She was totally great in understanding why it was important to me, (and I think she often understood my need better than I did.) but I didn’t give her much of a choice in the matter.  The best that we could do was totally agree, 100%, without question, who the Rabbi was.

And second, we really felt that we needed someone who would help us to create a ceremony that was totally ours.  Someone that we really felt would go through each step of the process, piece by very piece, to help us discover how we could own the ceremony.  We were looking for someone who could make me feel like I was having a meaningful Jewish ceremony and allow Lu to have a ceremony that suited her and wasn’t too bogged down with customs that she couldn’t relate to.  Well.  We found her.

Yep.

You read right.  We found her!

Rabbi Marjorie Berman just stepped into our life with a bang and we couldn’t be happier.  Our quest was long, but it was totally worth it.  It took some persistence and some real thought, but I am positive that we couldn’t have made a better choice.  She is thoughtful and smart and nice and really knows how to get down into it; deep inside.  She asks questions that really make you think about who you are both as an individual and in the relationship.  She is energetic and funny and she cares as much as we do about current politics.  Her library is bigger than ours and you can tell in the first minute of conversation the reason that she pursued the rabbinate.

Rabbi Berman couldn’t be better suited to us.  We have only had two meetings with her and we already feel like we are on the path to making our day more meaningful for us.  We are closer to creating a template on which to base our home and our life together.

And truthfully.

We couldn’t be happier.

-Alx