100 Jewish Brides, with Barbara Vinick

ENGLISH CORNER, CON LINDA JIMÉNEZ – This week’s trivia question: How many countries are represented in the stories in this book?

“Kulanu” means “all of us” in Hebrew.  The organization was founded in 1994 to support isolated, emerging, and returning Jewish communities around the world.  Through different activities they raise awareness and support to assist these groups with their desire to learn more about Judaism and connect with Jews beyond their community.  In 2018 we interviewed Bonita Sussman, the Vice-President of Kulanu.  You can learn more about the organization by listening to that program here.

Barbara Vinick is the Secretary of Kulanu.  She graduated from Bryn Mawr College and then earned a Ph.D in sociology from Boston University. She is affiliated with the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute at Brandeis University.  Together with Shulamit Reinharz, the founder of the Institute, she has edited three collections of essays from Jewish women around the world.

Their latest book, 100 Jewish Brides, is a series of short essays by the brides themselves, their relatives, or others involved in the weddings. It is divided into fourteen sections, which cover all aspects of Jewish weddings, from the couple’s first meeting through after the wedding ceremony. There are also sections on intermarriage, wartime and post-war marriages, and marriage issues in Israel. 

Each section has an introduction to the topic as well as a short commentary before each essay. The stories are very short and varied as to time, place, customs and details, which makes the book easy to read and very interesting. There are also endnotes and references, so interested readers can delve deeper into the subject.

In this program Barbara speaks with us about some of these customs and the book.

 

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