Marriage Day
Friday, June 26, 2015 might be one of those days we’ll ask each other about in years to come. Where were you on June 26? Where were you when marriage became a constitutional right for all its citizens in the United States? Read Cantor Juval’s article in the American Conference of Cantor’s website
I was in bed as the news came trickling in, first through my Facebook wall, then my email inbox, and then through various other news outlets. I live right next to the West Hollywood Park, in which later that day, the “Day of Decision” rally would take place. The more the news spread, the more palpable the excitement in the air and the energy of celebration became. My co-clergy, Rabbi Lisa Edwards, was among the remark-givers on that said rally. She was there with other representatives of faith communities to assure the attendees that voices of faith always have had a place in the struggle for the legalization of marriage equality, even though so many other “voices of faith” spoke so loudly against everybody’s right to civil marriage.
While Rabbi Lisa gave her remarks I was at my synagogue, Beth Chayim Chadashim, going over my music library, trying to find the perfect tune to reflect the significance of the Supreme Court’s decision to be sung during Kabbalat Shabbat.
I ended up with two choices that could probably not be further apart from each other: Marry You by Bruno Mars and Yonatan Razel’s setting to D’ror Yikra. Marry You, because it felt appropriate to sing about the ease of getting married, a simple act which was now granted to all citizens on that very day and D’ror Yikra, because of its sentiment of true freedom to all of God’s sons and daughters and the emphasis on God’s protection of all of God’s children on that very Shabbat day.
