Often, a Jewish wedding doesn’t begin on time, and many people arrive a couple of hours late. But if the wedding did start on time, there would be no conflict with the farbrengen, which was scheduled for much later — at 9:30 pm.
Then Rabbi Klein added an offer made by the Rebbe — that our sheva brachot, the seven blessings at the end of the wedding meal, should take place at the Rebbe’s farbrengen. Basically, this meant that we would leave the wedding hall, Oholei Torah, walk across the street to Chabad Headquarters at 770, and continue the wedding there.
After Rabbi Klein explained all this, he asked, “Do you give your permission?”
Of course, I said yes. What else was I going to say? I mean, I didn’t have a choice! But inside I was saying, “No, no, no.” I believed that no one would come on time, and the meal would be rushed. My wedding would be ruined!
After I hung up the phone, I dutifully called the vendors as instructed, but I didn’t feel good about it at all.
About an hour later, I received a call from Rabbi Shloma Majeski, the dean of Machon Chana. He was very excited. “What do you think?” he asked me.
I held my tongue.
He continued, “Do you understand what a special merit this is — that your sheva brachot will take place at the farbrengen?” And he asked me who my ancestors were that I should merit such an honor.
I said, “I’m nobody, I’m really nobody, and I don’t see this as an honor, because nobody is coming to my wedding.”
“I will be there,” he replied.
I said, “Yes, but you will leave at 9:30 to go to the Rebbe’s farbrengen.”
He said, “No, I promise — I will be at your wedding until the end.”
He also got an assurance from Rabbi Sholom Ber Levitin, from Seattle, that he too would stay until I decided when “the end” was.
That meant a lot to me. At least Rabbi Majeski and Rabbi Levitin would stay at my wedding till the end. Now I felt a bit better about the whole thing. I was also beginning to understand how much the Rebbe wanted to guarantee that it would be a truly joyful occasion for me.
In the end, it proved to be that and much more. After the ceremony under the chupah, I lifted my veil and saw all around me many people I didn’t recognize. Later, as well, there were lots of people dancing whom I had never met before. Apparently, the Rebbe had put the word out that people should come to the wedding, and they did! I didn’t feel at all that anything was missing, not for a moment. My heart was full — I was completely appeased, I was completely happy.
In fact, earlier, right after our chupah, I noticed a big commotion near the curb in front of 770. The Rebbe was leaving and people were gathering around to see. Suddenly the car stopped, the Rebbe got out, stepped...
After the wedding meal and the dancing, we walked over to 770. The place was packed — as it always is at that time of the year — with all the locals, plus people from all over the world. I went up to the women’s section and, because I was a bride, the women made room for me at the front, so that I could see the Rebbe. Just then he was talking about the mitzvah of simchat chatan v’kallah, the commandment of rejoicing with a bride and groom. It was such a beautiful thing, because it was our wedding, and the Rebbe was talking about us.
When he finished, the sheva brachot were recited and the Rebbe answered “Amen” after each one. Indeed, these sheva brachot were heard round the world because the farbrengen was being broadcast via an international telephone hook-up.
When I think about it now, it was mind-boggling that the Rebbe incorporated our sheva brachot into his farbrengen. This was not anything that we asked for. The Rebbe offered it out of sensitivity to a newly religious couple whom he had never met, and whose wedding might have been diminished otherwise.
From among the thousands of letters that he received, he remembered that we had picked this date — and as a result of his great sensitivity, we had the most amazing wedding. Twenty-five years later, these sheva brachot still sustain us.
Mrs. Devorah Emanuel lives together with family in Chicago, Illinois, where she is employed by Lubavitch Girls High School. She was interviewed in January 2009.
