In this Yiddish folktale (courtesy of
last year's Nitzavim edition of Reform Voices of Torah), a man giving a wedding has to go to extreme measures to compel his guests to join him in his joy.
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| Marc Chagall - Russian Wedding, 1909. |
Reb Yitzchak Berkover is the richest man in town. His youngest daughter
is soon to be married. Everything is arranged. No expense is spared.
Everyone is invited, including the poor folk from the neighboring town
of Lipovitch. On the morning of the wedding, three wagons are sent for
them. Everything is going according to plan. The feast is prepared; the
chuppah goes up, when suddenly a horseman arrives out of breath to
deliver the blow. "They aren't coming." "What do you mean they aren't
coming!?" asks Reb Yitzchak. "They say they are already full from a
wedding this morning, so they will only come to your daughter's wedding
if each is promised a ruble." The family and friends
who have gathered burst into laughter, but Reb Yitzchak flies into a
rage. "You fool, why didn't you bargain with them? The nerve! Forget
it! I'll get along without them. They'll see. Fiddlers, strike up a
tune! Let's begin!" But with the sound of the first note, Reb Yitzchak
changes his mind; he mounts the horse and takes off in the direction of
Lipovitch. After a weak attempt at negotiation and an impressive
speech from the lead-beggar, Reb Yitzchak Berkover relents: "Get in the
wagons! A ruble for each of you!" Twenty minutes later, the
father-of-the-bride takes his place under the chuppah; the poor gather
around.
When the feast is served, Reb Yitzchak and his closest relatives
fulfill the mitzvah of serving the poor with their own hands. One poor
man raises his glass for a toast. "To your health, Reb Yitzchak! We
wish you long life and happiness from your daughter the bride!" He
replies, "And to you, brothers, L'chayim! May God bless you among the
whole congregation of Israel!"
After the meal, the musicians begin to play.
Reb Yitzchak dances to the center of the hora circle; his satin
coattails fly like the wings of an eagle. His eyes gaze upward; his
thoughts soar higher than the seventh heaven. He locks arms with the
poor and shouts: "Brothers! Let us be joyful as only Jews know how to be
joyful! Fiddlers! Play something a little faster, louder, livelier,
stronger!" They begin to spin. And the rich man cries big joyful tears.
It is interesting to compare this story to a parable nearly two thousand years older:
On
hearing this, one of the people at the table with Yeshua said to him,
"How blessed are those who eat bread in the Kingdom of God!" But he replied, "Once a man gave a banquet and invited many people.
When the time came for the banquet, he sent his slave to tell those who had been invited, `Come! Everything is ready!'
But they responded with a chorus of excuses. The first said to him,
`I've just bought a field, and I have to go out and see it. Please
accept my apologies.'
Another said, `I've just bought five yoke of oxen, and I'm on my way to test them out. Please accept my apologies.'
Still another said, `I have just gotten married, so I can't come.'
The slave came and reported these things to his master. "Then the
owner of the house, in a rage, told his slave, `Quick, go out into the
streets and alleys of the city; and bring in the poor, the disfigured,
the blind and the crippled!'
The slave said, `Sir, what you ordered has been done, and there is still room.'
The master said to the slave, `Go out to the country roads and
boundary walls, and insistently persuade people to come in, so that my
house will be full.
I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet!'"
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