Friday, September 12, 2008

The Hora

The Hora is a ridiculous Jewish dance that involves circling, arm-linking, chair lifting and apparently, in my brother's world, violent spinning. It occurs at Jewish weddings and Bar and Bat Mitzvahs. We have a picture of my mother at every Jewish event, in the chair, with her mouth in a big O, having s schtortz (Jewish for fit) at being up in the chair.

It is some sort of a macho thing for the guys at the wedding to be chair lifters. I can't see, however, how it is possible that my 6'4" brother was lifting a chair with a 5'4" guy (typical Jewish height) and not getting the raw end of the deal. On the other hand, I think my other (littler) brother was single-handedly lifting me and my father, so height may not be an issue.

There was MUCH circling going on and, at one point, a snake winding through the tables - I'm not sure where you were at that point, Mer, but I am positive that I was in a circle, swirling around, kicking my feet and twirling. And it was NOT a big dance floor so this was a bit of a feat! I also would like to say that as in most other walks of her life, my mother is a bossy Hora dancer!!

Another interesting wedding twist - the photographer forcing us to recreate "moments". A quick kiss (which is the way we like it - we are not very showy when it comes to our kissing...) and she is in our face with the camera, demanding, "DO IT AGAIN'. The videographer missed the cake cutting and we had to recreate the whole thing. Which was ok, because the cake was quite delicious.

Perhaps one of the best moments of the honeymoon was when J found a bobby pin in her sneaker. LOVED that.

In other news, is anybody watching Tabatha's salon makeover? I got sucked into this after watching a "Shear Genius" marathon on my honeymoon, which was a fanTAStic show. The makeover (or is it takeover) is like Kitchen Nightmares for beauty salons. I LOVE it.

More to come...

Still love my wife - can you believe it?

5 comments:

Leah said...

At the end of the evening I refused to do anything that the ridiculously bossy and sweaty photographer asked, especially after she made us pose like 3 year olds at a dance recital picture, stood directly in front of you during the cake cutting so no one could see AND she ate before me.
I watched the hora from afar in awe, as yours was my first official jewish event. I was afraid to participate, but next time I will be prepared.

terrible said...

Leah good for you! I kind of don't remember the photographer, but everything is pretty hazy from that evening. I do, however, clearly remember the horah (now that I know what it is) and that I watched the horah from a distance because I was afraid to get any closer... your brother had turned the whole dance floor into something resembling a mosh pit. At one point, I really couldn't tell which bride he was furiously spinning because it was all moving so fast.

xinaeve said...

Can we address the "business cards" that the photographer had spread out like a fan, depicting a pic of the happy couple (aka you and your wife) in the most ridiculous pose in front of a scenic (and blatently fake) backdrop.... I LOVE it...on my fridge, with plans of blowing it up in the near future. A close 2nd was the poster of you both in softball outfits, which I believe was the end product of your engagement photo session! SO good!!!

As for reality tv- yes, i love tabatha. in other news, i almost cried watching Ramsay's nightmares when the father, son, and mother wrote letters to each other- did you see that one. Can't wait for amazing race and my all time fave survivor. OH, and BL... I NEED to hear your thoughts- right now the only thing I know for sure is that I DESPISE Brown. They are the worst.
And finally, BOYYYYYYYYYYYYYSSSSSS!!!

terrible said...

OH MY GOD - I literally JUST discovered one of those business cards, it randomly flew out from the sheets while I was making the bed last week, and I was shocked/dismayed/confused/HIGHLY amused by what I found!
It is on my fridge as well, and while I hadn't gone so far as to think about enlarging/framing it, I now think I have no choice but to take that next step....

Leah said...

I was staring to get upset and jealous that I didn't pick up a business card... but lo and behold, I opened up the zippered compartment of the bag I had in CT, and there it was!!! I had a nice giggle.