Saturday, August 30, 2008
Hasidic couple invites town to wedding
A Hasidic couple is getting married in Ste. Agathe next week in an outdoor ceremony, and the whole town is invited.
Not only that: The local council is providing the wedding location (an arts centre by the lake that is normally used for exhibits and concerts); The bride is printing up a manual for non-Jews to understand the ritual; And two rabbis - one Canadian, one American - will officiate what is being billed as a bridge-building event between cultures.
"I think it's a great opportunity to get more openness on everybody's part," the bride, Hana Sellem, 26, told The Gazette yesterday. "From every community, everyone can learn something from it, and I'm sure they're going to enjoy it." The news comes as Ste. Agathe weathers some negative fallout from an incident two weeks ago, when a young Montreal Jew was attacked by a gang of youths while walking to synagogue down the town's main street.
The man, 23-year-old McGill University engineering student Mendy Haouzi, was cut in the face by a teenage assailant who slapped and punched him before running off with his friends.
Police are investigating.
Anti-Semitism is a hot-button issue in the province, partly fuelled by coverage of so-called "reasonable accommodation" controversies involving ultra- orthodox Jews in Montreal.
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=20fa6795-7e0f-4f27-91a6-37cd0f3e75c0
Not only that: The local council is providing the wedding location (an arts centre by the lake that is normally used for exhibits and concerts); The bride is printing up a manual for non-Jews to understand the ritual; And two rabbis - one Canadian, one American - will officiate what is being billed as a bridge-building event between cultures.
"I think it's a great opportunity to get more openness on everybody's part," the bride, Hana Sellem, 26, told The Gazette yesterday. "From every community, everyone can learn something from it, and I'm sure they're going to enjoy it." The news comes as Ste. Agathe weathers some negative fallout from an incident two weeks ago, when a young Montreal Jew was attacked by a gang of youths while walking to synagogue down the town's main street.
The man, 23-year-old McGill University engineering student Mendy Haouzi, was cut in the face by a teenage assailant who slapped and punched him before running off with his friends.
Police are investigating.
Anti-Semitism is a hot-button issue in the province, partly fuelled by coverage of so-called "reasonable accommodation" controversies involving ultra- orthodox Jews in Montreal.
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=20fa6795-7e0f-4f27-91a6-37cd0f3e75c0
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