Jewish Stollel Wedding Recap - אשרי העם שככה לו

As I sat waiting for my flight to arrive to take me from O'Hare International Airport in Chicago back to JFK, I noticed a good chaver of mine checking in in the distance. I waved to Max and he made his way over to where my parents and I were sitting.

We sat there talking and it was then when he asked me if I could do him a favor. He told me that he had a friend, newly religious, who was to get married in a little less then a month. The chassan's family was not really religious, and the chassan himself was concerned that there wouldn't be the level of yiddishe simcha and dancing that he so wanted on his day of marriage. He had asked Max that if he knew anyone who could come to add to the simcha he should invite them. And so Max asked me if I would come.

From that moment on I knew this was a job for the Stollel.

I told Max to get back to me closer to the wedding and I would post it on Stollel blog in an attempt to gather some of the Stollelnicks together for this Yiddishe Simcha, despite the fact that nobody knew either the chassan or kallah.

The responses came fast and furious. "Down," said the Cheese Choker in response to the posed question: "Anybody down?" TzidkasAzriel said, "Down" soon after. Gaby, DSchwartz, and others followed. Rides to the Rose Castle were being arranged and the Stollel was quick in action.

As we arrived, we found out that the chassan was Sefardishe Yid and so there was no official chassan's tisch. The badekin took place right after the shmorg.

The badekin was a great success and TzidkasAzriel was on the scene to capture the post-badekin interview.

The notorious G.I.D. was spotted spitting hot fire as we waited by the chuppah.

The righteous members of Project Recharge found ways to occupy themselves while we waited.

Because nobody knew either the chassan or kallah we were learning all about them as the morning progressed.



And then it happened.

Nobody expected it.

We then knew the level of righteousness of the chassan as he accepted upon himself the greatest tikkun on behalf of all of Israel, the tikkun of Big Bird.

The wedding procession continued in a traditional manner.

We danced the chassan and kallah to the yichud room singing tunes of redemption and rebuilding.


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The Stollel is not known for sitting around and twiddling thumbs and so despite the fact that chassan and kallah had been danced to the yichud room, the Stollel rikud continued into the main hall.

The band was taken aback, confused as to how the chassan and kallah could have been here so soon. They soon realized it was just a bunch of neo-hassidim and joined in.

(Something to keep in mind: Nobody on either side knew who any of these sidelocked, scraggly bearded, horn-blowing individuals were.)




We managed to find some empty seats and sat down to begin the festive meal.

The glass elevator began to rise and the band began to play. The band-leader roared:

"For the first time..."

And nobody knows really knows what happened next.

(Note: Possibly the fastest coerced chassan on the shoulders pick-up featuring Corey Fuchs)







The Stollel lined up to show off their moves, first before the chassan, then before the chassan and kallah.

The band continued by playing the song of the day. After all, today was Rosh Hodesh Adar.

And so the wedding came to a close.

While we could have used Pinchas ben Elazar to finish the simcha by eliminating the Bnos Moav, the Stollelnicks packed up into their wagons, another wedding under their belt, and drove off into the sunset.