Where do rabbis get the completley inappropriate material they use at weddings? I'm currently in the U.S., where I attended a wedding on the east coast, and am still trying to figure out why the rabbi at the wedding thought his comments were appropriate. I imagine a group of old rabbis getting together, encouraging one another to use material that simply doesn't work for Jews of my generation. (I can hardly believe that it would work for any generation.) They must get no feedback from the congregation.
Below are some of the comments - as best as I can remember them - that the rabbi made during the ceremony, which took place in a tent outside in a light drizzle:
"There's a saying that when it rains at a wedding, don't take the bride to the bakery, because she's a nosher." [My friends and I were scratching our heads trying to figure this one out. ]
"There's another saying that when it rains at a wedding, it means that the bride is fertile."
"Judaism is a man's religion."
"This ketuba (wedding contract) will be among the cheaper gifts the groom will buy the bride."
Unfortunately I don't recall more of his comments, but I wasn't the only one among the attendees feeling uncomfortable and thinking that my good friend, the groom, deserved a rabbi with a little more sense. And the Jewish community in North America wonders why it's having trouble keeping my generation interested.
