The titular "black wedding" is a custom known for centuries and cultivated today. We invite you to read Rabbi David Berman's article from the MGW research department about a propitiatory religious ritual that may have been organized in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1941.
22 May 2020
At the end of March this year, an extraordinary event took place on the outskirts of Tel Aviv. A wedding ceremony was held for two orphans in a cemetery next to the grave of a great rabbi and leader of the previous generation. The cause of this strange event was the virus that has recently plagued the world.
This incomprehensible custom prevailed during times of plague and disaster throughout the centuries. The idea of organizing such a wedding arose during the period of the Warsaw Ghetto. This custom was known in Yiddish as " shvartze chassuna "—black wedding.
Such weddings were intended to invoke God's mercy in times of plague. References to this custom can be found in several sources. An early mention is found in the book Otzar kol minhagei Yeshurun , which explains the procedure as follows: " When an epidemic breaks out in a city, they will arrange a wedding for two poor orphans in the cemetery... The reason is that, in virtue of performing great acts of charity and accompanying the bride, long life is assured ."
A historical reference to this practice can be found in the Yizkor Book of the Jews of Gorlice on page 96 containing the account of a certain Mordechai Weinfeld: " There was an incident that occurred around 1896, when a plague broke out in our village, and the remedy to stop it was to find a pair of handicapped people to perform a marriage ceremony in the cemetery ."
" In our village, there was a disabled young man named Lazer who was a water carrier. He delivered buckets of water to houses from the well in Dworzysko. People made every effort to organize his wedding to a disabled woman using community funds. All the Jewish residents of the town joined in the joy. They went out in a large procession, led by a line of "Cossacks" on horseback, accompanying them to the cemetery and the chuppah prepared there ."
A similar event can be found in the Plonsk Memorial Book on page 136, when the custom of marrying in a cemetery was revived during a cholera epidemic. " The situation persisted for several months, and finally the village elders decided to take drastic measures... to hold a wedding in the cemetery. The ceremony was held at noon, and with the exception of those quarantined, almost everyone was present. "
Although we have no evidence that such a wedding actually took place in the Warsaw Ghetto, the documents clearly indicate that such a suggestion was made in response to the typhus epidemic that swept the ghetto in 1941.
The president of the Judenrat, Adam Czerniaków, mentions this extraordinary idea in his diary entry of October 27, 1941. " I received the following proposal from the rabbis: Since the epidemic raging in our city is spreading daily, we propose, immediately after the approaching Yom Kippur, to organize at public expense a wedding ceremony in the cemetery for a bachelor and a maiden, both poor people, as a propitiatory religious ritual. This rite has been studied and tested, and with God's help it will certainly be effective in stopping the epidemic. The resolution was agreed upon at the meeting of the rabbinical council on September 28, 1941. "
Similarly, the archives of the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw contain a document from the aforementioned meeting of rabbis, which states that they intended to raise this issue with the chairman of the Judenrat.
As an anecdote, it is worth mentioning that Emmanuel Ringelblum, in his notes from the Warsaw Ghetto on November 20, 1941, states the following: " The typhus epidemic has abated somewhat, precisely in the winter, when it generally worsens. The rate of development of the epidemic has fallen by about 40 percent... This is a truly irrational phenomenon, there is no rational explanation for it... In any case, the epidemic has abated. "
Ringelblum refers to the period that would have immediately followed the planned wedding ceremony at the Warsaw Jewish cemetery.
David Berman
Bibliography:
The Warsaw Diary of Adam Czerniakow . Yad Vashem/Raul Hilberg, 1999
Emmanuel Ringelblum: Notes from the Warsaw Ghetto . Pickle Partners Publishing, 2015
Otzar kol minhagei YeshurunSefer Plonsk . Israel, 1963
Sefer Gorlitsah: ha-ḳehilah be-vinyanah uve-ḥurbanah . Israel, 1962
Prepared by Anna Kilian
Photo: Otzar kol minhagei Yeshurun – chapter 42
