FROM "RITUALS IN FLUX: COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE"

SITTING IN RIVKA YITZCHAKOV'S KITCHEN, I took up my usual pose: pen in hand, hunched over my field notes, writing furiously in an attempt to get down every word she said.  "It used to be," Rivka spoke to me in Hebrew, "that the parties leading up to the wedding lasted a whole week long.  Not like it is here in Israel, where it is just done quickly in a rented hall."  At this point, I probably looked up, made eye contact and she continued..... Click here to read more

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