I raised money for a dear friend of mine who was getting married and had no support. Here is what I wrote to the people who contributed.
I wanted to thank everybody for their kindness in helping my friend with his wedding. I feel my belief and love for G-d taken to whole new heights when I see the kindness of people. Thank you for giving that to me.
I wanted to share something about my friend and maybe marriage in general.
To be a witness to passion, to a person’s heart who longs for someone, is truly moving. My friend’s fiancé knows he has nothing to his name. He is working to make a career but he currently cleans houses to support himself. He was supposed to wait to propose until he could save enough to buy her a ring but she was okay without it. On the day of the proposal, the plan was to take her to a private, intimate setting and then ask her hand in marriage. But he told me that he was sooooo emotional, he was soooo moved, that he just ended up proposing to her in the middle of an intersection of an extremely busy street. She was taken aback but she said yes!
His fiancé knew all of his background, his baggage, his situation, and the steep hill they would have to both climb to get to a place of stability. I’m not sure what exactly her thought process was, but I know she has very wise people around her. She saw in him something beautiful that made it worth it to take a chance with him.
Anybody you marry you’re going to have to take a chance. No matter the length of the dating process or the thoroughness of the background check, there’s a leap you have to make when you marry. You lunge into this person’s arms and your hope is they will catch you. Not just once, but they will catch you over and over again, forever and ever. They will catch you when you jump. They will catch you when you stumble. And when age has crept into your bones and you can’t walk, they will come to you and hold you.
And that risk is exactly what can cause apprehension in one’s decision to marry. But it’s also what makes it so beautiful and lovely; it is the reason why so many of the great narratives of human history are based on this one act: to go all-in on one person with unfettered fidelity and dedication.
2021