him again till after the marriage ceremony.

"I will try to describe the ceremonies to you in detail, as I have now
been to several weddings here, and I think you would like to know.

"A week before the wedding, all the relations and friends come to help
bake and prepare the wedding-feast; for, as these proceedings last about
eight days, it is no easy matter to celebrate them.

"The bride's trousseau is shown to the guests who come, and everything
is examined and counted by all, especially the relations of the
bridegrooms. When there happens to be less than expected, woe betide the
bride, for she is always reproached about it by her mother-in-law or his
other relatives.

"On the Sabbath before the marriage the bridegroom is called up to read
the Law, and friends pay him visits.--First they send him nicely baked
cakes or puddings and a bottle of wine. (It is a good thing that this is
the custom, or else a poor man would be ruined by the cost of all the
feasting that he is expected to provide).

"During the week the bride's friends come every evening and dance and
sing in her home, coffee and cakes and baked nuts being handed round.

"The morning of the wedding, both bride and bridegroom fast, and each
goes with his or her parents to the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, to pray
for a blessing on their married life, and then they go to be blessed by
the Rav.

"When the bride returns home, she is dressed in her bridal dress. Then