lesbians make it kosher

By Amanda Watson (Source: Citizen, South Africa)

April 3, 2007: In what could be a first for SA, lesbians Margaret Auerbach and Liebe Kellan broke glasses at their traditional Jewish wedding at the Old Edwardians Sports Club in Houghton.

�For 3 000 years, people have been getting married in the Jewish tradition. Yet today is a day of great historic significance,� said David Bilchitz, who officiated at the wedding.

�For the first time in the history of the Jewish community in SA, a Jewish lesbian couple � Margaret Auerbach and Liebe Kellan � are able to consecrate a marriage in a Jewish religious ceremony that will be recognised by the state.�

Kellan and Auerbach have been together since 1984. They started out as friends, soon found they had a lot in common and fell in love.

Most weddings celebrate the future, another dimension to this wedding is it celebrated history.

�The 22 years of love they have shared, the manner in which they journeyed through life to this point, and now they have taken the decision to renew their relationship towards the future,� said Bilchitz.

Even the exchange of rings was different. Normally brides wear a triple ring on the ring finger, symbolising their common-law partnership, but the rings went to the right hand in this case, as they placed on each other�s left a single gold band as a covenant symbol.

Fittingly dyed in rainbow colours, the chuppah bore testimony to the new-style yet traditionally orientated wedding.

The couple hope the ceremony will be accepted by a wider spectrum of their community. � CNS.