The broom dance

This week Rabbi S. lectured about the days leading up to the high holidays. In the course of his speech, he spoke about marriage and how he and his wife had talked to a Rav prior to their wedding to receive advice. The Rav asked Rabbi S. if he had purchased a ring. When the rabbi answered in the affirmative, the rav asked him to bring it with him the next time they were to meet. At the following session, the Rav asked Rabbi S. to describe the ring. The rabbi told him tht it was a round ring made of gold. The Rav told the rabbi that he missed the most important part in describing the ring. Inside the ring was empty space. The Rav told the rabbi that marriage was about carving an empty space in one's heart to allow room for a spouse with all her preconceived ideas and to accept her as she was.
Speaking about marriage, there's an article by David Wilder at INN titled Mezinka, which means 'the youngest child' in Yiddish. It is customary to perform a broom dance when a couple marries off their youngest child.

Ahh, the ‘broom dance.’ This is a very special event. Such a dance is performed when a couple marries off their last, and usually, youngest child. I’ve been to many many weddings, but I don’t recall ever witnessing such a performance. And before I knew it, David was holding a decorated broom, with Leah at his side, with a colorful dustpan. The orchestra started playing and they started sweeping. The idea being, that they are ‘sweeping’ their youngest child out of the house.

As I watched the video below of the parents of the groom performing the broom dance, I couldn't help but smile and be happy for the couple's opportunity to marry off their last child and to celebrate the wedding in the company of all the grandchildren their children had produced. May all of us merit marrying off our Mezinkas at the right time.