Jewish Traces in Unexpected Places: Mezinke Wedding Dance in Bulgarian Swimming Pool

The Mezinke dance is a dance done at Ashkenazi weddings when a youngest child is married off, after all of the elder siblings are already married.

The parents, siblings and their spouses take part (there are both mixed and separate versions). Each dancer is armed with an ornate tinsel-decorated broom and dustpan. With these festive implements, they mime sweeping the youngest child out of the door as the dance music rises to a joyous, frenzied tempo.

The origins of the Mezinke dance are obscure, but it appears to be a Chasidic custom. There are obviously a number of politically correct reasons not to do the Mezinke dance - it may hurt the feelings of guests who have older, unmarried children, and it suggests that the parents are, heaven forbid, delighted to be offloading their youngest child.

We never expected to see the dance performed, minus the broom and dustpan, in a swimming pool in Bulgaria. But that's exactly where the video below was recorded and posted by folk dance teacher Ira Weisburd.

Enjoy!

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Welcoming Shabbat with a Dance Version of Eishet Chayil

Eishet Chayil (A Woman of Valor) is a hymn which is sung Friday night in many homes after singing Shalom Aleichem and before saying the Kiddush. Traditionally, a husband sings the song to his wife, extolling her virtues, and expressing thanks for all that his wife has done for him and their family.

Eishet Chayil is a twenty-two verse poem with which King Solomon concludes the book of Proverbs (Proverbs 31). The poem has an acrostic arrangement in which the verses begin with the letters of the Hebrew alphabet in regular order. The poem describes the woman of valor as one who are is energetic, righteous, and capable.

The hymn has also become popular as an Israeli dance and is part of the dance repertory of Israeli dance groups around the world. In this video Ira Weisburd, a choreographer of Israeli dance who teaches classes on Monday nights at Kings Point in Delray Beach, Florida, leads his group in a version of Eishet Chayil.

Enjoy, and Shabbat shalom!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.