Chabad Wedding Extraordinaire Headlines at The Temple
Caterer Eli Brafman used a field kitchen to serve an over-the-top, multi-course kosher menu.
After 37 years with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and now with the AJT, , Jaffe’s focus is lifestyle, art, dining, fashion, and community events with emphasis on Jewish movers and shakers.
When Rabbi Eliyahu and Dena Schusterman offered their daughter, Sara’s, hand in marriage to Berri Dworcan, they did it with élan, heart, and a great dash of glamour.
On Aug. 30, around 500 guests watched Schusterman, of Chabad Intown, perform the ceremony and proclaim, “Marrying off my daughter was a most joyous experience, sending her off with a wonderful husband and filled with future hope. This joy is wrapped up in a type of sadness, the end of an era. Letting go of my little girl. ‘Sunrise, Sunset’ comes to mind as bittersweet.”
In terms of selecting The Temple, a Reform congregation venue, Dena said, “We attended a friend’s wedding there, loved the space and its history with regards to Jewish Atlanta and the Civil Rights movement.”
Backing up, Sara and Berri dated for two months. They were set up by mutual friends and family (shadchan = matchmaker). Berri proposed to Sara in Piedmont Park under the gazebo. There was no ring because Chabad custom is to wait until after the chuppah. Thus, Sara got a necklace in honor of her engagement.
Son of Rabbi Ari and Raizy Dworcan, Berri is from Montreal, got his rabbinic ordination in Hevron, and now works in online commerce. Sara spent time in Israel and Australia and earned a BA in business and now works for Chabad Intown on special projects. The couple resides in Jerusalem.
In more traditional weddings, the parents take on a greater role. Dena arranged the whole event in the Chabad tradition where the bride and groom focus on their self-work before the wedding and aren’t burdened with making decisions or stressed out by details. The couple weighs in on music (Choni Milecki as DJ, and Mendy Shapiro, singer), color scheme, and what matters to them, but generally, it’s viewed “as a party thrown by parents in honor of their children’s marriage.”
The event was replete with tradition. The Chupah is when parents offer gratitude for having arrived at this moment. Schusterman shared that the Torah portion spoke about the mitzvah of offering the First Fruit and the obligation to offer gratitude in the idea that one can only truly be grateful “after doing the hard field work,” which produces the fruit for which we offer thanks to Hashem. She said, “Marriage, too, requires hard work, and only after the hard work, do we produce the fruit of an accomplished and truly loving marriage. Then and only then, can we offer thanks and true gratitude.”
The groom wore a kittel made from a piece of fabric of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, and the bride wore a covering under the veil from fabric owned by the Lubavitcher Rebetzin.
Berri told the AJT, “Sara is a joyful light, and hardworking, would never hurt anyone – always going out of her way to be kind. She is witty with one-liners that can completely catch you off guard.”
Sara recounted, “Berri is easy with a ‘yes, sure and how can I help?’ He makes a wicked good steak. He’s his own person and doesn’t fit neatly into anyone’s box of what’s expected.”
Mega planner Dena said, “When I plan events, which I have done two weddings, two bar mitzvahs and four bat mitzvahs, and many Chabad events, I start with a vision and then work the details in. No fretting about who will and won’t come. I don’t make certain ways to impress certain people. I think about my and my husband’s vision for expressing our simcha in a tangible way, and then work from there.”
Although the wedding was prior to Oct. 7, Dena later added, “Sad and tragic events don’t cancel out the good ones. The good ones become a source of empowerment to help us through down times. We feel grateful that we’ve been blessed with this wonderful couple, it’s one of our (personal and collective for our People) blessings; and we use that to buoy us during these difficult times.”
Schusterman Wedding Menu
Knowing his way around expert food preparation, Eli Brafman, E.B. Caterers, produced a “famsmagorical” menu, enough to make New Yorkers blush. He’s also an expert at kosher catering in non-kosher venues, and sometimes that includes using a blow torch. In this case, he executed it all using field kitchens.
Eli said, “For the kabalat ponim, we had a beautiful grazing table with tri-colored homemade chips, salsa, guacamole dips, crudité, and fruit grazing table. Following the chuppah, we had a cocktail hour with four carving stations with smoked meats, turkey, a gravlax carving station with house cured salmon crostinis, roasted Japanese sweet potato, in addition to appetizers.”
Main course: Stuffed chicken roulade, tri-colored quinoa, pumpkin puree, fennel slaw, red wine reduction
Dessert: Popcorn display with toppings, dirt pudding, s’more shooters, lemon tarts, truffles, pecan pie, French mini pastries, vanilla glazed donut holes, and churros with hot Mexican chocolate.
Piece de Resistance: Hot heimesh babka with (parve) ice cream station.
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