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From: buchbind@agrigene.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.religion.jewish
Subject: Re: throwing candy
Message-ID: <193@agrigene.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 16-Aug-85 19:28:48 EDT
Article-I.D.: agrigene.193
Posted: Fri Aug 16 19:28:48 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 20-Aug-85 06:41:13 EDT
References: <741@lsuc.UUCP> <344@mhuxi.UUCP>
Organization: Agrigenetics Madison,Wi.
Lines: 33

> []
> David S. Green   ..mhuxi!dsg

> Now I am going to speculate a little bit.  The Mishna ( Keth. 2,1 ) says that
> food should be thrown only if the bride is deemed to be a virgin.  Since today
> this is not usually the case, the food is thrown at the Aufruf and not at the
> wedding.

	40 years ago, when virginity was more common, and today in strictly
Orthodox congregations, where virginity is reasonablely presumed, I believe
candy was/is thrown at the aufruf, not wedding.

> Now why has this spread to barmitzvahs?  Well, I can guess that since
> the Mishna says "if the bride is deemed a virgin" maybe some people think that
> the bridegroom should also be a virgin.  Since this is even rarer, one should
> throw food at the barmitzvah -- you stand a better chance of finding a virgin.

	I've seen congregations where it was also thrown the 1st time a person
read Torah, regardless if the person was married or not.  If you want metaphor,
how about the Bar Mitzvah/Ba'al Korah as being seen as the bridegroom (or
perhaps bride for our egalirarian friends) to the Torah?
	(Actually it is the nature of customs that the explainations changes
readily while the ritual changes slowly, if at all.  Try making up you own
explaination/meaning.  It might be valid as any other.  (An example:  the first
record we have of the breaking of a glass at a wedding, commonly explained
as a reminder of the destruction of the temple, was within a century of that
event.  The Temple wasn't mentioned.  It was explained as a reminder of
death - to provide a balence to the joy of the occasion.  The first record
of the Temple explaination is only about a century and a half old.))
-- 
Barry Buchbinder				(608)221-5000
Agrigenetics Corp.; 5649 E. Buckeye Rd.; Madison WI 53716 USA
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