Here you’ll find a selection of testimonials from people who have participated in Secular Humanistic Jewish life and interacted with our rabbis.
To Rabbi Jodi Kornfeld: “The day was so beautiful and you added so much beauty to our wedding. Your warmth and being apart of our day was so amazing. It was meant to be. Thank you for being apart of our day!”
Rabbi Miriam Jerris conducts a lakeside wedding.
To Rabbi Miriam Jerris: “I just wanted to drop you a quick thank you. Mark had been very nervous to meet with you this past weekend. He had been very hesitant to meet with anyone I suggested that was even kind of linked to Judaism. He was also unsure of having a woman officiant since he had only ever had male church leaders. But you made a huge impression on him. All his worries and insecurities disappeared after meeting with you. He was truly excited to have met you and discuss our wedding. He was finally at ease with the whole idea. As I’m sure you know finding the right officiant can be extremely difficult especially as an interfaith couple. It can be a major strain on the relationship and finding someone that can understand and communicate what it is we are going through is amazing and rare. I still can’t get over what an impression you had on him. As we were driving away Saturday, I asked him if he was comfortable with the decision to have you marry us. He suddenly went on to tell me how amazing and knowledgeable you are, even going so far as to say “she’s brilliant,” not a compliment he gives out lightly. Thank you so much for helping us. Choosing who would marry us has been a difficult topic of discussion for years now. I am so glad I could introduce him to someone we could both agree on and be truly happy with.”
About Rabbi Adam Chalom: “We LOVED LOVED LOVED Rabbi Chalom!! From our first meeting with him, we knew we would never find a better of officiant of any religion for us. I’m Jewish and dh is a nonpracticing Catholic of Mexican descent. We wanted to be married by a rabbi but the few we met with before Rabbi Chalom really rubbed us the wrong way. We wanted to incorporate both Mexican and Jewish traditions into our ceremony, namely the laso and the breaking the glasses. First off, its hard to find a rabbi who will officiate a mixed marriage. The others we did talk to were super expensive, we’re talking $800 for an hr of work. this one rabbi insisted we have mariachi music. Umm, maybe if he paid for it and rolled his eyes when we said both our parents were divorced. Rabbi Chalom is so non-judgemental. Fi went in to our first meeting ready to say how wonderful he thought the Jewish faith was and how he was interested in converting (which he really is considering despite my lack of religiosity) when Rabbi Chalom says, “Hold on, the only thing I need to know to marry the 2 of you is do you love each other.” Awwwww… He melted us right there. He asked us where we met how long we’d been together, what we liked best about eachother. He got us all mushy about eachother. He was full of helpful advice, everything from invitation wording with divorced parents to whether or not to have a huppah. At the ceremony he was this calming force who soothed my frazzled mother while getting ready, and calmed fi and I. He gave such a beautiful talk about us that was so personal it made me cry. He talked about how we are such a great team and how this was only making the love we had been sharing for 11 years official and was a way to share it with our friends and family. Everyone keeps telling me how great he was on both sides of the family. He also suggsted we both break different color glasses and then put them together in a mosaic or something to keep. What a great idea! He is a humanist rabbi so the only thing you have to know is he will not mention god. Even in Hebrew, he does a prayer over the wine in Hebrew that refers to the rabbis of the past as opposed to god. That was fine with us. And our religious Jewish and Catholic relatives still thought it was beautiful. He charged $450. A bargain for everything he provided.”
Rabbi Adam Chalom shares a moment with newlyweds
To Rabbi Jeffrey Falick: “You were absolutely wonderful — and are! Emmanuelle and Jonathan could not have enjoyed a more heartfelt, upbeat, multicultural service. …Your mitzvah will echo in the productive and loving lives of an extraordinary couple and their family. Thank you.