Beautiful

At a Chuppah today, I learned about beauty.

The wind was blowing, but the canopy representing their future home stood still. The Chosson stood swaying with his eyes scrunched, beside the woman he would soon call his wife.

Chuppahs always makes me choke up. The niggun. The focus. The joy. The intensity. I closed my eyes to offer a personal prayer during the auspicious time that is every wedding ceremony.

I was lost in thought when a woman showed up to my left, poking her nose upwards, trying to make sight of the bride. When she finally did, she said in a loud whisper, "Wow, she looks beautiful."

I was snapped out of my dreamy chuppah state and immediately refocused on the bride. As expected, her face was still covered by cloth.

The woman's comment echoed in my head.

Beautiful? You can't even see her face! Not her beautifully done make up. Not her beautiful hair. Not even her beautiful smile. Whats so beautiful?

I focused intently on the bride.

Then I realized, this woman was seeing something else. She was talking about a different kind of beauty.

The woman saw a bride in her most private and powerful state. A bride standing under a canopy representing her new home. A bride soaked in her sincerest of blessings. She saw a bride standing beside the man that will father her children; the man that she will greet everyday until 120 years old. She saw a regal figure that will, in a moments time, become a wife.

I joined the woman and gazed at the bride, my friend whose face was completely covered. And, indeed, I have never seen someone more beautiful.