Lecture with Dr. Natan Meir: “The Cholera Wedding: A Magical Ritual to End an Epidemic”

This session explores the history and meaning of a peculiar ritual that emerged among East European Jews in the 19th century: to stop the spread of an epidemic, the community would marry its most vulnerable and marginalized members—orphans, beggars, and the disabled—to each other in a wedding held in the cemetery. We will examine an array of historical and literary sources that illuminate this hidden corner of Jewish life.