Editorial: It's Purim, take the plunge

Humor columnist Dave Barry refers to his readers as “concerned citizens.” Well, concerned citizens drew our attention to a pair of wonderful events that took place two days apart this week — the engagement of a young couple at a yeshiva dinner, of all places; and the marriage of a much older couple at a restaurant in the Five Towns.

It’s hard to say which event was more enchanting (yeah, we said it). On the one hand is a young man who clearly has more than a little flair for the creative, as well as a great deal of courage (did we mention we thought he was very brave?) to arrange to make his proposal of marriage quite so publicly.

Her parents were right there, of course — they were the guests of honor at the dinner, after all, which also meant that most of their nearest and dearest were there, as well. Can you imagine if she’d said no? What a family story that would have been; the stuff of lore and legend for a dozen generations, no doubt.

But it turned out well. That Adar luck held. The gamble paid off and she said yes. Now, there’s an even better family story to tell — and we wish that beautiful young couple every happiness, and every success that life has to offer.

On the other hand we have a new bride and groom who, shall we say, have seen quite a bit more of the world, and lived a lot more, than the first couple; the bride demurely puts their combined age at 167.

If you do the math that puts them at an age when many, if not most, people are glad simply to wake up in the morning; slowing down and then some. Instead, this charming couple — and they are both charming — are embarking on a new adventure and chapter in their lives that would give many younger people great pause.

After speaking to both the bride and groom, it doesn’t actually seem like such a mystery. Among the details picked up in short conversations we learned, among other things, that each has an e-mail address. A meaningless point? We think not.

It indicates not only an inclination but also an ability to embrace, rather than shy away from, the new. The bride retired from teaching English in 1981. Computers would have been too easy to avoid. The groom is active in the community and a practicing attorney; most people in his position, of his age, pay other people to use computers for them.

It makes one shake his head to compare them to the Israeli rosh yeshiva we watched on YouTube this week, proudly smashing a laptop — a more than symbolic, and breathtakingly wrongheaded, repudiation of modernity. (We’ll leave aside the Purim-Torah aspect that saw the destruction captured on video and posted online).

Wait — we promised to keep this light. Back to the newly engaged and the newlywed. May each continue to bravely embrace the risky and the challenging, living life to the fullest in good health, until 120.

Happy Purim to all.