Jacob's Wedding

Abstract

IN SEVERAL PLACES the midrash embellishes the biblical account of the events surrounding Jacob's marriage to Laban's daughter. Genesis Rabbah 70.19, in an expansion that clearly has its roots in the Bible's words at Gn 29.25, rTX6 bi rrnh, reports that the local guests recited praises and uttered the following, rTXi IX WM m 'rt.1 The closest to a satisfactory understanding of these words comes from Ginzberg, who so understands the tenor of the passage: [The guests] tried to give him [Jacob] a hint of Laban's purpose. In the marriage ode which they sang they used the refrain halia in the hope that he would understand it as Ha Lea, 'This is Leah.' 2 Ginzberg is, it seems to me, fundamentally right. He leaves unanswered, however, the central question. While he refers to the marriage ode's refrain halia, he fails to tell us what this refrain is. I think it possible to identify this mysterious word halia, and its origin. Greek weddings and probably Roman ones as well included as part of their ritual the guests singing a form of ululation, a combination of the sound 1 with a vowel. Thus, we have ololu (as indicated by , kokS(w))} FkXgkX (FX,Xkitw), &tfotfoa (aXkakX6gw). In Sappho's description of the wedding of Hector and Andromache, we read y1'VAlKFg 6' FXFX,o(bov (fr. 44.3 13). At Euripides' Heracles 10-11, all the Thebans celebrate Megara on her marriage with wedding songs and ululations,