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Old School

Huppah Dreams

by
Marc Tracy
April 18, 2011
Mitchell Weiser and Emily Levin.(NYT)
Mitchell Weiser and Emily Levin.(NYT)

Each Monday, we choose the most interestingly Jewish announcement from that Sunday’s New York Times Weddings/Celebrations section. There were a startlingly large number of Universal Life ministers doing the officiating this week, including at weddings involving obvious Jews. What’s weird is the church itself appears primiarly to exist to allow layfolk to become ordained to perform weddings. Kids: If it’s important to you to have your friend marry you and the religion is irrelevant, just get them licensed by the state, or just have a non-religious wedding. No reason to endorse this Universal Life stuff!

This week’s featured nuptials are between Emily Levin and Mitchell Weiser, fourth-year med students at SUNY-Stony Brook in, respectively, anesthesiology and orthopedic surgery. The two realized that their relationship might be more than a Platonic one due to a well-timed Hanukkah present. And they were married last night by a rabbi, because, as with bow-ties on tuxedos and red wine with steak, sometimes the old-fashioned touch is best. Mazel tov to the happy couple!

Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.