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Refugee All-Stars

Huppah Dreams

by
Marc Tracy
August 22, 2011
A young man dances with a young lady.(Jodi HIlton/nYT)
A young man dances with a young lady.(Jodi HIlton/nYT)

Each Monday, we choose the most interestingly Jewish announcement from that Sunday’s New York Times Weddings/Celebrations section. The nuptials of these two seem to have all the basic goods. And the detail in this announcement in which his mother insists she was the one who introduced them although they don’t remember it is pretty priceless. But let’s go with a slightly more unconventional choice and select that of Chanda Ouk and Matthew Wolf, who were married last weekend in a ceremony blending Jewish and Cambodian traditions.

The groom’s father, Massachusetts’ chief federal district court judge, was involved in efforts to help Cambodian refugees who had fled the Killing Fields of the Khmer Rouge—people like Ouk and her parents. Inspired by his father and a Cambodian New Year celebration, Wolf adopted this social-justice cause as his own, which in turn brought the family closer to Ouk. The course of true love never did run smooth, but many years later, they started dating (while at Martha’s Vineyard, natch), and now here they are. Judging from the picture, featuring the groom’s grandmother and the bride’s nephew, the two families get along famously. And, I mean, come on, she went to Brandeis! 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.