Twenty-eight Jewish couples from the Soviet Union were “remarried” under the chupah in Adas Israel Synagogue in nearby Hamilton, Ontario recently by Robbi Morton Green, the synagogue’s spiritual leader. To the strains of “mazel-tov, mazeltov” they walked down the aisle of the synagogue for the first time in their lives openly proud of being Jews.
The ceremony was shared by friends and relatives, some members of the congregation and the Hamilton Jewish community and officials of the Jewish Immigrant Aid Services of Canada who had come to see for themselves what is already becoming a tradition in this city of 5000 Jews 40 miles west of Toronto: a mass Jewish wedding for immigrants from the USSR.
It was the third year in succession that the ceremony has taken place, and with more immigrants expected; next year’s wedding may be the biggest yet. The initiator is Green, an Orthodox rabbi who has welcomed the newcomers into his shul. Carol Krames, the Jewish Social Services director, was responsible for the wedding preparations, and his teaching staff was responsible for the instruction in Yiddishkeit available for those who wanted it.
Prior to the wedding, Green spent hours interviewing each couple, obtaining personal information and, when necessary, bestowing upon them Hebrew names.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
