Russian City Sees First Traditional Jewish Weddings in Eight Decades

For the first time in 80 years, Jews in the walled Russian city of Smolensk celebrated a traditional kosher wedding when two local couples held a joint ceremony on the grounds of the Chabad-Lubavitch center. Rabbi Levi Mondshine, director of the center and chief rabbi of Smolensk, officiated at both weddings, which despite the cold and snowy weather, took place underneath the traditional Jewish wedding canopy known as a chuppah