Three Grooms
For Three Sisters

Susie and David Aisner
had a traditional ceremony.

Debi and Houman Banooni's wedding
mixed Conservative and Persian traditions
with Ashkenazi and Sephardi music.

At their Reform ceremony, Lainie and Craig Bauer
circled each other and their family.

In the course of eight months,
the Zorn girls celebrated their nuptials in three very different ways.

JULIE WIENER
StaffWriter

ithin one year, Lila and
Steve Zorn watched all
three of their daughters
Iliir march under the chup-
pah. They followed no fewer than
three different approaches to Judaism:
Traditional, Conservative and Reform.
Raised Conservative at Adat
Shalom, the girls went their separate
ways in terms of observance but all
married "nice Jewish boys," said Lila.
Each wedding had a unique flavor,
and each daughter walked away con-
vinced hers was the most perfect, said
Lila. Susie, 27, a member of Shomrey

Emunah-Ohel Moed, kicked off the
wedding season in March 1997 with a
traditional ceremony at Adat Shalom.
After a week of bride-groom separa-
tion, a drash (Torah-based lecture)
delivered by the groom and bedeckin
(unveiling), Susie circled her groom,
David Aisner, seven times, as the
proud mothers held her train.
Next came 25-year-old Debi, who
married an Iranian Jew, Houman
Banooni, in an Adat Shalom wedding
that blended Western and Eastern tra-
ditions. At the end of the ceremony,
Houman's mother danced around him
to celebrate having married off her last
child. The reception featured Ashke-
nazi and Sephardi music and dancing.

Last but not least was the Novem-
ber joining at Temple Shir Shalom of
oldest daughter Lainie, 29, to Craig
Bauer. Lainie marched around Craig,
Craig circled her and then the two cir-
cled their immediate families.
"Each wedding had its own sepa-
rate flavor," observed Susie. "No one
stepped on anyone's toes."
For Debi, having the nuptials so
close together meant her sisters were a
ready-made support group. "That can
be a very stressful time, and I felt that
I could understand if my sisters were
anxious when plans weren't working
out because I was going through the
same things myself."
How does Debi explain their differ-

ent approaches to Judaism? "Our par-
ents raised us to be our own people
but it was also important to them for
us to know how important Judaism is.
That gave us the opportunity to take
Judaism and each interpret it in a way
that best fits us."
Lila is still kvelling. "It was the
most exciting, fun year I think we
could ever have other than having
three grandchildren all in one year,"
she said. "It was so special, such a
high. Maybe next year my son will get
married."
And if 30-year-old Stuart wants to
keep the family's pluralistic pattern
going he has his choice of Reconstruc-
tionist, Humanistic or Orthodox. ❑

6/12
1998

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