Captured On Film
A young couple finds a
photographic connection
in their relationship.
Ron and Jackie
Lorfel were married
June 29, 1969.
Bobbie and
Gary Miller
were married
June 29, 1969.
Elissa and Jason will marry June 20, 1999.
0
n Sunday, June 29, 1969,
photographer Jack Gorback
knew he had a busy day
ahead of him.
In the afternoon, he took pictures at
Adas Shalom Synagogue at the wedding
of Gary and Bobbie (Gudes) Miller.
Then he went to Congregation Shaarey
Zedek to photograph the wedding of
Ron and Jackie (Gilson) Lorfel.
He never suspected that, 30 years
later, his son Les would be the photogra-
pher at the wedding of Gary and
Bobbie's son and Ron and Jackie's
daughter.
The Millers ana the Lorfels will mark
their 30th year of marriage at the wed-
ding of their children, Jason Miller and
Elissa Lorfel, on Sunday evening, June
20, at Adat Shalom Synagogue.
When Elissa and Jason discovered
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52 Detroit Jewish News
their
parents' shared
wedding date, and photographer,
they knew their own wedding was besh-
ert (meant to be).
Elissa and Jason have been dating
since November, 1994, when they were
students at Michigan State University.
They discovered their parents shared the
same wedding day the following June
when they were discussing what to buy
for the anniversaries.
The similarities do not end there.
When the Miller family had Shabbat
dinner at the Lorfels a few years ago,
they realized that the Lorfel home was
the exact
same model
as their own.
Although the
Lorfels live in a
Farmington
Hills subdivision
(Rolling Oaks),
and the Millers
live in a West
Bloomfield neigh-
borhood (Lone
Pine Estates), both
homes were built by the same builder
and have the same floor plan. Early on
in the relationship, neither Jason nor
Elissa felt like strangers in each other's
homes.
The Lorfels and Millers have become
great friends during the four years the
couple have been dating. They have
become one extended family, sharing
holiday meals and simchas.
Elissa, who graduated from Michigan
State in 1996, is now student-teaching
to complete her certification in elemen-
tary education from Eastern Michigan
University. Jason is completing his first
year of rabbinical school at the Jewish
Theological Seminary of America in
New York City. Both the bride and
groom have made the rounds teaching
at synagogues in the Detroit area,
including Adat Shalom, Shaarey Zedek,
Shir Shalom and B'nai Moshe.
Rabbis Daniel Nevins and Efry
Spectre of Adat Shalom, and Paul
Yedwab of Temple Israel, will marry the
couple at Adat Shalom in June.
Following a honeymoon in Hawaii,
Elissa and Jason will work at Camp
Ramah in Nyack, N.Y. The couple will
then make Manhattan their home while
Jason completes his studies at the
Seminary and they will spend a year in
Jerusalem.
They wonder if Les Gorback is pho-
tographing any other weddings on June
20th. It could be another match made
in heaven! E