Mazel Toy!

Sandy Lax and Stan Moretsky were married by the Sea of Galilee.

The Moretskys added a new dimension to Michigan's Miracle Mission.

LAURA FELDER

Special to the Jewish News

S

tan Moretsky and Sandy Lax
knew they wanted their reli-
gious wedding ceremony to
happen on Michigan's third
Miracle Mission to Israel in April.
They just didn't know where or when.
Then their tour bus drove along-
side the Sea of Galillee and they
knew Tiberias was the ideal location.
"It was the perfect place," Moretsky
said. "It was very beautiful and very
meaningful."
The two were legally married
prior to the Mission in a civil cere-
mony performed by their friends,

Michigan Supreme Court Justice
Marilyn Kelly and U.S. District
Judge Bernard Friedman, at Wabeek
Country Club in West Bloomfield.
Stan and Sandy had met years ago in
Huntington Woods while carpooling
their children.
They started to date eight years
ago and decided the Mission would
be the right time to get married. It is
the second marriage for both.
Having previously been through for-
mal weddings, with all of the trap-
pings, they decided to do something
different this time.
"The idea was to do the Jewish
part in Israel," said Moretsky, 55, a
surplus broker.

Lax, a 50-year-old financial planner,
said the Mission schedule and the
location made Tiberias the right spot.
There was enough time for the cere-
mony and the location was "beautiful
and romantic."
Moretsky said the Mission partici-
pants knew something was going on,
and his rabbi from Congregation
Beth Shalom, Mission participant
David Nelson, definitely knew of
the planned nuptials.
"At the last minute, we said, 'OK
everybody, we're getting married,"'
Moretsky said. "We just did it. We just
kind of winged our way through it."
Four of the travelers created a
chupah by raising Moretsky's tallit

on poles. The wedding was per-
formed by Rabbi Nelson with the
aid of flashlights. Moretsky ended
the ceremony with the tradition of
stepping on the wine glass and
everyone celebrated with glasses of
-
wine.
Rabbi Nelson said the wedding
was fabulous. It was the perfect set-
ting under the stars."
Although the Moretskys did not
choose the site for its religious signifi-
cance, Nelson noted the importance
of Tiberias as a holy city of scholars
and a place of refuge.
After the trip, the Morets
returned to begin married life in
Birmingham. P

"

6/11
1999

Detroit Jewish News

59