Marriage

Hila never thought she would marry a short guy. Sharon never thought he would marry a tall girl. Never say never.

Sharon Daniel loved his medical school studies at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, but he had other interests as well. In the fall of 2008, he enrolled in a pottery class. “For three hours a week, I was in another world,” says Sharon.

Jeremy Blachman saw the success of his debut novel in 2006. Right before that, he loaned his only bound copy to Nina Langsam. "I realized there would be a second date," says Nina.

They had met a year earlier, at a Princeton University reunion. Jeremy '00 had majored in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and wrote musical comedy sketches and songs for the Triangle Club. Nina '03 had been a biology major and was voted president of the student government. Both were friends with Zach Pincus-Roth.

A bill permitting civil marriage in Israel, which the government of Ehud Olmert had promised to propose, is finally ready for submission to the Knesset. But its chief advocates are opposed, saying it is too narrowly drawn.

In a renewed effort by the Orthodox movementís Rabbinical Council of America to prevent future instances in which husbands refuse to grant their wives a get or religious divorce, the organization has adopted a resolution asking members to refuse to officiate at weddings at which the couple has not signed a prenuptial agreement. Rabbi Basil Herring, executive vice president of the RCA, said that about five years ago 60 percent of his organization's more than 950 members said they would make every effort to encourage couples to sign a prenuptial agreement.