Jesus College hosts first Jewish wedding in its 500-year history

There was a chupah, there was a chazan, there was glass-breaking and Israeli dancing. And, after that, grace was recited in Latin.

This was the incongruent yet beautiful ceremony at the marriage of Stephanie Posner and Johnny Harounoff, the first couple to have a Jewish wedding at Jesus College, Cambridge in its 500-year history. 

? 2024 William Jupp Photography, all rights reserved.

The primary reason for this unusual choice for such an event was personal. The pair had met as undergraduates at Jesus College some years ago, in their kosher halls of residence, when Stephanie was reading classics and Johnny was studying Arabic and Middle Eastern history.

Back then their cluster of friends formed the Jews for Jesus College Society, and the couple fondly recall their kashrut needs being met by university.

“We just thought that bringing it all back together in the place where we met, which is so beautiful and historic and meaningful for us, would be lovely,” said Stephanie.

They approached their old college in hope, knowing that it holds only a few weddings a year – let alone ones of a different faith. “They told us right at the outset, ‘We really don’t know what to expect. We’ve never had a Jewish wedding before.’”

By the time the go-ahead came, they had just eight weeks to organise their wedding.

Their caterer travelled up to Cambridge to survey the facilities and figure out how he would bring in his own ovens to enable the food to be kosher. “It was quite a logistical challenge,” said Stephanie, recalling how the guests enjoyed salt beef and latkes at the reception and shawarma at the dinner.

At first, some friends and family – 80 of whom attended their big day – thought their ambitious plans “a bit mad”, and the location “inconvenient”.

“Ultimately, it made sense once we explained where we were doing it, because it was like a full-circle moment for us,” Johnny said. “That’s where our story together began, and that’s where we were going to begin this next chapter of our lives together, celebrating with all of these people, some of whom were alumni of the college as well.”

Top of their agenda was blending the archaic traditions of Cambridge University with their Jewish ones.

“It was important for us to give our friends and family the Cambridge and Jesus College experience, because it’s something that we really enjoyed while we were there,” said Stephanie. “So we infused various elements into the whole weekend, and we tried to bring in all of the highlights of Cambridge.”

That included the wedding breakfast being situated at the long table in the formal dining hall, and one of the bride’s university friends reading grace in Latin, but removing all mentions of Jesus Christ to make it more simcha-friendly. Johnny also created a magazine providing guests with a list of both Jewish terms and Cambridge parlance, to help them understand college way of life. The day after the wedding, they took guests punting down the River Cam.

The couple also turned their simcha into a mini-May ball celebration, with fire-eaters, human hedges, a magician and “disco ball head” dancers, while the music included Israeli, disco, funk, hip hop and Afrobeat.

Stephanie said, “We got thrown up on chairs at multiple points, including in the dining hall, where I don’t think anyone has ever been thrown up on a chair to Israeli music before.”

They also invited the college porters to watch the ceremony, which was officiated by Rabbi Odom Brandman of Chabad Buckhurst Hill.

At a time when some Jewish students have felt marginalised, it felt important to celebrate their Jewishness at the famed British institution.

“It’s important to celebrate being proud of being Jewish,” Stephanie said. “That’s what we did when we were students, and that’s what we continue to do now and through the wedding.”