Sweden Hosts First Jewish Gay Wedding
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
The Great Synagogue of Stockholm hosted Sweden’s first Jewish gay wedding.
The couple, two men who had been living together for the past 28 years, was wed at the synagogue on Sunday at a ceremony conducted by Rabbi David Lazar and attended by some 50 people.
“They only invited close friends because it was their wedding, and they didn’t want it turning into a political event or something of the sort,” said Lena Posner-Korosi, president of the Council of Swedish Jewish Communities, who attended the ceremony.
The online edition of the Swedish magazine QX reported Tuesday that the men, Ruben Ben Dor and Stefan Gustafsson, have been members of the Great Synagogue of Stockholm — a Conservative congregation — since 1990, when Gustafsson returned to Sweden after living for some years in Israel. Both men are gardening enthusiasts and create postcards of flora in collaboration with a Swedish photographer, the website reported.
“We were lucky to have four good friends who came from abroad to be our witnesses, and four other friends to hold up the chuppah,” Gustafsson said. He added he and his husband were “recovering from a great day and wonderful celebration.”
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
