Groom, Bride and 17 Weddings
According to the media, this year's Night of Museums turned out to look like a happy hour for the Grand Choral Synagogue of St. Petersburg. Being for the second time, part 
of the International event when museums and cultural institutions open doors for public at night, the Synagogue managed to become one of the greatest attractions in town.
People were spending hours in that endless line around the nearest blocks, just to get inside the Synagogue and see everything with their own eyes. ...
And there really was a lot to see...
An appealing Bride, joyful Groom and sage Rabi, those were the impersonations by Elena Slabkovskaya, Mark Gluzman and Victor Amchislavski, who managed to survive in this permanent five hours long wedding marathon. They were trying to tell the visitors as much about the traditional Jewish wedding as they could.
The grateful audience was totally stunned and impressed by the creativity and attitude of these enthusiasts who're not even professional actors in the real life. Elena Slabkovskaya is doing a research on the mutual influence of Hebrew and Spanish. Mark Gluzman is majoring in medicine and planning on becoming a surgeon. Victor Amchislavski, the wise Rabi, is on staff at the Synagogue, he is a historian getting his PhD.
In total, the played the whole wedding routine 17 times in a row, repeating the procedure over and over again, keeping more and more visitors entertained.
"...I actually wanted to give'em a smile or even good laugh sometimes, tell a joke! But the second thought was about the fact that my role is way too serious, I'm a bride who is supposed to be concentrated and concerned, my whole life's being taken care of this very moment, so I must stay serious and humbled by the importance of the moment", says Elena, the Bride.
"No one seemed disappointed after spending hours in the line, on that sleepless night, people were entirely happy to see us, curious about what was going on, asking endless questions, filming us and taking pictures, everyone seemed so happy and involved into the action we were performing", claims Mark, the Groom.
"The Synagogue inspires people. I've seen so many happy faces of those who were impressed and really interested in what we were trying to tell them. No one seemed sleepy despite the fact it was already 6 in the morning. I am totally happy about having got the chance to talk about the history and traditions of our people, that was very, very exciting", exclaims Victor Amchislavski, the Rabi.
The Traditional Jewish Wedding was far not the only thing to see in the Synagogue on the Open Night. Visitors were also taken on tour around the building. Curious guests were skillfully inducted into all basic facts of the Jewish tradition and Religion and heard many other seldom told stories of the buildings's history and architecture.
By Dima Sharov
