A Chorus of Mazel Tovs in Uganda (original) (raw)

Fashion|A Chorus of Mazel Tovs in Uganda

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/22/fashion/jewish-weddings-in-uganda.html

You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.

Vows

From left, Naomi Namusoosa, Rachael Naigaga, and Naume Lunyato were three of the five Jewish brides who married Aug. 8 in the Namutumba District of Uganda.Credit...Merissa Nathan Gerson

Sept. 22, 2017

Seven years ago, Shadrach Mugoya Levi drove three hours from his rural village of Magada in the Namutumba District of Uganda to find a woman named Naomi. His friends had insisted he meet her. When he arrived at her house, her mother answered the door and said: “No, my daughter is too young.”

“At first I feared him,” said Naomi Namusoosa of that introduction. She was 16 at the time, and he was 21.

Mr. Levi, an orphan who helped raise himself and two of his younger siblings up from poverty, was looking for a wife. “A good woman, someone who will be so nice to me, a good listener, and a cook who will not give me a hard time,” he said.

“He was beautiful,” Ms. Namusoosa said. “By the time I really met him, I saw the way he was talking to me. He was kind.”

Image

Naomi Namusoosa and Shadrach Mugoya Levi on the morning of their wedding day. Mr. Levi is the spiritual leader of the Namutumba Abayudaya, a Jewish community in Uganda.Credit...Merissa Nathan Gerson

Mr. Levi waited for her for three years. Then, in 2013, he returned to formally ask permission to marry Ms. Namusoosa.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT