NEW BRUNSWICK — During a wedding ceremony in which the traditional sound of a ram's horn competed with the occasional sounds of motorcycles and buses, Rabbi Ephraim Carlebach, the spiritual leader of the Chabad House in Holmdel, married Rochel Klein of Melbourne, Australia, in an Orthodox Jewish ceremony held on College Avenue. Given permission by the city of New Brunswick, the Chabad House on the Rutgers campus was allowed to block College Avenue between Senior Street and Richardson Street for the ceremony early Thursday evening. Carlebach is the son of Rabbi Yosef Carlebach, who founded the Jewish ministry at Rutgers in 1978, and supervised construction of the Les Turchin Chabad House, which opened in 1996 and provides living space for 35 women students. Adhering to Orthodox Jewish custom, the ceremony was held outdoors. During a blessing, the couple was told the open-air ceremony symbolizes hopes for a marriage that would produce offspring "as numerous as the star.'' The blessing mirrors the one given in the Torah to Abraham. The blessing was one of several elements of the ceremony drawn from scripture written thousands of years ago. Prior to the ceremony, the bride and bridegroom met inside the house, where the groom placed a veil over the face of Klein, a tradition that traces back to when when Rebeccah covered her face prior to her marriage to Isaac. The couple was married under a traditional canopy, known as a chupah. The tradition is based on mention in the Torah when Ruth said to Boaz "spread your robe over your husband.'' The bride came to the ceremony in a vintage cream-colored Bentley automobile. The groom's brother, Mendy Carlebach, head of the Chabad House in South Brunswick and spiritual advisor to Rutgers students, said how the ceremony would not have been likely to be done on College Avenue several weeks from now when the university begins classes. On Thursday night, only a handful of vehicles were instructed to take a detour. The ceremony drew curious looks from students leaving Alexander Library, cyclists and two city police officers who monitored traffic. The new Chabad House on the Rutgers campus is the largest Jewish center on any university campus in the country. It was modeled after the Lubavitch world headquarters in Crown Heights in New York City. The facility is being expanded from 35,000 square feet to 90,000 square feet and will add dorm space for 50 men.

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