The last Jewish wedding to take place in the state was in 2008 after a gap of nearly two decades at the Thekkumbhagam synagogue, Mattancherry.As the number of participants were limited inside the synagogue, the families decided to conduct the ceremony at the private resort in order to allow other family members also to witness in the rituals.According to some historians, the first Jews to reach Kerala were traders and they came during the time of King Solomon, that is, more than 2,000 years back.Only a few families are right now left in the state.
visiting death row. reporter: was it love at second sight? i think at that point it was third. reporter: he was 43, she was 38. religion an issue? with the two of you? i mean, i m thinking no we ve talked about it. reporter: irish catholic and a jewish girl from arizona. nope, not an issue. not for me. not for her. you know, it s you know, we certainly we certainly talked about it. you know, like if we would ever have kids, you know, how would we do that? we discussed it. we came up with a plan. reporter: to get married, she borrowed a dress from a friend. the wedding itself was a melting pot of customs. we had the combination, military reporter: mariachis jewish wedding. reporter: chuppah. chuppah, it s all lit up. she s beautiful. i m looking in her eyes and it just starts to rain. reporter: it was a mist that
lasted the length of the vows. and then it just stopped. it was just it was just incredible. reporter: also at the wedding, his two daughters who live as he does in houston near nasa, while the congresswoman lives in d.c. and tucson. and sometimes 200 miles up in space, gave new meaning to long-distance relationship. so, what about this marriage. there you are traveling at, what, 17,000 i ll get this one wrong 17,500 miles an hour. reporter: thank you very much. 17,500 miles an hour. she s traveling in her own version of 17,500 miles per hour. yes. reporter: you see each other, what? how often? we make it work. that s all we ve ever done. we spend an awful lot of time on the phone. i think we probably talk a lot more than your average married couple. every night we re on the phone probably for an hour, hour and a half. reporter: she has said, when he launched atop 1.6 million pounds of rocket fuel, she always feared it was the last time she might speak to him.