On Tuesday night, at Hangar 11 at the Tel Aviv port, ten young couples stood under their wedding canopies, holding ceremonies delayed due to the outbreak of the war with Hamas.
The grooms were all IDF soldiers deployed in Gaza over the past several months. In an initiative of Chabad-Lubavitch emissary Rabbi Shmuel Bistritsky of Chabad of Savyon, an enormous and moving wedding celebration was held Tuesday night, honoring the ten couples.
Throughout the past several weeks, Rabbi Bistritsky and his wife have been working with the brides and grooms, holding meetings with them, as well as prayer sessions and Torah classes.
The excitement reached its peak earlier this week, when the ten grooms arrived at the Western Wall to pray ahead of their weddings. There, at the Jewish People's holiest site, Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi David Lau spoke to them, offering words of inspiration about the deeper meaning of the Jewish wedding day.
Meanwhile, the brides participated in an evening of inspiration with Rebbetzin Bistritsky, taking part in a challah-baking ceremony and praying together for the success of their upcoming marriages.
Ten Chabad-Lubavitch rabbis and emissaries from around the country took part in the wedding ceremony, as the crowd watched the historic and emotional wedding ceremony, the likes of which have never yet been seen before in Israel.
The wedding was attended by thousands. Prior to the ceremony, the traditional wedding tune composed by the Ba'al Hatanya, Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, was played.
During the wedding ceremony, Chabad-Lubavitch emissary to Tel Aviv Rabbi Shmuel Gerlitzky gave a moving speech, and Rabbi Elad Cohen, an emissary from Kfar Saba, recited the Priestly Blessing.
Throughout the evening, Israeli artists played songs of faith and tradition, bringing joy to the brides and grooms.
"The enemy wanted to destroy and divide us - but we are here this evening, giving them our Jewish answer: Another Jewish home, and another Jewish home," Rabbi Bistritsky said emotionally.
