Guests at the wedding of Yarin Ma’oz and Noa Yizraeli experienced especially emotional moments, when the father of Captain Ma’oz Israel Recanati z"l went up to serve as a witness under the wedding canopy in place of his son, who was supposed to take part in the ceremony but fell in battle in southern Lebanon.
The crowd was moved when Eliyahu Recanati walked toward the chuppah in place of his son. During the ceremony, the groom delivered remarks linking the joy of his wedding to the heavy loss of his close friend.
“Just before breaking the glass I want to say a few words," said Yarin. “The breaking of the glass reminds us of the destruction of Jerusalem. From the destruction of Jerusalem, I also have a personal destruction that struck me three weeks ago. Ma’oz, my brother, who was supposed to stand here with us under the chuppah-and to stand under his own chuppah in a week-fell in battle in Lebanon on the 28th of Iyar."
He added: “Ma’oz was supposed to be here and rejoice with us today. He was supposed to be a witness at the wedding. Ma’oz, my brother, I want you to know that our home will be built on your values-your humility, your modesty, and your love of the Land of Israel. Every home they destroy, we will rebuild."
Recanati z"l, a platoon commander in Battalion 12 of the Golani Brigade, was killed several weeks ago by a drone explosive strike in southern Lebanon. Just days before his death, he had registered for marriage with his fiancée Roni.
At his funeral, Rabbi Daniel Luntzer, rabbi of the Itamar community, eulogized him and recounted their last meeting: “Exactly one week before you ascended in a storm to heaven in battle, last Friday you were at my house with Roni, your fiancée; you registered for marriage. Both of you were full of goodness and purity, with an idealistic desire to build a home of love and purity. Your modest smile does not leave my eyes."
The rabbi added that during that meeting he prepared a draft ketubah (marriage contract) for the couple ahead of their planned wedding: “We spoke about building a home of eternity, about the revelation of the soul within the home. At that meeting I prepared for you a copy of the ketubah for your upcoming wedding."
“I am reading what I wrote," said the rabbi in a choked voice as he read the ketubah he had prepared at his home together with the late Ma’oz and his fiancée Roni.
The rabbi mourned the heavy loss for the family and the entire public following Ma’oz’s death: “And you went in the paths of the holy and pure, shining like the radiance of the heavens. What a magnificent home the nation has lost, what a loss, what sorrow-we have a hole in the heart."
At the end of his remarks, the rabbi turned to Roni and said: “With God’s help you will build a holy and pure home, full of love, brotherhood, peace, and friendship. The Holy One, blessed be He, the judge of widows and father of orphans, will also take care of you, and greater will be the glory of the latter house than the first."