By COLlive reporter
Beis Din Rabbonei Chabad, the rabbinical authority of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement in Israel, issued new guidelines on holding weddings during the outbreak of coronavirus.
The rabbis were asked about holding weddings at a time when Israel’s Health Ministry is limiting the gathering of crowds to up to 10 people.
“It is our opinion that all weddings should be held on the scheduled date and not to postpone them, while obviously following all instructions from the Health Ministry,” the rabbis wrote on Monday.
“With Hashem’s help, when the general (health) situation has improved, and it will be possible to celebrate with a large crowd – they should mark their wedding with a gourmet feast attended by family and friends to bring joy to the chosson and kallah.”
Signed on the letter were Rabbi Yitzchok Yehuda Yaroslavsky (Kiryat Malachi), Rabbi Avrohom Michoel Halperin (Jerusalem), Rabbi Menachem Mendel Gluckowsky (Rechovot), Rabbi Yochanan Gurary (Holon), Rabbi Yosef Hecht (Eilat), Rabbi Moshe Havlin (Kiryat Gat) and Rabbi Yosef Hendel (Migdal Haemek).
In Israel, many rushed to hold weddings before the national ban on crowds take effect. One widely shared clip showed a couple joyously celebrating their wedding with family and friends while keeping to the restrictions.
VIDEO:
Mendy Gruzman, a host on Kahn Moreshet radio in Israel, is set to get married in 3 weeks to Dina Gopin, both are residents of Kfar Chabad. “There won’t be an ‘event’ but we are getting married!” he said in a video message.
“If the current restrictions continue, we will, of course, get married, with Hashem’s help, but with only a minyan – parents, close family, a rabbi, 2 witnesses, the chosson and kallah, and maybe a friend or two,” he said.
In a message to fellow chassanim, Gruzman added: “A day after the simcha – or what was meant to be the simcha, you are starting your life and you want to start them healthy without risking yourselves or any of your acquaintances.”
My aunt and uncle just celebrated their 60th anniversary. The wedding was held in my grandparents’ living room because my grandfather had suffered a heart attack two months prior. The money that would have been spent on the celebration went to the young couple. They have had happy decades together.
What’s the big deal to push off a wedding?
Asking seriously.
the rebbe many times
also makes sense logically based on human nature