By Aviva Bahbut
We just married in Jerusalem. You don’t know us? No problem! Neither did the 400 or so people who showed up at our wedding on Sunday.
We are both 40 years old with children from previous marriages. We actually met online and had been planning to get married next month. But the war changed everything. My husband, Yisrael, has been in the military for most of his adult life, and when he got called up, we felt the urge to marry right away, even if it meant that our family and friends could not attend.
We talked it through and decided to have a modest wedding before Yisrael reported for duty and his family was unable to leave their homes in the south, where rocket fire was ongoing and danger was everywhere.
The plan was simple: a quick ceremony at the local rabbinate, and then Yisrael would rejoin his unit a few days later.
With Yisrael away at his base, I prepared for what I knew would be a small wedding. We did not need invitations, meals or even fancy clothes. But the one thing I did need was a tallit, for me to give to Yisrael.
But how could I choose a tallit? I know nothing about them. So I called a rabbi I had never met before, and asked him to help me. Within a few hours, he had the tallit.
Then on Sunday morning, my son told me that it felt wrong to have no party at all. “Let’s pick up some rugelach and have a small celebration at home with a few friends,” he insisted.
My mother recently passed but I could invite some friends, I thought. Since Yisrael’s family was unable to leave their hometown of Dimona and his buddies were busy defending our people, he would have no guys to celebrate with him.
The rabbi said he would bring a few fellows to join the celebration and help make it festive.
The rabbi posted the request on social media and I don’t even know what happened next ... Everyone wanted to come celebrate! They felt it was not just Aviva and Yisrael’s wedding; it was the People of Israel’s wedding.
Within hours, a hall, food, a photographer, musicians, and a full crowd appeared—the goodwill of Jewish people wishing to celebrate with a brother and sister they’d never met.
The joy in the hall was indescribable. Singing, dancing, hugging. It went on and on.
I felt G-d’s presence with us there in the wedding hall. I had planned a modest wedding since I believed that getting married was what G-d wanted from me at that moment. I never imagined He would send me 400 guests!
To paraphrase the prophet Jeremiah: And it was heard in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, the sound of mirth and the sound of joy, the voice of a bridegroom and the voice of a bride.
