It was wonderful to celebrate a happy occasion. Yet, we could not forget the war. Many of the guests have loved ones fighting in Gaza. Others have lost their loved ones.
The groom’s only brother-in-law didn’t attend the wedding. It wasn’t that he hadn’t received a leave from his army service. He had, but it was to go to funerals, not weddings. You see, he was part of that unit which lost twenty-one soldiers Monday after terrorists fired RPSs at the two buildings they were in. He was in the third building.
At one point I was imagining it was Avinatan Or and Noa Argamani underneath the wedding canopy. Today is Avinaton thirty-first birthday. After 110 days of captivity, what shape is he in? I don’t want to think about it.
No, no one forgot the war. It was mentioned with the speeches and the blessings. And, yet, somehow or other the wedding was not maudlin. In fact, it was quite joyous. Even as many of us had tears rolling down our faces, we celebrated life and the continuation of it.
Am Yisroel Chai! The Jewish People Live!
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