_a.jpg "Photo courtesy of JDate")
Make love not war
Producer Eliran Bardugo organizes wedding for 50 couples from Israel's north who could not get married due to war
Fifty couples from the bombed out North of Israel got married in a Mass Wedding in Tel Aviv Monday tonight. One lucky Riverdale couple, Leah Rosenberg, age 26 and jewelry designer Samuel Zeira, age 33, is among them. They were originally supposed to get married on August 20 in Haifa in the north of Israel.
"Sammy's family is from Haifa and it was important for us that they were included in the wedding," Leah said. None of them knew what to do once the missiles started falling in Haifa. Danny Lilienman from Brooklyn "could not believe he was here. Leah had already called him and told him that the wedding was cancelled."
"Both of us feel a strong connection to Israel. There was no thought of us changing the location. We would never desert Israel in its hour of need." said Leah. Twenty members of Leah's family from New York flew in on Sunday to be here for the wedding. Her mother, Ellen Chazen said through tears, "we wanted to make a statement that Jewish life continues."
Leah Rosenberg had to leave everything in God's or rather Eliran Bardugo's hands. She landed last Monday and went straight to the wedding rehearsal.
Free wedding for 50 couples
The mass wedding was the brainchild of producer Eliran Bardugo. "Since the war in the north of Israel has started, about 70 weddings have been cancelled almost every day in the north of Israel, from the city of Metula to Haifa. Due to this situation, there is a major problem to set an alternative date and to celebrate the most important event in the lives of the couples who were about to marry," according to Bardugo.
Eliran, age 33, said, "this came to me because I am getting married this December to my true love Shiri. Shiri and I would be devastated if anything would mar our special day." Eliran went on Israeli television with his generous offer of a free wedding for 50 couples from the north of Israel.
He had convinced Hangar 11 in the old port of Tel Aviv to host the weddings. He then persuaded designer to the stars, Galit Levy, to design 50 custom wedding dresses for the brides. Top of the line men's designer Segal Fashions provided all the groom's suits. All the companies involved donated everything.
Eliran was flooded with more than 300 calls. He winnowed down the list to fifty couples. Franny Ziera, Sammy's mother saw Eliran Bandugo making his generous offer on television and immediately called. She was at first turned down. She persuaded her daughter Carolyn to call. Carolyn Ziera called three times before Bardugo productions agreed to meet with her. At the meeting with Shiri Bardugo, Carolyn was able to persuade her to allow her brother and sister in law to be included in the mass wedding.
Horror stories
The other couples chosen had similar horror stories about their weddings. Chen Lerner, a quality control software engineer, was supposed to get married on July 17, the day after the war started. "My fiancée and I spent our wedding in a bomb shelter. Originally, we were supposed to get married in the north. When the war started, my fiancée Michal and I decided to move the wedding to a synagogue in Netanya. With the missiles raining down, we could not leave the bomb shelter to get to Netanya and had to cancel the wedding. I cried for two weeks until I saw Eliran on television. Now I have the wedding I dreamed of but could not afford. The ceremony will be held at the sea at sunset."
Dror Buchnick, age 32 and Livnat Halal, age 31, had no choice but to cancel their wedding set for August 9. The wedding hall was demolished by a rocket and Livnat's dress was still at the bombed out home of her dressmaker that had already fled the North. "I do not even know if it was still wearable," said Livnat.
There were fifty separate wedding canopies (chupahs) by the sea. The Chief Rabbi of Israel, Yona Metzger presided over the ceremony. The ceremony was perfectly timed so that each groom stomped on the glass at the same time for the traditional ending of the Jewish wedding.
During the Vietnam War, antiwar protestors chanted, "make love not war. Eliran Bardugo added a Jewish twist – a wedding.
