Haredi groom gets cold feet, flees wedding
Ultra-Orthodox world baffled as young man from Mea Shearim leaves Bnei Brak banquet hall just before marriage ceremony, after voicing concerns of incompatibility with his bride
A young couple from the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Mea Shearim in Jerusalem canceled its wedding recently on the eve of the event, after the groom escaped from the banquet hall just moments before the marriage ceremony.
The incident began on the night of the wedding, which was scheduled to take place at a banquet hall in the central Israeli city of Bnei Brak. Just before ceremony, the groom decided he was not interested in getting married and began leaving the place.
The unusual event in the haredi society spread by word of mouth, reaching social networks in recent days.
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His relatives tried to convince him to tie the knot after all, while the bride sat with her friends inside the hall reciting Psalms for the success of the negotiations with the man who was supposed to become her husband.
The banquet hall's manager alerted a rabbi, who tried to talk to the groom as well. Some of the guests tried to forcibly continue the dancing with the hopes that the confusion would soon be resolved, but the incident led to a commotion which nearly resulted in physical violence.
Once the family members realized that the wedding would not be taking place, the bride shut herself up with one of the friends of the family, who tried to explain to her how to deal with the complicated situation.
The baffled wedding guests were asked to return to their homes and were told that the wedding would take place on a later date.
One of bride's neighbors said her parents were wrong in their decision to marry her off to a guy they didn't even know, claiming that was the reason for the cancellation of the wedding.
A friend of the family, which is affiliated with the Breslov Hasidic movement, said that the young groom had voiced concerns of incompatibility between him and his bride ahead of the wedding. He had asked to postpone the wedding, but was pressured by his relatives to go ahead with it, as they were certain he was just suffering from cold feet and did not think it would eventually cause him to cancel the wedding altogether.
