JERUSALEM—It was the trip of a lifetime for the visitors who flew into Israel at practically the last minute—some of them student raffle winners, some of them representatives of their communities back home, and all of them wanting to show their support for Jewish victims of terror, and fulfill the mitzvah of bringing joy to a young bride who lost her father and brother a week before her wedding.
“We all were so motivated and grateful to be part of this group,” said Maia Sirkin, 19, a neuroscience major from Binghamton University in Upstate New York. “We all wanted to celebrate this wedding—to be part of something that would show that we cannot be defeated by terrorism, that our answer is in our Jewish unity, our faith in G‑d and our love for each other.”
Chana Devora Solomon, co-director of Chabad at Short Hills in New Jersey, says she felt like she was being a part of Jewish history. “It was such a zchus, a privilege, to be able to go,” she said. “And I wasn’t alone. I felt like I represented each and every Jew in my community, each and every Jew in America. Before I left, the doorbell never stopped ringing as people brought over envelopes and letters, including from local schoolchildren, for me to hand to the family, knowing that they would be counted as having been there.”
Rabbi Yaakov Litman, his wife and their two sons were attacked by terrorists on Nov. 13 in the Hebron Hills while making their way to spend a Shabbat in honor of their daughter, Sarah Techiya, and her groom-to-be, Ariel Biegel. The 40-year-old rabbi and his 18-year-old son Netanel were slain; his wife and other son were wounded.
The couple changed their Nov. 17 wedding plans, moving it forward a week to Nov. 26, and unexpectedly issued a wedding invitation to Jewish people around the world in a plea to turn tragedy into joy in memory of their loved ones. To accommodate what they hoped would be hordes of celebrants, the ceremony was to be held at one of the largest venues in Jerusalem—Binyanei Hauma, the International Convention Center.
‘Such a Cohesive Group’
And respond they did. An immediate outpouring of support came from around the world as Jews far and wide hurried to make plans to be there for the bride and groom.
The six students who comprised the student delegation came from the University of Ottawa in Ontario, Canada; Rockland County Community College in Suffern, N.Y.; Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City; Binghamton University in Upstate New York; and Queens College, City University of New York. The student group was led by Rabbi Dov Oliver, director of the Center of Jewish Life at Rockland Community College, and by Rabbi Yossi Witkes, a representative of Chabad of Campus International.
Organizers pointed out how the wedding was a striking example of Jewish unity in this Hakhel year, when Jews gather together in groups to learn Torah, and to perform acts of goodness and kindness together.
“It was such a cohesive group,” said Sirkin. “As each of us boarded the flight, you could sense the fierce love of Israel and fellow Jews that bonded us together. And the things students brought to us from our schools to personally give to the couple—gifts, letters—such a show of love, caring and unity. I believe we each felt that it was a privilege to be part of this.”
The visitors recalled the vast and varied emotions at the wedding ceremony. “The bride was so beautiful and so very sweet,” recalled Sirkin. “Rabbi Oliver presented the gift from the Chabad on Campus students back home, and explained who we were and from where we had come, and you could just see on her face how deeply she was touched.”
Sirkin added that they were allowed to be present during the solemn but joyous bedeken (veiling) ritual, “which was even more moving because she did not have her father there.”
“At the chuppah itself, there was a sadness to all the joy when they spoke about Sarah’s murdered father and brother. Both the bride and groom were so emotional, yet you could feel their immovable, unrelenting strength at the same time. And I kept thinking to myself, ‘This is crazy—that a random raffle would result in us being here, all passionate about Israel, the Jewish people, now singing, dancing and taking part in this momentous occasion.’ ”
For Asher Fishman, 21, a business major at Rockland Community College, it was a bit of a homecoming.
He had spent the past three years in Israel, first studying in a yeshivah in Beit Shemesh, then then volunteering for the Israel Defense Forces and serving in the Golani Brigade. Following his military service, he returned to New York to study and spend time with his family before making aliyah. He even traveled to Sharon, Mass., to attend the funeral of Ezra Schwartz, an 18-year-old yeshivah student also recently killed by terrorists.
“When the groom called out, right before breaking the glass under his foot, “If I forget Thee, O Jerusalem ... when he called that out with such emotion in his voice, it was impossible not to weep, as well as rejoice, with him,” recalled Fishman.
Other Mitzvahs While in Israel
Although the wedding was the focal point of the group’s traveling to Israel, that was by no means the only mitzvah the students accomplished.
While there, accompanied by representatives of Chabad Terror Victims Project (CTVP) they paid shiva visits to two other families mourning the loss of loved ones at the hands of terrorists: Ziv Mizrahi of Giv’at Ze’ev, who was stabbed to death on Nov. 23 at a gas station on the road to Jerusalem; and Hadar Buchris, 21, of Safed, who was murdered Nov. 22 in a stabbing attack near Gush Etzion while waiting for a ride.
Fishman and Sirkind expressed how the entire group was moved by the warm reception they received by the grieving families, and how touched the families were at the show of love from Jews from across the globe who came expressly to offer their condolences.
“Mrs. Mizrahi was, of course, in rough shape, but as she looked at us, and we explained who we were and where we were from, there was an overwhelming emotion that shone in her eyes. It was moving beyond words,” described Sirkind.
Oliver and Fishman related how the group also paid visits to terror victims at Shaare Zedek Hospital, where they were joined by Eli Muchnik, a rabbinical student who entertained the injured and their families. “When we got there, we were, of course, quite lost. So we wound up at the elevator and when the doors opened, lo and behold, out walks a man whom we had seen at the Mizrahi shiva.
“He asked us what we were doing there. So we told him, and he directed us. But when we asked him why he was at the hospital, he told us he was visiting his mother, who was very ill. So we went to cheer her up, and wish her a speedy and complete recovery. She was really quite taken by the whole thing. And her son? ‘Ah, Chabad,’ he said. ‘You are always there when needed, no matter what.’ ”
The group was also quite moved by their visit to a Druze soldier who had been injured in a terror attack.
As Oliver put it: “It was incredible. The mother of this soldier, she turned to us and said, “My mother taught me, and I have taught my children, that we must always stay very close to the Jews. They are a very special people, and G‑d put them on Earth for a very special reason. I respect the Jewish people because they do not judge by what you look like, but rather by who you really are.”
After the whirlwind trip—the flight, the wedding, Shabbat, the shiva calls and the hospital visits, the group is now heading back home. They all said it had been one of the most important and emotional experiences in their lives.
“To me, this wedding wasn’t only a wedding; it was a statement and an action,” said Solomon. “We had been hearing about terror attack after terror attack, and this girl, who had just undergone perhaps the worst thing a person could imagine—the worst tragedy and horror—her response was to make a stance, to invite every single Jew to celebrate at her wedding, to fight a wave of terror with a tsunami of joy. She called out to me, ‘Let’s stand and fight together; we’ll dance and sing together.’
“And when she stood under her chuppah and saw the thousands who had come to celebrate with her and to be with each other, it was a victory—her wish was realized.
“I was ushered in to the wedding a short while before the doors opened to the general public and was brought to the bride’s mother," continued Solomon. “I could see all the sorrow and joy she had already gone through, and with the wedding taking place, I could see she still had an untapped well of emotion. As she looked at me, I could see the sadness, the joy and the sisterhood in her eyes. And then we danced.”
Join the Discussion