Following the Israeli government’s approval of new restrictions to combat the spread of the coronavirus on Monday, the restrictions were to go into effect on Tuesday afternoon.
That meant that anyone who had planned on getting married in a wedding hall with up to 50 guests on Tuesday would be left without a venue and no time to make new plans for an outdoor wedding with up to 20 guests before Shiva Asar B’Tammuz, after which weddings are forbidden for three weeks.
After MK Yitzchak Pindrus (UTJ) spoke with several chassanim who called him in tears, he demanded that the coronavirus cabinet delay the closure of wedding halls for 48 hours, until Wednesday, erev Shiva Asar B’Tamuz.
One Chareidi couple in Bnei Brak who was supposed to get married on Tuesday moved the wedding to Monday at midnight out of fear that by Tuesday they wouldn’t be able to hold the wedding, Kikar H’Shabbos reported.
The other restrictions went into effect on Tuesday afternoon except for the restriction reducing the number of people allowed at gatherings to 20, which went into effect after a Health Ministry order was signed on Monday night.
The restrictions on public transportation, which were subject to much criticism, has been changed. The original restrictions allowed only up to 20 passengers on buses and banned the operation of the air-conditioning system but due to widespread criticism that the lack of air-conditioning is an unreasonable demand in the summer months, that restriction has been removed. The number of passengers that will be allowed on the bus is reportedly still under discussion.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
4 Responses
IN one sense, this is a wonderful kindness that Rabbi Pindrus did for these families.
But in another sense, if the virus is as DEADLY as the government would have us believe, then what is going on?
Perhaps the virus really isn’t as deadly? Or perhaps the government really doesn’t know what it is doing and none of these restrictions are based on science – or even anecdotal evidence!
Oh, have the coronavirus germs agreed to hold off on infecting people until Thursday if they’re at a wedding? This is one of the most idiotic things I’ve heard of – you need two witnesses for there to be a wedding, and there were plenty of people who made ad-hoc weddings outdoors with no problem – in fact, in Israel, the standard is for the Chuppa to be outdoors anyway, so they could have had the Chuppa where originally planned and that’s it. What happened to “Chamira sakanta m’isura”? All the pushing for “we can’t, chas v’shalom, close chadarim/Yeshivos/Shuls” has been a major cause of the current spike in cases in Israel. Yes, the parties, bars, etc. in the general population has also been a cause, but can the Chareidi community truly say “Yadeinu lo shafchu hadam hazeh”?
an Israeli Yid
“would be left without a venue” – couldn’t they use the exact same venue which they already had reserved? Perhaps they can have the 20 guests rotate so that some people would be there for the chosson’s tisch, some for the chuppah, some for the meal, dancing, etc. Of course some people aren’t very much worried about the health impacts, so I understand why they would be pushing for 50. I assume that those people that are sincerely concerned about the safek nefashose will say better have 20 according to the MOH and reduce serious risk to guests and other people.
I don’t get the whole crybaby thing. Most people (speaking from personal experience and lots of others’) remember nothing from their chasunos attended by 150 couples. Those who got married Corona style with much fewer attendees will never forget.