IDF's Grand Wedding: 10 Soldier Couples Tie the Knot

In a major event by the IDF, initiated by Rabbi Shmuel Bistritzky, Chabad emissary in Savyon, 10 couples of soldiers were joyfully married last night (Tuesday to Wednesday). Rabbi Bistritzky led the ceremony along with ten other rabbis from across the country, who blessed the couples. Additionally, singer Lior Narkis and other artists performed for them.

Raziel, 36, left his partner on Simchat Torah to serve in the IDF and is a captain in the 11th Brigade of the Commando Unit. The pair married yesterday along with the other couples at Hangar 11 in Tel Aviv. "We imagined our wedding to be as far from this as possible; we planned a small, intimate wedding," admitted his wife in an interview with News 12. "I waited for him to return safely from reserve duty so we could marry the way we dreamed. These months were incredibly uncertain. Although we didn’t plan on a big wedding, this project was exactly what we needed." Raziel shared moments before the chuppah that "we are very excited. We just had the touching encounter and I saw her in her wedding dress for the first time and she saw me in my suit. We intended to marry in January, but it was postponed because I was in reserve duty, and now the Chabad House is making our wish to build a home in Israel come true."

As part of the initiative, 100 guests came for each couple, followed by performances by several artists, including Subliminal, Benaya Barbi, and Lior Narkis, the latter being the one who started the project and has already married 12 couples, mostly soldiers. The ten happy couples are: Daniel Levy and Raz Moshe Peretz, Zohar Levin and Yaniv Kampinski from Tinuvot, M and A (code names due to security classification), Yasmin Kozhebnikov and Eliya Hasson from Rosh HaAyin, Sapir Maimon and Matan Shelo from Kiryat Ono, Moshe Avitan and Haya Itzkowitz from Ashkelon, Meir Almal and Liza Kanmla from France, Or and Razieli from Haifa, Shahar Zeit and Eliel Peretz from Beit Gamliel, both serving in reserve duty since Simchat Torah, and Yuval and Eden (whose details are not disclosed).

Rabbi Bistritzky said: "We are still in the midst of a war, so we decided to hold the biggest wedding in Israel. I want to thank all the volunteers and donors who came together to make this touching wedding possible and wish the dear couples much happiness."