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25 Cheshvan, 5781 - November 12, 2020 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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NEWS
Weddings are Not a Luxury

by Rabbi Yitzchok Roth


3

The framework of legislation in Israel operates in a fashion that there aren't any citizens who do not transgress the law. A driver was once stopped by policeman who was certain that he had broken a traffic law. He told me that he had proved his innocence on all counts. Amused to see the chagrin on his face that he had failed to catch his prey, he made a sharp, insulting remark which put the officer on the offensive.

He began to examine the car inside out in search for something incriminating. Did you know, for example, that a car must have a waste basket, the lack of which is liable for a fine? Similarly, all the back lights, small as they may be, must burn at full capacity. A car must also be equipped with an accessible luminescent safety vest; there are many other such negligible offenses which can also be fined. Such laws were probably passed by some Knesset Member during a lull, out of boredom, or just for his personal record.

The bottom line of this story is that our driver emerged from his encounter with the traffic officer with fines adding up to thousands of shekalim, like a veteran reckless driver with a bad record!

What brought the subject to our attention was the many laws regarding making a wedding during our Corona period, laws which are altogether ridiculous and illogical. The people sitting in the Corona cabinet regard a wedding as a formality, an excuse for merrymaking which can be postponed for better times. They fail to understand that in our shomer mitzvah society, a wedding is one of the most significant ceremonies in our lives, one that can hardly be postponed. It is an integral part of our existence which cannot be deferred, just like a bris milah or funeral.

Granted that we are living in a period of widespread Corona and that one must take necessary precautions such as not holding mass gatherings. But the present ruling of holding a wedding with a minimum of ten participants inside or twenty people outside is an untenable situation. Added to this is the reality of holding a wedding outside during the winter. In our community, the nuclear chareidi family of net siblings and grandparents can reach a number of several dozen people, sans uncles or close neighbors and friends.

Instead of creating a logical, workable plan calling for `capsules' and partitions so that a wedding can include a decent number of participants, they simply force the public to violate the law. Some opinions maintain that if the law anyway does not permit a reasonable wedding, there is all the reason to flout all the amendments and requirements. And so, this is the reality when the Corona cabinet is composed of people who are altogether removed from the Jewish way of life.

 

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