Jerusalem Wedding: 25,000 Guests Flood City For Marital Shindig
Think your friend’s knot-tying is getting out of hand? What about a wedding with 25,000 guests?
It may sound nuts, but such a thing actually happened in Jerusalem, where a wedding and 25,000 guests flooded the city Tuesday night. (An incredibly impressive feat for a weekday wedding, can you imagine how many were unable to make it?)
While a wedding of 25,000 guests may seem a bit excessive, the teens getting hitched were from pretty connected families.
Shalom Rokeach, 18, and new wife Hannah Batya Penet, 19, married Tuesday night in Jerusalem in front of the massive hoard of guests.
As the UK’s Independentexplains, Rokeach may be a kid at just 18 — but he is expected to assume a prominent position in his community as he gets older:
“Mr Rokeach is the grandson of the leader of the Hasidic Belz Rebbe dynasty – an ancient aristocratic family that has its roots in the 14th Century Poland. He is also the only male heir to the dynasty, and as such he is one day expected to head the community – one of the largest in Judaism.”
The ultra-Orthodox wedding of 25,000 guests raged until dawn in the city, with members of the Belz Rebbe sect from across the globe descending on the city to celebrate the marriage.
Roads were closed and barriers erected to contain the massive crowd of revelers.
The Jerusalem Postexplained a bit about how the wedding of 25,000 guests was logistically managed:
“It is difficult enough at a regular wedding to see the ceremony under the huppa, but with so many people, even members of the family would have missed out – but for the many video screens placed in the area around the synagogue. This enabled the hordes of well-wishers to see the continuation of what many in hassidic circles consider a post-Holocaust miracle.”
MT @belznies Machnivka Rebbe’s Son R’Yisochor Dov Rokeach Sitting On The Oivenoon At Belz Chasina Photo: twitter.com/BELZERMACH/sta… #belzwedding
— Belzer Wedding (@Belzernews) May 21, 2013
The wedding, in addition to 25,000 guests, also boasted a command center with police and EMS on site due to the massive size of the party and number of attendees.
