Last night the police broke up a wedding in Neve Yaakov, Jerusalem that had too many guests present, against the guidelines and allowances of the Ministry of Health. They had more than 30 guests present, at least when the police arrived. The police broke up the wedding party and fined the chosson 5000nis for the violation.

These ad hoc, on the sly weddings, and minyanim, kind of make me, and many other people, think back to the stories of the days of the Crypto Jews (aka Marranos), or the days of Soviet Russia, or other times when Jews had to sneak around and do their mitzvahs as best they could but in secret. The difference is that now the government is not hostile and the reason for the restrictions is due to a serious health crisis and danger to life, not an anti-religion edict.

Back to our joyous groom in Jerusalem...Even after paying the 5000NIS fine, he still saved a ton of money by having his wedding now, during the days of COVID-19, with these guests, and he probably thinks it was worth it even with the fine! He paid 5000nis vs ~50000nis a regular wedding would have cost...

After all this will be over and the danger to people's health and life will be nothing but a memory, I hope the one thing that remains is that we don't go back to make big weddings in halls with parties that we can barely afford, at best. These small intimate weddings taking place in homes with just family and select friends seem lovely, joyous and the simplicity is appealing...