The Ultra-Zionist and the Anti-Zionist

I have nothing exciting to say about this, but it is an interesting human life story that you might be interested in hearing..

Yesterday in Mea Shearim a young man married a young woman. 

That sounds like not much of an exceptional story. Dozens of young couples probably get married in Mea Shearim every week.

the interesting part of this story is that the wedding was in Mea Shearim because the Admor of Toldos Avraham Yitzchak was the rabbi who officiated at the wedding -he, a staunch anti-Zionist, was the mesader kedushin. It was in mea Shearim because the elderly rebbe is unwell and generally does not leave his immediate surroundings, especially not leaving Mea Shearim. 

The chosson, the groom, is not one of regular chassidim of Toldos Avraham Yitzcha, but is a student learning in the ultra-Zionist yeshiva of Merkaz HaRav, originally founded nearly 100 years ago by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook, the first [Ashkenazi] Chief Rabbi of Israel (was the British Mandate of Palestine then).

So how did the Toldos Avraham Yizchak Rebbe become the mesader kedhushin for a student of Merkaz Harav? It seems that the chosson has being going regularly to the tish of the rebbe on Friday nights, and sometimes bringing friends along. he took a liking to the Rebbe and the tishes, finding it enchanting, became a regular and even a talmid of the Rebbe. When he was set to get married, he asked the Rebbe to officiate, so the wedding was performed in the Rebbe's beis medrash.

During the kabalas panim before the wedding began, the groom's friends from his yeshiva all went into the beis medrash and sat with the chassidim and sang together, hassidic and knitted kipa together, and then went out to the wedding.

Here are some images:

sources: Behadrei, Kipa, JDN

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