When Oren Weiss and Mirit Weizman from Kibbutz Be'eri planned their wedding at Allenby Farm months ago for October 30 of this year, they never imagined the terrible storm that would come upon them.
The attack on Hamas terrorists on Simchat Torah changed everything.
A moment of joy in Bari: Oren Weiss and Mirit Weizman, members of a kibbutz, came yesterday in marriage // Ronen Atia
Oren's parents, Mati and Amir Weiss z"l, were murdered in their home in Bari, managing to say goodbye to all their children by phone call. Mirit Weizman's family, who lives in the community, also took part in the fierce fighting when her brothers fought in the community's alert squad, and her father defended his home and fired all the bullets in his possession.
Pain mixed with joy
The terrible tragedy that befell the Weiss family caused the couple to postpone the wedding. Another consideration for the postponement beyond the terrible mourning was the fact that all the people of Bari, friends of the couple, were evacuated to a hotel on the Dead Sea.
On Friday, a week and a half ago, the parents were buried. Oren and Mirit decided to return to the original date and enter into the marriage covenant in a modest wedding ceremony attended only by their family members.
Oren Weiss and Mirit Weizman from Kibbutz Be'eri, Photo: Ronen Atia
It was decided that the right location for the wedding was the Kedma Youth Village, which in turn enlisted and donated the place and greatly assisted the couple. In addition, Rabbi Ben Zion Zion, the Dayan of the Ashkelon Rabbinical Court, who accompanied the couple in recent months and who continued to accompany the couple even after the terrible incident, assisted. Rabbi Shlomo Raanan, of the Ayelet organization, recruited a violin and organist for them and gave the bride a pair of candlesticks as a gift.
After the difficult and moving wedding, which was attended by about 40 people, we spoke with Mirit Weizman.
"We experienced a lot of pain, but with all this pain we knew that Oren's parents wouldn't want the wedding postponed, although they're not here, but they attended this wedding from above," the new bride said. "There is a mixture of excitement and great sadness here, and despite all the pain, we felt it was very important not to change the date and to carry out the wedding today on its original date," she concluded.
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