Israeli couple Aviram Afota and Shani Vaknin, both from Western Galilee, married on Monday in a Nahariya synagogue kilometers away from the Lebanon border despite security concerns after they realized their planned wedding set at a venue in Haifa would be unable to take place.
The couple only had a few hours to find a makeup artist, event designer, DJ and catering, after everyone they had booked was hesitant to come to the new wedding venue in Nahariya. Eventually, after 12 grueling hours of last-minute planning, they were joined by 70 family members and friends in a wedding held according to the IDF Home Front Command's wartime guidelines.
Among the professionals who stepped in to help were Mirit Zamir and her daughter Noa, residents of Acre. Both had left the city two days ago for Ra'anana, as their family home lackes a safe room and Mirit's husband, Eyal, is serving in the reserves.
“Several people reached out to me saying they were looking for a designer for a wedding that had been canceled. It was difficult to get back to the north from Ra'anana, but I understood that this is where I needed to be, and that I was needed now,” Mirit said.
Just before the couple walked under the chuppah, the rabbi gave an explanation about the nearby shelters available. “This won’t be a sad wedding because those who need to be here are standing right beside us,” the groom said.
“Sure, it would have been more joyous to be in a hall with all our friends and extended family, but we’ll celebrate with them later. Today’s chuppah is our way of poking back at Hezbollah, right here in Nahariya," he added.
“No one will defeat us, Nasrallah won’t win,” Aviram's father, Yosef Afota added. “We’ll make him regret the day he dared to go to war with us and especially for trying to ruin my son’s wedding.”
The couple also wished for the return of Israeli hostages and the safety of IDF soldiers. “At this moment, we ask that all our hostages and soldiers return safely and that our family, evacuated from our home in Moshav Shomera nearly a year ago, will return there as well.”
Shani’s father and older brother have been part of Shomera’s local alert squad since October, only returning to their temporary apartment in Nahariya on weekends. Another brother recently returned from combat in Gaza and is now serving as a platoon commander in the Golani Brigade.
“We’re going through a difficult time, but we’re here and thanking God that we can even stand under the chuppah tonight and that our daughter is starting her married life in Israel,” Shani’s mother, Ayelet Chen Vaknin, said.
“This is our strength, the strength of the people of Israel – that we stand here against Nasrallah and Hezbollah," she said. "They won’t take away our joy. I also prayed for the safe return of all the hostages, that our soldiers will return home and that our troubles will end, because we’re exhausted."