The Best Man HY”D
Yesterday, my daughter, Hadas, was a malevah [bridesmaid] at the wedding of her dear friend, Renana.
On January 8th, the very day that Renana and Eli got engaged, they received the tragic news that Eli’s best friend, Yakir, had been killed in Gaza. Renana and Eli spent the entire week following their engagement at Yakir’s shiva.
Renana and Eli were deeply shaken, of course, by Yakir’s death. How could they possibly go ahead with the wedding if Eli’s best man was no longer alive?
Not long after Yakir was killed, Eli was sent into Gaza, and when he (B”H) returned home safely he and Renana finally set a date. And this Friday they celebrated their incredibly joyful wedding with friends and family.
Most of the younger male guests at the wedding have fought in the war, or are still fighting. Seeing death face to face, seeing friends your age or even younger getting killed, sharpens the joy one feels at happy occasions. Small ones and big ones, like the simcha Renana and Eli celebrated today.
But there was something else, something unusual, remarkable even, that added so much extra joy to this special wedding of these two very special young people.
Even after almost all the guests had left, Yakir’s 2 brothers, Rafael and Ezra, remained. Until the very end of the wedding, they danced with Eli, spinning him around and around, bringing him and Renana so much joy.
I cannot imagine the pain they felt. To see Yakir’s best friend getting married without their big brother at his side. To know that Yakir will never marry or have a family of his own.
But still, they danced. So Eli and Renana could feel Yakir there with them.
What a tremendous wedding gift Yakir’s brothers gave them. What greatness.
May Hashem bless Eli and Renana with many years of health and shalom bayit and everything good until 120. And may Yakir’s beautiful family, Ezra and Raphael and their parents Chaya and Josh, be comforted from their unfathomable loss, and experience many happy occasions of their own from now on, please God.
AMEN!