The Italian Jews celebrated their community’s first marriage since the closure of the country’s synagogues, along with many other institutions, due to the Coronavirus.
Marco Del Monte, born in Rome and currently studying for a master’s degree in psychology, got married to Elinor Hanoka, a sixth-year medical student from Israel, on Sunday while wearing masks at Rome’s Great Synagogue.
The couple had planned to get married in Jerusalem in March, but Italy and Israel have closed their borders.
The bride’s parents were able to attend, Dror Eydar, Israel’s ambassador to Italy, wrote on Facebook. Eydar has known the groom for several years. His parents were able to attend, as well as a handful of guests and Rabbi Menachem Lazar of the Chabad Piazza Bologna Synagogue in Rome, to officiate the ceremony.
“A great joy, even if it was not in the cities of Judea and the streets of Jerusalem, as had been planned, it was in Rome,” Eydar wrote on Facebook, paraphrasing Sheva Brachot’s text – seven blessings that are recited at Jewish weddings.
“Italy in general, and the Jewish community in Rome in particular, are still healing their wounds, let us hope that this joy will be a sign of a healthy tomorrow,” he added.
More than 34,000 people died from the virus in Italy, which was the site of its first major epidemic in Europe. At least a dozen of the country’s 40,000 Jews also died. Italy broke out of containment about three weeks ago.
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