Five young Jewish couples from Russia and other former Soviet republics married under chuppahs in Brazil on Lag Ba’omer, in a ceremony attended by some 900 Jewish students and young adults participating in a Jewish education trip organized by YAHAD, according to a statement from organizers.
The five couples were Ruslan and Esther (Anastasia), Eliezer (Evgeny) and Elena, Asher (Stanislav) and Malka (Alexandra), Meir (Mark) and Polina, and Netanel (Bogdan) and Michal (Veronica), the statement said.
The ceremony took place during a YAHAD trip to Brazil, which brought together Jewish students and young adults from across Russia and neighboring countries in the former Soviet Union, according to organizers.
YAHAD, which operates under the leadership of the Chief Rabbi of Russia, Rabbi Berel Lazar, and is directed by Rabbi Menachem Mendel Wilansky, runs Jewish programming for students and young adults through Chabad emissaries across the region, the statement said.
The couples, according to organizers, were introduced to Jewish life later in their youth through local Chabad emissaries in their home cities. They later joined Jewish study programs, seminars, Shabbatons, and trips organized by YAHAD, where they met other young Jews from outside their local communities.
Organizers said the annual YAHAD trip was offered to participants who showed commitment to Jewish study during the year. Previous trips have taken young Jews to Europe, North Africa, and the Far East, with this year’s journey marking the first YAHAD trip to Brazil.
The organizers described the five weddings as part of the revival of Jewish life among Russian-speaking Jews after decades in which Jewish practice and education were suppressed under the Soviet regime.
The wedding ceremony was produced by Fleishman Peles. The brides and grooms were accompanied to the chuppahs by Chabad emissaries and their wives as hundreds of participants celebrated around them, according to the statement.
Philanthropist accompanies Jewish couple to wedding despite health condition
One of the couples was accompanied by Brazilian Jewish philanthropist and businessman Elie Horn and his wife, Susy Horn. Horn, who has supported Jewish education and outreach initiatives for decades, attended despite his health condition, organizers said.
Lazar officiated the weddings, moving from one chuppah to another. He was joined by rabbis from cities across the former Soviet Union where YAHAD and Chabad programming takes place, including Moscow, Tbilisi, Minsk, Samara, Saratov, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Kazan, and Birobidzhan.
Several Jewish communal leaders were honored with reading the ketubot (Jewish marriage contracts) and serving as witnesses, including leaders from the Federation of Jewish Communities of the CIS, Rabbis David Mondshine, Shlomo Chaim Peles, and Shlomo Neeman; Rabbi Avi Kassel of Olami; Rabbi Raphael Shammah, head of the Ohr Israel yeshiva in Brazil; and Rabbi Dovi Rabinowitz of the Rohr Jewish Learning Institute.
A letter from the Lubavitcher Rebbe to brides and grooms was read in three languages during the ceremony. Rabbi Yosef Dovid Weitman, Chabad emissary to São Paulo and rabbi of the Beit Yaakov-Safra Synagogue, read the letter in Hebrew. Philanthropist Alberto Safra read it in English, and YAHAD director Rabbi Menachem Mendel Wilansky read it in Russian.
The wedding also served as the closing event of the Brazil trip. A Lag Ba’omer bonfire was lit by members of Brazil’s Jewish community who hosted the visiting students, including Alberto Picciotto, Carlito Dayan, Elie Horn and his son Ephraim, Alberto Dayan, and members of the Safra family, the statement said.