Italian Jews celebrate first wedding since lockdown
As restrictions are lifted, a Rome-born chef married a sixth-year medical student from Israel, in a safe ceremony while wearing face masks at the Great Synagogue of Rome.
Italian Jews celebrated their community’s first wedding since the country’s synagogues went into lockdown.
Marco Del Monte, a Rome-born chef who is studying for a Master’s degree in psychology, married Elinor Hanoka, a sixth-year medical student from Israel, in a safe ceremony on Sunday while wearing face masks at the Great Synagogue of Rome.
The couple had planned to marry in Jerusalem in March, but borders closed as Italy and Israel both took steps to limit the spread of the virus.
Dror Eydar, Israel’s Ambassador to Italy, who has known the groom for years, said on Facebook the bride’s parents were unable to attend, but that the groom’s parents were there, along with a handful of guests and Rabbi Menachem Lazar of Rome’s Chabad Piazza Bologna Synagogue, who officiated.
“Italy in general and Rome’s Jewish community are still healing from their wounds; let’s hope this joy heralds many more,” Eydar wrote
on Facebook.
Italy has been one of the worst-hit countries, with 34,000 dying from Covid-19, and was the site of its first major outbreak in Europe. At least
a dozen of the country’s 40,000 Jews are among the dead.
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