Jerusalem experienced two big events this week. The election of a new president on June 10 captivated Israelis, who followed the breathtaking drama underway in the Knesset. Not too far from there, an enormous event was underway, captivating the hearts and minds of the ultra-Orthodox world in Israel and overseas. The Belzer rebbe, Rabbi Yissachar Dov Rokeach, was marrying off his granddaughter to a 17-year-old rabbinical college student.
The two events, which presented a portrait of contemporary Israel, took place just a kilometer [0.62 mile] apart in the same city, but without the wedding guests taking any interest in what was happening in the Knesset and without the people in the Knesset even knowing about the immense ultra-Orthodox celebration. The two worlds living side by side are so completely different that they practically ignore each other. One world speaks Hebrew, and the other speaks Yiddish. One group regards itself as Israeli, and the other sees itself as Jewish. One group acts according to democratic principles, and the other offers blind obedience to the leadership of the Hassidic court.
There was never any chance that the wedding’s participants would have followed the clash over who would be elected Israel’s 10th president. The tens of thousands of invited guests at the “royal wedding” were asked well in advance to leave their cell phones outside. Only people with “kosher” phones, without access to the Internet, were allowed in. Posters plastered throughout the city issued a stern warning to guests from Israel and overseas “not to enter the study hall with smartphones that are unfiltered.”
Belz is the second largest Hassidic court in the Jewish world, with tens of thousands of followers across the United States and Europe. Their way of life has barely changed since the group was founded in Galicia, Poland, some 200 years ago. Today, they have a huge impact on the ultra-Orthodox world in Israel. Along with the Gur Hassidic court, they set the tone when it comes to shaping the lives of the original ultra-Orthodox community.
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