New York Synagogue Reportedly Defied COVID Restrictions and Hosted a Maskless 7,000 Person Wedding

Sometimes it’s amazing what people can do in secret. While we might be impressed about a surprise proposal or birthday celebration under normal circumstances, during a pandemic, the most unsettling news is hearing about a surprise celebration involving thousands of people completely ignoring CDC guidelines and government restrictions.

The Yiddish community in Brooklyn tried to plan a wedding during the pandemic for Satmar Grand Rabbi Zalman Teitelbaum’s grandson. Most likely, the event would’ve had about 10,000 people in attendance. When the state found out about it, they forced the wedding to be canceled.

In response, the Yiddish community decided that they would be very secretive about the next major wedding celebration they wanted to plan, and this time they pulled it off.

Satmar Grand Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum’s grandson was getting married, and the guests were only invited through word of mouth. According to the Yiddish newspaper Der Blatt, “Organizers worked tirelessly to arrange everything in the best way possible. All notices about upcoming celebrations were passed along through word of mouth, with no notices in writing, no posters on the synagogue walls, no invitations sent through the mail, nor even a report in any publication, including this very newspaper.”

The wedding day was November 8, 2020, and the ceremony was held at Yetev Lev temple. The temple, which holds a maximum of 7,000 people, was packed with guests standing shoulder to shoulder and nobody was wearing a mask.

Watch the video below to see a glimpse of this recent wedding that defied the government and ignored COVID-19.

Meanwhile, Mayor de Blasio warns that COVID-19 cases are rising in New York City, and if cases continue to rise, indoor dining and some businesses that are not essential may be shut down again.

Which surprises you more, the fact that so many people kept a secret or the fact that so many people willingly defied government rules regarding COVID-19?