Rabbi Mark Fishman of Congregation Beth Tikvah in Montreal, who brought members of his community to the Litman wedding, spoke to Arutz Sheva live from the wedding itself. 

Rabbi Fishman delivered a powerful sermon on Saturday morning, and told his congregants the he intended to answer the call of Sarah Tichiya Litman to come to Israel and dance at her wedding. He invited his congregants to come with him, and eleven of them did. Two of whom had never been to Israel before.

Sarah issued the invitation to the entire Jewish nation, to come and dance at the wedding following the murder of Sarah’s father and brother last week in terrorist attack. Rabbi Fishman and his congregants responded by coming and attending. 

“The inspiration for coming really came from Sarah. Listening to her call for all of the Jewish people to come and participate really represented to me what the Jewish people mean. To rise above from the tragedy and still celebrate, to cherish life, that is a message that really resonated with me as representing all of Am Yisrael,” said Fishman.

Fishman’s group came for just three days to join the wedding and they will be leaving on Saturday night after Shabbat. They were greeted by Dov Lipman (Yesh Atid) who spoke to them and helped them set the tone for their visit.

“The experience has been wonderful. We’ve met people and we introduce ourselves to people along the way, and they have been very supportive and welcoming. We came to give our support to the Jewish people here, and they have been expressing their gratitude and through their expression we are deepening our own connection.

Former MK Rabbi Lipman said: “This group demonstrates the special quality that we have as a people. I jumped at the opportunity to welcome them and meet them and they filled me with inspiration and hope during this difficult time.”

I think there is an unequal responsibility in the Jewish world today. Those of us who live outside of the land of Israel it is so easy for us to enjoy that we have a land and a state. But it is really a burden that is born by the people who live here to do the army and to deal with the reality of what it means to be here. So we are just hoping to do our part, and make this situation a bit better. So there was really no hesitation whatsoever for us to come here and participate.”

Beth Tikvah is a large Orthodox synagogue in Montreal, Canada that boasts 750 families as congregants. Rabbi Fishman said that the synagogue is one of the up and coming communities and that there is a lot of young enthusiasm in the community.

Regarding the wedding, Rabbi Fishman told Arutz Sheva, that “the chuppah was amazing. There was a lot of singing and dancing and everyone was in a very joyous mood. There is a heightened sense of emotion throughout the crowd, but there is also a deep sense of purpose,” he said.