Life

People have been asking me how in the middle of all this horror people in Israel are having weddings, why people in Israel are having weddings this week, what's the deal with all the social media posts about weddings in the middle of our shock and mourning.

But that is exactly it. Life is a core Jewish value, even in the midst of the terrible massacre of so many of our brothers and sisters this week we choose to cling on to life, we find hope in building new families and celebrating new life.

This is how we honour the memories of the hundreds and hundreds murdered this week, by pledging that the Jewish people we continue to live on and keep their memories alive.

This is our way of life, this is the world we seek to create, one that is focused on creating life, family, love and hope. This is our response to the barbaric terrorists who committed heinous atrocities against our people this week. They want only death for the Jewish people but we will continue to choose life.

That is why in the middle of this nightmare couples are continuing to marry. They have had to cancel their plans for large celebrations, for hundreds of guests, for celebrating their wedding close to their homes in the war torn south-west, but in Jewish tradition we do not postpone weddings if we can at all help it, we cherish life too much.

So these couples have had smaller weddings, in synagogues, in shelters, in remote communities far from the fighting, anywhere they can, anything to ensure that life continues in Israel even as we bury and mourn our dead.

Am Yisrael Hai.