Rabbi denies he refused to officiate wedding of Liberman’s son over politics
Son of secularist politician weds in glitzy ceremony attended by oligarchs and serenaded by pop star, but no invites for fellow politicians
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An ultra-Orthodox rabbi on Friday denied reports he refused to officiate at the wedding of Amos Liberman, apparently angry over the politics of his father, avowed secularist and Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman.
The glitzy wedding was held Thursday in the central city of Rishon Letzion with an eclectic guest list that included a number of rabbis, oligarchs and celebrities, but no fellow Knesset members.
“I want to apologize to you for any distress that might have been caused over reports of my participation in your wedding,” Rabbi Baruch Dov Diskin wrote in a letter to Amos Liberman that was published Friday.
“Of course there is no truth to it and it is completely false,” he said, after Channel 12 news reported Thursday that Diskin of Bnei Brak had refused to officiate.
“Liberman has become an enemy of the ultra-Orthodox community and the rabbi didn’t want to meet him,” the TV quoted one of the rabbi’s associates as saying.
Amos Liberman reportedly studied with Diskin.
“Amos isn’t guilty, but the rabbi is a well-known character in the community, and if he participates in the wedding it could look like a kind of familiarity or support for an enemy,” the unnamed associate said.
In the end, the wedding was officiated by another ultra-Orthodox Rabbi, David Grossman, who also officiated at supermodel Bar Rafaeli’s wedding.
Pictures from the wedding showed several rabbis and Orthodox Jews in attendance, prompting many on social media to comment on the supposed transformation of Liberman, who foiled the establishment of a government by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in April by refusing to sit with the ultra-Orthodox parties.
Among Liberman’s demands is civil marriage.
Several dozen right-wing protesters demonstrated outside the wedding, calling on Liberman, a noted hawk, to return to the right-wing fold led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Tell Liberman to remember where he came from and go back to Netanyahu,” one of them shouted at guests as the entered the wedding hall.
There were also several oligarchs at the wedding, including Austrian casino magnate Martin Schlaff, a long-time Liberman confidant, and Michael Cherney.
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ליברמן מלווה את בנו לחופה הערב בראשון לציון pic.twitter.com/2pS8yXWja2— Eran Swissa (@EranSwissa) September 26, 2019
Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Leon was also there, but no current Knesset members, not even from Liberman’s own party.
The newly wed couple were serenaded by pop star Idan Reichel.
Leaving the wedding, Rabbi Grossman appeared to send a political message to Liberman and the rest of Israel’s politicians, who are deadlocked in rival blocs, unable to form a majority coalition, after elections on September 17.
“The hupa (wedding canopy) symbolizes unity, I always say there is no Ashkenazi or Sephardi, religious or secular, the people of Israel need to be united as one with one heart,” he told reporters as he left.
The Times of Israel Community.