I have no idea how many people in this world had 25,000 guests at their wedding. Maybe some royal families but even there, I am not sure if the participants were so free to share the holiness of the moment.
In the last hours, I watched a lot of pictures and videos from the wedding of the Belz rebbe's grandson. From time to time, I also saw some comments, many related to the appearance of the veiled bride (should she stay like this her entire lifetime, or what a culture when the woman should wear a white covering on her face...etc.), but it will not be the point of my articles.
Before the Germans destroyed Belz, there were 3,600 Jewish inhabitants, out of a population of 6,100 persons. The Belzer rebbe was on the list of the most wanted Jews and he succeeded to escape first to Hungary and after, shortly before the Nazis (ימח שמו) invaded the country, he and his half-brother succeeded to escape to the then-Palestine. All the members of their families left in Poland were killed.
The Hasidic courts were re-established in Tel Aviv and later in the Kiryas Belz, in Jerusalem. The Belz synagogue is nowadays one of the biggest constructions in the holy city. A new network of yeshivot and educational system was created, following the model of intensive study used by the Belz in the old country. In the US, the Belz have a high-end medical treatment center and several charities that may support those who are interested in spending more time in the yeshiva before and after being married.
Nowadays, the Belz chosids are everywhere: there are more than 2 thousand families in the US, as well as in Canada or UK. No more chosids in Poland.
The current rebbe, Yissachar Dov Rokeach, is the fifth head of the dynasty, and the son in law of Rebbe Moshe Hager of Vizhnitz, another hasidic dynasty that was re-born in Eretz Israel after the World War II.
Nowadays, there are at least ten times more Belz chasidim than in the shtetl. The message? עם ישראל חי
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