{"id":18168,"date":"2025-03-27T15:27:12","date_gmt":"2025-03-27T13:27:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reganews.co.il\/en\/?p=18168"},"modified":"2025-03-27T15:27:12","modified_gmt":"2025-03-27T13:27:12","slug":"secular-groom-religious-officiant-and-a-bond-forged-in-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reganews.co.il\/en\/secular-groom-religious-officiant-and-a-bond-forged-in-service\/","title":{"rendered":"Secular Groom Religious Officiant and a Bond Forged in Service"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Since the war began, comedian and social activist Hanoch Daum has received a stream of messages\u2014from heartbreaking accounts to moments of hope and connection. On Wednesday night, he shared one that stood out: a touching note from a reservist, celebrating what he called \u201cunity on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cUnity on the Ground\u201d<br \/>\n<\/strong>\u201cHanoch\u2014on the surface, it\u2019s just another wedding,\u201d wrote the reservist. \u201cBut this one was different. Two courageous fighters from the Alexandroni Brigade. 300 days of reserve duty. Metula, Gaza, Lebanon. One is secular. The other just finished exams to become a dayan (religious court judge). It only made sense,\u201d he continued, \u201cthat the groom asked his friend to officiate the ceremony. This is the kind of unity we experience in the field.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Daum replied: \u201cMazal tov, sweethearts. Through unconditional love, we will prevail.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe style=\"border: none; overflow: hidden;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FHanochDaum%2Fposts%2Fpfbid0qxtVr5fNdkxjpUmRc6YpDwASzERr3wZdXXh3nVcv2MKz8ymMhSiiBpqZzboAbXe5l&amp;show_text=true&amp;width=500\" width=\"500\" height=\"687\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>The Alexandroni Brigade in the Swords of Iron War<br \/>\n<\/strong>The Alexandroni Brigade was first called up on Simchat Torah, October 7, to defend Israel\u2019s northern border. Troops reached the front within about 12 hours and played a vital role in northern defense for over four months\u2014striking terror infrastructure and eliminating numerous enemy combatants. During these operations, Sargent First Class Omer Balva was killed by an anti-tank missile.<\/p>\n<p>In June 2024, the brigade was redeployed\u2014this time to the Gaza Strip\u2014where it secured the central Netzarim Corridor. On June 20, during a Hamas mortar attack from the Zaytun neighborhood in Gaza City, two soldiers\u2014Sargent First Class Saadia Yaakov Dery z\u201dl and Sargent First Class\u00a0Omer Smadja z\u201dl\u2014were killed.<\/p>\n<p>By early October 2024, the brigade returned once more to the northern front. On October 7, they began operations in southern Lebanon, targeting the villages of Meiss El-Jabal and Houla. There, they dismantled terror infrastructure and neutralized enemy forces\u2014becoming the first unit to reach the Litani River.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A powerful moment of unity for the Alexandroni Brigade: a secular reservist got married, and the one who officiated was his religious comrade-in-arms. For these soldiers, bonded through war and service, it felt only natural.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":18170,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,77,129,85],"tags":[3519,3521,3520],"class_list":["post-18168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-idf","category-judaism","category-positive-moment","tag-hanoch-daum","tag-idf-reserves","tag-wedding"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.7 (Yoast SEO v24.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Secular Groom Religious Officiant and a Bond Forged in Service - REGA news<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Secular Groom Religious Officiant and a Bond Forged in Service\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A powerful moment of unity for the Alexandroni Brigade: a secular reservist got married, and the one who officiated was his religious comrade-in-arms. 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