Thousands Join Grand Chassidic Wedding in Netanya, with Historic Venue Change for the Mitzvah Dance

Thousands of Satmar-style Chasidim from the Zanz court took part last week in the wedding of the granddaughter of the Zanz Rebbe. The bride is the daughter of Rabbi Yosef Moshe Dov Halberstam, head of the Zanz yeshivas and rabbi of Zanz in the United States, and the groom is Rabbi Naftali Glik, a noted scholar from London, son of Rabbi Naftali Glik and grandson of Rabbi Yosef Shlomo Glik, one of the heads of the Tchebin yeshiva and son-in-law of Rabbi Moshe Yehuda Halperin, rabbi of Radomysla in London.

The celebration lasted for many hours at the large hall in Kiryat Zanz in Netanya, drawing rebbes, rabbis, thousands of followers, admirers, and public figures from across Israel. During the reception, the Zanz Rebbe delivered words of moral encouragement and asked the crowd to pray for major Torah leaders who need complete healing. He specifically requested prayers for the Vizhnitz Rebbe and for the Horodenka Rebbe, who is also said to require a full recovery.

At the wedding canopy, held under the open sky, the elder Zanz Rebbe was honored with conducting the kiddushin ceremony. The emotional peak came hours later during the traditional mitzvah dance, which continued until the early morning. For the first time in the court’s history, the dance was moved from the center of the hall to a large stage built on the eastern side because of extreme crowding, allowing more people to see the proceedings. Near the end, the Zanz Rebbe danced before the bride in intense devotion, as thousands of excited Chasidim sang.