Bethar was filled with excitement as the city hosted an uplifting Shabbat with the influential Rabbi Elimelech Biderman. For the first time, the Shabbat events began already on Friday afternoon, when hundreds of married students and yeshiva students gathered for a special preparatory ceremony just hours before Shabbat, accompanied by instruments and yearning melodies that set the tone for Kabbalat Shabbat.
The main prayers and large tish gatherings took place in the central Beit Midrash of "Metmideim" in Givat B, under the leadership of Rabbi Mordechai Minzberg. The Shabbat atmosphere continued through Seudah Shelishit and even after Shabbat ended, with a musical ensemble and the well-known singer R. Ashi Frush.
The events were organized by activists from the "Be’er HaEmunah" group in Beitar Illit, Rabbi Leibel Klein and Rabbi David Hershler, at the initiative of Mayor Meir Rubinstein. A photo gallery from Friday and Motzaei Shabbat was documented by photographer Ari Kuperstock.
