Rabbi Moshe Tzadka Visits Ashdod for Grandson’s Engagement and Nighttime Cornerstone Ceremony

Rabbi Moshe Tzadka, head of the Zohar Torah Yeshiva, made a rare visit to Ashdod to celebrate the engagement of his grandson, Yitzchak Atiya, a distinguished student from the Jerusalem yeshiva. Yitzchak is the son of Rabbi Mordechai Atiya, head of the Shaarei Yeshuah kollel, and is engaged to the daughter of Rabbi Aryeh Amsalem, deputy director of the Chanochi HaYeshuvot Talmud Torah and head of the Shirat Hadassah girls’ seminary. Upon arrival, Rabbi Tzadka blessed the groom and families, wishing them to build a faithful home in Israel grounded in Torah.

Following the engagement celebration, the groom completed a tractate of Talmud, after which Rabbi Tzadka delivered a Torah lesson emphasizing the great merit of a yeshiva student dedicated to study and the importance of combining Torah with proper character and worldly conduct. Rabbi Israel Zilberberg, a leader of the Zera Shimshon kollels, praised the groom for his five years of dedication to the teachings of the Zera Shimshon and for delivering lessons from the sacred text. Additional remarks were made by Rabbi Yechiel Zucker, director of the New Seminary in Ashdod and a community leader of Bnei Pinchas.

Late at night, Rabbi Tzadka unexpectedly visited the Chanochi HaYeshuvot Beit Shemaya study hall in Ashdod’s Gimmel neighborhood, where he offered words of encouragement to the community’s scholars alongside Rabbi Yitzchak Yaakov, head of the Da’at Torah yeshiva for young men. The visit culminated with Rabbi Tzadka laying the cornerstone for a new Beit Midrash and Torah center adjacent to the existing building. He prayed that the new site would become a "small sanctuary" dedicated to Torah study and prayer in holiness and purity.

Near midnight, the rabbis and scholars expressed their gratitude to Rabbi Tzadka for his efforts and inspiring words, escorting him to his car as he departed back to Jerusalem. The event was documented with a photo gallery.