Operation Wedding: Lone soldier celebrates wedding with the help of Mevo Dotan residents

Empathetic residents decided to organize a wedding for the young couple anyway.

A bride and groom kiss under the chuppah at their wedding (photo credit: NIR ELIAS / REUTERS)
A bride and groom kiss under the chuppah at their wedding
(photo credit: NIR ELIAS / REUTERS)

Residents of Mevo Dotan in Samaria helped organize a wedding for a lone soldier from the base in the town.

Yohan Shish is a lone soldier from France. He serves at the base located at the entrance to the town.

He was expected to marry his fiance, Sara Farhi, however, the war broke out and the wedding they had planned was impossible to organize under these conditions. 

Empathetic residents decided to organize a wedding for the young couple anyway. Yohan's family arrived especially from France for the wedding.

The wedding was organized by the town's youth from beginning to end, from the location to the huppah, the wedding canopy used in Jewish weddings.

 A Jewish wedding Chuppah is seen in Tel Aviv on May 14, 2023 (credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
A Jewish wedding Chuppah is seen in Tel Aviv on May 14, 2023 (credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)

Yohan's friends from the base also joined in and brought happiness to the bride and groom.

A wedding for Israel

"We have no words, we felt that this was a wedding of the entire people of Israel – the way it was organized – and also to hear from people that you gave us strength and light today. It made us happy and our joy was for the entire people of Israel, that we will be able to grow from this and see only happiness in the people," the bride said.

"Precisely during this time, it was most important for us to get married because the terrorists came to us to kill people and destroy houses and we chose life; we chose to build a house, alongside fighting and destroying the enemy. This is the best answer for the people of Israel," the groom said.

Yossi Dagan, Head of the Samaria Regional Council said that "It is exciting to see the residents of Mevo Dotan who mobilized to organize a wedding for a soldier who is here alone and fighting for all of us. This is an initiative of mutual guarantee and unity, which are so important these days. The nation of Israel shows itself at the height of its glory even in these difficult days. I wish that Yohan and Sarah will have a happy life together in Israel and maybe even in Samaria."

Eitan Gorman, chairman of the Mevo Dotan settlement, said "It's exciting to see our amazing youth who have volunteered and helped since the beginning of the war in all areas and today organized a very moving wedding. We are lucky these are our children!"