Bride, groom and rabbi arrested at wedding in Buenos Aires

Argentinian police arrest eight, including the bride and groom, their parents, the rabbi who married them at a wedding hall in violation of anti-corona health guidelines.

By World Israel News Staff

Buenos Aires police made arrests when an Orthodox Jewish couple held a wedding with invited guests in violation of health guidelines to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

The bride and groom, along with their parents and the officiating rabbi, were among eight people arrested for violating the mandated lockdown that bans public and religious events.

It was the third Jewish wedding in less than a week that had been held in violation of health regulations in the Balvanera area of the city, home to a large Orthodox population. The first wedding occurred May 20 with some 150 participants, and the second, held last Sunday, prompted neighbors to call the police, but no charges were laid.

Authorities were alerted about the wedding, and police raided the building on private property with the incident getting wide coverage on Argentinian television. Reports said that up to 250 people were present at the wedding, and a video from the event showed very few people wearing masks and nobody keeping social distance.

A source in the Jewish community said the largest of the weddings involved people from the Shuba Israel synagogue where two members, brothers Roberto and Gabril Yabra. died from the coronavirus. Roberto’s wife Teresa, 79, was also hospitalized with the virus but has since recovered.

Argentinian Jewish organizations, including the AMIA Jewish organization of Buenos Aires, the Latin American Rabbinical Seminary and the local chapter of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement all condemned the weddings.

“Participating in these weddings or meetings is prohibited, and if a person has already been in one of these activities, they must be isolated from our community for at least 35 days and must quarantine at home,” the Chabad chapter said in a statement.

Chabad reported that two prominent local rabbis, Rabbi Gavriel Yabra, 59, a leading kashrut expert in South America, and his father Rabbi Roberto Yabra, 85, both recently succumbed to the coronavirus.