Crown Heights gathers at windows to cheer just-married couple
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
By Helen Chernikoff March 20, 2020
Couples who are marrying amid coronavirus have had to slash their guest lists. Nowhere is this trend more visible than Crown Heights, the Brooklyn neighborhood that’s the headquarters of the global Chabad-Lubavitch movement.
As couple got married today in Crown Heights. Because no one could come to their wedding, they instead drove around the neighborhood and asked everyone to sing and dance with them from their homes. pic.twitter.com/MdwOys4MyI
— Mordechai Lightstone (@Mottel) March 19, 2020
The world headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway — often referred to just as “770” — was shuttered by the virus for the first time in its history. Normally, the building and the surrounding area is a favorite location for weddings among Chabad’s international flock. During the times of year when weddings are popular, and permissible according to Jewish law, commuters arriving home on the subway might ascend to street level to witness sprawling crowds celebrating a wedding right next to 770 several nights a week.
A newly married couple cruised the Crown Heights streets looking for cheers and congratulations, and got them — coronavirus-style. Image by Courtesy of Leah Zagelbaum
One couple held a wedding there Wednesday with the usual accoutrements of music, flower girls and confetti — but far fewer guests than normal. By Thursday night, another couple determined to receive their due in good cheer decided on a different strategy: They took to the streets in a convertible, after disseminating their planned route.
From the video, at least, it seems they got what they needed.
As a public service during this pandemic, the Forward is providing free, unlimited access to all coronavirus articles. If you’d like to support our independent Jewish journalism, click here to make a donation.
Why I became the Forward’s editor-in-chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
— Alyssa Katz, editor-in-chief
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
