First wedding since October 7 takes place at bride's home of Kibbutz Kerem Shalom

Sivan, who was raised in Kerem Shalom, and her partner, Meir, chose to hold their wedding at the kibbutz swimming pool, near the Gaza border, surrounded by family members, friends, and residents.

Nearly three years after the October 7 massacre, a wedding was held at Kibbutz Kerem Shalom on Thursday for the first time since the attack, as a daughter of the kibbutz returned to marry in the community where she grew up.

Sivan, who was raised in Kerem Shalom, and her partner, Meir, chose to hold their wedding at the kibbutz swimming pool, near the Gaza border, surrounded by family members, friends, and residents.

For the Kerem Shalom community, the wedding marked an exceptional occasion. No large-scale celebration had been held at the kibbutz since the October 7 attack and the community’s subsequent evacuation. Some of the residents who attended the wedding returned to live at the kibbutz only recently, after spending an extended period away from their homes.

The couple chose to marry specifically in the place where Sivan grew up, turning the celebration into a symbol for community members of a return to routine and renewed life in the kibbutz.

“The couple’s decision, when she is a daughter of the kibbutz who grew up here, to get married specifically here is, for me and for the kibbutz, our greatest victory,” the Kerem Shalom administration said. “We went through the worst imaginable. This place has also seen very difficult moments; our community fell apart and was rebuilt, and we returned here a year and several months ago.”

The kibbutz added: “The choice to build this new home specifically here is a moving declaration that we continue to live and grow out of a great love for this place.”

Kerem Shalom wedding occurs weeks before October 7 anniversary

The wedding took place just weeks before the third anniversary of the October 7 attack.

“In about two and a half weeks, we will mark October 7 as a community,” the kibbutz said. “The pain and the hope are intertwined, especially on this evening.”