At the entrance to the Hadar Dimol halls in Ramat Gan, dozens of people are standing and talking. Among them are some I saw at Brisk's wedding in Bnei Brak. The distance made it easy for those who came to jump on all the weddings, or more precisely: two weddings in one night. Here, at the wedding of the son of Yigal Revach, owner of the Afikim advertising agency, there are people mainly from local and national politics, and lots of yeshiva students who came to celebrate. Amiran Dvir's orchestra is playing in the hall. These sounds are impossible to miss, even through a closed window.
I get into the elevator and discover that the Revach family and the production company have made the separation between men and women something too serious. Minutes later, a guest who got on the elevator with me reveals to me that the issue of extreme separation remains only on the sign. In reality, everyone is on the same floor.
At the entrance to the hall, I find Doron, who is holy from day to day, now with the groom's grandfather, Rabbi Israel Revach of Elad, the head of the young yeshiva 'Ateret Amram', who is happy to welcome every guest, as if he is the first one he meets that evening.
Benzi Feder meets me at the entrance to the hall. A handshake and greetings. And here a wonderful group has gathered for a beautiful and light photo. "Send me the photos," he asks. He will soon find himself here on the site.
MK Yaakov Asher, who ended up in a halachic fight with Mordechai Brisk, also arrives here. At the entrance to the hall, he meets Yinon Shweka, CEO of Bank Pagi. We shake hands, I take a picture, and someone on the side shouts: "Wealth and power.".
Yanki Mayzlish (right), VP of Marketing for Kol Brama Radio, and food critic Herzl Kosiashvili are reviewing the food and the guests in the hall. Herzl, who has returned from a trip abroad, is completely relaxed. Mayzlish is even more relaxed. Later I will find out that he has already been to Brisk's wedding.
Yated Ne'eman CEO Zelig Orlansky (right), HaMvesher CEO Moishe Porush (left), and Benzi Feder, formerly of the press line, are talking. Zelig, it turns out, is rushing to get to Brisk's wedding and from there to the joy of his assistant's engagement - in Jerusalem. An evening of drones.
I took a picture of Benny Rabinowitz, a WhatsApp group manager, with his plate full of goodies. "If you post this picture, you'll see what I'll do to you," he threatened me. I stopped in my tracks and replied: What will you do to me? Throw me out of a WhatsApp group?
""Take a picture," one of the publicists whispers to me. "Look, Yaakov Rivlin arrived wearing a hat and a suit." I felt strange. I glanced again: Rivlin has a double. "Now everything is clear," say those around him in the entrance area to the hall. "Apparently Rivlin also has a double on Twitter.".
Inside the hall, MK Yaakov Asher elbows himself up, landing next to Ariel Atias. A political conversation, short to the point and quick.
Kekun and Maimon from the newspaper 'Yom Liom' arrived from the Brisk wedding. They shook hands with Yehuda Avidan from Shas, and then on to the task: a place to sit and eat.
Ashdod City Council member Amram Knafo doesn't miss a handshake with the boss of 'Yom Liom', and they exchange handshakes from both sides of the table.
Yossi Elitov from 'Mishpacha' (center) manages to catch Yehuda Avidan's ear. While they whisper, Ariel Deri (left), CEO of 'Kol Berama', updates the guys on WhatsApp.
""Don't we deserve a picture?", the groom's friends asked. "We were in the same room with him. Take a picture of us when we're happy he got married." I took a picture. "And where will we see the pictures?" On the website, I replied. "Oh, we can't see them. We only have kosher." Kosher is great, I replied, and moved on.
On the side, one of the journalists sat and browsed through the groups. Checking what was going on and what was new? Yair Ettinger from Haaretz had just replied in the Council of Sages group, and in the Meta Yahad spokesperson group, Avi Blumenthal issued another press release. We have blurred the rest of the details. There is a limit to how much we can let you know about our subjects.
Avi Vaknin from Be'er Sheva surprises with his presence with his brother. How are you related, I ask him. "I'm from the family." And what do you do today? "Project manager for the Ministry of Housing in Be'er Sheva." So here's an address in Be'er Sheva for you surfers.
Media consultant Avrimy Kreuzer also arrived from Brisk's wedding. I catch him standing on the sidelines talking to Ephraim Zliberberg, the man in charge of producing the wedding. Apparently they were planning a big event ahead of the elections. We'll wait and see.
Clalit's customer relations manager in Kiryat Sefer, Moishe Rosengarten (right), also showed up for the wedding, along with Avraham Konsky, Clalit's marketing manager for the Haredi sector. "Did you eat? Are you full?" Moishe asked me after the picture was taken, and even offered to sit next to me. I refused. I have work tonight, I replied - and continued to the next table.
Meanwhile, at the center table, Yossi Elitov, Ariel Deri and Ariel Atias continue their political conversations. Atias is holding an old phone, suitable only for sending text messages. But you would be willing to give a lot to know who he was texting with.
In the meantime, one of the journalists in the hall, a member of the 'Council of the Wise' group on WhatsApp, will come in to see what's new. Moti Lavi is just updating the group members with photos. Did you recognize what was photographed?
Rabbi Amir Crispel (right) also arrived to wish Mazal-Tov. The groom's father, all overjoyed, welcomes him with joy and seats him after drinking "Chechaim" at the honor table. But Rabbi Crispel hurries, says a final blessing - and goes on his way.
PR man Moti Bokatsin arrived to wish you well and was honored with a kiss from the groom's father. "Did you just get here?" Yigal asked Moti, embarrassed. And Moti, like a polished PR man, replied: "Actually, I've been here for a long time, I was just waiting to shake your hand and wish you well.".
At the entrance to the hall, Zelig Orlansky is still waiting for the driver to take him to his assistant's engagement in Jerusalem. In the meantime, he shakes hands with colleagues from competing newspapers.
Haim Kliger, once the newspaper HaMveshar and now the CEO of the magazine 'Zman', came to wish Mazal-Tov. We followed him. There was no handshake between him and former boss Moishe Porush of HaMveshar.
Moshi Porosh sat down in the meantime, at the behest of the host. Fine wine was poured into glasses. "Cheers," said the groom's father. Everyone raised a toast of good luck to success.
Avi Mimran arrived imbued with combat. Explains, reports, analyzes, and above all refutes. Everyone listens. On the side (right) stands Israel Reisner, listening and then realizes that I am filming. After that, he approached me and asked: "Where is this going?" To the Haredim10, I answer. He, in an attempt to sting, replies: "I have never heard of you." So if you read this, send it to him to see.
Media consultant Kobi Isaac (left) arrives after talking to all the people who stopped him at the entrance to the hall and exiting the elevators. "I can't even eat," he says as friends Ariel Deri (center) and Yanki Maizlish (right) stand by the bar to take a picture with him...
Yated Ne'eman's marketing woman, Tzipi Rotlevy (right) talks with media consultant Avrimy Kreuzer, who is completely satisfied with the plausible explanation she gave about the latest move that was made. Where and when I was unable to grasp it. They, after that, did not issue any explanations. I will settle for just this picture.
Avi Mimran, who had finished analyzing the political map, also arrived at the end of his journey at the table where Ariel Atias was sitting. He spoke to him while hiding his lips. For us, the picture is enough.
""Take a picture of me, but I want it to come out great, at least like Ephraim Zliberberg." Ephraim, for his part, laughed, turned around and continued on his way. That way, he was the only one left in the picture.
Eliezer Shulman from 'Mishpacha' arrived after talking outside with family members, cousins and aunts. At the table he met his colleague from the newspaper. And as if they had never met before, they sat down to talk. The boys went out dancing.
Rabbi Amir Crispel, who was hurrying to leave, was stopped by Yanki Mayzlish for a conversation. When I reached for the camera, Rabbi Amir said with a broad smile, pointing at me: "Be careful of him, don't say a word in front of him. He writes everything." I wrote.
Avi Rosen, CEO of Radio Kol Hai, and competitor Ariel Deri from Radio Kol Barama, stood on either side of the partition in the central lobby and talked. Deri then remained on the other side, because from there he went home. Rosen returned to the hall.
Ozer Druk, the promoter of the Dickman brothers and the marketing man for Bekhila, came to wish Mazal Tov and joked with Elitov from the competing family, who had already begun to retreat from the hall, and continued towards the stage, where Amiran Dvir was playing with his brother.
The Dvir brothers played and sang with all their hearts and made the audience jump to their feet. No ear could help but listen, and no foot could help but dance in the hall.
Asher Medina (left), from the Shas press office, was asked to comment on the new poll that gives 5 seats to Eli Yishai. He responded with a smile, and continued to speak and voice what he wanted them to hear. Yinon Falach (second from the left), the editor of 'Kav Ya'arish', listened from the sidelines, and Yitzhak Nachshoni (right), the editor of the competing network 'Merkaz Ha'Amin'an', did not remain obliging and kept pushing.
Rabbi Shneur Revach, the groom's uncle, was sitting in the dance hall, the orchestra was playing loudly, and he had opened a book. He was completely absorbed in his study. He was not happy, "But I need to stay." So he sat and studied.
Amiran Dvir, who is known as a musician on the one hand, and on the other hand, is known for his selfies posted on his Facebook page, was surprised this time when I photographed him taking a selfie.
He sat on the steps, at the entrance to the hall, and bit the tassel. Why are you here? I asked. He answered: "Because I want to dance and everyone is pushing me." A guy standing next to us heard the answer, lifted him onto his shoulders to dance in a circle.
Eitan Dobkin from Habatzafar also came to wish him good luck. But Benzi Feder managed to stop him before he even entered the hall. I thought it would take a few minutes. In the end, it seemed like they had a long meeting at the entrance to the hall.
Yoni Tzur, the videographer who stays young forever, took the stage to film the orchestra playing. He loves his job so much and is so focused that he's smiling the whole time. That's what happens when you love what you do.
Then at the end, Amiran Dvir and Yoni Tzur pointed a finger at the camera and said: "But you're not taking pictures at the wedding." And I smiled and said to myself: Lucky. There are things that are better left unseen.