Due to the many restrictions to combat the spread of the coronavirus which led some couples to delay their weddings, Chief Rabbi Harav Dovid Lau made a horaas sha’ah that this year, Ashkenazi couples can wed during the times of Sefiras Omer that Sefardi custom allows weddings and vice versa.

Harav Lau noted that two poskim who served as Chief Rabbis of Israel gave a heter for the above under certain conditions, the first being Harav Yitzchak Herzog, z’tl. Rav Herzog noted in his sefer Heichal Yitzchak that shortly after the Holocaust he gave a heter to a couple to marry on Yud Daled Iyar, Pesach Sheini, due to the fact that the chasan hadn’t yet fulfilled peru u’varu.

The second posek was Harav Ovadia Yosef, z’tl. In his sefer Yabiya Omer he ruled: “If there’s a need and a “sha’as hadchak” it’s permissible to conduct a wedding with chupah and kiddushin during sefirah if the chasan didn’t yet fulfill the miztvah of peru u’ravu.”

Rav Lau noted that the shailah he received wasn’t asking for a heter to be married on any day during Sefirah but only on those days that Sefardim are noheig to marry and emphasized that he is referring to couples who pushed off their wedding. Anyone who already arranged their wedding should hold it during the customary times they are noheig to according to their customs. Furthermore, the heter is only for this year.

However, Harav Yitzchak Yosef, the Sefardi Chief Rabbi, does not agree with Harav Lau’s pesak and says that at this stage there aren’t sufficient reasons to allow it.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)