Finally the six of us decision-makers decided to go with the first place we looked – Binyanei Ha’Uma (the Jerusalem Convention Center). It’s a gorgeous place, will be in the Teddy Hall, and the chuppah will take place in one of several possible locations there. The date? September 11, 2011.
I know, I know. The date always gets a few raised eyebrows. The best one was when I told a neighbor the date and she blurted out, “That’s awkward.” And I looked at her and said, “Now THAT was awkward.”
I’ve thought about it a lot. You know what? Several weeks ago when I was speaking to my sister in NY and she mentioned a wedding she had just been to “on Memorial Day” I realized how strange that was. No one would make a wedding in Israel on Memorial Day. At least no proud Israeli worth the stripes on his blue and white flag. We have a memorial day because there were wars and losses that happened all over the calendar; it is a way to remember all of them without creating black-out dates throughout the year against any fun or special events happening on those dates. September 11th is the date that the events that came to be known as “9/11″ occurred. That doesn’t make the date itself bad. If anything, having special things on that day is an amazing way to turn a sad date into a happy one. Besides, that was the only date they had available…
Laura Ben-David is the author of numerous articles and the book, MOVING UP: An Aliyah Journal, a memoir of her move to Israel. She has done public speaking about Israel and Aliyah all over the United States and Israel. Contact her at laura@aliyahbook.com or follow her tweets at http://www.twitter.com/laurabendavd 
I know this is an old post, but if I remember correctly, it is actually ILLEGAL to hold a Simcha on Yom haZikaron and possibly Yom haShoah.
Catering halls are not allowed to hold events then.
As it should be. I didn’t know that it was actually illegal though.