Totally separate from the engagement, we were deciding on a Mesader Kiddushin (officiant) for the wedding. We excitedly chose Rabbi Yonaton Halevy, who Raviv's father learned with for many years. However, Rabbi Halevy and his family live in San Diego, and we wanted to meet and get to know each other better. Rabbi and Rabbanit Halevy invited us for a Shabbat, and so in the middle of our crazy semesters, we booked a flight to San Diego.

In the meantime, we knew we wanted to get engaged at some point during the Fall 2023 semester, but the question was where - do we do it in NJ and offend the KC people? Or in KC and offend the NJ people? When would we have the L'chaim? Two L'chaim's? Three?

Around September-October time, we came up with a brilliant idea: we have this tripped booked to San Diego, lets make the most of it and get engaged, and this way everyone is equally offended!

We flew out to San Diego Thursday night November 9th, meeting in Detroit airport for our connection, and finally met the wonderful Halevy family. Friday morning we quickly did our homework (STEM students never get a break) and headed out for the beach. We walked for about an hour and (after getting lost and asking for directions) Raviv took out the ring, asked an important question, and Gittel answered correctly. Since our photographer could not come until later, we asked some strangers to take some photos for us, and we had little picnic on the beach.

Then came the fun part: since we were 11 hours behind Israel, 3 hours behind NJ/NY, and 2 hours behind KC, most people would not find out about our engagement until after Shabbat (it is forbidden to use electronics from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown, giving us 24 hours before the crazy would begin) We sent out the message while there was still some time before Shabbat started on the East Coast and excitedly called our parents to tell them the news.

Once Shabbat started, we spent the most lovely Shabbat with the Halevys and their small Kehila (community), celebrating our engagement with complete strangers who became friends and family by the end of Shabbat. We even attended the wedding Saturday night for a couple in the kehila! 10/10 would recommend this proposal to a friend.

G&R

Wedding Day