Raviv and I officially first met March 30th, 2021 in Zichron Yaakov, Israel, while we were both in studying in Israel post high school.

Our mutual friend, Shifra Dimbert, invited me to hang out with her Kansas friends during Pesach/Passover. We spent the day at the beach where I learned Raviv's terrible sense of humor, listened to his stories from living in Israel during high school, and teamed up with him for a game of 2v2 soccer. After crashing at his host family's house for dinner, I did not think I would ever see him again.

I invited myself back to another Kansas get together for Lag Ba'Omer a few weeks later, and then Raviv invited me to his brother's birthday party. Too shy to actually ask each other out on a date, we tried to get our friends to meet up again but they all "cancelled" last minute and left us on our own in Gan Ha'atzmaut (a park in Jerusalem).

Finally, after parting ways that night, Raviv asked me out on an official date. A couple nights later, we met back at Gan Ha'aztmaut and tried to make sense of our next steps, since Raviv was flying back to the US the next day and our future plans were headed in different directions. At the end of the night I asked him point blank, "What are we doing?" and he responded, "Waiting for the bus."

That's when I knew.

Though I was devastated on the way back to Nishmat thinking this was the end of our time together, I was thankful for the adventures we had the past few months.

Throughout the summer we texted, called, FaceTimed, and most importantly, tried to break up. We couldn't. When Raviv surprised me at the end of the summer, I knew long distance was worth the shot.

Well If you read Gittel's side first, then you know the story. But she is leaving out some seriously crucial information. Let me tell you my side.

It was indeed March 30th, 2021 in Zichron Yaakov. I was hoping to see some friends over Chol Hamoed Pesach, both Avi Brudoley and Shifra Dimbert were available. At the time I was dealing with a terrible allergy attack which rendered my humor to an all time low. Shifra had mentioned she was bringing a friend, sparking my curiosity but not necessarily intrigue.

We met at the gate of Ramat Hanadiv Botanical garden where we briefly introduced ourselves.The decision was unanimous – let's head to the beach. We played soccer, had some food (Pesach snack food isn't the best), and eventually got hungry. I knew just the spot to have some dinner. My host mother, essentially my second mother, warmly welcomed my new guests with chicken soup. After they left, she made a comment that Gittel seemed very nice.

I thought I was never going to see her again. After some time, I totally forgot about her and I moved on with my life.

About a month later, my brother was having a Lag B'omer party with a lot of people and I was excited to go. To my surprise, Gittel was there too! I was genuinely surprised how she got my brother's address. Shortly after I was notified that she was invited. I thought to myself maybe I should get to know this person because she was in my brother's apartment. It only became interesting when Elinoam’s birthday came around….

Fast forward to the second date, you know what happened on the first one. At the time in my life, I really had no clue what my life trajectory would be. Although it was a fun and nice date, Gittel juggling rocks for me, and strolling around Jerusalem, we lacked a definitive plan. I was flying back to the US the next day and our futures were veering in different directions. At the end of the night as I waited for her bus to arrive, she asked me out of the blue, “What are we doing?” Obviously I told her what we were doing.

And as the saying goes the rest is history. So now you know the most important details.