In honor of Tu B’Av, the Aug. 18 Jewish holiday of love, I asked Boston couples, both new and vintage, how they met. You answered in droves; this will need to become a regular installment…or perhaps a Jewish rom-com! Ahead, romance through the ages.
From a Keshet Mixer to Suburbia
“My husband, Ron, and I met in January 2004 over hummus and cosmopolitans. I got a flyer from Keshet and CJP about an upcoming LGBT/Jewish mixer happening at a local gay bar. My roommate at the time was a Catholic theology student at Boston College and told me I had to go—and that he would go with me. I made him promise to introduce himself as a Catholic wingman because I knew it was false advertising. Anyway, once there, I met my now-husband.
“We started talking about work and hobbies, and before we knew it, the event was over and we were still talking. We also talked about travel; like many Israelis, travel is very important to him. We had both traveled to Australia, and I think it got him interested. In fact, we’re traveling now! I met my best friend and my partner in life that night. We now live in the ‘burbs, have two children, are active in our temple and owe it all to an LGBT/Jewish mixer all those years ago.”
—Robert
A Very Happy Happy Hour
“My husband, Steven, and I met on Thursday, Feb. 13, 1986, at Houlihan’s in downtown Boston. I was living with a Catholic friend from Carnegie Mellon University. She didn’t like the men I was dating. She and Steve worked together, and she thought that he was a nice guy. Then, she found out that he was Jewish and arranged to introduce us at Houlihan’s, which a lot of people went to after work on Thursday nights.
“Steve and I met, and then my friend and I realized that if we didn’t leave, we would miss the last bus back to our apartment—so we left. He wasn’t sure if I had signaled my roommate that I didn’t like him, but it was really not wanting to miss the bus! We met for lunch not too long after that and then had a ski date to Loon Mountain in New Hampshire.
“We were married on June 11, 1988, and now have two married children of our own and our first granddaughter was born in February. L’dor v’dor! We’ve joked that [my friend] introduced us because we were both Jewish, but the truth is that she also thought he was a nice guy and the kind of person whom I deserved to be dating.”
—Jeri
Foosball Flirting at Harvard Hillel
“In 2001, I had just completed a year at Harvard Graduate School of Education. My now-husband, David, was living in Davis Square. He attended a minyan that met at Harvard Hillel. We were both there for a Purim party for young adults. It was very crowded. There was a foosball table, and people were cycling in and out of the game. I started playing on one side, and this tall, handsome guy was playing opposite me. We made eye contact, but we couldn’t talk because it was so loud. I left the game, thinking I could try to make my way over to talk to him, but I lost him in the crowd. I tried to find him for about 20 minutes, but I couldn’t, so I went downstairs and stood outside the coatroom. I figured I’d catch him on his way out and pretend I was leaving too.
“I waited for a half-hour, but he didn’t show up. Finally, I figured I’d missed him, so I got my coat and left. As soon as I exited the building, I saw the guy standing in front of the building. He’d been waiting there the whole time, hoping to catch me on my way out! Everyone else who had been playing foosball was crazy competitive. David was playing just like me, slow and reserved. It was really funny, the contrast between the two of us compared to everyone else. It felt like he was a kindred spirit. He had a very gentle quality about him, and it came through in that first interaction.”
—Alison
Supporting Israel…and a Potential Paramour
“As a freshman at the University of Massachusetts – Amherst in 1975, I had the occasion to meet Lynne. Lynne was the only person from Georgia whom I knew at UMass, and she had the best smile and the best accent! At that time, she was dating someone, as was I, and our encounters were brief.
“Sophomore year I was in my dorm room and got a knock on the door. I opened it to find Lynne standing there. She told me that she was collecting for the Israel Emergency Fund, and would I be willing to make a donation? Honestly, I’m a huge supporter of Israel and always have been, but I saw this as an opportunity to not only help Israel but to possibly make an impact with this totally adorable young woman: I gave her $20, and I was her largest donor of the day!
“The next year, during Passover, Lynne and I were both eating in the kosher dining commons. We ended up having lunch two or three times, but she was still in another relationship. I was biding my time. Finally, senior year, second semester, I heard that Lynne was no longer in a relationship! I asked her out on a date. And now, after almost 44 years of marriage, we’re still huge supporters of Israel, big supporters of Hillel and very involved in the Jewish community—as are our three sons and daughters-in-law.”
—Steve
Second Time’s the Charm
“Maya and I met in December 2022 at a rabbi’s house. We talked a little bit afterward about her upcoming vacation to Argentina and argued about the time zone differences—I was very wrong. I really liked her smile, and from that Argentina time-zone debate, I knew she was smart. I knew Maya had an [upcoming] Moishe House event, but I couldn’t go as I already had plans. I was kicking myself knowing she’d be going to Argentina afterward! But when she got back, we were at another Shabbat dinner and again saw each other two days later for a movie night at a friend’s place.
“I asked her out after that. After two dates, it fizzled. A few months later, our mutual friends were part of the same group, and we rekindled at a Super Bowl party that February, only to coincidentally meet again two days later at a Jewish Valentine’s Day event at Hamilton Bar in Brookline, sponsored by the Israeli American Council. We talked for a few hours then, but it took another month or so of back and forth for us to retry the relationship, and it’s been going since then.”
—Sam
“On our ‘second-second’ date, Sam surprised me with tickets to a musical because I mentioned that I loved musicals once. He’s a very good and thoughtful listener. We learned that we both love hosting people through Moishe House, having each lived in a Moishe House and often running joint events. Now, we host Shabbat dinner for our friends consistently.
“Sam is learning Spanish so that he’s able to talk to my grandma, which is really cute, and he came along on a family trip to Argentina last December after only meeting them once for Rosh Hashanah. The fact that he wanted to come was so special to me after only dating for about seven months.
“Sam came to my family’s Passover seder this past April. My mom’s side of the family always does a big seder with all the cousins, and last year’s was in Chicago. Sam and I decided we wanted to lead the seder together. We studied and learned together, and I taught him my family’s traditions. It was a really cool and special experience that brought us closer—and so incredibly bold from Sam’s perspective.”
—Maya
A Magnetic Connection
“I’m from Boston and was regional president of the New England region of United Synagogue Youth (USY). Ravid is from Maryland and was regional president of the Seaboard region. We were invited to a fall board weekend in 2002 and hung out at their international convention when we were in high school: Our senior year international convention was at Disney World, and there’s actually a picture of us with our heads smushed together. We were just friends!
“The following year, I lost my father, and Ravid reached out. We didn’t speak for a few more years. Then, when we were seniors in college, we both staffed the same USY international convention, this time held in Boston. I learned that he had lost his mother. He and I were like magnets the entire convention, talking about our shared experiences. We just couldn’t be apart. It felt so natural.
“I was in denial for a while and thought, ‘We’re just friends,’ and my roommates were like: ‘Yeah, right.’ We finally admitted that we liked each other around May, when we were graduating from college. My sisters say I was so annoying, texting him the entire graduation and celebration dinner. We got married in 2009, and the rest is history.”
—Yaffa
Cocktails and Endless Conversation
“Jon and I met 12 years ago at a monthly event in Boston called ‘Gin and Jews.’ They rotated bars every month, and the bar area was reserved for the event. The one where we met was the first one I ever attended—and the last!—at the Back Bay Social Club.
“I went with my two girlfriends on the T on a weeknight. When I got there, it was very crowded and I left them to go get a drink. However, I was unable to make eye contact with the bartender because there was a guy standing in front of me who was really tall, blocking my view. So I tapped him on the shoulder and said, ‘Excuse me, could you please move so that I can get to the bar?’ He turned around, and I will never forget that he looked down and gave me such a nice smile! He introduced himself and got me a drink himself. Then we began talking. And talking and talking. After a while, my friends came up and told me they wanted to go home. And I absolutely did not want to leave. We just had this instant connection and so much to talk about. So I said: ‘No, thanks. I’m going to stay here.’ And we stayed until the event ended.
“He was an excellent conversationalist and seemed confident but not cocky. He seemed very open and friendly. He also seemed very kind and like a mensch and obviously had traditional Jewish values. We talked about everything, including our families, travel, hobbies and more. We had a lot of the same interests and goals. He called me the next day and invited me out on a date, and we began dating pretty seriously from that point on. We were married in 2015, and we have three children.”
—Ilana
A True Home Run
“Phil and I were teammates in a coed Jewish softball league around 2006. We hung out with the same group of friends from the league but didn’t start dating until we reconnected at a Chai Center Shabbat dinner in 2009. We were married in October 2011. We now have two kids.
“Obviously, he was very impressed at the softball skills I honed playing junior high recreational softball! I really liked that he was outgoing and willing to go outside his comfort zone by trying new things, like beer.”
—Sherrie
An Unbreakable Bond
“Eli and I met at the USY international convention in Chicago—even though we’re both from New England—in 1998. He grew up in Newton. I grew up in Maine. I went to the convention to see my friends from an Israel trip the previous summer. He went because his parents thought he should do something Jewish. He had a comb that he claimed was unbreakable. I didn’t believe it and spent much of the convention trying to break the comb by bending it back and forth. He told me I had flabby arms. I complained to him about that later, saying that it’s not a good way to hit on someone, and he said it was his way of testing how sensitive or able to take a joke I was. I was not offended!
“When we got back to New England, we called, emailed and even wrote snail-mail letters to each other. We officially got together in the summer of 1999. In September 1999, I went on Nativ, USY’s gap-year Israel program, and we stayed together over 7,000 miles for nine months! He came to visit for New Year’s 2000.
“He was at Harvard University. I came back and went to school at Brandeis University, and we found 7 miles much easier than 7,000. We got married in August 2004, exactly 20 years ago. We were the first wedding at the new Gann Academy building.”
—Meg
Dance (and Life) Partners
“Howie and I met during the staff orientation week for Young Judaea’s national summer camp for teens, Tel Yehudah, in June 1976, while learning an intricate Israeli couples’ dance to perform for the upcoming Friday night Oneg Shabbat. As the group began to pair off, Howie and I literally walked into each other’s arms. While our rehearsals involved many stubbed toes from my well-meaning partner—happier on the basketball court than the dance floor—we had many long conversations about our personal ‘Israel stories’ and our plans to make Israel our home, fulfilling our shared Zionist dreams.
“Fast-forward a couple of weeks to America’s bicentennial weekend of July 4, 1976, which was celebrated nominally at camp while our hearts were fully focused on the hostages being held in Uganda after their flight was hijacked. As a pluralistic Jewish setting, we didn’t listen to radios or use other electronics in the public space, so we didn’t know how and if this was going to be resolved.
“That Saturday night, I was given the honor of leading an emotional Havdalah ceremony for the hundreds of teens and staff members, while Howie was given the privilege of announcing the heroic rescue led by Yoni Netanyahu, later depicted in the film ‘Operation Thunderbolt.’ In the jubilation that followed, we had our first kiss, and the rest is history.
“Each of us continues to act on behalf of the Jewish people and Israel in any way we can, both during our years living in Israel and those in the U.S., guided by our shared values and passions: for me as a Jewish educator, teaching at Hebrew College since 1985 and working as a recruiter and mentor for students in the iFellows Israel Education program out of the Chicago-based iCenter. For Howie, founding the Israel Ride to benefit the exceptional work of The Arava Institute based on Kibbutz Ketura, focusing on the environmental issues that know no political borders—and no less important, forging bonds of friendship and partnership among all who share the Middle East.”
—Susie
