My flame went out prematurely. As a widower I knocked on the doors of several shadchen-makers in search of reigniting that flame — with no results. To the rescue arrived the weekly Jewish Bulletin with the personals.
In December 1998 edition, my eyes came upon an ad from a “Menschette” that “truly spoke to me.” Renee Passy and I met at the Hyatt Regency in San Francisco, had two dates and viewed each other’s Shoah Foundation videos (thank you, Steven Spielberg), realizing that there was much binding us. The experience of the Holocaust gave us the determination to keep the flame of marriage burning.
My beshert was raised as a Reform Jew, and I was more from a “Conservorthodox” background. On our wedding day in 1999 we had two rabbis from the respective movements officiate. With their blessing, our flames were relit and have since illuminated our lives with many simchas.