Shana was great — I mean, lovely — but she was not English. I sighed and let it go

Shani Leiman with Zivia Reischer

"So, Rebbi, what do you think we should do?”

My husband had taught Yechiel in high school, and even though he’d been learning in Israel for a couple of years, he still kept in touch.

“My mother wants me to come back to the US after this zeman. She says I’ve been here four years already, it’s time. My chavrusa, Shaul Pinter, is also thinking about leaving, it would be great if we could keep learning together. The only thing is that my parents don’t want me to go to Lakewood.” That was a little unusual for a guy like Yechiel. “At least, not for Elul. Maybe for next zeman. They say I’ve been away for so long, they want me closer to home.”

Home for Yechiel was Silver Spring, Maryland; he could learn in Yeshivah of Greater Washington under Rav Aaron Lopiansky.

“What about Shaul?” Yechiel continued, thinking aloud. “He’s originally from London, but his family moved to Baltimore two years ago when his father got some government contract in Washington. His parents don’t want him to go to Lakewood either. They miss him. They want him to go to Ner Yisrael, so he can be close by.

“I wonder if he can convince them to let him come to Silver Spring? It’s just 40 minutes away. That way we could still learn together, but he could go home every Shabbos.”

Shaul’s parents agreed, and the American-English chavrusas made plans to leave Eretz Yisrael and learn in Maryland for Elul zeman. Before the new zeman started, Yechiel called my husband back with another question.

“Which shiur should we go to, Rebbi?”

They talked about the different options, and my husband eventually advised Yechiel and Shaul to go to Rabbi Kohen’s shiur. He assured them that they’d learn a tremendous amount both from Rabbi Kohen’s mehalech in learning and from Rabbi Kohen himself.

By the time the Elul zeman had started, I was already setting up Yechiel with a girl from Baltimore (that would definitely keep him “close to home” and make his mother happy). The relationship progressed slowly but steadily, and I spent a lot of time coaching both Yechiel and Racheli, the girl he was dating.

Yechiel and Racheli were dating “seriously” when Shaul called me. “Yechiel insisted,” he admitted, a little bashfully. “I’m not really dating yet, but he said you’re the greatest shadchan ever and he’s sure you can help me.”

I thought it was sweet how much Yechiel cared about his friend and chavrusa, and I arranged a time to meet Shaul.