In March 1992, Jennifer Morse
attended a Hillel Day School
Alumni Committee meeting for
the first time. Bob Mattler was
late to the meeting.
As he walked in, she thought:
"Here's this very handsome, tall
man walking in. I thought, 'Cute,

"We met when he came to my
Sweet 16 party— late," says Mrs.
Gerger.
"I did not invite him. My best
friend, Fredda, lived next door to
me. She was dating a guy named
Norty; Jerry was his best friend.
Norty asked if Jerry could come.

Rabbi Aaron and
Ruth Bergman

Jennifer and Bob Mattler

maybe a little older.' Right off the
bat, I just thought this guy seems
really neat."
They kept meeting at gather-
ings of Hillel alumni and later at
Federation's Young Adult Divi-
sion events. After seeing each
other at the annual YAD boat
cruise, Mr. Mattler called Ms.
Morse to ask her "to what he says
to this day was a business din-
ner. It was no business dinner."
They started dating in Sep-
tember 1992 and got married
Oct. 2, 1994. Mr. Mattler popped
the question in Washington, D.C.,
at a UJA Young Leadership Con-
ference. How apropos.

And I said, 'Yeah."
About two hours into the par-
ty the doorbell rang. It was rain-
ing outside, and there stood Mr.
Gerger, in a brown corduroy
suit.
"The thing I remember so
much about that night was that
I felt, 'My God, he is very differ-
ent!' I felt something very differ-
ent for him, different than for any
other guy I had met," says 'Mrs.
Gerger.
On Feb. 3, they celebrated
their 45th anniversary. The
Gergers have three sons, two
daughters-in-law and three
grandchildren.

The rabbi of Congregation
Beth Abraham Hillel
Moses met his wife at ser-
vices.
Having just finished his
first year of rabbinical
school, in January 1987,
Rabbi Bergman was nurs-
ing a broken heart. Al-
though he regularly
attended services at the
Jewish Theological Semi-
nary, his roommate hap-
pened to be involved in the
minyan at Columbia University.
"He asked me if I would come
to services," says Rabbi Bergman.
"I went, saw this girl in the back
... There was something about
her. We started talking for a
minute after services. It turns out
she grew up with my roommate."
Later that week, Rabbi
Bergman ran into the young
Barnard College student "sort of
on purpose" in the Seminary's
kosher cafeteria, where he knew
she dined.
"I asked her for dessert; we
talked for hours and hours."
Four weeks later, they became
engaged. Rabbi Bergman's room-
mate stood up at their wedding
in May 1988. The Bergmans
have three children.
"I've spent longer picking out
a tie than it took me to decide,"
says the rabbi about his wife.

Joyce and Art Bayer

It was 1967, and Joyce Bayer
was moving out of the only
Wayne State University dorm,
into an apartment with a
friend.
"We were going to go over and
clean up the apartment. I was
adviser at a youth group, and
had gone to work with [its mem-
bers] that Friday night."
"Horsing around" with the
kids, she "split [her] pants."
Her roommate had invited

I thought, limmm
and it just proceeded from
there."
The pair met on March
2, became engaged April
1 and married July 1,
1967. They live in Farm-
ington Hills and have two
children.

Left: Art and Joyce Bayer

Below: Mike and Shelley
Reiter, with 10-day-old son
Jason.

PHOTO BY JOHN M. DISCHER

Renee and Jerry Gerger

PHOTO BY BILL HANSEN

Jennifer and Bob Mattler

her boyfriend and a friend "to
watch us clean the apartment.
So I got over to the apartment,
holding the back of my pants to-
gether with my hand. Sue's
boyfriend met me at the eleva-
tor, saying, 'There's somebody
waiting to see you.' "
He dragged me into the
kitchen and opened the door to
the broom closet, and there was
Art standing on his head. He
flipped out onto his feet, jumped
up onto the chair, threw his
arms around me, kissed me and
said, 'Hi, I'm Art."'
He is 5 feet 4 inches; she is 5
feet 10 inches. "He put his arm
around me in the back seat and

Mike and Shelley Reiter

"I was leading Bus No. 2 on Mir-
acle Mission I. We were driving
to Safed, and I was talking
through the microphone," says
Mike Reiter. "I asked anyone who
knew a nice Jewish girl to raise
her hand.
"Sharon Singer raised her
hand."
Her friend coincidentally lived
in the same apartment complex
as Mr. Reiter, but they had nev-
er met.
"We met in June 1993, and we
were married July 2, 1995," he
says. Their first son, Jason, was
born a few weeks ago. ❑