Fated To Marry

Miriam Davies and Lou Pardo
were bound to become Miri and Eli in Israel.

Miri Davies and Eli Pardo

M

iriam Davies, an Oak
Parker living in Cincin-
nati, was married, had
finished her Ph.D. in
communications, and just landed her
"dream job" as a developmental editor at
an international publishing company.
Lou Pardo lived in Los Angeles,
worked as a salesman in a high-volume
professional photographic equipment
store, and drove a Mercedes.
Yet both of them gave up their for-
mer lives — and names (Miriam now
goes by Miri and Lou goes by Eli) —
and moved to Israel in hopes of finding
the same thing: love.
"I was married and so unhappy," said
Miri, 33. "I was in synagogue in Cincin-
nati on Yom Kippur, fasting and crying.
I felt God tell me to leave my husband
and move to Israel. I knew I had to do

it to find love and happiness in my life."
After checking with her rabbi to make
sure she was not "hearing voices," Miri
contacted her local Israel shaliach (emis-
sary). "I never looked back," she said.
At the same time, Eli, now 41 and
originally from Rochester, N.Y, went to
Israel on vacation in 1996 and had "an
Israel experience'': "Nothing was work-
ing. I didn't want to look back at 65 and
regret not trying it (aliyah). I was hoping
to meet my future wife, as Israeli
women had had a profound impact on
my decision to make aliyah."
Miri and Eli met at the Beit Milman
Absorption Center, a dorm-like setting
with apartments and Hebrew classes for
new immigrants to Israel, in Ramat
Aviv, a suburb near Tel Aviv University.
Eli and an American woman walked
into the tiny laundry room at Beit Mil-

man where Miri was doing her laundry.
They asked her a question in Hebrew.
"My Hebrew was pretty rough," Miri
said. "I asked them if they spoke English
and, when I found out they did, I start-
ed telling them about Tel Aviv. I didn't
know if they were together, and I
thought Eli had amazing eyes. I asked
them to let me show them my Tel Aviv."
Miri developed a schoolgirl-style
crush on Eli. "I joined his u/pan
(Hebrew class), even though it was too
hard for me, because he was there and I
could sit next to him. I tortured myself
for eight months, trying to learn
Hebrew" and being near him.
Miri hosted communal Shabbat din-
ners at Beit Milman, and she always
invited Eli. "I knew he was the one for
me after he went to the doctor with me
when I was really sick. I didn't know

how to let him know that, though, and
we didn't really have that close a friend-
ship."
It took nine months from their initial
meeting until he decided to take another
look at the short blonde woman who
had been using a mutual friend, Elena,
as cupid.
"I told her how much I loved him,"
Miri said. "She told me he wasn't inter-
ested, and that maybe I should dye my
hair red, because Eli has a thing for red-
heads. I thought that was stupid, but I
kept telling her to let him know how
crazy I was about him."
"Messages kept coming from Elena,"
Eli said. – Miri really likes you,' and I'd
say, `I know, Elena.
Things fell into place after Miri
moved out of Beit Milman and into a
private apartment. One fateful evening,
after having Shabbat dinner with a
crowd of people, she and Eli found
themselves alone. Miri's heart raced and
she found it hard to breathe. Eli, howev-
er, was listening to a voice inside his
head.
"I remember telling my mother what
was going on in my life and my mother
told me, 'You know, what you need is
somebody,' and she was whispering on
the phone like it was a secret. 'You need
someone who is going to love you
maybe more than you love them.' It
didn't really sink in until I was at Shab-
bat dinner at Miri's.
"I just kept hearing the words of my
mother come back to me, and I knew I
didn't want to get into something for
just a physical release. But I thought,
`This was so 180 (degrees) from what I
am normally attracted to that maybe it's
just crazy enough to work.' And I kissed
her. We've been together every day since
then."
"I told him from the beginning that I
was in it all the way with him," said
Miri. "I told him on the first night that
I loved him. I even dyed my hair red,
but that was only after we were together.
I wanted him to like me for me, not
because I had the right hair color."
Miri and Eli will be married Dec. 31
at Temple Shir Shalom in West Bloom-
field. "We decided not to get married in
Israel after one of the Ashkenazi clerks
questioned our 'Jewish identity' because
we were married to and divorced from
non-Jews," Miri said. "I clOn't want to
cry anymore. I just want to get mar-
ried."
After their wedding, they will return
to their Tel Aviv apartment that over-
looks the same view Miri showed Eli the
night they met. ❑

12/:
19')

Detroit Jewish News

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