38 | NOVEMBER 30 • 2023 
J
N

S

ometimes it feels like 
two people meeting is so 
inevitable, it’s astound-
ing that it hasn’t happened 
before.
When Kimberlee then-Rubin 
moved to the Walled Lake area 
after college, she reconnected 
with her childhood friend, 
Janine Smith, who she’d known 
since first grade. Janine is not 
Jewish but had a Jewish neigh-
bor. 
“
And what do you do when 
you know two Jewish single 
people? You set them up!” Kim 
laughed. 
But when Janine told Kim 
she wanted to set her up with 
Jason Levy, Kim balked. She 
said doubtfully, “I think I know 
him already … That’s not going 
to work.”
Janine asked her to describe 
him, and they quickly realized 
they were talking about two dif-
ferent people. 
Their first date — actually, 
double date with Janine and her 
husband — took place in 2001 
and brought them to a now-de-
funct Asian fusion restaurant in 
West Bloomfield and an enter-
taining round of Jewish geogra-
phy began. 
“We went to the same syna-
gogue. He knew my next-door 
neighbors. His brother graduat-
ed with my sister. Our dads had 
similar backgrounds; his dad 
worked in construction and my 
dad was a commercial plumber 
… We probably should have 
met at least 10 times before!” 
Kim said. 
They’d grown up in dif-
ferent cities, but both had 

attended Farmington Public 
Schools. 

Later, when Kim and Jason’s 
kids heard that, they enthusi-
astically asked if their parents 
had hung out together in 
school. Kim, six years younger 
than Jason, laughed when she 
explained, “Well, that wouldn’t 
have happened … When your 
dad was in high school, I was in 
middle school!”
But back to their first date: 
The two spent it laughing and 
realizing just how many people 
they knew in common. 
A few weeks later, it was Rosh 
Hashanah. Kim did not attend 
services that year, but her father 
and sister did — and they were 
thrilled to run into the guy Kim 
was seeing. That same night, 
Kim’s cousin, Esther Icikson, 
was also at shul and realized 
Kim and Jason had met before 
she’d had a chance to introduce 
them to each other — she’d also 
thought of the match.
Jason and Kim married in 
August 2004, and the wedding 
was well attended by many 
of their mutual friends and 
acquaintances. They are still 
members of Adat Shalom and 
have three children — Maxwell, 
18, Eden, 15, and Asher, 11. 
Jason’s a business owner in 
insurance sales and Kim’s a 
general counsel and chief com-
pliance officer for a financial 
services firm. They live in 
Novi — about a mile away from 
where they first met. 
 

This column will appear biweekly. If 

you’d like to share your ‘meet-cute’ 

story, email burstynwithjoy@hotmail.com.

‘Bound to Meet’

ROCHEL BURSTYN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

OUR COMMUNITY
HOW WE MET

Kimberlee and 
Jason Levy on 
their wedding day

The Levy 
family today

