14 | DECEMBER 12 • 2024 J
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A

n old issue of the Jewish News holds
a special spot in the hearts of one
Chicago couple. It’s not a particular
article or wedding or death announcement that’s
so sentimental; it’s a Cap & Gown issue, with one
then-unknown graduate circled.
Harry Ellman, who at the time wanted his then
26-year-old son Jeff Ellman to marry someone
Jewish, turned to a memorable picture in the
Jewish News. One grad’s accomplishments and
Jewish background particularly appealed to him.
“You should marry someone like this,” Harry
famously said as he circled the picture of the
random girl, Elyse Fleischman.
“My parents were keen on me marrying a Jewish
girl to raise a family with … and they were spot
on; they nailed it!” Jeff laughed.
Five years after that Cap and Gown issue, that’s
exactly whom Jeff did marry!
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves … Actually,
Jeff and Elyse had already met. God had set the
wheels in motion years earlier.
In 2000, Jeff had visited Israel — for the first
and only time so far. When he visited the Western
Wall, he prayed to one day meet and marry a great
Jewish girl. The next day, he climbed Masada

and saw a friend who was a counselor on a team
mission, leading a bunch of girls.
One of those girls was Elyse, who would years
later become his wife. Talk about a prayer being
answered — even if it didn’t come to fruition for
another decade.
“I literally met the girl who’d become my wife
the very next day after I put my prayer on a note
and placed it in the Western Wall,” Jeff marveled.
“If I could rewind my life and look at that moment
… it’s crazy!”
Eight years later, the time was right. Elyse had
also moved to Chicago; they were set up by a
mutual friend, Jeremey Dunn. Jeff wasn’t interested
at first. He thought Elyse was too young for him,
but Jeremey insisted.
“She’s very mature for 22, is someone you will
like a lot and she loves sports …”
Of course, Jeremey was right.
Nine months later, the couple flew to Aruba,
and to the backdrop of a picturesque sunset on the
beach, Jeff proposed.
“Our story is about how two people are meant
to be together; it’s crazy how many things we had
in common … It’s amazing,” said Jeff. “We’d traced
similar paths in life, kept crossing paths, but were

always in different stages.”
Jeff and Elyse had even attended the same camp
as teens, Camp Walden, but he’d taught basketball
and she was a camper so they didn’t know each
other.
In 2009, the couple married in the Ritz-Carlton
Dearborn, now The Henry.
Jeff’s an entrepreneur; he started his first college
recruiting company in Detroit and now owns two
software companies in Chicago, UrbanBound
and Hireology. Elyse attended Michigan and is a
sales director at a litigation software technology
company.
Today the couple have three sons — Brody, 11,
Connor, 9, and Brooks, 2 — and reside in Chicago
although with two sets of grand and great-
grandparents scattered in the West Bloomfield and
Bloomfield Hills area, they have reason to visit
Michigan often.
“My parents still laugh about how we got
together,” Jeff shared. “My dad takes credit for
setting us up even though he really didn’t — he
just circled a picture in the Jewish News!”

If you’d like to share your ‘meet-cute’ story, email

burstynwithjoy@hotmail.com.

L TO R: Elyse Fleischman and Jeff Ellman when dating. The Ellman family: Jeff and Elyse and their three sons: Brody, Brooks and Connor. Elyse and Jeff on their wedding day.
Circled Photo from JN’s Cap & Gown

ROCHEL BURSTYN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

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