The wishes include ALL, including those who celebrate different calendars, those who live in different countries, practice different religions.

December 27 is a special date for me.  Right there after Christmas, and a couple of days before a new year begins.  At the time when one year concludes, and another one is at the door.  At the point of self-reflection – what did the last year look like, and what’s the next year going [...]]]>

December 27 is a special date for me.  Right there after Christmas, and a couple of days before a new year begins.  At the time when one year concludes, and another one is at the door.  At the point of self-reflection – what did the last year look like, and what’s the next year going to bring to me.  On December 27, Dorit, my wife and I started to date.  1996 was not an easy year for me.  My mother was diagnosed and treated for breast cancer, my marriage ended, I left a home, a job, a country and returned to my home town, to my parents’ house, to my old room.

Dorit and I met on a blind date.  On Friday, December 6, 1996, the first day of Hanukkah, with the lighting of the first candle of Hanukkah, a tiny light shined a small beam of light into some of the darker corners of my heart.   Dorit lived in Givatayyim, a town just outside Tel Aviv, in a street which was difficult to find, so I picked her up at a bus stop on the main street.  It was early evening, and we decided to go to a coffee shop in Tel Aviv.  I remember that date as if it was yesterday.  Unlike other first dates I’ve been on, I found in front of me a beautiful woman, who was as articulate as she was a good listener.  We introduced ourselves over coffee and , and it was obvious to me that for the first time after a long stream of really strange first dates which lead to nothing, the end of the tunnel is showing and there’s a light at the end of it.  It appeared then, and I can clearly see it now that Hanukkah of 1996 was my own personal Festival of Light.

A rather silly poem suggests: “If you love something set it free. If it comes back to you, it’s yours. If it doesn’t, it never was”.  I’m not buying it.  I usually maintain that “If you love something hold on to it as if it was a lifesaver, and never let it go”.  Nonetheless, our first date was short as I had to celebrate the Holiday with family.  I left with mixed feelings.  On one hand I met a woman who I could talk to, who could understand me and appreciate me.  I met a woman who was (and still is) good looking, clever, funny, easygoing, and reasonably happy (opposites attract, right?) who seemed to have enjoyed my company.  For the exact same reason I felt threatened.  After a failed marriage, was I ready for a commitment?  It took me three weeks to answer that question.  On December 27, exactly fifteen years ago I called Dorit again.  Lucky, very lucky for me, she was still interested.  We went to the movies that night.  “The Long Kiss Goodnight” (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116908/) was a great film which we watched over and over again in the coming years, and it was one very appropriate title for the next fifteen years.

We basically never separated since.  We married less than a year after that, and had Shiri Deborah (our first, and sister to Keren and Tamary) in 1999 during our assignment in Tucson Arizona.  Guy was introduced to the world in 2003.  We have traveled to many places together, we love the same food, the same activities.  Indeed, we are married, but first and foremost, Dorit and I are best friends and partners.  Make no mistake, we have our hurdles like every other couple.  But at the end of the day, it’s always a long kiss goodnight.

Dorit, life is challenging at times.  I know I am challenging at times.  But let me be very clear.  Even though I am much heavier than you are, in the balancing act you provide, and always did, the precise weight to keep me from falling.  You’ve always been there for me.  And all I can hope is that for as long as I breathe, you will be there so we can breathe together.

A long time ago I gave you a small bible.  On the first page I wrote a short inscription: “ויעבוד יעקוב ברחל, שבע שנים; ויהיו בעיניו כימים אחדים, באהבתו אותה” remember?  It’s been but a few days since we met…

Happy anniversary.  Let me say it loud and clear: I love you.  I adore you.  I cherish our time together.  As you said the other night: friends?

I have nothing to add.