Shalom Y'all!

Over 6 years ago in the summer of '16, Naomi and Avi were living cities apart in different industries. By sheer miracle, Naomi and Avi crossed paths on JSwipe (the Jewish Tinder). Naomi was drawn to Avi's looks and concise bio- tech entrepeneur, recent transplant from the Bay Area, likes coffee, lives in Santa Monica. Avi was drawn to Naomi's blend of Judaism, Japanese, politics and travel addiction. Naomi and Avi's conversations were so detailed and multi-threaded that the JSwipe app kept on crashing. This led to numbers exchanged and a date set for 7/2/16 to Disneyland Resort. Naomi was so distracted by Avi's hazel-green eyes and charms that she babbled on about how the inventory SKU system works and how excited she was to tackle this project at work. Naomi thought she killed her chances by exposing her boring nerdy side. Avi surprised her by calling unexpectedly the following night (7/3/20) asking if she has a valid passport and can be ready to go in 90 minutes. Naomi was at her family's 4th of July party surrounded by her closest friends, openly debating if she should take the risk of becoming an organ donor in Mexico to have the adventure of the summer with an interesting, spontaneous guy. As you can expect, Naomi took Avi up on the offer and he whisked them away to Tijuana, Mexico for an all-nighter adventure: gambling, salsa dancing, searching for late night tacos and watching South Park with ceaseless advertisements for "Jersey Shore Acapulco". From this point in time, Avi could sense that Naomi was the real deal and not just a summer romance. Naomi was hesitant about entering a long distance relationship again, but she followed her heart and gave Avi a shot. For the rest of the summer, Naomi and Avi let the adventures continue - to Santa Barbara and Ecuador and Peru- while they got to learn about & appreciate their multicultural backgrounds... they even survived the 2016 election! The following 6 years have been full of countless memories with friends, family and travel, not to mention a 2 year long worldwide pandemic, 2 international moves (England and Israel) and starting a life in a new country.

Naomi and Avi were celebrating her 26th birthday in Israel in the summer of '19. Two jam-packed weeks lay ahead as they passed the giant mezuzah at Ben Gurion Airport and queued to rent a car. After spending Shabbat in Jerusalem, Naomi and Avi set course for the Dead Sea resort town of Ein Bokek. Avi having only been there in the winter time and Naomi having briefly visited during Birthright, they were both excited to spend a relaxing day at the resort. Little did Naomi know that Avi had a surprise up his sleeve... As the sun set over the still waters of the Dead Sea reflecting colorful rays of light across the desert hills, Avi told Naomi to look across the water at the sunset. "To what?" she exclaimed, "Jordan?!" But when she turned around Avi was on one knee proposing. Naomi was in FULL shock and could not believe this was happening right there and then. Naomi said "YES!!!!" and they captured that moment in a selfie before facetiming their families.

After making the difficult decision to postpone our wedding originally scheduled for June 28, 2020 , Avi and Naomi spent the summer locked down in the USA. They spent time with close family (socially distanced, of course) then relocated to Cambridge, England in September 2020 for Avi's MBA program at Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge (Judge Business School). The ensuing year in England gave us a multitude of memories. We got to share our culture with new friends from 25+ countries, learned all about English culture and teatime, Avi gained a MBA degree and Naomi got worked on COVID related supply chain work at the Wellcome Sanger Institute. Naomi and Avi spent the summer traveling and visiting with family and returned to England to gather their bags and head to... Budapest! They spent Rosh Hashanah through Sukkot in Budapest while working remotely, then in early October traveled one last leg to... Tel Aviv, Israel, where they have been since. Naomi and Avi enrolled in a full-time ulpan (Hebrew Language course) with the intent to learn Hebrew and trial living in Israel before deciding to make Aliyah. After 5 months of study, they decided they loved living in Israel and applied for Israeli citizenship. Avi now works for Monitor Deloitte in Tel Aviv doing Strategy Consulting work. Naomi has returned to the Defense industry, working at FibroTex USA.

Avi and Naomi moved to Israel in October 2021 to learn Hebrew full time. Over the course of several months, we fell in love with the country and decided we wanted to make a home here. In Spring 2022, Avi and Naomi officially became Israeli. Now, Naomi and Avi decided "why don't we just get married here in our new home" and to organize a fun trip for our family and friends.

Sightseeing: Dress comfortably. Light, breathable fabrics. Cute bathing suit and sunhat. Comfortable walking shoes (Israelis love their sporty sandals as well as Vans/Converse sneakers and Blundstone boots. Take your pick!). For Jerusalem adventures, we recommend modest attire (i.e. a long sleeve blouse for women and bottoms that cover your knees) Night Out: Israelis are pretty casual and some will go out in jeans a flip flops. Wear what makes you feel comfortable and confident! Wedding: Israeli Formal. You may be wondering, what is Israeli formal? It means that this is our wedding and we appreciate those that plan to dress to the nines in a suit or evening gown. We equally appreciate that our wedding is taking place in the sunny Middle East where the weather in September often exceeds 80°F. With that being said, you are welcome to dress in a button down and shorts (à l’Israeli) or a formal tuxedo suit - all are welcome - but we ask to please refrain from “clubwear” or “beach attire”.

Naomi and Avi’s wedding will be as multicultural as they are, weaving traditions and elements from their Jewish, Israeli, Japanese, American and South African cultures. If you would like to learn a bit more about a Jewish wedding, we have compiled a short summary of the wedding day festivities. “Kabbalat Panim” - Literally means “accepting of the faces”. Or a welcome reception. This is an opportunity for everyone to get to meet each other over cocktails and nibbles. “Ketubah Signing” - An ancient Jewish tradition, this is the signing of the wedding contract between the bride and groom. Don’t worry - nothing is expected of you and it often happens “behind the scenes”, but if you would like to share a L’chaim, you can join to make a toast of whiskey or brandy “Chuppah” - The actual wedding ceremony Which occurs under a canopy (chuppah). Please note that due to complex Jewish law involving the sun set time and contract law, we plan to start this right on time. Please please do not be late. “Traditional Dancing” - Think Fiddler on the Roof. This ancient custom involves traditional hora dancing with women’s and men’s circles. “Dinner” - Our dinner will be served “American Style” (AKA plated). We will be sending a RSVP for entree selection a few weeks prior to the wedding. Please communicate any dietary restrictions. “7 Brachot & Speeches” - (Don’t worry we intend to keep this part quick). If you are interested in giving a (short!) speech, please let us know. After speeches, we will give anyone interested a few minutes to ‘bensch’ (Birkat Hamazon prayer) and recite the 7 traditional blessings (Sheva Brachot) at weddings. For those less Jewishly inclined, we invite you to take a minute or two to reflect on life and gratitude. “Dancing” - We hope to have our first dance as a married couple, followed by other American-style ‘first dances’. This dancing will be mixed. “After-Party” - For those surviving the long night, we will have a a small after party of Sabichs (an Iraqi Jewish delicacy)