German-Israeli couples – How it all began

 

Happily in love for years: Three women tell of how their German-Israeli love stories began. The full-length article is available in German on the blog of the Israeli Embassy in Berlin. Happy Valentine’s Day!

“Communication between my parents and parents-in-law works best after a bottle of bubbly, as none of them speak English, but on the whole they all think: The important thing is that the children are happy together. And we are still very much in love and happy together.”

Katrin Levi and her husband live in Israel. They are expecting their second child in summer 2015.

How it all began:

Even as a child I was very taken with the idea of travelling to Israel, when my mum read stories to me from the children’s Bible. At 16 I fulfilled my dream and went to the Holy Land on a school exchange. We learnt a lot about the Jewish religion and Israeli culture on the exchange and I noticed that I felt very much drawn to it all, without being able to explain it.

Funnily enough whenever I was somewhere where people were talking about living abroad I told people that Israel is a country I could imagine living in. I never really seriously thought that it would actually happen.

But it did, and this is how: In mid-2009 I registered with Facebook and got into contact with several Israelis I had met on the exchange over ten years ago.

One girl from the programme had also set up a profile for her pet, a little rabbit, and so after just a short time I had all my school friends I presumed I had lost, a handful of Israelis and a rabbit in my list of friends.

About a week later I received an email: “Do we know each other?” wrote the little rabbit. I was confused and sure that she should know me, and so I started writing to the rabbit, which turned out to be very amusing. At some point the post came: “Okay, I will clear things up. My name is Yehuda Levi and Nullie is my rabbit.” It turned out that it was not the girl’s rabbit, but belonged to her ex-boyfriend.

Oh well, these things happen, but for some reason we kept in touch and realised that we have a lot in common, and a few weeks later we both felt it click.

From then on our email conversations became more intimate and affectionate and one day I picked up my diary and looked to see when I could take a holiday. I booked the soonest flight I could to take a closer look at this Yehuda.

My friends and acquaintances said I was crazy for travelling so far to see a perfect stranger just like that, but I told everyone that I am an adult woman and if I have any trouble I will book a hotel room and spend a nice week on my own.

We never skyped, for reasons I can’t explain, but only ever wrote to each other. Two days before my flight he wrote to me: “I love you, even if I never saw you before.” And my heart melted, for I felt exactly the same.

   

“I couldn’t imagine a better husband in the world.”

After three years living together in Israel, Rebecca Sarel and her husband Roee now live in Germany. They are expecting their first child.
How it all began:

Summer 2009. I never would have thought that my life would change so much from one day to the next. At 18 I decided to work in a German guesthouse in Jerusalem for two months during the school holidays. The guesthouse was beautiful, right next to Jerusalem’s Old City. In the second week of my traineeship one of the other trainees took me to the house party of an Israeli friend of hers. The atmosphere was great, there was plenty of food, everyone was up dancing – and suddenly he was standing in front of me. Roee. My future husband and the love of my life.

For two weeks we were together almost every day, two weeks in which I met his entire family, we went to the sea and made romantic night-time excursions to water fountains in the forest.

We had a long-distance relationship for a year. He was in Israel studying law and business administration, and I had to return to Germany and do my A Levels. We saw each other every other month, with him coming to visit me and then me visiting him. To be able to pay for all the flights I worked every weekend, Saturday and Sunday, for eight hours in a factory, and instead of revising for my A Level exams I started teaching myself to read and write Hebrew. It was clear to us from the start that after my exams I would go to him in Israel. Everyone thought I was mad and no-one believed in us.
   

“I wouldn’t do anything differently. Wouldn’t swap my husband for anyone. And after 12 years, I have also grown very fond of Israel.”

Jenni Haug-Yeffet and her husband live in Israel and have three children.

How it all began:

We met on an island in Fiji in 2002. I was a 26-year-old German girl and had taken six months out. I was living and working in Sydney, Australia, and was on a short break in Fiji.

My now husband had also taken a year out after doing national service and was travelling with a friend through New Zealand and Australia for a few months. They too were enjoying a break on Fiji. He was the first Israeli I had ever met. My first thought was: What will he think of me, being German?

During a month-long tour of Thailand together he convinced me to visit him in Israel. As I said, it was 2002, October. The intifada had reached its peak. The Iraq War was already on the cards. Still I had to see him. I was on the plane on the evening of Yom Kippur. There were perhaps ten other passengers. Throughout our whole time in Thailand he had told me I don’t need to be afraid. As long as you don’t travel on public busses, nothing bad can happen. We took the bus from the airport to his apartment in Jerusalem...

After staying in Israel for a month, it was clear that we wanted to be together. One month later I landed in Israel once again. This time, to stay.

    

Israely Embassy in Germany - official blog