I don’t know really how to begin our story exactly, but I guess I will just start by telling you that I came to JDate as a shiksa. I now write to you, not only as a women who found true love on your site, but also as a proud Jew.

You see, when I first started to look for a dating site, I asked myself what I was looking for in a lifetime partner. If I was going to do this, I wanted to take it seriously. I had been in a previous relationship with a Jewish man and fell in love with the culture and the religion. I had issues with the faith that I was brought up to practice in the world of the southern Bible belt (Texas and Louisiana). However, Judaism had everything I was looking for. That being said, I wanted to find a Jewish mate. I made my profile on JDate and marked my religious status as, “willing to convert.” I knew that was going to be my path, regardless of my dating status.

I had to do a little digging on the site, since most men don’t choose the “willing to convert” option when they are searching for a match. I knew that I would probably have to be the one approaching them. I made sure not to “false advertise” myself online. When I wrote an email to another dater, I let them know that I was not Jewish, but planned on making the journey as soon as I found the time. Most of the guys respected it, and admired it actually. They were very interested in my path and how I came to choose it.

One night in January of 2010 (just after New Year’s), I came across a picture of a cute guy and a fluffy white dog. I wrote a simple note, telling him how cute his dog was. He wrote back soon after with a witty response that sparked my interest. We wrote back and forth for a few days until we felt comfortable enough to chat on the phone. A week later we had our first date. A week after that, I had taken down my profile and the rest is history!

David never asked me to convert (nor did his mother! lol), he told me it was my choice, which it had been all along. He proposed to me in June of 2011 in Hawaii with the most gorgeous ring you have ever seen while we were standing in front of a waterfall all by ourselves! We began Rabbi Neil Weinberg’s Judaism by Choice classes TOGETHER at the end of the summer. I stress the word “together” because I felt so blessed to have him support me and go through it with me. It helped him get an adult prospective on his own culture and religion as well. Of course he had a bar mitzvah growing up, but this helped him see it through new eyes.

My conversion was November 23rd at the University of Judaism and we were married on May 27, 2012 at the Westlake Village Inn! We joined Sinai temple right after my conversion and love our rabbi!

I didn’t want to write you a story about our past relationships, and how we had both seen heartbreak and tried online dating and failed before. I wanted to write you about the now and how once David and I met, all of those other stories no longer mattered. Now, it’s just easy. It all fell into place just as it was meant to. Our wedding was something out of a storybook and we are still on a high from it. JDate will always be part of our special story. We are so grateful that you helped this former shiksa find her (almost) perfect Jewish husband.

Jessica and David
Sherman Oaks, California