The Devorah-Yitzchak Story: Part 2, Are We There Yet?

And thus began a process with Devorah that would ultimately last about a month.

Facebook Fatal Flaw

The first step involves a fatal flaw in my world of Facebook. I come from an interesting generation of secular Jewish folk who are given both Hebrew and English names, and those names are entirely disconnected from one another. Furthermore, the names have proper and simple translations into the other language. It’s just never used.

So I grew up using my English name, David; but upon moving to Israel, I switched to my Hebrew name, Yitzchak. And I live my life in two distinct worlds, with different people calling me by each of the names. In my Facebook world, I used my English name. However, that game-changing Friday night I had introduced myself as Yitzchak.

And poor Devorah had tried to track me down, only to conclude that I must be one of those peculiar non-Facebook users.

Devorah the Trooper

But alas, Devorah is quite the trooper and was most certainly not ready to give up. She gave in and called a mutual friend who had been at the same meal, who informed her that my name was certainly not Yitzchak but was in fact David. Confused but determined, she found me, reached out to me, and started up the conversation.

Now, over here in Jaffe World I had received a Facebook friend request, and a lot of interesting thoughts crossed my mind. At the first meal together, Devorah had spoken a lot about a play she was going to be in, to which I expressed interest. I didn’t even know English-speaking theater existed in Jerusalem! It was quite a fun and exciting discovery! And when Devorah reached out to me, she reminded me all about this interesting play of hers. And thus I was now launched into the first of many little inner battles that resulted in my inaction.

My Inner Battle

Hmm, why is she reaching out to me? Is she expressing interest? Who sends someone a friend request out of the blue and continues an old conversation unless they’re interested in you?

But alas, my “logic” and battered self esteem got the better of me. And I simply assumed at best she was just being friendly. At worst, she was just aggressively trying to sell me on buying tickets to her show. Sadly, I let the latter thoughts get the best of me. Devorah hoped I would come to the show, I would be supremely impressed with her performance, and I would greet her at the end, and hopefully start the ball rolling.

But I didn’t go (pause here for groans…). I found my excuses not to. And I let me fears and psychological nuisances get the better of me. Our story had only progressed insofar as we were now connected on Facebook. But absolutely no farther. Things would need to be shaken up before anything new could happen.

And shaken up… they were not…

Same Place… Not Quite the Same Time

Devorah used Facebook magic a few times to engineer being in the same place at the same time, which failed repeatedly. This included going to an event I was planning to attend. It was well played, since I didn’t only go once. I went twice!

Yes, I was there and left before she arrived, and visited again later in the afternoon… after she was long gone.

Frustration was setting in for Devorah, while I just went about my days oblivious to all of this.

More Drastic Measures

But the time had come to take more drastic measures. She was spending Shabbat in Jerusalem house-sitting for her sister, and she had invited a nice group of friends over for Shabbat lunch. Very sweetly she invited me to join as well. Unfortunately, it was very late in the week and I already had plans. I, of course, am forever a gentleman and reversed the invitation. I invited Devorah for Shabbat dinner… and she already had plans.

We would have been at yet another standstill if Devorah was a different kind of person. But she was a soldier on a mission, and not really a fan of giving up. The lunch crew was going to stick around for the afternoon and play games, and she invited me to join the party.

And it would appear that for the first time since our initial meeting, the stars might be lining up again. At least to some extent.

Except the same ignorant thoughts kept shooting through my mind: Is she flirting with me? That would be nice… but I certainly doubt it. Why in the world would she be doing that!?

So I went with an open mind, but my attitude would certainly be reflected in many of the things I would say throughout the evening.

Alone At Last?

Oh, but what a story! We all sat and played games for hours. Folk kept on trickling out as it got later and later. Devorah hoped this could lead to our first time alone together ever. And it looked like things were moving in the right direction. For the next several hours we got to talk, just me, her… and one other friend who stayed the entire time as well.

It was a lovely conversation. I learned all about the world of Jerusalem community theater. I had said such retroactively marvelous gems, like telling my future spouse that I would be more than happy remaining single indefinitely. And that’s how everything went until quite late. Shabbat was over and it was time for me and the other lingering guest to part ways. We both got up to leave, and we all made it into the lobby. Other Guest made it further than I did. I chatted a bit more with Devorah in the apartment doorway, while the other fella stood in the building’s doorway, impatiently waiting for us to both to leave.

I said such retroactively marvelous gems, like telling my future spouse that I would be more than happy remaining single indefinitely. Share on X

And after about 20 minutes, he left. By himself.

And Devorah and I stood in her doorway and had a lovely, animated conversation for another hour.

It was our first. In a sense, it was the beginning of a lovely friendship that would become so much more.

We weren’t there yet. But we were inching so much closer.