A friend of mine had insisted that I register on JWed and I created a profile under the name of "Miss South Africa!"
I was a South African staying in Cedarhurst, New York at the time when I received an e-mail from Philip.
Phil happened to be on the JWed site that evening doing a search and he decided he liked my profile detail ö and consequentially sent me an e-mail!
I checked out his profile on JWed and decided that he sounded rather Îsafe,â and immediately emailed him back through the JWed website. This went on throughout the evening as we were both sitting at our computers!

A couple of e-mails later, we decided to start chatting online. I was still somewhat hesitant as to who this "guy" was so I made as if I was still in South Africa! - until he had given me references which I had then followed up on.

Things started going surprisingly well.
We had a lot in common and in questioning Philip about certain values, goals and ideals in life, I found that we shared the same life focus and valued same things. With that realization, - we decided to exchange photos.
I âm a little bit cheeky so I sent Philip a picture of myself dressed up on Purim...telling him he would have to wait until we went out to see the real "me." He sent me a shot of him at his "best" from his sistersâ recent wedding!
We both conducted some reference checks and then started dating.
Philip is a member of Hatzolah and had been part of a rescue team in the 9/11 attacks, so as soon as he told me that, my heart softened... this was only one of his many qualities.
Ours is a classic story of....love at first sight. I knew from day one that this is the guy I would marry!

He had all the qualities and attributes that I had written in my diary during my year in Israel when our teachers told us to make a list of "what i am looking for in a guy!"
We dated for a short time & when Philip told me that he would like me to marry him, I agreed but on condition that he fly to South Africa to meet my family and get to know where I am from before I say yes.
We flew to S.A. together, got engaged on 18 June 2002 and were married on 8 October 2003. When people ask who our shadchan is, I say "Hashem" and the "Internet."
My family is also absolutely crazy about him!
Thank you JWed for helping to create another bayit ne'eman beyisrael!! P.S. After just two days after our wedding, Phil landed up in hospital in S.A. - needing to have emergency surgery because his gall bladder had ruptured. He is BäH perfectly fine now, but the doctors at the time said, "young men of today can't seem to handle marriage!"

Devorah & Philip Levy, JWed Match #7,were married on 2 Cheshvan 5763, 8th October 2002