Interracial Marriage

Cheryl & Tzlil -
Jerusalem, Yerushalayim (Jerusalem), Israel

Engaged September 2017

She Was Biting Her Nails

Finding love has “completely” changed Cheryl’s life. “I had just about given up and was resigned to live as a single woman, and I was OK with that," she tells us. "Having Tzlil has made me want to be the person he sees. I’m the happiest I have ever been!”

Before meeting Cheryl, Tzlil was also on the verge of throwing in the towel. “I too had not much hope in love. It’s funny how things happen. One moment you think you’ll have to just settle, and the next the woman of your dreams walks in!”

We asked Cheryl about her motivation for dating online. “I didn’t have much luck the old-fashioned way,” she answered. “But this was not the first site I’ve tried.”

Tzlil was drawn to Internet dating because he wasn’t meeting Ms. Right in his area. “I had not had much success dating locally,” he explains. He only had “a little” hope that our site would be the answer.

And was Cheryl confident? “Not at all,” she says. “Not at all.”

Once they posted their profiles on our site, it took awhile for them to find each other. “A year and a half, maybe?” Cheryl speculates. “Not sure.” Tzlil knew he’d been with us “at least two years” before crossing paths with Cheryl.

“I reached out to him,” she says. “I sent him a Flirt and then waited, biting my nails, for a positive response. Then we started instant messaging. Then it progressed to emails and then Whatsapp and Skype.”

What attracted Cheryl to Tzlil in the first place? It was his straightforward profile, she says. “He seemed open and honest,” she remembers. “He made it plain and simple what he was looking for. And he was handsome — that’s a plus!” She adds that he was “very similar” to the partner she’d always envisioned for herself.

Tzlil responded to Cheryl’s Flirt because her photo was enchanting. “I looked at it and her smile just captured me. I had to get to know her!” Was she his type? “Spot on,” Tzlil says, giving us the thumbs up.

There was one problem. They didn’t live in the same country. Consequently, the getting-to-know-you process dragged on for a lot longer than it would have otherwise. “We live 6000 miles apart, so we can’t ‘date’ in the conventional sense,” notes Cheryl.

The decision to meet in person wasn’t cut-and-dried. But they got there. Cheryl says, “We had been emailing and using Skype for a year, so he suggested that one of us come to the other’s country to meet.”

Tzlil was more than ready. “I was tired of just seeing her face on my computer screen,” he laughs. “I was ready to meet in person.”

When they finally did, it was a moment Cheryl will never forget. “He got off the plane, and I saw him, and my heart stopped. He was so much better looking in person.”

Tzlil had a similar reaction, seeing Cheryl. “I thought she was very pretty. I couldn’t believe we were finally seeing each other in person!”

From there they just hung out, like any couple would. “We stopped to eat and it felt like we already knew each other. It was easy to talk face to face because we had been doing it for a year on Skype.”

Cheryl immediately had the sense that Tzlil’s profile hadn’t led her astray. “His profile was right on point with who he is,” she declares. “He’s honest and a terrific listener.”

There are things about Cheryl that Tzlil has come to greatly appreciate. “I appreciate her patience,” he says. “Although she’ll say it’s not her strongest attribute, I’ve seen it.”

They still had to figure out a way around the geographical obstacle they faced. But it wasn’t just a matter of miles. “There’s also a language and a culture barrier,” observes Cheryl. “When you find the right one, all of that seems meaningless. You do what you have to, to be with the one you love.”

Tzlil nods emphatically. “I agree! For me, coming to visit in America, there’s this whole new culture to get used to, but love doesn’t care about cultures or language. You make it work.”

It was easy for the couple to pinpoint when they knew this relationship was going to be something special. “I think I knew before he did,” Cheryl speculates. “Sometimes a woman just knows…”

Tzlil confirms this fact. “It did take me longer. At first I was worried about the distance, but I knew SHE was special, not just the relationship.”

One day Tzlil took a big leap forward, Cheryl tells us. “I was in his country and we had returned from the Mount of Olives,” she recalls. “He went outside and met with his neighbor. The next thing I knew, he came back in with this gorgeous ring!”

Now that the couple have completed their search for love, they can reflect on the road they took to get here. Tzlil tells single guys not to let their ego get in the way. “Don’t be afraid to take some risks,” he urges the fellas. “You just may find what you’ve been looking for!”

Cheryl’s advice for singles is to “just keep looking. Do not give up. You may have to do something you wouldn’t normally do to find love, like look in another part of the world. Be open and you may just end up with who you were meant to be with!”

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