#522 Ilene Harris (New York, New York)
& Jacob Kosoff (Arlington, Virginia)

Success Story

Dear JRetroMatch, Greetings from the home of my future in-laws. Last night, the mom of my fiancée, Ilene Harris, hosted a small get together in honor of our engagement and Ilene and I were asked by numerous friends and family about how we met. Both of us were so happy to tell the story of JRetro and explain how we met: In July, Ilene was living in New York City, teaching summer school, and I was completing my 2 years in Johannesburg, South Africa as an economist and was preparing for my return to the US. I had dated in South Africa a lot, but I never found the right match. Interested in dating once back in either New York, I was encouraged by my friend to join JRetro. Since I was overseas in July of 2006, Ilene and I communicated through email for the entire month. We asked and wrote about camping, cycling, public transportation, religion, politics, love, travel, and museums. I found that we had so much in common and that we were a good match. My matchmaker didn't need to ask me to widen my preferences since Ilene fit very well within my preferences. During the last week on July, I flew out of Johannesburg to renew my life in America. I was looking forward to speaking with Ilene. By early August, being back in the US, we began speaking on the telephone regularly. Our conversations were meaningful and exciting, and I was surprised that we had so much in common. I was anxious for the first date and we decided we would meet for a first date on August 21st on the Upper West Side. We had so much in common and we were truly a good match on paper. I was very grateful to my matchmaker and JRetro for the effort of finding me such a good match on “paper”. Now it was time to see if we would be a good match in real life. After dinner, we wanted to talk more, so we went for a walk in Central Park, by the Pond at 103rd Street. We wanted to spend even more time together, so we decided on having a second date the next evening. We went to Central Park for Opera in the Park and a romantic picnic. We had numerous dates the coming months and fell in love. I knew I was going to propose to Ilene in the coming months. She was perfect for me. There was no reason to wait. I knew so much about her and her life goals, and they fit so perfectly with me and my goals. So, on March 17, 2007, less than 7 months after our first date, I proposed. We went to the same spot in Central Park, near the Pond at 103rd street where we walked to on our first date. I gave her my grandmother's diamond ring and asked her to marry me. She said yes. I am very grateful to everyone that has been supportive, from my friends to JRetromatch. JRetro found someone that matched me based not just on my Jewish and my secular history, but on my Jewish and secular future. I had used other online dating sites with limited success. I knew I wanted to use a Jewish online dating service, as opposed to meeting someone at a bar or on the street. Ilene had also tried online dating, speed dating, and other ways of meeting a nice Jewish man, but also with little success. I was returning to the US and I wanted to date on a higher level; I was not just looking for a girlfriend, I wanted a serious relationship. I found that JRetro was perfect for this. It is a different type of online dating, one that would give you a personalized Jewish matchmaker. The advice I would give to anyone dating would be to try it. The matchmaker has the ability to screen thousands of profiles and offer you the best few matches for you. They really do facilitate a meaningful courting process. With affection and appreciate, Jacob Kosoff