#73 Dena Kimerling (Brooklyn, New York)
& Jack Volk (Brooklyn, New York)

סיפור הצלחה

When Dena Kimmerling was a busy student, she really did not have the time to actively and successfully pursue Jewish dating shidduchim. A friend suggested that Dena join Jewish matchmaking service SawYouAtSinai, and Dena readily agreed, thinking that it was the best way to put herself out there, while maintaining a busy schedule. Soon after Dena joined the Jewish dating site, she was sent the profile of Jack Volk. In reading his profile, she thought he sounded quite appropriate for her so she accepted. He was only the first or second guy that she had ever gone out with from the Jewish matchmaking site SawYouAtSinai and she was looking forward to meeting him. The first date arrived, and Jack came to pick Dena up at her parents’ house. She invited him in to meet her parents, as she does on all of her first dates. Right away, Jack and Dena started joking around with each other—there was an instant click between them. Dena’s parents had an immediate good impression of Jack, and they told Dena that he seemed to be a quality person with a good “look,” or “chein” about him that they liked! On the date during dinner, the instant connection between Dena and Jack became more and more apparent. The two were extremely comfortable with each other—they laughed together and got along fantastically. As it turned out, Dena had not slept more than a couple of hours during the two previous night prior to the date. “I was all over the place and practically non-functional,” she said. “Before the date, I did not know how I was going to make it through the evening. But I stayed awake the whole time. I was totally there.” What really clinched the shidduch for Dena was when, at the end of the date, Jack got straight to the point and directly asked Dena if he could call her again for a second date. She was very impressed with his being direct, and his not playing games with her. It was clear that Jack wanted to date in a focused and serious way and Dena wanted the same as well. Of course, she told Jack that he could call her! The second date arrived and the two Jewish singles went bowling. The entire shidduch date was comfortable, easy-going, fun, and not at all awkward. After the second shidduch, Dena says she stopped counting dates, and the couple started seeing each other very often. A month into the dating, Dena and Jack discussed with each other that they saw themselves being together for a very long time. Seven months later, on Chol Hamoed Sukkot, Dena and Jack decided to go to Build A Bear Workshop, a place where you can custom design and dress a teddy bear. The two were stuffing and dressing their bears when Jack made his way over to the personalization section of the workshop where he could design a specialized dog tag to put on his bear. Dena remembers that Jack was there for quite a long time and when he was finally done, he came over and tried to put the tag on the bear. He had difficulty with the tag, however, and Dena offered to help but Jack told her that she could not look at the tag until it was on the bear. When Dena finally read the tag she saw that it said, “Dena, will you marry me? Love, Jack.” By the time Dena processed what she had just read, she realized that Jack was on one knee with the ring out! She was shocked! “I had no clue that he was going to propose to me that day,” she said. Jack and Dena often ruminate about the fact that they really do not know anyone in common. “If it had not been for SawYouAtSinai,” says Dena, “I do not know how Jack and I would have ever met each other.” The happy couple were married on March 20th, B”H