In the summer of 2000, I (Eric Danis) worked as a madrich for Ramah Seminar in Israel. My co-Madricha was Anat Moshe. We got along instantaneously and worked well together. Despite the long hours and some tough campers, we had a great time together.

There was a lot of chemistry between Anat and I, but professionalism and the long hours prevented anything of a romantic nature from developing (although the campers were still more than delighted to tease us and tell us that we were “going out”).

Two days after Seminar ended I had to return to the U.S. (I had been in Israel a year). Although I knew I was going to make aliyah, I was very sad to leave my friend Anat and told her so. She agreed that it was sad and that something nice could have developed. She drove me to the airport and we were both quite sad.

We stayed in touch (via emails and a few calls) for the eleven months I stayed in the U.S. (I stayed to work and save money), and we became very close as friends. When I returned to Israel (to make aliyah), Anat and I started dating after only three weeks had passed.

Anat and I were married in the spring of 2004, and 5 of our Ramah chanichim came to Israel for the wedding!