#1578 Sarah Benisty (Thornhill, Ontario)
& Eli Harel (Brooklyn, New York)

סיפור הצלחה

Going into this journey, I had this preconceived notion of exactly what I wanted my spouse to be like. I was someone headstrong and knew what I wanted. However, dating and building a relationship is something that isn’t a solid line and cannot be a singular journey, It’s growth done together. When I started dating Eli, my eyes were opened to so many different perspectives, because I let my checklist fly in the wind and enjoyed getting to grow not only with him, but letting myself grow at the same time. They always say opposites attract, and while I don’t think Eli and I are complete opposites, we each bring different perspectives, thoughts and values to our companionship. This is really important, since having someone who can bring in different facets to the relationship, helped me individually step outside my closed box and was able to learn from him, which allowed me to grow both emotionally and spiritually. Once I let life take the lead and just allowed myself to enjoy our relationship and be more open-minded, I finally understood what it meant to really love someone so deeply, because I got to know him for who he is in his everyday normal life. Eli continues to bring so much light and joy in the purest forms to my life, I am so grateful for his love, care and companionship everyday. Every single day, there is something new I learn from him and myself. I learned compromise, compassion, love, patience and selflessness, because Eli helped me grow these qualities even more. If I were to describe the person I would marry Eli would check off every single one of those qualities, because I got to know him fully and thoroughly as a person both inside and out and grew to love everything about him because of that. I always thought ‘love at first sight’ was an interesting quote because I believe that love is about growth and not about first impressions. While initial impressions are important, that isn’t realistic, since isn’t everyone a little nervous and timid when they first meet someone new? Being able to take a deep breath and give it time, is what made my relationship with Eli blossom. We gave it time, always communicated how we felt to one another and let it run its course from there. This allowed us to learn to love more about each other everyday. I’m so thankful SYAS brought me my amazing husband to be! Sarah Benisty