Stepping Out Into the Rain

​On September 20th, I officiated Shiran and Steve’s wedding ceremony at D’Vine Grace Vineyard in McKinney, Texas. Here are the remarks I shared with them and their guests:

Some love stories begin in ways you expect — mutual friends, work colleagues, college sweethearts. Some, like Shiran and Steve’s, begin in ways that would make a romantic comedy producer say, “Hmm… needs more obstacles.”

They met on a dating app. Shiran was in New York visiting a friend. It was pouring rain — one of those biblical, “maybe we should just build an ark” downpours. She admits she almost didn’t go. “Who wants to get soaking wet while going on a date?” she thought. But something — fate, instinct, divine weather-related intervention — got her out the door. She’s glad it did.

Steve remembers it vividly: “I knew Shiran would be the one as soon as I saw her walking towards me with a big smile while I waited by the side door of a random bar. Actually, I found the bar from an episode of Master of None on Netflix. I was a little too excited so I spent most of the time yapping while she listened. I wasn’t so sure if I was able to get a second date — but here we are 8 years later getting married in Texas.”

One date turned into weeks together. Weeks turned into a life-changing decision: Shiran found a job that allowed her to stay in the U.S., packed her bags, left her home, and moved across the globe for the person she had fallen in love with. Eight years, four apartments, one cat, and one dog later, she says, “I have found my person. Steve makes my brain go quiet in a very loud world.”

Now, that sentence alone is enough to make a rabbi put down the microphone and say, “Amen, sermon over.” Because isn’t that what we’re all looking for? Someone who doesn’t just not add to the noise but quiets it? Someone who is a refuge, a safe harbor in the middle of all life’s storms, both the meteorological and the metaphorical ones?

Steve’s reasons for marrying Shiran are refreshingly straightforward and wonderfully human: “I’d like to get married because it’s about time — and I know I’ve been dragging it out, so I do apologize. But in all seriousness, Shiran is my best friend and my ride or die. Marriage means the deepest kind of loyalty and love. It’s hard to imagine my life without her, and anyone who puts up with me and my craziness is my forever person.” Oh, and of course, he adds: “Plus we want to be married before having little ones running around, so this is the next chapter of our lives.”

And here’s something I love about both of them: They didn’t rush into this step out of pressure or expectation. They’ve been together for eight years. They’ve built, as Shiran says, “a strong foundation of love and respect.” They’ve created a home together, moved across states together, even adjusted to Texas weather together — which, after New York rain, probably felt like nature’s way of saying, “Surprise, here’s 108 degrees.”

What can we learn from them? That the next chapter in a relationship isn’t about a calendar date, it’s about readiness. It’s about knowing you’ve already tested your partnership through moves, careers, pets, family expectations, and at least one epic rainstorm — and deciding that, yes, this is the person you want to navigate all future forecasts with.

So Shiran and Steve, as you step into this new chapter, may you always be each other’s quiet in a loud world, and may that quiet be filled with laughter, love, and just enough noise to remind you that life, like marriage, is at its best when it’s a little unpredictable. And when those inevitable storms come, may you remember the very first one you weathered together, and how stepping out into the rain changed everything.