"My journey to Torah and Yiddishkeit is one I could never have imagined growing up," Nohomy Sofer says.
She was born in a remote village in Costa Rica. Through what she calls incredible hashgacha pratit, she found the door open to a life of Torah and mitzvot. Ezra Chaim Paneth, born in Pennsylvania, made the same courageous choice: to leave everything familiar behind and dedicate himself to Torah.
According to halacha, when a person converts, their previous family relationships no longer carry the same halachic status. Both Nohomy and Ezra Chaim built their new lives in Klal Yisrael without the family behind them that most people take for granted.
>> Help two converts start their lives together
Then, in Israel, they found each other. "I found my bashert," Nohomy says, "a true baal emunah and chossid who also made the courageous decision to leave behind everything familiar and dedicate his life to Torah and mitzvos."
Their chuppah is tomorrow, Monday, 18 Elul, August 31st. Rav Naftali Tzvi Rothenberg, the Av Beis Din who has guided the chosson through many important points in his journey, has written a letter of support for the couple, alongside a hamlatzah (recommendation) from the Av Beis Din of Szerdahely.
>> Furnish their first Jewish home
As geirim (converts), Nohomy and Ezra Chaim have no parents or extended family to turn to for wedding expenses, furniture, appliances, or the basic necessities of starting a home.
"We have found each other, and we have found our place within Klal Yisrael," Nohomy says. "Now we are asking our new family, you, to help us take this next step."