She is Noa Ben Menahem, 30, an architectural engineering and interior design technician. He is Aviuo Calvo, 31, a construction engineering student at the College of Management in Jerusalem. The couple has been together for two years, are newly engaged and live in Kfar Adumim.
Aviuo said, “I was born and raised in Kfar Adumim. I enlisted in the Nahal Brigade and served as an officer in the Gaza Division.” Noa said, “I grew up in Maale Adumim. It’s surreal that we grew up just five minutes from each other.” Aviuo added, “And we have many mutual friends.”
Single life
Noa: “Until I met Aviuo, I was on my own for a long time. I didn’t have a relationship for years and I was searching in every possible way. I really wanted a partner. At every opportunity I reminded everyone that I was looking, and of course I was also on the apps. Finding the one felt like the splitting of the Red Sea.”
Aviuo: “When we met, I was eight months after a breakup. I wasn’t exactly looking for a relationship at that time.”
Noa: “But he jumped at the opportunity.”
October 7
Aviuo: “On October 6, I was supposed to go to the Psyduck party, which was held near Nir Am, where 16 participants were killed. By chance, the day before I spoke with a friend who was serving there, and he said there was rising tension in the area and that in his opinion a war would break out soon. Because of that, I decided not to go to the party. I went to sleep toward morning, and an hour and a half later my brother woke me up and said there was a war. I called my reserve company commander and asked where to report. He told me to stay home and be on standby. After five days, I was called up to Nevatim, and we were sent to reinforce security at the base.”
Noa: “On the evening of October 7, I joined my brother and a friend who decided to collect aid packages for residents of the Gaza border communities who had arrived at the Dead Sea. That friend managed to secure the school gym from the Maale Adumim municipality, and we set up an operations center there. Within a few hours, we raised 15,000 shekels and organized all the necessary equipment for evacuees and soldiers. We kept raising more funds, and the municipality also contributed.”
The fateful package
Noa: “After a few weeks, some sweet girls came to our operations center with cookies they had baked and asked us to send them to soldiers. They put a note inside with a name and phone number, and in a moment of boredom and joking around I said to my brother, ‘If they’re asking us to send cookies with a phone number, why shouldn’t I?’ I sat down and prepared 30 notes, writing, ‘If you’re single and over 27, call me. May God protect you. Noa, 27,’ and added my phone number. In the end I sent only three packages with a note, because some were going to places like training bases, where it wasn’t relevant. My brother teased me about it, laughed, but was supportive.”
“I saw the note and thought, ‘How sweet,’” he said. “I went into her WhatsApp, saw the photo and said, ‘Well, I have to send a message.’”
Aviuo: “I had been at Nevatim for about a week when we heard that mattresses and packages had arrived at the base. The commander sent me to pick up mattresses, and while I was taking them I saw the package with the note attached. I thought, ‘How sweet.’ I took the note and left the package for them. I went into Noa’s WhatsApp, saw her photo and said, ‘Well, I have to send a message — you can’t miss this.’ I introduced myself and wrote, ‘I’m Aviuo, 29, from Kfar Adumim. I received your package.’”
Noa: “I got the message and couldn’t believe it. I’m from Maale Adumim, five minutes from him — what are the chances? I received six messages because of the notes, some from people who just wanted to say thank you for the package and others who wanted to get to know me, but Aviuo was the only one I wanted to meet. I was at a friend’s place at the time, showed her the message, and she got excited and said, ‘Answer him.’ I replied, and the conversation flowed right away.”
The first date
Noa: “Aviuo wrote that he was heading home and would be happy to meet on Friday, so after two days we already met. We drove to watch the sunset at the Piano Lookout in Aminadav, in the Jerusalem hills. At the end of the date, he asked what I was doing that evening. He wanted to meet again the same day, but for me it was a bit much. Give me a second — let me process. In the end, we met again the next day, and then he asked me, ‘When do you see yourself getting married?’ I told him, ‘Do you want the truth? Yesterday.’ I asked, ‘And you?’ and he said, ‘The day before yesterday.’ It was very reassuring to know that we were both coming into the relationship with serious intentions.”
Aviuo: “I met a very interesting person. We had an easy, enjoyable conversation, and I felt that she understood me.”
“I didn’t have a relationship for years and searched in every possible way. Finding the one felt like the splitting of the Red Sea.”
Falling in love
Noa: “I can’t put my finger on the exact moment — everything happened very fast. After two weeks he went out again, and in between we were constantly on video calls.”
Aviuo: “Pretty early on I understood that this was it. After the first date, I spoke to a friend and told him, ‘That’s it, I’ve found her.’”
Noa added, “In my opinion, it was love at first sight,” she said, laughing. “He was already pushing to meet my parents after a month.”
The reactions
Noa: “People were very excited. Everyone knew I had been looking for a relationship for a long time.”
Aviuo: “After a month, some people were telling me, ‘Come on, get a ring.’ Anyone who hears how we met gets very emotional about the story, because it really is out of the ordinary.”
The proposal
Aviuo: “I had already chosen the ring a few months earlier. I wanted to propose on a meaningful date. I planned to do it on our two-year anniversary, but that didn’t work out, so I waited another two months so it would fall on her birthday. I booked a cabin in Had Nes and called her brother, who is an event photographer, to come document it, and he was very excited. He came with two friends, and they put together a beautiful photo shoot for us.”
Noa: “It wasn’t exactly a surprise, it’s something you talk about beforehand, but I didn’t know it would happen that day. He proposed at the Ofir Lookout, with a beautiful view of the Sea of Galilee. When we got back, we made it official: Aviuo invited my family to his parents’ home, and afterward we celebrated with all our friends.”
Plans for the future
Aviuo: “That we’ll work together in the fields of construction and architecture and have three children.”
Noa: “If I’m able physically and financially, then five as well. In the end, it all started with a small note — who would have thought? I just said, ‘What do I have to lose by casting a line in every direction? Eventually something will bite,’ and it did.”