It's a story that almost never happened.
Just a year and a half ago, aliyah wasn't part of Gaby's plan. After spending years building a life in New York, she found herself questioning whether she was truly where she was meant to be. Israel had always been a place she visited to see close friends, but never somewhere she imagined calling home. Then, during what was supposed to be a short trip, she stayed for more than a month. Somewhere along the way, something quietly changed.
"I couldn't really explain it," she says. "I just felt pulled toward Israel."
Despite uncertainty and plenty of people questioning her decision, Gaby decided to trust that feeling. She booked a one-way ticket, rented a small apartment in Tel Aviv and gave herself three months to find out whether Israel truly felt like home.
She had no idea that decision would also lead her to the love of her life.
Only weeks after arriving, while her parents were visiting from Philadelphia, the family made a spontaneous decision to spend Shabbat in Jerusalem instead of Tel Aviv. They checked into the Eldan Hotel, a place they had visited many times over the years.
That last-minute change would alter the course of her life.
During Friday night dinner at the hotel, Gaby noticed a young man across the dining room. They exchanged a few glances but never spoke.
The following afternoon, while reading alone in the hotel garden, a couple approached her table and struck up a conversation. They asked where she was from, why she was in Israel and whether she had already made aliyah.
Then came one final question.
"How old are you?"
When Gaby answered, the woman smiled.
"I have a son."
Coming from a Middle Eastern family herself, Gaby laughed, assuming it was simply another well-meaning matchmaking attempt.
Moments later, the woman's husband disappeared into the hotel and returned with the very same young man Gaby had noticed the evening before. Within minutes, both sets of parents were enthusiastically introducing them while Gaby and Gal awkwardly tried to hold their own conversation in the middle of the family excitement.
Gaby and Gal in Jerusalem
(Photo: Gaby Aboudi Pinto )
"It was uncomfortable, hilarious and completely unforgettable," she recalls.
After Shabbat, Gal's mother asked Gaby for her phone number.
Then... nothing.
A week passed without a message.
Finally, deciding she had nothing to lose, Gaby texted Gal's mother herself.
"If he's interested, he should reach out."
It wasn't something she would normally do.
"I threw my phone across the room the second I hit send because I was so nervous," she laughs.
The next day, a message appeared.
"Hey, it's Gal from the hotel."
A few days later, on Tu B'Av itself, the two went on their very first date.
During dinner, Gal admitted he had wanted to message her sooner but had been nervous about speaking English. He also confessed he hadn't stopped thinking about her since they met in Jerusalem.
From that first date, everything felt surprisingly easy.
With every date, both became more certain they had found something special.
Just one year later, they were engaged.
Only afterward did Gaby realize just how many unlikely coincidences had made their meeting possible. Gal's family had switched to the Eldan Hotel at the last minute after problems arose with the hotel where they had originally planned to stay. Gal himself had nearly skipped the weekend because he was studying for exams, only agreeing to come after his family convinced him.
She was from Philadelphia.
He was from Ashdod.
Under almost any other circumstances, their paths would never have crossed.
Gaby and Gal's wedding
(Photo: Gaby Aboudi Pinto )
Gaby and Gal's wedding
(Photo: Gaby Aboudi Pinto)
As her relationship with Gal grew, so did her certainty that Israel was where she was meant to build her future. In October, Gaby officially made aliyah with the help of Nefesh B'Nefesh, in partnership with Israel's Ministry of aliyah and Integration, The Jewish Agency for Israel, Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael, and Jewish National Fund-USA.
This past February, she and Gal got married, and today she proudly carries the name Gaby Aboudi Pinto.
Looking back, Gaby says she thought moving to Israel would simply be the start of a new chapter in her life.
Instead, it became the beginning of a love story.
"At the time, making aliyah didn't seem logical," she reflects. "Today, it's the best decision I've ever made."
Every Tu B'Av, the couple is reminded that what began with a chance meeting in a Jerusalem hotel became a marriage, a home, and a future together in Israel.
First published: 08:34, 07.29.26