Thank goodness Rachel N. Reingold, a Cornell University graduate who spent a semester in Cambridge interning for the National Labor Relations Board, didn't know where she was going. After dining at Harvard Hillel with her sister, Deborah Klapper, the wife of Hillel's Rabbi Robert Klapper, she could not seem to find the way back to her apartment. Ernest I. Mandel '01 came to the gallant rescue and offered a walk home.

"She just moved to Cambridge, so she really didn't know where she was going," Ernest says. "Her apartment was on Harvard Street, and she started walking towards Harvard Square."

Three weeks later, after having dinner with her at the Klappers' house, Ernest decided that he would ask her out. "I walked her home with a bunch of people, and they wouldn't leave to give me any privacy. We hung out till 2:30 a.m. Finally the last person went into the bathroom, and I asked her then."

He asked her the ultimate question on Aug. 31 of last year during a visit to Cornell. The two are marrying in Rachel's home city of Chicago on July 1, to be followed by a honeymoon in Paris. In the fall, they will move to New Haven, where Ernest will attend Yale Medical School and Rachel will commute to the University of Connecticut Law School.

Holy Beginnings

Keren Tamar Fischer and Benjamin Ari Flusberg '01 met in Jerusalem during a year of study abroad before beginning college. The two started dating in the beginning of Benjie's first year at Harvard, while Keren entered Stern College in New York. The two have maintained a long-distance relationship ever since. "We've never spent more than 12 days in a row together," Benjie says.

Perhaps the constant traveling to see each other gave Benjie the idea for his proposal. Keren was flying to Newark, N.J. on a Thursday to meet some friends in New York on Friday. They arranged to meet on Friday, but Benjie had ideas of his own. He found out her flight details and waited at her gate in the Newark airport on Thursday.

After an hour-and-a-half delayed arrival, Keren finally walked off the plane ramp. Benjie hid behind a pillar to let her pass and walk down the corridor. He snuck up behind her, jumped in front of her, and opened the ring box as he politely advised, "Excuse me, miss, I think you dropped this."

Keren jumped and was so stunned that she did not see the ring box. Benjie had to put it on her finger and ask, "Will you marry me?" She replied, "Yeah, but what are you doing here?"

"I wasn't satisfied with that answer. I wanted a real "yes." So I asked her again, and I got it," Benjie explains.

A passerby took a picture, and the two sat down in the airport waiting area, where a police officer asked if everything was okay because he saw the young lady jump as Benjie approached her. Benjie explained that he was proposing, and the cop replied, "Congratulations, but you could have done it in a restaurant." But the excitement didn't end there. In their post-engagement bliss, they drove into the city and parked their car in a no-parking zone, only to find it towed the next morning. While waiting in the car pound for several hours, they made phone calls to friends and family to share the good news.

The wedding will be on June 24 in Keren's home city of Atlanta, GA. They will go to Europe for a few weeks on their way to Israel, where they will spend the next year. Benjie will be doing graduate research at Hebrew University, and Keren will most likely be teaching English.