How Four Simple Principles Helped Her Find the Right Match

For many people, a few words of guidance can change the course of an entire life. Sometimes a piece of advice arrives at exactly the right moment, providing clarity, direction, and the confidence to make life changing decisions.

Yael Levy believes that was exactly what happened to her. Although she never had a close personal relationship with Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky zt"l, she says his guidance profoundly influenced her journey and helped shape the home she eventually built. Her story is one of personal growth, faith, and discovering what truly matters in life.

A Young Woman With Different Priorities

Yael grew up in a religious home and attended religious schools, but as a teenager she rebelled against the lifestyle in which she had been raised.

"I always did the opposite of what I was told," she recalls.

Eventually, she transferred to a secular high school and later pursued acting in Tel Aviv. During those years, her focus was entirely on personal freedom, studies, and career development.

Marriage was not part of her plans.

While many of her friends were beginning to get married, Yael viewed the idea very differently.

"When people wished me, 'Soon by you,' I would answer, 'God forbid,'" she remembers. "The desire to build a home simply wasn't there."

The Turning Point That Changed Everything

At age 24, something began to shift.

Yael recalls two experiences that caused her to think differently about Shabbat and her connection to Judaism.

The first involved an emotional disagreement with her parents. During that difficult period, she saw how deeply Shabbat mattered to her father and realized there was something far more significant about it than she had previously understood.

The second experience occurred when her employer informed the staff that they would be required to work on Shabbat.

Although she was not fully observant at the time, the idea of working on Shabbat felt deeply wrong to her.

Sitting at the Shabbat table that evening, knowing she would soon leave for work, she felt tremendous inner conflict.

"I knew I didn't want to go," she says. "I didn't want to work on Shabbat."

That experience left a lasting impact.

She made a personal commitment that it would be the last time she worked on Shabbat, and it marked the beginning of her gradual return to observant Jewish life.

Four Foundations for Building a Jewish Home

During this period, Yael entered a serious relationship but found herself uncertain about the future.

Friends suggested that she seek guidance from Rebbetzin Kanievsky's daughter, Rebbetzin Koldetsky, who often relayed advice based on the teachings of her father, Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky.

Although Yael was not yet familiar with many leading Torah figures, she decided to seek counsel.

What she heard would remain with her for years.

According to Yael, she was told that anyone hoping to build a strong Jewish home should focus on four essential foundations:

• Family purity

• Shabbat observance

• Jewish education for children

• Kosher food

The advice gave her a completely new framework for evaluating what kind of home she hoped to build and what qualities she should seek in a future spouse.

A New Direction

Those four principles gradually became the blueprint for Yael's life.

She began strengthening her observance and examining her priorities more seriously.

Her approach to dating changed as well.

She became more intentional about the kind of relationship she wanted and the values she hoped would define her future home.

At the same time, her connection to Shabbat deepened.

"What once felt difficult became something I genuinely loved," she says. "Today, Shabbat is one of the greatest gifts in my life."

Her commitment to kashrut also grew stronger as she learned more about Jewish practice and developed a deeper appreciation for the standards she hoped to uphold in her future family.

An Unexpected Match

Eventually, Yael met the man who would become her husband.

The two attended the same Torah class, despite the fact that neither had originally planned to be there.

Looking back, she sees the encounter as an example of Divine Providence.

Her future husband was also a baal teshuvah who had undergone his own spiritual journey. As they got to know one another, Yael discovered that the values she had come to cherish were values he shared as well.

They spoke openly about Shabbat, kashrut, family purity, and the type of Jewish home they hoped to build.

For Yael, it felt as though all the pieces were finally falling into place.

Building the Home She Once Never Imagined

Today, several years after their wedding, Yael looks back with gratitude on the path that brought her to where she is now.

There was a time when marriage seemed completely unimportant to her and a Torah centered home felt unimaginable.

Now she sees those years as part of a larger journey that helped her discover what she truly wanted in life.

"I never dreamed I would build a home with a Torah scholar," she says. "It felt so far away from who I was."

Her story serves as a reminder that personal growth often happens gradually, one decision at a time. Sometimes a single piece of advice, received at the right moment, can help illuminate an entirely new direction.

For Yael, the guidance she received years earlier became a foundation upon which she built her future, helping her create the kind of Jewish home she once never imagined possible.