I met Debbie when my family moved to Washington. I was in the seventh grade and Debbie, who was a tall, beautiful, lively and generous girl, received me, the new girl, with warmth and love.
The friendship between us developed naturally, somehow without noticing we became friendships in heart and soul. Even then, her character traits as a quiet leader striving for truth stood out. Debbie was also very creative and an excellent student, but most of all she showed the trait of caring for others and her participation in the joy of everyone, or to differentiate in the trouble of everyone.
We grew up together together from childhood to girls and enjoyed every moment. Our friendships grew stronger, but later, it was not an easy three years that the ocean separated us, when my family moved to the country and Debbie stayed in Washington.
After my family and I moved to Israel, Debbie and I frequently corresponded and shared our very different experiences, with Debbie's great desire to come to Israel echoing in the background. How much she feared not being accepted to college, since her Torah background was not strong enough, and how much she was happy to come and be here.
The summer before she and my brother Eli got engaged, I came to the United States and spent several weeks with Debbie at her parents' house in Silver Spring, Maryland. Since we could not eat her parents' food, kosher, we had to be familiar with kosher laws. We wanted to make a steak, so we ordered meat from a butcher who knew that his meat was strictly kosher, but ... we did not know that he did not prepare the meat, unless we ordered talented meat.
Before we cooked, we went out to the store and bought some boxes of coarse salt, rolled up our sleeves and went to the craft. We poured one box and we were in the middle of scattering it on the meat and then we hear behind us someone rolling with laughter.
