Love is in the air with Tu B’Av right around the corner! Enjoy a romantic story of how this Baltimore-area Jewish couple met in honor of the Jewish Day of Love, celebrated this year on July 29.

‘A Tale of Modern Times’

Despite both growing up Jewish in ‘Smaltimore,’ Davina and Micah Kleid probably never would have met if it hadn’t been for JDate.

This November, the couple will be celebrating their 15th wedding anniversary.

“I was on JDate on and off,” Micah recalled. “I would go on a few dates and I’d get very frustrated by them so I would cancel my membership and then I’d realize, ‘no, I want to find someone.’ So, I’d renew my membership.”

Micah was working for Beth El Congregation at the time when it was giving out free JDate memberships to young adults.

“It just so happened that we met when I had the free membership through Beth El,” he said. “In fact, I didn’t even want to take the membership, but my intern at the time … she was the one who was like ‘you got to give it at least one more try.’”

It wasn’t until after three weeks of chatting online in 2008 that the couple’s busy schedules finally aligned, and Micah asked Davina out on their first date.

“[Micah] was an advisor for his fraternity at [University of Maryland, College Park] at the time,” Davina recalled. “They had their spring formal and he asked me if I wanted to go.”

“Our first date started at the formal in College Park, but the formal wasn’t great,” Micah, who was 27 at the time, added. “It ended pretty early by college standards, [so] we drove back to Baltimore because of the work I was doing at Beth El. I was doing a lot of event planning and I knew the owners at Angels Rock Bar at Power Plant Live!, so I shot them a quick message, got us on the VIP list, got us to the front of the line [and] in for free.”

Davina, who was 22 at the time, said she was impressed “to be with an older guy who had those connections.”

Over time, the couple’s connection grew deeper.

“[Micah] had good morals and the same values that I did,” said Davina. “[He] wanted a family, wanted to stay in the area. Enjoyed the same things that I enjoy. We both enjoy cooking. We both enjoy reading. We both enjoy swimming, which now is very important to our family because our daughter is actually on the JCC swim team.”

For both Davina and Micah, marrying Jewish was a large component.

“Back in those days, if you went on Match or eHarmony … you could filter based on religion,” Micah said. “But if you filtered by Jewish, there was almost no one because everyone Jewish was on JDate. It didn’t matter if you were Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, non-religious, culturally religious … it was the only place to go for Jewish dating.”

Before meeting Davina, Micah was in a serious relationship for over two years, but she was Greek Orthodox. “That was one of the reasons why we ended up breaking up,” he said.

“I was dating a guy who was Catholic, and while he was a nice guy, he was not who I was going to end up with,” Davina said. “My parents had always wanted me to marry Jewish. I always knew I wanted to marry Jewish, and so JDate just felt like the best option.”

Although online dating is a part of today’s norm, in 2008, Micah said, “people definitely raised an eyebrow.”

“It really wasn’t the way to date,” Micah added. “But at the same time, I tried going out to bars. I tried going out to restaurants. I tried speed dating and the problem was it was very hard to meet someone Jewish … I would go to a bar and I would strike up a great conversation with a girl … But like, when does it come up? You’re not going to go up to a girl and say, ‘Can I buy you a drink? Are you Jewish?’”

But for Davina, their story “tells a tale of modern times.”

“I wanted someone who, at the end of the first date, I wanted to go on a second date with them, and they wanted to go on a second date with me,” added Micah. “And Davina was really the first person who that happened with.”

Today, the couple lives in Owings Mills with their dog, Tucker, and their 11-year-old daughter, Rebecca.

“I’m really glad that JDate was there 18 years ago because we didn’t run in the same circles, we were five years apart … we never would have met if it hadn’t been for JDate,” added Micah. “I’m glad it was there, and I think it was meant to be.”

mresnicow@midatlanticmedia.com