Lucian Harris-Gallahue
Met 2023-09-12 15:00 at Numa Hotel, She’erit Israel 1 Tel-Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel.His Hebrew name is Aryeh Yisrael (אריה ישראל). Born in Alabama, army dad, moved all over, raised in an orthodox Jewish community. Thought he'd do football, then military, then jiu-jitsu, then worked at a startup, then missed the spirituality, but wanted a real doctrine, so went back to Judaism.
An old childhood friend became ultra-orthodox and moved to Israel, studing Talmud full-time, so Lucian came out here to do the same.
The Talmud is funny, an archive of two thousand years of scholars ripping into each other, “in what world does that make sense?”, then spinning a logical proof to defend their argument.
Potential spouses should not touch before marriage. Choosing a life partner is a serious decision that should be made lucidly without sex chemistry messing with your judgement. He was at a kibbutz when others told him he needed to meet this woman who was perfect for him. “Arranged marriage” is done by people who really know the two people well, and know that their values and personalities match. Their dates were quite serious as they compared notes for six hours on what they want in a marriage, sharing their history, concerns and questions, raising kids. Then they would break to go talk it over with their teams. They married after a few months, and have been very happy.
As he talked about the importance of a man and woman not touching each other before marriage, the background music in the café was playing the Rod Stewart song, “If you want my body, and you think I’m sexy‥”