From Classmates to Soulmates
October 2, 2025
When Nili Arad Ivan and Isaac Makovsky first met, it wasn’t over coffee or sightseeing—it was waving to each other from six feet away.
The students, only 15 and 16 years old at the time, had just arrived at Alexander Muss High School in Israel (Muss) in the fall of 2020. It was COVID, and they were waiting out their state-mandated quarantine period in makeshift pods separated by plastic sheets. Just as the quarantine period came to an end, Israel entered another lockdown that kept the Muss students on campus. However, no longer separated by their individual pods, the entire cohort was free to interact. Isaac’s pod introduced themselves to Nili’s, and what began as a simple greeting grew into a deep connection that would sustain them through the adventure of a lifetime.
Read more:
https://www.timesofisrael.com/spotlight/from-classmates-to-soulmates/
