It took a while for Marcus Rubenstein to get the hang of "Midwest." Early in his time in Minnesota, the Temple of Aaron co-rabbi literally bought a book titled "How to Speak Minnesotan."

"People weren't understanding – they thought I was yelling at them," Marcus Rubenstein joked.

But nearly four years in, he and co-rabbi Rachel Rubenstein are settling in – and figuring out how to balance life and work as a married couple jointly serving their congregation.

The Rubensteins' love story starts a decade ago in Rabbinic school across the country.

"I couldn't even believe she said yes to date," Marcus Rubenstein said. "I was like 95% sure she was going to say no, because it's so embarrassing. You're with your classmates – what if this woman rejected me and we're in class together? So weird! Thank God she said yes, it actually worked out."

After marrying in 2016, the two both worked in their faith field, albeit apart from one another. When the job at Temple of Aaron opened, it was the perfect opportunity – for both of them.

"Before then, we had always joked that if you put us together, you'd make one perfect rabbi – we have different interests, different skillsets, different styles, different faith stories, different everything. You put us together and you make one whole, perfect rabbi," said Rachel Rubenstein.

"I applied, they liked me, which is nice, and I said if you like me, you're really going to like my wife," said Marcus Rubenstein.

Rachel Rubenstein, who was raised in Illinois, now says the couple considers Minnesota home for the long haul.

"We always say, Minnesota is a generation behind in the best possible way. It still has the contemporary, progressive, wonderful values, people affiliate, they join congregations, they have Sunday dinner with their families – there's these old-fashioned values that we didn't see on the coasts or growing up in Chicago as much," she said.

The couple has since launched their own podcast, titled "They're Rabbis, They're Married," where they discuss life, faith and more.

"We kind of thought about, how do we access media? We're both really big podcast listeners, we both really enjoy listening to podcasts, we thought like, we can be in people's ears as they fold their laundry and walk their dog just as much as anyone else can be," Rachel Rubenstein said.

"We just try to help [people] take one more step," Marcus Rubenstein said. "We start with really small actions – we really focus on actions – how do you do shabbat? How do you do kosher? How do you pray? So we can give the spiritual technology of our people to our members in the best possible way -one step at a time."

"Bigger Than Belief"

You can listen or watch the Rubensteins' full story on "Bigger Than Belief," a new WCCO podcast hosted by Adam Duxter. "Bigger Than Belief" is a weekly interfaith podcast that examines belief through the personal stories of believers – with a goal of discussing faith in a way that is relevant, true and easy to understand.

You can find new episodes of "Bigger Than Belief" each week wherever you get your podcasts, or on WCCO's YouTube page.