i'm at work right now so i'll keep it brief.  i related to this piece.  i dated an iranian muslim girl for 3 years.  she was apathetic, passively judeophobic (she assumed that any jew who didn't crave cultural anonymity as much as she did had to be a muslim-hating kahanist), and so it was easy to avoid talking about the elephant in the room. 
she and Leah may not have had common passions, or similar volume of expression, but i think that they both manifested a personality failing that no self-respecting partner should excuse.  they both lacked intellectual honesty.  they lacked the desire to challenge their own conceptions by listening to opposing views.  they felt that they had nothing to learn from someone they thought they already understood.  worst of all, they thought that anyone who disagrees with them must be morally and/or intellectually corrupt.