"Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match.” It’s fair to say the tradition of fixing people up goes a ways back in Jewish culture, indeed, as pointed out in Jewish Matchmaking, to Eliezer being sent on a mission by Abraham to find a wife for Isaac. Although the requirements on his want list probably didn’t include “travels to Bali”, “blond, blue-eyed Moroccan”, and “great eyebrows”.
But in this case, Indians got in there first, as Netflix has based this series on their successful Indian Matchmaking reality show, now in its third season. Dating shows have been a staple of television since its invention, but among the never-ending permeations continually pushing the boundaries (from couples dating through a wall to getting married when they first meet) there’s obviously also an audience keen to see if love in the modern world can take a more traditional route. And tradition, that’s certainly something Jews do particularly well.
jewish matchmaker
A still from Jewish Matchmaking (Netflix)
Aleeza is our matchmaker and chaperone, and as such is perfectly cast; warm, witty, knowledgeable, genuinely passionate about her job, a baal teshuvah who understands both the modern and the traditional, all while bearing an uncanny resemblance to Julia Louis-Dreyfus. So, part-adviser, mother figure, therapist, she’s not only a guide for helping the single become the couple, she’s a guide to ensuring they stay together for life, as well as a guide for the audience to learn about various aspects of Jewish life and existence.
As pointed out in one of her many dropped pearls, “There are 15 million Jews in the world, and 15 million ways to be Jewish.” What we have here then is a brilliant means of illustrating the complexities and intricacies of being Jewish — Ashkenazi and Sephardi, different levels of observance, Israeli and diaspora, picky and picky. But first and foremost, this is a dating show, and one in which throwing in the Jewish element elevates the stakes somehow. Finding love may indeed be tricky, but those featured here with their additional demands, requirements and quirks, make me question how our people have made it this far.
Everyone seems nice enough, and understandably anxious, but when Israeli American mummy’s boy Ori wishes aloud that if only the stunning Israeli woman, who he should be counting his lucky stars to have been fixed up with, had blonde hair and larger breasts, I wouldn’t be surprised if he never moves out of home. Nor does he deserve to.
When Jews meet other Jews across the religious spectrum, and across America and Israel, what connects them is the desire to find someone Jewish. Apps just aren’t cutting it, and a more hands-on personal approach is required, although sometimes you can get with somebody else only once you’ve got over yourself.
Hopefully Aleeza’s philosophy to “date em till you hate ‘em” will provide the time necessary for that to happen, because who doesn’t want to see if love can blossom?
All while watching this on the sofa with your significant other and thanking Hashem these people are not you.
