arts & culture
It’s a Date: Netflix’s ‘Jewish
Matchmaking’ Debuts May 3
Jackie Hajdenberg | JTA.org
A matchmaker who says she
has successfully paired 200
Jewish couples is the star of
“Jewish Matchmaking,” a Netflix series
that is set to start streaming on May 3.

Netflix announced the series,
a spinoff of its wildly successful
“Indian Matchmaking” show, nearly a
year ago. Now, new details that the
streaming giant released on Thursday
reveal that it will take place in both
the United States and Israel, and will
feature people from a variety of Jewish
backgrounds. Their guide will be Aleeza Ben
Shalom, an Orthodox Jewish dating
coach with a decade of experience
who was based in the Philadelphia
area and moved to Israel two years
ago. “Finding your person is the hardest
thing to do in the entire world,” Ben
Shalom says in the show’s trailer,
which dropped on March 30. “And
that’s where I come in.”
Netflix is keeping most details about
the show secret until closer to the
launch date, but the trailer shows one
man who is part of the process — “I
don’t want to have to explain to her
why ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ is funny,”
he explains, after being asked why
he is looking for a matchmaker — and
several women. Multiple cast members
posted about their involvement on
social media on March 30, includ-
ing comedian and disability activist
Pamela Rae Schuller and Miami-based
marketing executive Dani Bergman.

Formal matchmaking is common
in the haredi Orthodox world, where
many couples pair off through a formal
and speedy process that has been
depicted in shows such as “Shtisel,”
which also streams on Netflix. Other
Jews date and marry on their own,
and a slew of dating services and apps
have catered to matching Jews with
each other.

“In today’s world of modern love, we
are used to turning to technology to
find love,” Ben Shalom told E! News.

“We download apps and we upload
profiles. We swipe left or swipe right.

And yet, somehow finding ‘the one’
has never been harder.”
“Jewish Matchmaking” will run for
eight 30-minute episodes, featur-
ing a diverse set of couplings, from
Orthodox singles who observe the
rules of negiah — the prohibition on
touching before marriage — to Reform
and secular U.S. Jews who, data show,
are statistically likely to marry people
who are not Jewish.

The show — whose title is translated
into Hebrew as “Modern Matchmaking”
— is modeled on “Indian Matchmaking,”
now entering its third season, which
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“Jewish Matchmaking” follows Aleeza Ben Shalom, a top Jewish matchmaker,
as she helps her clients meet their bashert, or soulmate.

The singles in “Jewish Matchmaking” come from a variety of religious
backgrounds. also focuses on a professional match-
maker and people looking for love.

While the show has been popular with
audiences, it has also drawn criticism
for reinforcing religious and caste
segregation; no couples from its first
season remain together.

Ben Shalom, who says she grew
up secular and later became more
traditionally observant, works exclu-
sively with Jewish singles. This
week, she launched a podcast called
“The Yentas” with two other Jewish
matchmakers affiliated with Tribe12,
a Philadelphia organization serving
Jewish young adults that includes a
matchmaking service.

“We know it can carry a negative
gossipy connotation,” they say in the
first episode about the name of their
show. “Maybe you saw ‘Fiddler on the
Roof’ where the word is associated
with being a busybody, somebody who
wants to make matches but doesn’t
have your best interest at heart. We are
not that. We are love professionals.” ■