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In ‘Jewish Matchmaking,’ a diverse set of Jews experience Orthodox dating practices
(JTA) — According to Jewish lore, God has been making matches since the creation of the world. Aleeza Ben Shalom has been at it only since 2007 — but the Jewish matchmaker is about to bring what she calls “the most important job in the world” to the masses.
As the host of “Jewish Matchmaking” on Netflix, Ben Shalom adapts the model of Orthodox arranged matches to Jewish singles from a variety of religious and cultural backgrounds, including secular, Reform and Conservative Jews from across the United States and Israel.
Formal matchmaking, known as shidduch dating and considered de rigueur in haredi Orthodox circles, has been depicted as oppressive and constricting on Netflix dramas such as “Shtisel” and “Unorthodox.” But Ben Shalom believes her basic approach to love and marriage makes sense for a wide array of people — and she’s out to prove it.
“I’m hoping that people will see that matchmaking and Judaism is not just something that’s old, but that’s timeless, that’s relevant,” Ben Shalom told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
“We can use this beautiful, ancient tradition of matchmaking and bring it to modern life, and help people to find love from any age, stage, any background. It doesn’t matter. It’s universal,” she said. “The wisdom that I share is from Judaism. It’s based in Torah, but it’s for the world. Anybody of any background, of any culture can watch this, can learn something from it and can implement it in their lives.”
Ben Shalom isn’t the first to make the case that matchmaking services can help a wide array of Jews find lasting love. Ventures such as YentaNet, a pluralistic matchmaking service that arose about a decade ago, and Tribe 12, a Jewish nonprofit working with young adults in Philadelphia where Ben Shalom got her start, have sought to pair Jewish singles who might be a good fit for each other.
But the practice is most common in haredi Orthodox communities, where the norms around shidduch dating are well known and closely followed. Daters have a “shidduch resume” outlining their education, interests and family background; parents are involved in the process; and dating is intended to move quickly toward marriage. Dates typically take place in public spaces and couples are expected not to touch until they are married.
In formal Orthodox matchmaking, the shadchan, or matchmaker, is usually compensated by the parents, receiving around $1,000 upon a couple’s engagement, although higher-end services may charge more. Some matchmakers may charge a smaller amount for the initial meeting with a client, while Ben Shalom’s company, Marriage Minded Mentor, charges $50 to $100 an hour on a sliding scale based on the client’s salary. (Sima Taparia, the star and host of “Indian Matchmaking,” the Netflix show that inspired “Jewish Matchmaking,” reportedly charges her clients around $1,330 to $8,000 for similar services.)
Matchmakers keep records of who in their communities is looking for a match, but they can also tap into networks of other matchmakers and databases of singles as they seek to pair their clients. “We don’t believe in competition, we believe in collaboration,” said Ben Shalom, who is currently based in Israel.
Ben Shalom grew up in a Conservative Jewish community where matchmaking was not the norm, and later became Orthodox. She knew her husband for three weeks before becoming engaged, then touched him for the first time during their wedding four months later.
She knows that most participants on “Jewish Matchmaking” are unlikely to follow those same restrictions. Still, she encourages them to at least try.
“I’m really trying to have you guys touch hearts,” Ben Shalom tells Harmonie Krieger, a marketing and brand consultant in her 40s, as she explains why she wants Krieger to abstain from physical contact for five dates. “You will gain clarity. If there’s no physical glue holding the relationship together, then there’s actually value-based glue that’s holding the relationship together.”
“I will accept the challenge,” Krieger says. “Maybe. Let’s see how it goes.”
Harmonie Krieger, one of the clients and cast members of the show, is challenged not to touch her dates for their first five dates. (Netflix)
Krieger is one of a number of non-Orthodox Jews who opted to be cast on “Jewish Matchmaking” after being unsatisfied with their own dating efforts. There’s Nakysha Osadchey, a Black Reform Jew who is desperate to get out of Kansas City, Missouri, where she hasn’t had luck finding a partner who understands her multicultural background. Living in Tel Aviv via Rome, Noah Del Monte, 24, is the youngest of the group, an Israeli army veteran and diplomat’s son who wants to transition from so-called “king of nightlife” to husband. In Los Angeles, Ori Basly, who works for his family’s wedding planning business, is looking for a blue-eyed, blonde-haired Israeli woman to fall in love with and bring home to his family.
The Jews cast on the show are all in different places in their lives, some grieving serious breakups or committed to specific religious identities, some picky about looks or hoping their partner will be OK with riding motorcycles. Some of them are looking for particular Jewish commitments to concepts such as tikkun olam, which means “repairing the world” and has come to represent a social justice imperative for many liberal Jews; others want to be sure they’re matched only with people who share their approaches to observing Shabbat and keeping kosher.
Nakysha Osadchey from Kansas City, Missouri is looking for someone who understands her multicultural background as a Black Reform Jew. (Netflix)
Pamela Rae Schuller, a comedian whose material frequently centers on living with Tourette syndrome, a nervous system disorder, demurred when Ben Shalom first offered to set her up about seven years ago, after attending one of Schuller’s shows in Los Angeles.
“I was picking career first. And there are a lot of complicated feelings around dating and disability,” said Schuller, who stands 4 feet 6 inches tall and frequently barks because of her syndrome. “And I never even thought about a matchmaker.”
But in 2022, Ben Shalom reached out again, this time with a possible match, and a catch — it would be for a new Netflix show she was set to host. This time, Schuller was ready.
“I have this life that I really, really love. I’m just at the point where I’ve realized I’d like someone to start to share that with,” she said. “I’m not going into this looking for anyone to complete me.”
Pamela Rae Schuller, a comedian whose material frequently deals with living with a disability, makes an appearance on “Jewish Matchmaking”. (Courtesy Pamela Rae Schuller)
Getting back into dating and then appearing on the show, which Schuller hasn’t seen yet, was both scary and exciting, she says
“I’m about to put myself out there. I think that’s scary for everyone, disability or otherwise,” Schuller said. “But I also want to see a world where we remember that every type of person dates.”
Plus, she added, “I love the idea that Netflix is willing to show diversity in Judaism, diversity in dating.”
Ensuring that she show accurately represented American Jews was the responsibility of Ronit Polin-Tarshish, an Orthodox filmmaker who worked as a consulting producer on “Jewish Matchmaking.” Her role was to ensure that Judaism was portrayed authentically. She also worked to help the Orthodox cast members feel more comfortable with their involvement on the show.
“Being Orthodox is who I am, and of course it infused every part of my work,” said Polin-Tarshish, who herself used a matchmaker to find her husband.
Multiple recent depictions of Orthodox Judaism in pop culture — including the Netflix reality show “My Unorthodox Life” — have drawn criticism from Orthodox voices for getting details of Orthodox observance wrong or seeming to encourage people to leave Orthodoxy. Both “My Unorthodox Life” and “Unorthodox,” based on the Deborah Feldman memoir of the same name, depict formerly Orthodox women who left arranged marriages they described as oppressive.
Meanwhile, other depictions of Jews have been panned for botching details. Those include a grieving widow (herself not Jewish, but mourning a Jewish husband) serving hamantaschen at the shiva in the 2014 film “This is Where I Leave You,” and a storyline on the Canadian show “Nurses” about an Orthodox man rejecting a bone graft from a non-Jew.
“So many times we watch shows as Jews and we kind of gnash our teeth, and are like, ‘They got it wrong! They got a basic thing wrong!’” said Polin-Tarshish, who previously produced the first-ever feature-length film by Orthodox women and worked on another reality show about arranged marriages across cultures. “That was my whole job, to make sure that they got it right. And thank God, baruch Hashem, I think we really did.”
Asked if her involvement on “Jewish Matchmaking” has received any pushback, Ben Shalom said she had gotten questions about how she could know whether the showrunners will accurately represent who she is.
Ben Shalom said she was confident in the production based on what she saw on “Indian Matchmaking,” but also because she believed she could pull off the delicate balance needed to represent her own community and make for great entertainment.
“You have to be smart about how you share who you are with the world, and you have to be authentic, and you have to be real, and you have to be true,” she said. “And you have to do that on reality TV with strangers that you’ve just met, and you have to do an interview. So only because I saw it done beautifully before, I knew that I had the ability to do that as well.”
Polin-Tarshish is excited for viewers at home to identify with the cast of “Jewish Matchmaking,” and to even get frustrated by some of the cast members’ actions. But most importantly, she says she is excited to have real, three-dimensional Jewish characters on screen.
“They’re real people in every sense of the word,” Polin-Tarshish said. “There are characters you’re going to love, there are characters you might even love to hate. But that’s life.”
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The post In ‘Jewish Matchmaking,’ a diverse set of Jews experience Orthodox dating practices appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Israel, Australia Probe Iran’s Suspected Role in Sydney Attack as Tehran Issues Conflicting Statements
Police officers stand guard following the attack on a Jewish holiday celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, in Sydney, Australia, Dec. 15, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Flavio Brancaleone
Israeli and Australian authorities have launched an investigation into whether Iran was behind the deadly attack on a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Sunday that killed 15 people who attended the Jewish gathering and wounded at least 40 others.
As Australian authorities continued their probe into the weekend massacre at Bondi Beach in southeastern New South Wales, new evidence revealed that the deadly shooting was planned to include explosive devices that were successfully defused.
According to the British outlet The Telegraph, Israeli officials believe Iran orchestrated the attack, probing potential links to the regime’s terrorist proxies.
“We believe Iran is behind the attack. We are also investigating a connection with Hezbollah, Hamas, and a Pakistani terrorist organization,” an Israeli official told the paper, listing some of the Islamist groups backed by Tehran.
Israel had previously warned Australia about Iranian plots amid rising threats against Jews and Israelis abroad, and Israeli officials are now investigating whether Iran was the mastermind behind the mass shooting targeting Sydney’s Jewish community, Israeli media reported.
“In recent months, Iran has increased its activity to orchestrate attacks against Israeli and Jewish targets around the world,” a senior Israeli security official told Israel Hayom.
“There is no doubt that the direction and infrastructure for the [Bondi Beach] attack originated in Tehran,” he continued.
Israeli officials have accused the Australian government of ignoring earlier warnings and intelligence from this year that flagged potential terrorist attacks and rising threats, saying authorities failed to take sufficient action to protect the local Jewish community and prevent a massacre before what transpired in Sydney over the weekend.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of pouring “fuel on the antisemitic fire” and ignoring Israeli warnings, as tensions rise over Canberra’s anti-Israel stance and its failure to address a sharp rise in antisemitic attacks.
The Australian government’s policies, particularly its recognition of a Palestinian state in September, “pour fuel on the antisemitic fire, reward Hamas terror, embolden those who menace Australian Jews, and encourage the Jew hatred now stalking your streets,” the Israeli leader said.
“Antisemitism is a cancer. It spreads when leaders stay silent. You must replace weakness with action,” he continued.
Albanese rejected such accusations, saying his priority was to unite the nation and prevent terrorists from sowing division or turning Australians against each other.
“Now more than ever, we must support the Jewish community during this incredibly difficult time — not just those grieving the loss of loved ones and friends, but all members of the Jewish community throughout Australia,” Albanese said.
According to Australian news outlet ABC, Naveed Akram, one of the terrorists allegedly behind the Sydney attack, was previously on the radar of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO), which had been monitoring him for six years due to his links with an Islamic State (ISIS) cell in the country.
Amid already tense relations with Iran, Australia has not dismissed the possibility of Iranian involvement in the attack, with authorities reportedly working alongside Israeli intelligence agencies in their investigation.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei publicly condemned the “violent attack” in Syndey, though his statement was vague and made no mention of antisemitism, the local Jewish community, or any specific target.
“Terror violence and mass killing shall be condemned, wherever they’re committed,” he said in a post on X.
However, Iranian state and semi-official media pushed a starkly different narrative, spreading conspiracy theories that framed the attack as a plot orchestrated by Israel. Other outlets expressed support for the attack, even praising it, claiming that the rabbi who was killed during the massacre, Eli Shlanger, was a “staunch advocate of genocide in Gaza.”
The Iranian news agency Mehr openly called “the Zionist regime” as the main suspect, portraying the attack as a “false flag” operation allegedly designed to serve Israeli interests.
Tensions between Australia and Iran have escalated sharply this year, after Canberra severed diplomatic relations with Tehran and expelled the Iranian ambassador in August, citing the regime’s role in threats and terrorist attacks against the local Jewish community.
The government identified the Islamist regime in Tehran as the mastermind behind at least two major antisemitic arson attacks in Australia, saying it was likely responsible for additional incidents.
In November, Australia officially designated Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a state-sponsored terrorist organization.
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Israel Slams ICC decision to Continue Gaza War Investigation as ‘Politics in the Guise of International Law’
A general view of the International Criminal Court, in The Hague, Netherlands, March 12, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay
Israel lambasted a decision by appeals judges at the International Criminal Court on Monday to reject one in a series of legal challenges brought by Jerusalem against the court’s probe into its conduct of the Gaza war.
On appeal, judges refused to overturn a lower court decision that the prosecution’s investigation into alleged crimes under its jurisdiction could include events following the deadly attack on Israel by Palestinian terrorist group Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023.
The ruling means the investigation continues and the arrest warrants issued last year for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense chief Yoav Gallant remain in place.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry called the ruling an example of the ICC‘s disregard for the sovereign rights of countries who are not members of the court, in a post on social media platform X.
“Israel rejects the ICC Appeals Chamber’s decision, by a narrow majority, to deny Israel’s right to receive advance notice, as demanded by the principle of complementarity particularly with regard to a democratic state with an independent and robust judicial system,” the ministry posted.
“This is yet another example of the ongoing politicization of the ICC and its blatant disregard for the sovereign rights of non-party states, as well as its own obligations under the Rome Statute,” it continued, adding: “This is what politics in the guise of ‘international law’ looks like.”
The ICC was founded in 2002 under a treaty giving it jurisdiction to prosecute genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes that were either committed by a citizen of a member state or had taken place on a member state’s territory.
The ICC has no jurisdiction over Israel as it is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, which established the court. Other countries including the US have similarly not signed the ICC charter. However, the ICC has asserted jurisdiction by accepting “Palestine” as a signatory in 2015, despite no such state being recognized under international law.
Israel has adamantly denied war crimes in Gaza, where it has waged a military campaign to eliminate Hamas following the terrorist group’s Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of and massacre across southern Israel.
A ceasefire agreement in the conflict took effect on Oct. 10, but the war destroyed much of Gaza’s infrastructure.
This ruling focuses on only one of several Israeli legal challenges against the ICC investigations and the arrest warrants for its officials. There is no timeline for the court to rule on the various other challenges to its jurisdiction in this case.
Last November, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant, and now-deceased Hamas terror leader Ibrahim al-Masri (better known as Mohammed Deif) for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza conflict.
Khan initially made his surprise demand for arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant on the same day in May that he suddenly canceled a long-planned visit to both Gaza and Israel to collect evidence of alleged war crimes. The last-second cancellation reportedly infuriated US and British leaders, as the trip would have offered Israeli leaders a first opportunity to present their position and outline any action they were taking to respond to the allegations.
However, the ICC said there were reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and Gallant were criminally responsible for starvation in Gaza and the persecution of Palestinians — charges vehemently denied by Israel, which has provided significant humanitarian aid into the enclave during the war.
Israel also says it has gone to unprecedented lengths to try and avoid civilian casualties, despite Hamas’s widely acknowledged military strategy of embedding its terrorists within Gaza’s civilian population and commandeering civilian facilities like hospitals, schools, and mosques to run operations and direct attacks.
US and Israeli officials have issued blistering condemnations of the ICC move, decrying the court for drawing a moral equivalence between Israel’s democratically elected leaders and the heads of Hamas, which launched the war in Gaza with its Oct. 7 atrocities.
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Israeli Tech Sector Annual Deals, Listings Jump to $59 Billion, PwC Says
Yoni Assia, CEO of eToro, speaks before ringing the opening bell to celebrate the company’s IPO on Nasdaq, in New York City, US, May 15, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
Appetite for Israeli technology innovation has remained undiminished this year, with a surge in acquisitions and IPOs led by Alphabet’s $32 billion purchase of Israeli cybersecurity company Wiz, PwC Israel said on Monday.
The consultancy said in a report that such deals jumped by 340% to nearly $59 billion, from $13.4 billion in 2024. Excluding the Wiz deal, the value of transactions doubled to $32 billion.
There were seven IPOs with a combined valuation of $14.6 billion, up from the $781 million total achieved with six listings in 2024, demonstrating strong investor demand despite Israel’s two-year war against Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.
PwC noted a decline in medium-sized deals between $100 million and $500 million, but more small and larger deals.
There were six acquisitions above $1 billion this year, including fintech firms Next Insurance (bought for $2.6 billion) and Melio ($2.5 billion), with Nasdaq listings for Navan and eToro at valuations of $6.2 billion and $4.4 billion respectively.
Yaron Weizenbluth, a partner and head of audit in PwC Israel, said that while more tech entrepreneurs and managers have relocated operations overseas, many companies still rely on the “unique talent in Israel.”
“The Israeli market has demonstrated an incredible ability to adapt and close gaps in the past; the potential for value creation is immense,” he said.