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Jewish Matchmaking, Netflix’s new dating show from the creative team behind 2020’s Indian Matchmaking, introduces a new group of singles, all of whom are searching for The One, and all of whom have certain requirements or expectations that they look for in a prospective partner. In many cases, their shared Jewish identity is the only thing they have in common. And that’s where our matchmaker comes in.
Aleeza Ben Shalom, the dating coach at the center of Jewish Matchmaking, has her own matchmaking business working across the United States and Israel, and specializes in helping to pair up compatible couples in Jewish communities. Her coaching sessions range in price, with the most expensive costing $1,000, and she also hosts webinars in which she trains others to be matchmakers (she believes matchmaking is becoming more popular as people are generally marrying later in life).
And while it might be difficult to determine what credentials one needs to be a dating coach, Ben Shalom’s success rate appears to speak for itself: she claims to be responsible for no fewer than 200 weddings.
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But while Ben Shalom might exclusively work with members of the Jewish faith, and has herself been in an Orthodox Jewish marriage for 20 years, she is not overtly religious or prescriptive in her methods, meeting with singles from many different practices as well as some who live secularly but consider themselves culturally Jewish.
“There are 15 million Jews in the world and 15 million ways to be Jewish,” she says in the first episode of the show. In fact, Ben Shalom thinks her approach to matchmaking could help anyone find romance. “This type of matchmaking is rooted in Jewish wisdom, but it’s for the whole entire world,” she says. “It’s for everybody. If you want to have a great relationship, you definitely want to have clarity.”
This clarity is a key part of the advice that Ben Shalom gives to her clients, and she begins the process with each of them the same way: with an in-depth coaching session where they open up about their own dating history, relationship dealbreakers, and ultimately, what they want the most. She then sets them up with people with comparable values, but encourages them to look beyond the superficial.
Her motto: “Date ’em until you hate ’em.”
Jewish Matchmaker is now streaming on Netflix.
Philip Ellis is a freelance writer and journalist from the United Kingdom covering pop culture, relationships and LGBTQ+ issues. His work has appeared in GQ, Teen Vogue, Man Repeller and MTV.
