Shidduch crisis

Last updated

The shidduch crisis is a phenomenon in the Orthodox Jewish community whereby eligible single persons, especially women or Sephardim, have difficulty finding a suitable spouse, or a shidduch. [1] [2] [3] There is some debate about the severity of the crisis and whether it is a recent development or a long-extant issue. [4]

Contents

Causes and solutions

Several causes have been cited for the shidduch crisis, but it is most commonly attributed to the average age gap between Orthodox Jewish women and men when they marry. [5] Some members of the community dispute this as the root cause. [6] [7] [8] Several initiatives in various Orthodox Jewish communities exist to close the age gap by offering rewards for shadchanim who make matches between men with women of approximately the same age. [9]

Other possible causes include the increased scrutiny placed on eligible women [10] and the shidduch system in general. [11]

One possible solution is to have mixed seating at weddings, as friends of the two spouses will often have many common interests.[ citation needed ]

Pandemic and online shidduch

During the COVID-19 pandemic, prolonged lockdown, and popularisation of mobile apps and online video calls, in-person dating and meeting new people became more challenging. [12] In these circumstances, the internet-based shidduch regained its popularity not only among Orthodox Jews, but also among non-religious Jews. [13] [14] [15] [16] This new dynamic has been referred to as "the Shidduch Revolution". [17]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matchmaking</span> Process of matching two or more people together, usually for the purpose of marriage

Matchmaking is the process of matching two or more people together, usually for the purpose of marriage, in which case the matchmaker is also known as a marriage broker. The word is also used in the context of sporting events such as boxing, in business, in online video games and in pairing organ donors.

The Shidduch is a system of matchmaking in which Jewish singles are introduced to one another in Orthodox Jewish communities for the purpose of marriage.

An agunah or aguna is a Jewish woman who is stuck in her religious marriage as determined by halakha. The classic case of this is a man who has left on a journey and has not returned, or has gone into battle and is missing in action. It is used as a borrowed term to refer to a woman whose husband refuses, or is unable, to grant her a divorce.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yaneer Bar-Yam</span> American scientist and activist

Yaneer Bar-Yam is an American scientist and activist specializing in complex systems. An expert in the quantitative analysis of pandemics, he advised policy makers on the Western African Ebola virus epidemic and founded EndCoronavirus.org, a global network of several volunteers formed in February 2020 to provide information, guidelines, and policy advocacy to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. He is the founding president of the New England Complex Systems Institute (NECSI), an independent research institution that studies complex systems science and its real-world applications.

The COVID-19 pandemic in Spain has resulted in 13,980,340 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 121,852 deaths.

The COVID-19 pandemic in Cuba was a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The virus was confirmed to have spread to Cuba on 11 March 2020 when three Italian tourists tested positive for the virus.

The COVID-19 pandemic in South Dakota is an ongoing viral pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a novel infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The state of South Dakota reported its first four cases and one death from COVID-19 on March 10, 2020. On June 15, 2021, South Dakota public health authorities reported 25 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the state's cumulative total to 124,377 cases. The state's COVID-19 death toll is 2,026, with no new deaths reported over the previous 24 hours. The state ranks 9th in deaths per capita among U.S. states, and 3rd in cases per-capita, behind only North Dakota and Rhode Island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Media coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic</span>

Media coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic has varied by country, time period and media outlet. News media has simultaneously kept viewers informed about current events related to the pandemic, and contributed to misinformation or fake news.

The first four cases of the COVID-19 pandemic in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh were confirmed on March 20, 2020. As of August 14, 2021, Madhya Pradesh has confirmed a total of 791,998 cases, and has recorded 10,514 deaths.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">COVID-19 apps</span> Mobile apps designed to aid contact tracing

COVID-19 apps include mobile-software applications for digital contact-tracing—i.e. the process of identifying persons ("contacts") who may have been in contact with an infected individual—deployed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gendered impact of the COVID-19 pandemic</span> Aspect of viral outbreak

COVID-19 affects men and women differently both in terms of the outcome of infection and the effect of the disease upon society. The mortality due to COVID-19 is higher in men. Slightly more men than women contract COVID with a ratio of 10:9.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on crime</span> Consequences of COVID-19 pandemic for crime

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted crime and illicit economies such as organised crime, terrorism, street crime, online crime, illegal markets and smuggling, human and wildlife trafficking, slavery, robberies and burglaries.

Under normal circumstances, the United States child welfare systems is considered by experts to be underfunded and strains social workers with high case loads. However, during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. experienced an unprecedented lockdown and national unemployment reached a record high. This presents an issue because it is recorded that during times of economic stress, child abuse skyrockets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic</span>

The COVID-19 pandemic caused far-reaching economic consequences including the COVID-19 recession, the second largest global recession in recent history, decreased business in the services sector during the COVID-19 lockdowns, the 2020 stock market crash, the impact of COVID-19 on financial markets, the 2021–2023 global supply chain crisis, the 2021–2023 inflation surge, shortages related to the COVID-19 pandemic including the 2020–present global chip shortage, panic buying, and price gouging. The pandemic led to governments providing an unprecedented amount of stimulus, and was also a factor in the 2021–2022 global energy crisis and 2022–2023 food crises.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">COVID-19 pandemic in Puntland</span> Ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in Puntland

The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed in April 2020 to have reached Puntland, an autonomous state in northeastern Somalia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Food security during the COVID-19 pandemic</span> Famines related to the pandemic caused by coronavirus disease 2019.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, food insecurity intensified in many places. In the second quarter of 2020, there were multiple warnings of famine later in the year. In an early report, the Nongovernmental Organization (NGO) Oxfam-International talks about "economic devastation" while the lead-author of the UNU-WIDER report compared COVID-19 to a "poverty tsunami". Others talk about "complete destitution", "unprecedented crisis", "natural disaster", "threat of catastrophic global famine". The decision of the WHO on 11 March 2020, to qualify COVID as a pandemic, that is "an epidemic occurring worldwide, or over a very wide area, crossing international boundaries and usually affecting a large number of people" also contributed to building this global-scale disaster narrative.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indian government response to the COVID-19 pandemic</span>

The first responses of the government of India to the COVID-19 pandemic in the country involved thermal screenings of passengers arriving from China, the country from which the coronavirus disease 2019 originated, as well as of passengers arriving from other countries. As the pandemic spread worldwide, the Indian government recommended social distancing measures and also initiated travel and entry restrictions. Throughout March 2020, several shutdowns and business closures were initiated, and by the end of the month, the Indian government ordered a widespread lockdown. An economic package was announced in May 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pandemic fatigue</span> Psychological phenomenon

Pandemic fatigue is understood as a natural and expected reaction to sustained and unresolved adversity in people's everyday life. Those affected show symptoms of feeling burnt out and tired, while also expressing feelings of demotivation to engage in protection behaviors and seek COVID-19 related information as complacency, alienation and hopelessness.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Undercounting of COVID-19 pandemic deaths by country</span>

Undercounting of COVID-19 pandemic deaths has been witnessed around the world. Global mortality excess estimates by the World Health Organization are significantly different from official figures, pointing to undercounting– "while 1,813,188 COVID-19 deaths were reported in 2020... WHO estimates suggest an excess mortality of at least 3,000,000." The global average for underreporting COVID-19 deaths in cities is 30%. The aim of arriving at a truer death count is ultimately linked to improving national and international abilities and responses to fighting the virus. Undercounting can cause a number of problems such as delay in vaccines to priority populations.

SawYouAtSinai is an online dating website for Orthodox Jews. It was one of the first Jewish-focused dating websites.

References

  1. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-08-16. Retrieved 2015-05-11.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. ↑ Salamon, Michael J. (2008). The Shidduch Crisis: Causes and Cures. Urim Publications. ISBN   978-9655240061.
  3. ↑ "Shidduch Crisis - Mikvah.org - Mivtza Taharas Hamishpacha". mikvah.org. Retrieved 2016-07-28.
  4. ↑ "Opinion: There is NO Shidduch Crisis – Mazal Tov!". thelakewoodscoop.com. 24 December 2012. Retrieved 2016-07-28.
  5. ↑ "Yated Newspaper - Understanding The Shidduch Crisis-Answering The Nisayon". Archived from the original on 2015-05-18. Retrieved 2016-07-28.
  6. ↑ "The Matzav Shmoooze: Why Solving the Shidduch Crisis With the Age Gap Misses the Boat". matzav.com. Retrieved 2016-07-28.
  7. ↑ "The Partial View: The Shidduch crisis is not a result of the age gap or numbers". 13 August 2014. Retrieved 2016-07-28.
  8. ↑ "Orthonomics: Guest Post: The Age Gap Theory". 10 May 2010.
  9. ↑ "The Shidduch Project – NASI Project". shidduchproject.com. 16 September 2014. Retrieved 2016-07-28.
  10. ↑ "Life After Stern College: Different approaches to "The Shidduch Crisis": Analyzing the causes and solutions". lifeaftersterncollege.blogspot.ca. 26 May 2010. Retrieved 2016-07-28.
  11. ↑ "YUTorah Online". yutorah.org. Retrieved 2016-07-28.
  12. ↑ "Safety Guidelines for In-person Dating During COVID-19". KolHaCovid. 2020-05-15. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  13. ↑ "How the Pandemic Shaped Jewish Dating". The Commentator. 2020-09-08. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  14. ↑ "Matchmakers in an age of pandemic". www.thejc.com. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  15. ↑ "Opinion | Coronavirus lockdown meant a break from shidduch pressure — until it didn't". The Forward. 8 May 2020. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  16. ↑ Walters, Louisa (15 October 2020). "Tradition! In a time of pandemic, singletons ditch dating apps for matchmakers". jewishnews.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  17. ↑ "Coronavirus Spurs Jewish Dating Revolution". The Media Line. 2020-05-11. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.