Make Me a Match

After God formed Adam from the dust he said, "It is not good that man should be alone." He then took one of Adam's ribs and created Eve, and gave her to Adam as his wife. And that's how, according to the introduction of Allen Mondell and Cynthia Salzman Mondell's Make Me a Match, God became the first matchmaker. Fast forwarding several thousand years, the documentary examines how traditional Jewish matchmaking has evolved to help contemporary Jews find their "bashert" (destined one). Historically, marriages were arranged by a shadchan (a professional matchmaker) or by the head of the house, a religiously insular practice that assured the survival of Jewish culture. Nowadays, however, Jews are marrying non-Jews; a phenomenon referred to by some as "the silent holocaust" (in the U.S., it is estimated that half of all Jewish singles marry non-Jews). Make Me a Match takes a look at some of the modern ways singles are meeting each other--from weekend singles conventions, to surfing the Internet for dating sites, to good old-fashioned meetings with matchmakers--and struggling to maintain Jewish identity in a global society. A thoroughly entertaining and informative documentary, this is highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (J. Asala)