{"id":34564,"date":"2020-04-03T03:47:32","date_gmt":"2020-04-03T10:47:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=34564"},"modified":"2020-04-01T16:32:33","modified_gmt":"2020-04-01T23:32:33","slug":"modern-matchmakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2020\/04\/03\/modern-matchmakers\/","title":{"rendered":"Modern matchmakers"},"content":{"rendered":"

YVR Yenta is the brainchild of Madison Slobin, left, Ben Eizenberg and Ariel Martz-Oberlander. Adapting to the realities of dating during the coronavirus crisis, they have introduced the online meetup Love in the Time of Covid: Virtual Single Mingle. This photo was taken before physical distancing was required. (photo by Madison Slobin)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Three young Jewish Vancouverites have set up a collective to help their friends \u2013 and their friends\u2019 friends \u2013 find a romantic match \u201cusing old traditions to find modern love.\u201d<\/p>\n

YVR Yenta is the brainchild of Madison Slobin, Ben Eizenberg and Ariel Martz-Oberlander. The three believe that their old country methods, with the application of 21st-century technology, can procure a better match than any computer algorithm. Describing meaningful connections as \u201cthe antidote to capitalist alienation,\u201d the matchmakers see a need to fill in a city where \u201cfinding the perfect view is easy, but finding someone to share it with can be challenging,\u201d according to their introductory material.<\/p>\n

The matchmaking collective was just getting up and running when the coronavirus crisis hit, but that hasn\u2019t set them back. They resorted to technology to organize Love in the Time of Covid: Virtual Single Mingle, where anyone is welcome to join an online group chat, then tell the yentas of anyone they might like to be introduced to for virtual (and, perhaps later, in-person) meetups.<\/p>\n

The idea of incorporating old world matchmaking practices with 21st-century singles is a growing trend.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would love to claim it as an original idea but, honestly, I spent the last three-and-a-half years on the East Coast, living in New York City, so I have been quite connected to young Jewish community there,\u201d said Slobin. \u201cIt was something that I kind of knew was happening in different places on the East Coast. I heard that there was one happening in Minneapolis and it seemed to me like a new trend that was popping up, which is young, secular matchmaker collectives.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an age when Jdate and other online dating apps are a swipe away, why the need for the personal intervention?<\/p>\n

For a certain segment of young people, Slobin said, Jdate isn\u2019t cool. The other reality is that apps tend to be based on looks or instant attraction.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think a lot of people go on dates based on that and then don\u2019t find success because they may not share anything other than that mutual attraction and so this is an opportunity to go a little bit deeper,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

YVR Yenta invites clients \u2013 it\u2019s all free and there\u2019s no profit motive \u2013 to complete a comprehensive questionnaire<\/a> about their religious affiliation and how important that is, whether they want a match of their own religious tradition, their political views, preferences, interests and a host of other attributes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe accept anyone into our dating pool who belongs to any religion, any race, any sexuality, any gender,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

As clientele numbers increase, the yentas write to potential matches, \u201cso will the quality of our matchmaking, seeing as we will have more match options to choose from! Please help us spread the word to your friends and family, either through word of mouth (as was done in the old country) or by sharing our Instagram page (as is done in the 21st century).\u201d They are on Instagram at yvr.yenta.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is something that I would want for myself,\u201d Slobin added. \u201cI think it\u2019s a very cool idea and I wanted to make it happen for all the people around me because I feel like I know so many amazing people who are looking for partners. So we decided to volunteer our time to make it happen. Really, it\u2019s quite fun, so it doesn\u2019t feel like work.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

YVR Yenta is the brainchild of Madison Slobin, left, Ben Eizenberg and Ariel Martz-Oberlander. Adapting to the realities of dating during the coronavirus crisis, they have introduced the online meetup Love in the Time of Covid: Virtual Single Mingle. This photo was taken before physical distancing was required. (photo by Madison Slobin) Three young Jewish […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34565,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[7505,9808,1594,9807,6690,1742,9806],"class_list":["post-34564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","tag-ariel-martz-oberlander","tag-ben-eizenberg","tag-dating","tag-madison-slobin","tag-matchmaking","tag-vancouver","tag-yentas"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34564\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}