Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Jewish Matchmaking’ On Netflix, Where Aleeza Ben Shalom Brings Jews Together In The U.S. And Israel

Like its predecessor Indian Matchmaking, Jewish Matchmaking shows the efforts of a professional matchmaker to find soulmates for the single clients who have hired her. Of course, the traditions and wishlists that that Aleeza Ben Shalom, the Philly-born, Israeli-based matchmaker at the center of this series, has to deal with are completely different.

JEWISH MATCHMAKING: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: We see scenes from an Orthodox Jewish wedding. Matchmaker Aleeza Ben Shalom says, “In Judaism, the concept of a soulmate is difficult to explain.” She goes on to say that in Judaism, “soulmate” doesn’t mean there’s only one person for any other person, but as we her at the wedding celebrating, she defines “soulmate” as the person you are marrying under the chuppah at that moment, and start to build a life with.

The Gist: In the series, Aleeza makes matches in Miami, Los Angeles, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. She even travels to Jackson Hole, Wyoming to match someone.

In the first episode, we go to Miami to meet Dani, an outgoing sort who has an Instagram account to show what she claims are her perfect eyebrows. Even though Aleeza is Orthodox, she feels that everyone’s relationship to Judaism is a personal choice, so if someone isn’t overly observant, or doesn’t keep Kosher, or just goes to synagogue on the High Holidays, that’s fine. Dani goes to her family home to observe Shabbat, and is a High Holiday temple-goer. Mainly, she wants to be treated like a queen by a man with eyebrows that rival hers.

We also meet Ori, who moved with his family to L.A. from Israel when he was 10. He’s more of a secular Jew, but he definitely wants Aleeza to match him up with someone from Israel who speaks Hebrew. Oh, and also she needs to be blonde and blue-eyed.

Harmonie is an Angelino who isn’t shy about saying she’s 44, but “sparkles” so much that she still keeps unicorn figurines and stuffies in her bedroom. Family is very important to her, especially now that her grandmother and her father, who was Orthodox but raised her to have whatever relationship to Judaism she wants, are both ailing. She knows that she may have waited too long to have kids, but she definitely wants to have at least one child someday. And she’s gotten more into celebrating Shabbat weekly. But one other thing on her wishlist is that whoever she’s matched up with has to spark her passion. No fire “down there,” no match.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Like we said, Jewish Matchmaking is a cousin show to Indian Matchmaking, so the structures are similar.

Our Take: Like Indian Matchmaking, Jewish Matchmaking had a real opportunity to examine marriage in the Jewish community, especially in some of the more Orthodox sects. It could have shown us people who are under extreme pressure from their family members to get married and procreate, who are chafing at the restrictions they’re under because of the traditions of their families and communities.

We don’t really get that. Sure, the singles that Aleeza tries to match want their matches’ relationship with Judaism to at least come close to theirs. But because Aleeza does such a good job of matching based on that, there isn’t a ton of questions when it comes to religious or spiritual compatibility. In the end, it still comes down to attraction and chemistry, and small things like Dani noticing that her date didn’t pour or offer her a drink when he poured his still dominate.

To her credit, Aleeza isn’t trying to push her methods onto her clients. She wants them to trust them, but she’s not barking orders at them like Millionaire Matchmaker Patti Stanger used to. She doesn’t care if you’re agnostic, even though she and her family are Orthodox. She takes a faith-based view of marriage and matching, but isn’t about to push faith on anyone.

In fact, she secularizes some of her tenets, like “Date ‘Em ‘Till You Hate ‘Em,” meaning that if the match isn’t a definitive “No” after the first date, second date or even tenth date, you keep dating them. It’s not as much leading the person on, but it’s more of a thought that if you find the person interesting and there’s some sort of connection, you never know when attraction might grow.

Aleeza does give some guidelines to her daters, like when she tells Harmonie to not touch her match through the first five dates or dwell on past relationships, but even if they break the rules (Harmonie breaks them all), Aleeza isn’t going to ream them out. She’s even very patient with someone like Ori, whose laundry list of requirements makes him look like a person who isn’t as open to a real relationship as he may think he is.

Sex and Skin: None. Not that kind of show.

Parting Shot: We see Dani on her first date with David, and then we see Ori about to meet the woman Aleeza set him up with.

Sleeper Star: In the second episode, we get a glimpse of Aleeza’s home life, and her husband Gerson is as warm and funny as she is. And he has no problem wearing Hawaiian shirts and shorts when he blows his shofar.

Most Pilot-y Line: Not a line per se, but we always find it hilarious when people say they keep kosher “at home.” In other words, if they’re out and a cheeseburger or plate of shrimp is put in front of them, all bets are off.

Our Call: STREAM IT. As a dating show, Jewish Matchmaking is very watchable, especially because Aleeza is funny and warm and because most of her clients are really keeping an open mind. But it’s not really going to give non-Jewish viewers any real insight into the traditions and mores surrounding marriage in the various sects of the community.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.