(Courtesy of www.JWed.com) JWed.com (formerly Frumster.com) recently passed the celebratory milestone of 3,500 members married.
Despite the months of COVID-19, membership has actually grown. As co-founder and chief marketing officer Derek Saker said, “In distressing times like the current world situation, the challenges of being alone are compounded for many, and really only further motivates those who are marriage-minded to find their soulmate.”
Nevertheless, JWed is mitigating the toll the virus may have on the dating lives of Jewish singles. Ben Rabizadeh, co-founder and CEO, said: “With video chat and a date scheduler, JWed has created a dating experience that mirrors the authenticity of a night out in Central Park—daters still dress up, have stimulating conversations and engage in the same witty banter that they’d expect on an in-person date. The only difference is the screen between them.”
Saker is the first to stress that JWed certainly does not see itself as the panacea for the challenges in Jewish dating. He emphasized that JWed always encourages singles to utilize many different forums in meeting others.
That said, he points to the empowering success of JWed.com, which enables all Jewish singles—whether observant or those halachically Jewish and less-affiliated—to take charge and conduct their own searches within the largest network of authentic and sincere marriage-minded Jewish singles.
He believes the success is nowhere more expressed than in the statistic that 65% of all JWed marriages are “woman-initiated,” where the first contact was made by a female member reaching out to a male member.
Saker said that in the traditional Jewish dating world, and certainly the frum world, very often it is the women who must play second-fiddle and wait by the phone, as it were—and taking the initiative may even be frowned upon.
“With JWed,” he said, “members know who they are, and know what they are looking for—and have little to no inhibitions in taking the driving seat.”
With JWed averaging eight marriages a month, it seems that, with Hashem’s help, many are finding their bashert at the right place.
