Sexual Taboos Split Persian Generations

By Karmel Melamed
Published on December 2, 2004

Like many single Jews, Sharona Saghian met her husband on JDate, the Internet dating service aimed at Jewish singles. Although by doing so, the 28-year-old broke her community's old, venerated matchmaking traditions.

Saghian is Persian and in her community most parents prefer to know the background of their child's prospective mate when dating begins.

JDate Parties Offline

By Michael Aushenker
Published on August 24, 2000

Midway through JDate's first annual Tu B'Av get-together, Nurit Ze'evi, product manager of the Internet-based Jewish dating service, halted the music and Israeli folk dancing taking place. With marked enthusiasm, she turned to the audience of 50 and began to expound on the significance of Tu B'Av - an obscure, forgotten love holiday created 4,000 years ago, when women, dressed in white, arrived to choose male suitors. Looking around the room rented from Congregation Mogen David, I gathered that the lecture might have been a waste of breath - judging from the median age of the partiers, they undoubtedly remem-ber the days when the ceremony was new.