Group therapy in a blog.
Hareidi Singles Strategy: Marry By 20, Or You’re Out!
Today, the Telegraph blog over at the JTA shared a story from the Hareidi (Ultra-Orthodox) world (via YnetNews): that older bachelors who were not married (and who were not yeshiva students) be punished: with banishment from the city of Jerusalem. This class of toxic older bachelors, shirking their responsibilities to be fruitful and multiply consists of those over the wizened age of 20.
The ruling was issued by Rabbi Yaakov Yosef, head of the Hazon Yaakov yeshiva and son of Shas’ spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, who noted that:
[…] in the past it was customary to banish “older” single men from the capital as punishment for their refusal to marry and provide for a family.
In recent generations, Sephardi rabbis decided to annul this regulation, but according to Rabbi Yosef it should be reinstated. “Only a yeshiva student who studies Torah has an exceptional permission to postpone marriage, if he fears that marriage might distract him from his studies. But normally one must not delay marriage till after 20, and those who do had better leave Jerusalem and go study somewhere else,” he wrote.
Banishment. Somewhere, Jewish demographers and those who are obsessed with the singles crisis are saying, “Wow. We totally should have thought of that.”
As a Jewish single that is familiar with the Manhattan Jewish singles scene, it is fair to say that Jewish singles are very aggressive when it comes to dating, marriage and finding the right person.
Regardless of religious observance level, most Jewish singles find themselves under pressure, either by themselves or by others, to get married at some point in the lives.
Technology is stepping in for Jewish singles that are marriage minded and serious about finding the 1. There is a new site called http://www.ShowMeThe1.com that is on the cutting edge when it comes to serious Jewish dating. They use Compatibility Testing to help marriage minded singles “find the 1″.
I guess there’s still hope for those of us over 20!
it is kind of hard to believe that anyone would think that getting married before the age of 20 is going to lead to wedded bliss forever more. most people haven’t figured out by that age what they really want to do with their lives. i’d be shocked if they were able to figure out what they want/need from a partner by that age. – Stephen
surely we can find another way! maybe it could be more like unemployment? you have to prove every month that you’ve at least interviewed somewhere…