Want to secure the Jewish future? Start by helping singles find love - opinion

My dear Jewish community, dear Jewish leaders, and future grandchildren: We dedicate much time to discussing the continuity of our Jewish people. We all care deeply about our future, and it is evident in various aspects. We construct Jewish schools, send our children to summer camps, invest in Israel initiatives, support campus groups, and provide abundant opportunities for young Jews to connect with their heritage.

Furthermore, we raise significant funds to reinforce Jewish identity and ensure the next generation comprehends their origins. It is with this identity that I write this piece today, yet I am disheartened. In 2026, we still neglect a fundamental element that forms the backbone of the Jewish future: marriage. Specifically, aiding Jewish singles to discover a suitable partner for marriage.

We invest years educating our children about Jewish values, traditions, and the significance of establishing a Jewish household. Subsequently, we pray and hope they will mature, encounter an ideal individual, marry, and transmit these values to their offspring. However, we lack a crucial step. Prayer alone is insufficient to facilitate Jewish marriages.

I collaborate with Jewish singles daily. I encounter kind-hearted men and women who genuinely wish to marry. They engage in dates, attend events, seek introductions from friends, and use dating applications they once swore they'd never utilize. Some have been doing this for years, or even decades. Meanwhile, the rest of us are engrossed in building Jewish communities and hoping that somehow, somewhere, all these wonderful individuals will find each other.

Unless it's ourselves, our children, or our closest friends, we don't experience the pain intensely enough. In my opinion, we bear the responsibility to assist singles. The Torah provides us with an excellent example of how. In this week's parsha, Chayei Sarah, Abraham is elderly. Sarah has passed away, and Abraham knows that his son Isaac must marry and perpetuate the family lineage.

He turns to Eliezer, his trusted servant, and instructs him to find a wife for Isaac. He furnishes him with clear guidelines, provides him with resources, and ensures he comprehends the importance of this assignment. Abraham does not merely inform Isaac, "Don't worry, God will provide you with the right person in due time; I'm praying, everything will be fine."

Of course, prayer is necessary, and this world is the realm of action. Abraham assumes responsibility and takes action. He does not await Isaac to become exhausted from dating and desperate before providing assistance. Abraham simply, affectionately, and systematically aids in creating the match. When a Jewish community seeks to open a school, we organize, gather funds, recruit teachers, appoint administrators, and devise a plan.

When we aim to connect young Jews to Israel, we send them there. When we recognize a need in Jewish communal life, we find a way to establish something around it. Yet, when it comes to matchmaking, we are often surprisingly detached, unstructured, and disorganized. Now visualize if we approached helping singles get married with even a fraction of the same dedication and organization we dedicate to our other communal priorities.

We would cease viewing matchmaking as only the domain of professional matchmakers. To begin, you must know single individuals, care for them, and be willing to make a thoughtful introduction once a month. When I say thoughtful, I mean thoughtful. Invite a single person out for coffee to get to know them. Understand the kind of home they aspire to build, the values they live by, and the qualities they appreciate in another person.

Then contemplate who you know. If you cannot think of a match, engage in networking and conversing with friends, family, and coworkers to locate a match. You do not need to know whether someone is their soulmate before suggesting they meet. You simply need to make a smart match proposal. As the director of Jewish Continuity at World Mizrachi, I have the honor of contemplating the Jewish future daily.

The more I contemplate, the more I believe that matchmaking must be integrated into our communal strategy. Here is my challenge. What if every Jewish adult made one thoughtful introduction this month? What if every rabbi delivered one sermon this year and inspired community members to connect with singles and facilitate their matches?

What if every Shabbat host contemplated inviting a few singles who might enjoy meeting each other for a Shabbat meal? What if married couples took a few minutes each week to sit together and consider the single friends they know and suggest a match? What if singles themselves arranged dates for their friends who didn't work out?

When Eliezer journeyed to find a wife for Isaac, he could not have comprehended the profound significance of the marriage he was assisting in arranging. He had a task to complete and took it seriously; generations later, we are still discussing this match. We do not know what will emerge from the introductions we make. Perhaps nothing.

Perhaps a few dates. This Shabbat, when we read parshat Chayei Sarah, I want us to draw inspiration from Abraham and Eliezer. The continuity of our Jewish people matters to us; let us put our money where our mouth is; let us aid Jewish singles in building Jewish homes. You never know how many generations will thank you for it. By making one match, we can strengthen the Jewish future.