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Are Jewish Men Afraid of Dating Older Women?

Afraid enough to warrant a public service announcement

by
Adam Chandler
July 11, 2013
(YouTube)
(YouTube)

It’s been a strange week (news-wise) for Jewish men and their relationships with women. On Monday, Rabbi Andy Bachman chronicled his trip to pray with the Women of the Wall, an event marked by “irrrational invective and hatred” of men who cursed and threw chairs and eggs at worshipers.

Also noteworthy was a video that went viral in which Dustin Hoffman spoke movingly about what he learned while inhabiting the space of a female character in the film Tootsie. Hoffman was nominated for an Academy Award for best actor for the role and the film was named the second funniest film by AFI as well as #68 on Tablet’s list of the 100 Greatest Jewish Films. What he concludes from the experience, however, is perhaps the most compelling thing of all.

This brings us to a video/PSA (h/t Facebook masses) today about the stigma that Jewish men have about being set up with women who are the same age or older in a shidduch. And by older, we’re talking marginally so. As plenty have commented, at first this video seems like a spoof, but it’s actually the work of Kof-K Kosher Supervision/Vaad L’Mishmeres Kashrus, which sponsors the North American Shidduch Initiative.

Adam Chandler was previously a staff writer at Tablet. His work has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic, Slate, Esquire, New York, and elsewhere. He tweets @allmychandler.