Jewish Matchmaking: Who Is Aleeza Ben Shalom?

Aleeza Ben Shalom, an Orthodox Jewish dating coach with a decade of experience, is set to star in the Netflix series Jewish Matchmaking, which is set to start streaming on May 3. The show is a spinoff of the wildly successful Indian Matchmaking series and will feature people from a variety of Jewish backgrounds in both the United States and Israel.

Who is Aleeza Ben Shalom?

As an experienced dating coach, Ben Shalom has successfully paired up 200 Jewish couples. Her aim is to help people find their perfect match, which she believes is the hardest thing to do in the world. “Finding your person is the hardest thing to do in the entire world,” she says in the show’s trailer. “And that’s where I come in.”

Although Netflix has kept most details about the show under wraps until closer to the launch date, the trailer shows one man who is part of the process, and several women, including comedian and disability activist Pamela Rae Schuller and Miami-based marketing executive Dani Bergman.

Ben Shalom works exclusively with Jewish singles, and the show will feature a diverse set of couplings, from Orthodox singles who observe the rules of negiah (the prohibition on touching before marriage) to Reform and secular U.S. Jews. These data show that they are statistically likely to marry people who are not Jewish.

“In today’s world of modern love, we are used to turning to technology to find love,” Ben Shalom told E! News. “We download apps and we upload profiles. We swipe left or swipe right. And yet, somehow finding ‘the one’ has never been harder.”

The eight-episode series will be modeled on Indian Matchmaking, which is now entering its third season. While the show has been popular with audiences, it has also drawn criticism for reinforcing religious and caste segregation. No couples from its first season remain together.

Ben Shalom, who grew up secular and later became more traditionally observant, is based in Israel. She moved there two years ago from the Philadelphia area. She also launched a podcast called The Yentas with two other Jewish matchmakers affiliated with Tribe12, a Philadelphia organization serving Jewish young adults that includes a matchmaking service.

“We know it can carry a negative gossipy connotation,” they say in the first episode about the name of their show. “Maybe you saw ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ where the word is associated with being a busybody, somebody who wants to make matches but doesn’t have your best interest at heart. We are not that. We are love professionals.”

She will be starring in the Netflix series “Jewish Matchmaking,” which is set to start streaming on May 3. Her aim is to help people find their perfect match, and the show will feature a diverse set of couplings from various Jewish backgrounds.