I SINGLE LIFE I JEWISH SINGLES LO - LA is the only exclusively Jewish Dating Service in Michigan. We have met thousands of singles in our four years of existence. Call us for a FREE interview. Mating Game: Family, Friends Best Sources SYLVIA BARACK FISHMAN Special To The Jewish News B efore God brought Eve down to Adam, says the Midrash, He braided her hair so that she would appear more attractive to her soon-to-be surprised fiance. Nor did the Divine in- terest in matchmaking cease with His first effort: a Roman matron once asked Rabbi Gamaliel how God spends His time since He• created the world. Rabbi Gamaliel told the woman that God is oc- cupied arranging matches. When the skeptical matron was urged to try her hand at matchmaking, she soon learn- ed that success does not come easily, and she handed the task back to the Almighty. Despite divine interven- tion, many American Jews in the 1980s remain single for significant portions of their adult lives. In 1970, almost all Jews were married by their mid-to- late 30s, but today, in many cities, large numbers of Jews, like their non-Jewish peers, remain single into their 40s. More than one-third of Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Jews in their 30s, for ex- ample, have never been married. Furthermore, increasing numbers of Jews in America are single, at least temporari- ly, because of divorce. The Jewish divorce rate, while lower than the divorce rate in the general population, has increased steadily over the past 20 years. When the number of Jews who have been divorced and have remarried is combined with the number of Jews cur- rently divorced, we see that about one-quarter of Jews in many cities cope with the pro- blems of divorce — including single status — at some point in their adult lives. With numerous Jews un- married, interest in potential marriage partners is lively. Personals columns with en- tries seeking "SJMs" and SJFs" cover pages in Jewish periodicals throughout the country. Jewish dating ser- vices, both commercial and not-for-profit, have proliferated. Dr. Sylvia B. Fishman is a research associate with the Center for Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis University. Reprinted by permission of the Greater Phoenix Jewish News. However, until recently, research analyzing the actual dynamics of marriage- making in Jewish America has been meager. We have had little more than anec- dotal evidence on crucial questions such as: • Where do Jews today ac- tually meet their mates? • Are initial encounters likely to take place in settings substantially different than their parents' first meetings? • Do intermarried couples find each other in the same places which in.married couples do? • Are there differences bet- ween Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform meetings, and between the meetings of couples on different economic levels? A 1986 study of Jews in New Jersey, gives surprising new data on the Jewish con- nection. With the media im- age of sophisticated singles before our eyes, we might assume that the majority of married couples under age 45 met "American style," on the college campus, at the office, or in some other public set- ting. Indeed, couples in the age 35 to 44 group are twice as likely to have met their spouses at school or at work than couples in the group over age 55. However, despite the bad press which the notorious "fix - up" receives in each genera- tion, more Jewish couples in every age group still report meeting each other through friends or family than through any other single means. More than one-third of couples ages 35 to 44 met each other through family and friends, while about one- fifth met at work or at school. Interestingly, although one might imagine that Orthodox couples are far more likely to meet through friends than Conservative, Reform, or "Just Jewish" respondents, there are no enormous dif- ferences between denomina- tional groups: about one-third of each had met through friends. Orthodox couples are, however, far less likely to have met in a public place such as a restaurant; Conser- vative couples are twice as likely, and Reform couple three times as likely to have met in a public place. Jewish couples with household incomes about $40,000 a year are twice as likely to have met each other at school than those with household incomes under Together, there's so much good we can do. 356-0949 Claire Arm Millie Rosenbaum P.O. 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