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62 | JULY 27 • 2023 

Monday, July 31

• 5 p.m. VIP Wisdom Café 
Donor Reception and Meet 
and Greet with Aleeza Ben 
Shalom — $180 per person

• 6:30 p.m. Main Event 
“Behind the Scenes of 
Jewish Matchmaking” with 
Aleeza Ben Shalom, fol-
lowed by a book signing 
and dessert. $50 per per-
son; www.aishdetroit.com/
aish/meaningful-date-night-
with-aleeza-ben-shalom

• Main Event and 
SpeedDating. $100 per per-
son; www.aishdetroit.com/
aish/speeddating-with-alee-
za-ben-shalom

• 8:45 p.m. SpeedDating 
Only and Dessert Afterglow 
(three groups: 22-34, 
34-50, 45-70) $50 per 
person; www.aishdetroit.
com/aish/speeddat-
ing-with-aleeza-ben-shalom 
and www.jotform.com/
form/231567453288162

For more information, go to 
www.aishdetroit.com.

show, got engaged — but not to Fay. Though 
they had great chemistry and were viewer 
favorites, Fay broke off the relationship due 
to religious incompatibility. 
“Judaism is nuanced, and everyone has 
their hard line of what will or won’t work, 
and what direction they’re looking to go to 
in the long term. Some have more flexibility; 
some are out of the box. It takes dating and 
a community. People who have a constant 
curiosity about their partner help to grow a 
beautiful relationship,
” Ben Shalom said.
“
After filming ended, Shaya said to me, 
‘I’ve met someone who I’
d like to seriously 
date,
’ and I coached him. A matchmaker 
isn’t just an introducer. A matchmaker is a 
mentor who helps to close a match and get 
engaged or support a breakup.
”
 
EXECUTIVE MATCHMAKING
Since Jewish Matchmaking aired on May 3, 
Ben Shalom has received thousands of appli-
cations for matchmaking and relationship 

coaching. To help her with the initial inter-
views, along with executive matchmaking, 
Ben Shalom works with lead matchmaker 
Shana Tibi. Tibi, whose maiden name is 
Subelsky, was born and raised in West 
Bloomfield and will be at the July 31 event 
at Aish.
Active in BBYO and at Camp Tamarack 
growing up, Tibi was an undergrad at 
Prescott College in Arizona and earned 
her master’s of social work (MSW) from 
California State University-Easy Bay. In 2018, 
Tibi went on to earn her professional match-
maker certification from the Global Love 
Institute and started her own matchmaking 
and dating and relationship coaching busi-
ness, Curated Connections.
But when it came to meeting her future 
Israeli husband, Rotem, you might just say 
that he unlocked the key to her heart. As 
a social worker in Oakland, California, in 
2008, the then-Subelsky locked her keys in 
the car while on a client home visit.

“In those days, I had a flip phone and I 
had to call 411 directory assistance to con-
nect me with any locksmith I could find,
” 
says Tibi. “The locksmith shows up and my 
client tells him that ‘this lady is Jewish, and 
you have to go out on a date with her.
’” 
Well, it was bashert for Tibi. After eight 
months of dating, Rotem took Shana to 
Israel to meet his family.
“He proposed on the plane home to 
California,
” said Tibi.
In 2010, Tibi made aliyah to Israel, where 
she and Rotem were married. They live in 
Kfar Vradim, about two hours from Tel Aviv 
and about an hour and 20 minutes from Ben 
Shalom. The Tibis have twin 10-year-old 
girls and a son whose bar mitzvah will be 
held next year in Israel.
“
Aleeza [Ben Shalom] and I knew each 
other peripherally in the world of date rela-
tionship coaching and Jewish matchmaking 
and social media. I knew she had moved to 
Israel. Literally, we met and it was like an 

JAMIE GORDON PHOTOGRAPHY

More than 350 people 
attended the Jewish 
Matchmaking Netflix Launch 
party in Jerusalem on May 3 
including stars, from far right, 
Cindy Seni and Noah Del 
Monte.

