In Fiddler on the Roof, parents looking for a husband for their daughter seek out Yente.
In this day and age, singles looking for a partner, tired of Tinder, Hinge and other dating apps, are themselves turning to a professional matchmaker.
And there’s where Calabasas resident Barbara Shapiro can help.
Shapiro is a professional matchmatcher at SawYouAtSinai, a Jewish dating service that combines the personal touch of a matchmaker with unique matching technology.
“I think why this works is that it’s so detailed,” she told Valley News Group. You not only upload a resume, but work with her on a multi-page questionnaire, everything from likes, dislikes, activities, hobbies, height, weight, body type, level of religious observance and more. The questionnaire gathers as much information as a participant can give to give the matchmaker the best chance of finding “the perfect match.”
“Another reason singles like this is there’s no rejection,” said Shapiro. “There’s no swiping left or right. We first send the profile to the applicant. If they like what they see then we send it to the other party.” Each person’s matchmaker sorts through the tens of thousands of singles who are in the system and then sends only the matches that make the most sense. There’s no more wasting time looking through thousands of inappropriate profiles. The matchmaker also gives them the time to consider each one before sending new possible matches.
Shapiro was initially intrigued by the idea because her son was looking for a partner. He’d asked his orthodox rabbi for help, and was told to “pray more.” He was told to go to more shabbats, where there was too much involvement from the mothers of the girls he got set up with!
So being a good Jewish mother, Shapiro trained with SawYouAtSinai and set out to find him a match herself.
“You really get to know your applicants,” she related. “To get the best results you ask all sorts of questions for the profile. What are your similar interests? Are you willing to relocate? It’s a more personal approach to dating.”
And this one was personal. Along with other clients, she set her son up with several different possible matches.
“I spend six to seven hours a day looking at profiles,” Shapiro laughed. “I really try to find the right person for each match – and that takes time.”
Did it work? She set her son up with a woman and they started face timing last June. They had their first date in September and got engaged just last month.
“They were a real success story,” she laughed. “But in reality when you match two people from the site there’s almost always a date, because we work hard at putting them together. After that, marriage is up to them!”
There are different plans at SawYouAtSinai, depending on the number of possible matches you want. The company is global so there are singles from all over the world in the system. The matchmaker only gets paid if they make a match.
Shapiro’s background is actually working with the NBA, NFL and NHL on various sports magazines such as Hoop and Game Day. She was in advertising sales and ad manager for the west coast.
With this new job, she’s again looking for game, set and match! And her son will attest, she works hard to get it right.
Shapiro can be reached by email at bashatova@aol.com.
