Discussing the idea of visiting rabbis and mekubalim as an aid for shidduchim.
Also4: I am not interested in that stuff.
Me: Why? Don’t you want someone to look deep into your eyes and say, “Yep, it’s all your fault. You’re just plain rotten deep down”?
Also4: No, not really. Besides, I don’t need to go to a mekubal for that. I go on dates.
This came up over Shabbos:
You’re on a date and your partner is grilling you aggressively. (“What are you learning? Who do you learn with? How much do you cover?” or “What are you studying? Why? What do you plan to do with it?”) You’re pretty sure it stems from lack of experience and nervousness. You’d like to gently deflect the questions and change the course of the conversation to something lighter and friendlier without offending the other party or making them think you have something to hide.
What do you do?
We often make fun of dumb shidduch questions. Because, let’s face it, they can be strange. What animal would she be? Why did his grandparents move to the USA? Why did she go to that seminary if she’s supposed to be smart? But sometimes the answers you get are even stranger.
Like the mother of a son who was somewhat put out to be told: “She would scrub toilets to support Torah!”
An excellent sentiment, no doubt. The sort of thing aidel bais yaakov maidels are encouraged to anticipate with great joy on a regular basis. But the mother of this son had not graduated bais yaakov recently. Thus, she found the image of her daughter-in-law on her knees enthusiastically scrubbing toilets for a living while her son learned a little off-putting.
While investigating a young woman for Also4, my mother once found herself listening to a description of the perfect family: nine children, the mother a loving housewife, the father in the bais midrash studying. A charming family portrait in muted oil colors. Only one thing was missing.
“Uh, how do they pay their bills?” Mother asked.
“The apartment is paid for,” the neighbor said. “There aren’t many expenses after that.”
“Really,” the Mater said. The conversation was beginning to leave the world she knew, but had not yet dived into the Twilight Zone. “But even so, they must have some sort of income. Nine children?”
“Well, not all of them are still at home,” the neighbor pointed out. “Really, they don’t need much.”
My mother raised a mere five children herself, and never got the impression that we didn’t need much. Especially when we were teenagers and it was supper time. Or lunch time. Or breakfast time. Or snack time. Or any time between.
“Not much, but something!”
“Well, it’s not for you or I to ask,” the neighbor said primly.
Okay, we have arrived. Play the theme music.
“Really,” said the Mater.
“That’s code for ‘he sends naïve yeshiva bochurim to Japan with drugs,’” I suggested. (I was at the kitchen table having a mid-morning, post-snack nibble.)
“They do live in Bnei Brak,” the Mother said thoughtfully.
We tried to put a positive spin to vagrancy. It was difficult. I mean, that was a common conviction of Jazz era gangstas. It bodeth not well.
Of course it is possible that they wear clothing from a gemach, eat out of Yad Eliezer packages, use electricity only for emergencies, and live off their child tax credits. That would be better than trafficking illegal substances – by a photo-finish margin.
So Also4 went out with the Future Convict’s Daughter.
Nothing came of it.
We were all very relieved.
From Also4: “I’m not a nebach case, but people make me into one.”
[Lowers voice] Gosh. Isn’t he around 28 now? Nebach. [/hushed]
In honor of Pesach, there’s this one from last year about why we want people to get married.
Aaah, Pesach. The whole family, packed into a single abode for three days straight, with two meals of enforced interaction per day…
Bad for Shidduchim 