If you grew up with a Jewish mother, chances are, at some point or another, she wanted to know how your love life was going. And she may have even shared an opinion or two on just what kind of person you should be dating. And when you’ll be getting married. And when you’ll be finally giving her grandchildren.

Today, the world of finding a match has the added bonus (or nightmare, you decide) of online dating. And while many Jews turn to certain websites where they can meet other Jews, online dating is still online dating, and for the most part, it can get ugly out there.

That brings us to TheJMom. TheJMom.com is a new dating website that, like JDate, is geared for Jewish Americans, but unlike any other dating site, it puts the ball in the dater’s mom’s court. That’s right. Moms create profiles for their sons and daughters, and then interact with other mothers who are looking to set up their children. We sat down with Danielle and Brad Weisberg, the brother and sister team who started TheJMom, as well as their mother, Barbara, to talk about why JDate isn’t enough, the potential downfalls of letting your mother choose your profile picture, and the age old question: Do Jewish moms really know best?

What was the initial impetus for starting the site?

Danielle: We launched TheJMom in 2010, but the story begins a year earlier. We both were on JDate and our mother had asked numerous times to look at Brad’s online dating profile and search the site to see if she could find the perfect girl for him. Brad finally gave in and let her go to town, searching the site as she pleased. Read the rest of this entry →

• Posted in Parenting
• Tags: Dating, Jewish interviews, online dating

It’s Dude Week here at Kveller, which gives me the perfect opportunity to ask a question that has been bothering me for years now.

Where are all the single Jewish men?

You may think that Kveller isn’t necessarily the right forum for such a question, seeing as how we tend to be more play-date than J-Date around here. But as long as we’ve got the men’s attention this week, I have to ask, where are all of your single buddies? (Please don’t say Israel–nothing against the homeland, but we were hoping for a distinctly American answer in this case.) Read the rest of this entry →

• Posted in Parenting
• Tags: Dating, dude week, online dating, single friends

All the Jewish parenting news you probably missed this week.

- Something that is either completely brilliant or totally nightmarish has happened to the online dating world: JMom.com. Now meddling mothers can quit asking when their son or daughter will meet a nice Jewish mate and take matters into their own hand.  (Don’t you dare get any ideas, Mom.)

- At first, receiving a vacuum cleaner as a gift from your children might seem somewhat degrading, but once you learn that it is filled with over four pounds of meth and cocaine, you may have other worries beyond shattering those housewifely stereotypes. (Huffington Post)

- We apologize in advance for continuing to talk about this, but the Tiger Mom’s daughter has responded in The Post to her mother’s now infamous article, assuring the world that she loves her Mom despite the name-calling and piano practice she’s endured. To be honest, we’re getting sick of the tigers, bears, and Ayelets. Why do the crazy moms get all the attention? (New York Post)

- Students in a high school in Vestal, NY are facing disciplinary action for participating in a school-wide event called “Kick a Jew Day“. The students got the idea from South Park (big surprise) and spread the word through Facebook (bigger surprise), though a chairman at the local Jewish Federation seems to be okay with the fact that the day resulted in nothing but “casual kicks”. (F0x)

• Posted in Parenting
• Tags: amy chua, online dating, roundup