Rabbi gives Cupid a nudge with JDate

MARLBORO, N.J. -- Rabbi Donald Weber is far from the first rabbi to call for single Jews in his congregation to marry other Jews.

Such pulpit calls have become commonplace in an age of high Jewish intermarriage rates and fears the Jewish population will fall sharply in coming generations. But the Reform rabbi's recent appeal came with a novel twist.

Six weeks ago, in his Yom Kippur sermon at Temple Rodeph Torah, Weber offered to personally pay for six-month memberships to JDate, the popular Jewish online dating service, for any singles in the congregation who asked.

JDate charges $149 for a six-month membership, and so far, nine people have taken the rabbi up on his offer. He and his wife, Shira Stern, initially pledged $1,000 but just donated a second $1,000 as more people came forward.

"All they have to do is claim it," said Weber, who received a slight group discount from JDate. "We'll do this as long as there's a need, and as long as there's a desire."

The need is there, he said, be cause the American Jewish population has declined in recent decades, with about half of American Jews marrying outside the religion, according to widely reported national surveys. Weber punctuated his sermon by citing a recent study from the Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion indicating that fewer than 10% of grandchildren of intermarried parents identify as Jews.

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JDate, one of several online personals sites run by Spark Networks, claims about 400,000 active members, 74,000 of whom subscribe. It bills itself as the "modern alternative to traditional Jewish matchmaking."

"We need you to look at Jewish people when you're dating," Weber said on Yom Kippur. "There aren't a lot of us around. ... You're going to have to look in specific places. Number one? JDate. No joke. Half the weddings I'm doing now are people that met on JDate."

Weber, rabbi at Rodeph Torah for 24 years, told the single Jews in the pews that the survival of American Judaism in its current form depends on their decisions.