Make five introductions this year

This time of year naturally turns our attention to the state of the world: the upheavals and historic events of the past year in Israel; America; here in South Africa; and across the globe. And in a way, that’s what Rosh Hashanah is about.

Open the machzor, and you’ll see how our sages and prophets gave voice to our prayers for a better world, a world that acknowledges Hashem and the divine moral vision of the Torah. At the heart of Rosh Hashanah is this idea: Hashem as King of humanity.

Yet alongside these global, universal themes lies something profoundly personal. Rosh Hashanah is the time when each of us, individually, stands before our Creator to reassess: who am I? Where am I going? How am I living up to my divine mission? This personal accounting begins now, and runs through Yom Kippur.

This year, I would like to suggest something we can all work on together. It’s deeply personal, yet if embraced by the community, will have a major impact on our collective future. I’m speaking about the launch of The Matchmakers Network, an initiative I believe we can all rally around.

I launched The Matchmakers Network this week with headline events in Johannesburg and Cape Town. And the idea is really quite simple: a network of volunteer matchmakers, committed to making introductions that could lead to more Jewish marriages, more Jewish homes, and, with Hashem’s blessing, more Jewish children.

The Matchmakers Network, I believe, represents a new way forward, rebranding matchmaking for our modern age, taking the age-old mitzvah of shidduchim and opening it up to the entire community.

I have been working on this initiative for some time, and invited Aleeza Ben Shalom, the internationally renowned matchmaker and star of Netflix’s Jewish Matchmaking, to help us get started. She told me that this is the first time such a project was being attempted on a community-wide, national scale.

And yet, its beauty lies in its simplicity. We all know people – friends, colleagues, relatives. All it takes is a mindset shift, to look for opportunities to make introductions. You don’t need to be an expert or a professional matchmaker, you just need willingness to make that introduction. That one small step can spark an entire family’s story. A single introduction can blossom into a marriage, a home, a new generation.

This work begins small, with the people we know best and care about most. But its ripple effects are vast, building the future of the South African Jewish community. Because our future will be determined not by politics, but by the strength of Jewish homes.

Here’s something we can all do this Rosh Hashanah alongside our own inner work of teshuvah: help build the future of our community. Making a match is not only life-changing for those we introduce, it’s also personally transformational. It’s a mitzvah whose blessing and merit echo for generations. Few acts of kindness have such multigenerational impact.

And there’s another benefit: it transforms us from inward-looking individuals into outward-looking builders of community and destiny. Our sages teach that this is a great merit on Rosh Hashanah, when Hashem judges us not only as individuals, but as part of the Jewish people. To live not only for ourselves, but for am Yisrael (the Jewish people) is a tremendous blessing.

So here’s my suggestion: let each of us join The Matchmakers Network this year. You can email me to sign up. And more than that, let each of us commit to making five introductions between now and next Rosh Hashanah. Imagine the impact, how different our community would look.

And when better to start than now – at the Rosh Hashanah table, surrounded by family and friends? Together, we can create a true community-wide movement of matchmakers, a wave of Jewish marriages, and a flourishing future for South African Jewry.

In that merit, may Hashem bless our community and each of us with a good and sweet new year.