The Netflix series “Jewish Matchmaking” has an episode featuring Orthodox Jews Fay and Shaya that eerily resembles Latter-day Saint dating.

What Jews call “frum,” or level of religiosity, turns out to be the most important and deciding factor in the match between Fay and Shaya, and the same is true of LDS.

For the very Orthodox, religiosity means men praying three times a day with other men, no touching while dating, commitment to regular Torah study, and the like. Shaya falls short of Fay’s high standard, and that scuttles a perfectly good match.

LDS have orthodox requirements relating to prayer, chastity, missionary work for men, marriage in the temple rather than under the “chuppah,” and regular study of the Book of Mormon.

LDS prioritization of orthodox requirements often leads to a series of failed marriages taking members into their 50s and 60s still looking for happiness, because they have overlooked things like character, social skills, and addictive behavior.

It is worth noting that Jesus, who was both Jewish and Christian, saw the bureaucratic religious “box-checking” of the Pharisees as a great impediment to a happy, productive, and truly spiritual life.

Kimball Shinkoskey

Woods Cross

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