A Bahrain-based Jewish alliance has launched its first dating website aiming to pair up lonely singles in the Gulf.
The platform JSG (gulfjewish.org/jsg), which stands for ‘Jewish Singles in the Gulf’, encourages participants to fill out a questionnaire before a group of matchmakers recommend meetings.
It was launched by the Association of Gulf Jewish Communities (AGJC). More than a dozen young men and women in the Gulf signed up on the website, hours after it was launched yesterday.
They filled up a survey that contained questions related to their personality, hobbies, what they were looking in their potential partners among other points to help in the matchmaking process.
“As our communities throughout the GCC experienced unprecedented growth over the past few years, we have seen more and more singles move here with an interest in establishing more permanent roots in the region,” said AGJC president Ebrahim Nonoo.
“By helping these singles find their spouses in the GCC, they are more likely to get married here and establish their families here, which in turn grows Jewish communal life and the need for more Jewish institutions like schools, kosher food, etc.”
Bahrain was once home to around 2,000 Jewish families, many having migrated here from Iraq and other countries, and now there are about 35 remaining. The UAE has around 1,000 members of the Jewish community.
The GDN reported last month that Bahrain’s Jewish former ambassador to the US, Huda Nonoo’s son married in a strictly kosher wedding that was arranged by the Orthodox Union, the world’s largest kosher certification agency.
The ceremony was held at The Ritz-Carlton, Bahrain and was the first Jewish wedding in the kingdom after the signing of the Abraham Accords between Bahrain and Israel last year.
“The buzz around JSG has reverberated around the world and in the weeks leading up to the launch of the platform, we received interest from dozens of singles in the region,” said AGJC Rabbi Dr Elie Abadie.