I’ve always said that having differences of opinions about topics is good for a relationship. Too many times I have heard that a couple stopped dating “because he/she thought ______. I mean isn’t that the stupidest thing you’ve ever heard.” No. Breaking up with them over that is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard – or one of the top ten. I know someone who told me years ago that she couldn’t go out any more with the “guy” she had been dating because he pronounced the “l” sound in the word “almonds.” Excuse me. What? You stopped dating someone because of how he pronounced a word? And I suppose you pronounce everything perfectly? I still can’t believe that the girl stuck by her reasoning and still does to this day!
It doesn’t take a political science major or someone glued to cable news to figure out that the world we are living in today is much different from the world even three years ago. A person has to watch every syllable that comes out of his/her mouth and they have to be careful that their actions aren’t misinterpreted by a stranger on the street, or that some “Karen” won’t jump out at them from behind an aisle in the supermarket or from a bush in the park telling them that their face mask isn’t up to code or that they don’t think you are six feet apart from them – even though they were the ones who jumped out towards you to verbally ambush you.
Why should the shidduch world be any different? Whatever happens in the secular world makes its way into the frum world, and in this case, the dating world. Please read on.
