An Open Letter to The Baltimore Community from The Shidduch Center of Baltimore
Dearest Valued Community Members,
This open letter to my beloved community is meant to serve as both a re-introduction and an introduction: a re-introduction of our organization and an introduction of myself, Shlomo Goldberger, in my new role within our organization.
Many of you may know us by our past names, Kol Simcha or The Baltimore Shadchan, and maybe you have wondered what we have been up to as of late? Over the past number of months we have taken time to step back, re-organize, and restructure, under our new name, The Shidduch Center of Baltimore. Our goal is to develop into a stronger organization, with the mission of working towards facilitating and creating dating opportunities for our local singles, and it is with joy that I have accepted the privilege and responsibility of being its Director.
In the years since the organization was initially founded, together with many devoted community volunteers, we have helped facilitate over 1,000 dates for Baltimore singles, and boruch Hashem more than 40 engagements have resulted from those dates. It’s a great start, but it’s not enough. As with so many other communities across the world, there are still hundreds of singles here in our community who have not yet found their match. There are singles that have been in the dating world for two years who have not received a single phone call for a date. We also have many singles who have been dating for far longer than that, who are living each day with the pain of not yet finding their match.
For a community to see this and not take action is simply unacceptable. Isn’t it our achrayus as a community to do everything we can to give our Baltimore singles the greatest possible opportunity to find their bashert? Without question, zivugim are b’yad Hashem, but the responsibility of hishtadlus lies in all of our hands.
Under the leadership of our newly expanded and experienced board, we are working hard to offer a multitude of programs and ideas to our community to accomplish these goals. Some of these programs are already in place and we are doing our best to maximize their potential, while new programs and ideas are being conceived and implemented with each passing day.
Sounds great, but where does that leave us now? What are we actually doing to help our singles? To begin to answer that, I would like to take this opportunity to share with you some of what we have done lately, and where we are headed for the future.
With the help of a number of tireless volunteers, we have had the zechus in the past few weeks alone, to participate in, help to organize, and prepare, a number of wonderful programs and events.
- On Wednesday, November 11, we arranged for four Baltimore shadchanim to attend an event in Lakewood to meet boys. Each shadchan was able to sit down with 15-25 boys, and we have already had a date for one of our girls thanks to this effort. The event was beautifully run, and 75+ boys of all different ages sat down to meet with shaddchanim.
- On Sunday, November 15, ten girls were brought to Passaic to meet with shadchanim. The feedback we got from the girls about one of the shadchanim was some of the best feedback we have ever received. The girls felt that they were given the time and opportunity to express themselves, that they were understood and appreciated on a personal level, and most importantly, that they were treated with the respect they so deserve.
- We are excited to announce our upcoming educational event, scheduled for Wednesday evening, December 16; titled, “Successful Dating: A Parents Role In Helping Their Child Date Well.” The event is geared towards all parents, whether their children are entering, or already in, the shidduch parsha. It will be an interactive class and discussion with Rabbi Menachem Goldberger and Rebbitzen Dr. Aviva Weisbord, with the goal of helping parents to nurture and strengthen their ability to truly and deeply communicate with their children about dating, and to help them date more successfully.
- We are also in the process of developing a few local shadchanim, along with one out of town shadchan, who will devote a significant amount of their time specifically to redt shidduchim for Baltimore singles.
Over the past number of weeks I have had the opportunity to speak with many of our local Rabbanim, shadchanim and community leaders, and I can confidently say that there is a true appreciation from them all about the importance of our accomplishing our goals, and doing so with dignity. There are so many who are willing and wanting to help, and I feel that it is upon us all to galvanize as a community and work as one, b’achdus gamur, to assist our Baltimore singles in any way that we can. No one can do this alone, and no one should have to.
We hope to continue moving forward with more events, more classes and more ideas, for all involved in the shidduch process. Please feel free to contact me if there is anything you think we can implement or if there is something you feel I can be of assistance with. It is my tefilah that through our collective efforts we should see, b’ezras Hashem, all of our Baltimore singles finding themselves building beautiful batim ne’emanim b’yisroel.
B’kavod rav ub’virchas kol tuv,
Shlomo Goldberger
Director, The Shidduch Center of Baltimore
Phone – 443.955.9887 | Email – shlomo@shidduchcenter.org
