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About JewishConnection
Jewish Connection is an independent company truly dedicated to the ideal of sound business practice and encouraging positive values in today's world. JewishConnection is wholly owned by Simpatico Networks Inc, the company that created the largest network of multi-faith spiritual content on the web, Faith.com. Simpatico Networks Inc. is the owner as well, of JewishConnection's sister site: Jewish Gateway.
On our sister site, Jewish Gateway, you can find breaking Jewish news, information on Jewish holidays and rituals, Jewish sacred texts, thousands of links to Jewish Resources, carefully selected Jewish articles, audio clips and video clips as well as a directory of Jewish Temples. There are resource centers for Reform, Conservative and Orthodox Jews, and Daily Polls on Jewish issues. The editors of Jewish Gateway and of this site, Jewish Connect, are Harvard- and Oxford-trained specialists in religion who have worked for many years to bring only the most captivating and relevant Jewish material to these carefully curated websites.
We care. Take a look at our sister networks, Faith.com and Jewish Gateway and you'll find superior content—and lots to keep you interested... .and a taste of what's coming soon for Jewish Connection.
The Basics: What is Jewish Connection? Who's Online?
Jewish Connection is the first online resource for the Jewish community that provides a truly trustworthy network for meeting friends, finding romantic partners, and making business contacts. This is not a community of strangers. It's a place where you can refer your friends, make new contacts, and meet new people through friends you already have. It's the closest thing to a live network of friends and acquaintances that you can have online. Best of all, it's a place where you can meet people who share your deepest interests and values. Tired of online dating services? Already committed, but looking for new friends?... You've come to the right place.
Find a jogging partner... meet your new best friend... find your mate... host an event... get a new job... buy a used car from someone you trust... join a book club... .
Anyone from any background can join. You don't have to be super-religious at all. There are people from all over the world on Jewish Connection.
What's Judaism got to do with it?
Unlike many other religions, Judaism doesn't put much emphasis on fulfillment and satisfaction in another world or another life. Some Jews believe in an afterlife, some don't. Most Jewish teachings focus on experiencing life in this world, as we know it now, to its richest and fullest extent. Jewish Connection is a tool to make your life today more interesting and easier to navigate.
As we all know, good relationships are primary to our well being today... . If you look at Jewish teachings, new and traditional, you'll find that a tremendous portion of them are focused on living happily with others... with our mate, our friends and neighbors and co-workers.
One concept that we've been hearing a lot about in the media these days is the notion of finding one's "soul mate". Basically, it's the idea that for every person in the world, there's someone that's just right — someone who matches us perfectly, with our hopes and dreams, our strengths and weaknesses... someone whose soul somehow recognizes our soul.
This idea of soul mates is actually very ancient in Judaism. The Torah says, "God created man in his own image, after his own image and likeness created he him, male and female created he them" (Gen. 1:27). One midrash (ancient commentary) on this verse says that God created the first human being as male and female, back to back, and only separated them later. As the contemporary Jewish scholar Daniel C. Matt observes, according to this teaching "the original human was an androgynous being." Traditionally, then, your soul mate is literally your other half. But for us today, what does the notion of a soul mate mean? Many of us fervently wish that exactly the right person will come to us. Others aren't so sure it could ever happen. Some see it as an idle fantasy. Still others say there are many suitable partners for each of us. But the idea of soul mates can be understood in another way as well. While many of us desire to find the perfect life partner, we all have a number of different relationships in our lives — friends, relatives, business contacts, even mere acquaintances. Viewed in another light, all of these people can be seen as soul mates. They're in our lives for a particular reason and a particular purpose — even if it's not clear what it is. Sometimes contact is brief and casual. At other times, someone enters our life who will be close to us for a lifetime. Whether or not our relationship with someone has its basis in friendship, romance, or business, in Judaism, it is to be considered precious — and we may have a crucial life task to accomplish together or some profound lessons to learn from each other.
As the great Jewish philosopher Abraham Joshua Heschel said, a person's greatest need is to become a need. In this sense, we have not one soul mate, but many — all with different roles and purposes in our lives, just as we have our own unique role in theirs. If we look at our relationships in this light, we can let go of some of the anxiety about finding the "right person." There are many people that fit uniquely and perfectly into one's life... and many of them are right here on Jewish Connection.
Join Us!
On Jewish Connection, we hope we'll be able to help you meet up with people who are perfect for your life right now. You may come here seeking a romantic partner, good companions, or business contacts. Or maybe you'd like to find an interesting book club or movie club. No matter what your purpose, we hope our network will help you deepen and extend the connection with others that makes human life truly rich and rewarding.
Welcome!
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