Dating and Matchmaking in the First and Second Aliyah Settlements

Authors

  • Reut Green Emunah Academic College Author

Keywords:

The Jewish Yishuv, Moshava, The First Jewish Aliyot to Eretz Israel, Gender Relations during the First Aliyot, Love, Romance, Eroticism

Abstract

This article examines the changes in the way the young generation in the First and Second Aliyah settlements met and wooed their spouses. Many young people in the settlements chose their future partners according to modern criteria, such as love and romance, which reflected the values developing in Eretz Israel and were of great importance to them.

The changes were due to several factors, such as the gender integrated society that the youth grew up in. Boys and girls studied, played, and worked together. Thus the need for a matchmaker was largely superfluous (unlike in their parents’ generation). Modern dating was also influenced by the national mood. An increasing number of young men and women selected their spouses by the standard of their dedication to Zionist ideas and ideals. Emotions, such as love and eroticism, appear explicitly in these relationships.

Published

2015-12-01

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Dating and Matchmaking in the First and Second Aliyah Settlements. (2015). IYUNIM: Multidisciplinary Studies in Israeli and Modern Jewish Society, 25, 179-213. https://iyunim.bgu.ac.il/index.php/iyunim/article/view/299