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My daughter is the avid fan in our family of http://www.OnlySimchas.com. OnlySimchas enables my daughter
to instantaneously celebrate with our old community in Canada as OnlySimchas provides
a visual feast of all the latest simchas. That is precisely the objective of OnlySimchas
as written in the OnlySimchas’ mission statement, “to spread joy by listing weddings,
engagement, births and announcements of other happy times so that they can be shared
with others around the world.” OnlySimchas then is a very important tool for the
global Jewish community – or is it? I had never really pondered this question before
until I started to wonder if all the tools of our computer generated world is desensitizing
us to the enormity of our life changing, passing of rite celebrations. OnlySimchas
is another tool to link us to the rest of the world with a click of the mouse so
what is OnlySimchas really doing to our sense of simcha?
 Ah,
the old fashioned dream of romance; the idea that within our fast paced world we
are still able to think towards and aspire to an island of escape, that there is
still a time in our lives that we can stop and contemplate in stillness and silence
a partner in our lives, that together we see a future of love, marriage and children,
built on this moment of oneness –and together, the two of us alone, make an awesome
pledge. And then comes along onlysimchas.com a website that just seconds after this
powerful, private, intense moment blasts photographs all over the world for people
who barely know. Is there a whole world of OnlySimchas users idling around during
their work break, or OnlySimchas friends hanging out with nothing better to do then
to check in at OnlySimchas and get the latest scoop? Is this a cynical take? Let’s
take it a step further. Perhaps now, the fame of being on OnlySimchas is going to
people’s heads so the first thing after becoming engaged is to get their photographs
out onto OnlySimchas as fast as possible. This is not so far fetched because there
was this wonderful article called “G-d only (Simchas) knows from The Daily Bang
which described the plight of the world when the server for OnlySimchas crashed.
This tongue-in-cheek article brought up some very astute reminders of what the world
can come to when OnlySimchas takes over. A couple in the yichud room called OnlySimchas
to find out why they could not look at the pictures of their chuppa already downloaded
onto OnlySimchas and the answer to this unfortunate situation was that the server
for OnlySimchas crashed during an overload of people using OnlySimchas as there
had been a rush of engagements so that people could get their pictures onto OnlySimchas
in time for their doors in their dorms to be decorated by their friends before everyone
left for the winter break – phew! ….This little glimpse into the way engagements
are conducted now that we have OnlySimchas.com is priceless. And it can make you
cynical …But am I overlooking something here? Yes, the answer to the enormous benefits
offered through OnlySimchas is very clear and simple – it is the incredible, delightful,
innocent and pure emotion that should be deep at the heart of all of us when someone
else is happy – we should also be happy!! In today’s society that runs on UTube
and MySpace where everyone wants their fifteen minutes of fame, OnlySimchas is the
Jewish version. Fame continues with OnlySimchas because now everyone who shares
simchas with OnlySimchas also gets their simchas announced on JM in the AM. Now
there is only one other complication before we get carried away by the sheer beauty
of OnlySimchas - that the above cynicism still may hold true. Nothing is perfect,
people are always going to take the pure joy generated by OnlySimchas and subvert
it. One misdirected person wrote an article for JewishHigh.com deciding that those
happy smiling faces in OnlySimchas were really a prelude to divorce and that the
angelic faces of new born babies on OnlySimchas were only years away from becoming
photos on Americas Most Wanted due to the dysfunctional families they were going
to grow up in. In other words – who are OnlySimchas fooling? But we have to go back
to our basic tenet in romance and dating as epitomized by OnlySimchas– we all want
to believe in a happy ever after ending and that is what OnlySimchas is giving.
About author:
Suzanne Zettel is a Jewish Matchmaker
on JRetroMatch and works with Jewish
Singles all over the world. She has her Masters in Social Work from Leeds
Metropolitan University and has worked as a Family Guidance Counsellor in Toronto,
Canada. As an employee of JRetromatch, Suzanne is able to use her many life experiences
and challenges to truly reach every one of her members, opening up their hearts
and souls so they can receive and appreciate the many joys of Jewish dating and
marriage. She currently lives in Israel.
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How to Find Your Soul Mate:
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The Silent Revolution of the
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Cliffs Notes for the Jewish
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The Ten Commandments of Dating
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