"Ach," growled a stubble-bearded Manhattan rabbi one day last week, "for the shadchen, business is shlecht—terrible, terrible!"
Once all Jewish marriages were arranged by parents. Actual negotiations, including the all-important dowry provided by the bride's family, were handled by shadchonim—marriage brokers. Today only old-fashioned Orthodox Jews patronize the shadchen. Simplified by the emancipation of Jewish youth, his job consists in bringing together couples in a marrying mood, taking a commission (usually 5%) on the dowry.
Last week in Brooklyn met the Marriage Brokers' Association of the U.S. To its members the Association's secretary,...