LOOKING FOR LOVE: Ziva Kramer (right), a ?relationship expert,? offered advice to women at a recent event.

In a dark Manhattan bar one evening last month, the eyes of about 70 young women and one young male hairdresser were focused — dubiously and tipsily — on Ziva Kramer, headliner at Jewish International Connection’s “How To Get Quality Guys To Commit To You and Stay Married! Ladies only” event.

LOOKING FOR LOVE: Ziva Kramer (right), a ?relationship expert,? offered advice to women at a recent event.

“There are too many singles out there. I don’t like it,” Kramer, a “relationship expert,” told the crowd. “Men are not jerks. Write it down. Testosterone suppresses the hearing cortex in his brain, and he becomes deaf. I’m talking about science. I’m not talking from my head.”

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

The problem, she explained, is easy to solve: “If you touch, you get attached.” So don’t. For at least three months. “I’m talking even about the little appetizer there,” she said, causing some audience members to shift uncomfortably in their seats.

Kramer, who is Israeli, has been matchmaking since she was 7 years old, when she brought together her baby sitter and cousin. After more than 10 years of networking in New York City, she has acquired a database of 2,000 names — split evenly, male to female — of potentials she’s itching to bring to the chupah.

Kramer shared the stage that night with Mark Garrison, owner of an Upper East Side salon and trusted hairdresser and sheytl stylist to the Orthodox community.

“I love being able to help women to achieve beauty,” said Garrison, who had never met a Jewish person until he left his small hometown in North Carolina for San Francisco 32 years ago. Dressed in a sharp suit, Garrison led the audience in an impromptu (although at $3,000 for a custom-made wig and $1,000 for a good wig cut, hardly unprofitable) game: “Hair! Or Sheitel!”

“I think there’s too much testosterone in this room,” someone muttered as the crowd got raucous.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$90 $180

$360

Other amount