Editing Matchmaking (section)

===Jewish cultures===
Historically in [[Ashkenazi]] Jewish families, a professional marriage broker, called a [[shadchan]], used "[[gossip]] and a corresponding sense of [[discretion]]" to "diplomatically scop[e] out the pool of possibilities and securing alliances between families—for a fee."<ref>{{cite web |last=Joselit |first=Jenna Weissman |date=14 February 2018|title=The Rise and Fall of Matchmakers: How Jewish marriage brokers lost their standing, outside the Orthodox world|url=https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/community/articles/the-rise-and-fall-of-matchmakers|website=www.tabletmag.com |location= |publisher= Tablet|access-date=21 February 2025}}</ref> Shadchans, who could be men or women, "functioned like good-will ambassadors" between families. Jewish matchmaking grew as a result of the unrest caused by the Crusades in Europe. Violence, destruction, and death in the Jewish communities interrupted social life so the shadkhan played a pivotal role in connecting people. In this way, the Shadkin protected and maintained the continuity of the Jewish people.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Goodman |first=Hanna and Phillip |title=The Jewish Marriage Anthology |publisher=Jewish Publication Society |year=1965 |isbn=9780827601451}}</ref> By the late 19th and early 20th century, the shadchan lost their social standing and they were "vilified for having commercialized affairs of the heart", and they became ridiculed in literature for their "guile" and they were seen as symbols of an "outmoded" way of life.<ref>{{cite web |last=Joselit |first=Jenna Weissman |date=14 February 2018|title=The Rise and Fall of Matchmakers: How Jewish marriage brokers lost their standing, outside the Orthodox world|url=https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/community/articles/the-rise-and-fall-of-matchmakers|website=www.tabletmag.com |location= |publisher= Tablet|access-date=21 February 2025}}</ref> By the late 1930s the "Jewish marriage maven became more of a curiosity" than a serious element of matchmaking in the United States.<ref>{{cite web |last=Joselit |first=Jenna Weissman |date=14 February 2018|title=The Rise and Fall of Matchmakers: How Jewish marriage brokers lost their standing, outside the Orthodox world|url=https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/community/articles/the-rise-and-fall-of-matchmakers|website=www.tabletmag.com |location= |publisher= Tablet|access-date=21 February 2025}}</ref>