In today’s digital world of dating apps, swipes and likes, it’s easy to forget a time when a love story could begin with a few carefully penned lines of text in J.’s personals section.
For many couples, these brief, 30-word ads launched their lifelong journey together. Now, they are sharing their love stories in “Such a Match!” — a new podcast from J. launching this month.
To kick things off, J. staff writer Emma Goss and J. director of news product David A.M. Wilensky will host a webinar on Tuesday, Jan. 7 at 5:30 p.m. to discuss how the podcast came to be, answer listener questions and offer a sneak preview of some highlights from the series.
Created and hosted by Goss, “Such a Match!” dives into the history and humor of matchmaking through the classified ads, which ran from the early 1990s to the early 2000s, when J. was called the Jewish Bulletin. Each of the seven episodes features firsthand accounts from a different couple who found their soulmate, or beshert, through the Jewish newspaper. Stories range from serendipitous connections to comical misadventures-turned-mishpocha.
In March 1997, Vivian was single, pushing 30, and had recently moved back home. One day, her mother put an ad in the Jewish Bulletin, as this publication was then called, to try to match Vivian up. Soon, the home answering machine was filling up with messages from eligible Jewish men interested in taking Vivian on a date. One voicemail in particular stood out — it was a woman with a thick Polish accent, hoping her “vunderful” son Joe could meet Vivian. Vivian and Joe’s hilarious, sweet and enduring love story launches “Such a Match!” on Jan. 21.
Another happy couple who will be featured is Bernie and Joanne, or “the journalist who got scooped.” Joanne was a Jewish Bulletin reporter and assistant editor who met Bernie while on assignment. They’ve been married for over 60 years and share their unconventional love story in episode three.
Each episode is about 15 minutes and available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. New episodes will be released every Tuesday. Sign up to receive emails with links to each new podcast at jweekly.com/podcast, and follow J. on Instagram, Facebook and Bluesky for updates, behind-the-scenes content and opportunities to share your own love stories.