oomis, When making dollars and cents is more important than making kallahs and sense, we have lost our focus of what is truly Derech Hashem.
Good line. The reason, however, for putting dollars into the equation, is in order to make kallahs. It’s not an end, it’s the means.
We are not comparing ourselves to them. We are noting that meeting shidduchim on our own has happened in history, and has been totally acceptable.
Not through single events, and not through hefker socializing. In your examples, Yaakov Avinu and Rochel Imeinu, and Rabbi Akiva and Rochel, they were not meeting many singles and deciding which one to marry; they knew exactly who they needed for their tafkid in life. To use them to support socializing is disingenuous, and insulting to these heilige people.
I will point out that most normal types of socializing were always considered halachically acceptable in my generation and that of my parents and grandparents.
If so, erroneously. We’ve been through a similar dicussion regarding untzniusdik dress. Without condemning anyone because we didn’t live through that nisayon, we can still say that it is objectively wrong l’halacha.
WE have created our own shidduch crisis, by failing to encourage and allow our kids to develop male/female relationships and friendships in a normal way within the bounds of halacha.
As I’ve said before, that’s NOT the problem, there are hundreds of single on the UWS who never had a problem socializing. It’s a matter of the numbers.
“male/female relationships and friendships in a normal way within the bounds of halacha.” An oxymoron.
And Shadchanim whose main motivator is money, are NOT a solution.
Why not? Money talks. That’s just reality.