The Web site www.mazeltov.org.ua is a brainchild of Udi Ben Ami, Israel’s consul-general to Ukraine, and was supported by a donor in the Dnepropetrovsk Jewish community. Ben Ami said the service aims to help those “who want to create a real Jewish family,” a major challenge for Ukrainian Jewry, which faces a problem of assimilation.
A man or woman who wishes to meet someone through the service can forward a request to the site coordinator, who will arrange a meeting between the applicant and a rabbi or other figure. Once approved, the candidate will be given a password to access the Web site. Operating under the auspices of the local Chabad rabbi, the site accepts only those considered Jewish according to halacha.
Shmuel Kaminetzky, chief rabbi of Dnepropetrovsk and a Chabad emissary, said he expected the new service to expand to other communities in the former Soviet Union.
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