Israeli booksellers uncover ‘grandpa and grandma’s Tinder’
The owners of a Tel Aviv bookshop are tracking down the clients of a matchmaker from the 40s and the 50s, whose romantic and nostalgic stories are captivating young Israelis.
"A dowry of 1,000 Israeli liras!" declares the enticing dating ad, spelling it all out underneath: "A good-looking masseuse from Germany, based in a large rural settlement, well educated and earning 10 Israeli liras a month, looking for a well-off, cultured man up to 36." This was one of 300 such ads, by men and women, published in in the 1938 booklet of the "modern, fast and famous, popular and celebrated matchmaker" Yosef Lieber, who operated a dating service in Israel in the years preceding and following the establishment of the state.
This booklet has been uncovered by Ilay and Alon-Lee Green, owners of the standalone bookstore Green Brothers in Tel Aviv. Just a few days before the Jewish holiday of love (Tu B'Av), they announced in a Facebook post: "We've found grandpa and grandma's Tinder!" They revealed that they had launched an investigation "to trace the people in the ads," saying, "We were looking for information about Yosef Lieber, but haven't come up with much."
