Jewgling

As I've mentioned on this blog before, Google has become very useful, especially when it comes to Shidduchim. You can google just about anything, anyone, any city, school, etc. and find atleast something about what you're looking for (most of the time).  I'm not an obsessive google-searcher when it comes to Shidduchim, I mean, I have my ways of finding things out-usually its with communicating with people, then comes the techno research, etc. 

When it comes to the Techno searching, I like to do, what I call 'Jewgling' (Jewish Googling) and find whatever I can. Sometimes it's people we know in common, sometimes it's educational, background, family, and if I get lucky, an age, or photo, which usually is extremely helpful. Obviously, speaking to references, or common people is the best research as people can tell you alot about a person, and even just tone of voice, or pauses can answer your questions. But, you can't always get lucky, hence the research-especially if you or the guy which is being redd are from out of town....

Now, I thought I was pretty focused and keep my research plain and simple=either I find stuff, or I don't. If I don't, I call the Shadchan and ask for more details, to help find information. That sounds pretty easy, right?

What surprises me though, is that there are people that exist, who are OBSESSIVE JEWglers. I mean, heavy research, and by research=they couldn't really care about the basic details, they care more about materialistic. They will research any/all financial information/records/documents, as well as use google maps to check out what the home of the family looks like. They will use search tools to check if there were any court hearings, and what the family/boy/parents/grandparents' net worth is. Seriously. 

If that doesn't scare you-yesterday a friend of mine called me to do some techno search for her, as she didn't have access to a computer (data roaming is expensive!). The minute I started typing the boy's name, google showed he was already 'jewgled' with the term 'net worth' at the end. How insane is that? No one actually googled him-but they googled how much he was WORTH!

What is this world coming to? People care more about tablecloths, cutlery, sheitels, home decor, cars, etc. then the actual PEOPLE they are to marry. We live in a society where people are at the top (financially) and the next day, they go bankrupt. Who is to decide how long they will be fortunate for. Perhaps the Range Rover parked in the driveway on google maps, is the neighbor's? What if the name is very common and all the researched information on financial claims, court hearings, etc. all belong to ANOTHER person bearing the same name?

I say keep Jewgling simple, but be smart when you search, know that not everything on the internet is legit-some are people's opinions, some are random photos uploaded and tagged with a name belonging to someone else, some are made up, etc. Make sure you do your searches properly. Good luck Jewgling.