Description

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A Kosher Dating Odyssey tracks the progress of the author's jolting changes in belief as he enters the world of dating pre- and post-Internet. Van Wallach is the product of a small-town Texas upbringing, a Princeton education and years of New York City and posh Connecticut living. The stories of his pursuit of romance--from Brooklyn to Brazil and beyond--provide a wry, revealing, and distinctly male perspective on Jewish online dating. Raised a Southern Baptist, Wallach found himself drawn to his parents' Jewish heritage and the women who embodied it. To meet the special challenges of online dating, he took a marketer's approach to packaging his unique background into a memorable screen name and profile. His book explores the highs and heartbreaks of dating the "smart, vulnerable and shtetl-lovely" Jewish women he met and adored after he left Texas. As he follows his muse far afield, he analyzes Jewish body image (his and hers), calculates ROEI (Return on Emotional Investment), identifies the sexiest Jewish movies (hint: his three favorites all have subtitles), engages in edgy encounters with "the competition" in the quest for a fair maidele's hand, and contemplates the role of Jewish faith in times of difficulties. Part memoir, part how-to, and partly just off-the-wall, A Kosher Dating Odyssey will appeal to anyone who is interested in journeys of both the spirit and the flesh.