Reply To: Expanding on the Shidduch Crisis Math (Catastrophe)

Home Forums Decaffeinated Coffee Expanding on the Shidduch Crisis Math (Catastrophe) Reply To: Expanding on the Shidduch Crisis Math (Catastrophe)

#1036547
akuperma
Participant

How would a crisis be possible?

Are men suddenly less likely to marry than women (e.g. off the derech, decided to be lifelong bachelors, killed off in a war, etc.)? The answer is “no.”

Has the marriage age for men gone up? Probably, especially due to the economic conditions in recent years. Most men (and women) want a parnassah before they start raising a family. The “crisis” seems to be more among Baal ha-battim, than people planning on being impoverished kollel families, i.e. among those most likely to be affected by a strained economy (kollel families expect to be dirt poor, and the expectations are easy to meet).

Among most Americans, there is usually a significant gap in marriage age, with men often being five to ten years older – this is normal since men gain the ability to support a family much later than women are able to produce babies. In the old days, when most women could expect to eventually die in childbirth, and few babies survived to adulthood, a delay in starting a family was serious, but with modern medicine this isn’t a problem.

So relax, and the problem will go away as the men who were reaching adulthood when the economy crashed get established and get married.

edited