What Matronita is

Matronita (מטרוניתא) is a matchmaking (shidduchim) assistant that works by email. Send an email with the details of the young man or woman to matronitashiduchim@gmail.com, and within minutes you get a reply with suitable suggestions from the candidate list.

• The list: a Google Sheet of candidates with two tabs, men (בנים) and women (בנות). The system copies it every hour, so searches are fast and never more than about an hour behind.
• The rules: Kohen rules, the age window and any requirements you state are checked before anyone is suggested. A candidate missing a detail that a strict rule needs is not suggested; they are counted separately.
• The reply: up to 5 suggestions ranked by a match score, with contact details and a short explanation of each score. Want more? Reply "5 more".
• Full profile: send a candidate's name or ID as the subject and get all their details from the sheet.
• Hebrew first: write in Hebrew or English; the reply comes back in the same language, in large type, right-aligned for Hebrew.

The system only reads the sheet. It never changes it.

Who it's for

Authorized matchmakers only. Only emails sent from authorized addresses get suggestions. Anyone writing from an address that isn't registered gets a short reply: the service is for registered users only, and to apply, write to matronitashiduchim@gmail.com. (That reply goes out at most once a day per address.)

Want to join? Write to that address or contact the admin. The owners add and remove users with the owner commands.

Sending a request, step by step

1. Start a new email to matronitashiduchim@gmail.com from your authorized address.
2. Write a subject. It's required. Any ordinary subject works, e.g. "Request" or the candidate's first name. An email with no subject gets a reply asking you to resend with one. (A few subjects are special, see commands.)
3. In the body, write one detail per line as field: value, e.g. age: 23. Copy the names from the field table, or get a blank form: send an email with the subject form.
4. Fill in the 3 required fields: gender, age and marital status. Everything else is optional. Kohen: anyone not marked as a Kohen is treated as not a Kohen.
5. Send. The mailbox is checked every minute. The reply arrives in the same thread.
6. Keep going in the same thread: "5 more" for more suggestions, or just the line you want to change (e.g. age max: 5) for a new search that keeps all your earlier details. Suggestions already sent in the thread are not repeated.

Short forms also work, without colons: male 22, or a comma list like male, 22, single, not kohen. The system asks for whatever is missing. For a detailed request, one field: value per line is best.

All fields

Field name, a colon, then the value. Hebrew or English names both work (the Hebrew name is in the table). Capitalization doesn't matter. Underscore forms like age_min work too.

Each field once only. An unknown field, or a value not on the list, gets a "please clarify" reply rather than a guess.

Example request and reply

All names, IDs and phone numbers here are made up, for illustration only.

The request

gender: female
age: 21
marital status: single
community: ashkenazi
location: Bnei Brak
age min: 0
age max: 5
partner phone: kosher

The reply (shortened)

The score represents alignment with the supplied criteria, not the probability of a successful marriage. Every result includes a brief explanation of its score. It is the matchmaker's responsibility to daven and use common sense…

Found 2 potential matches
Age difference: 0 to 5; same community preference: True

1. Ploni Example [m-000000000001] - 23 - 100/100
single, ashkenazi, kosher, bnei brak
050-0000000 (example)
community: aligned; location: aligned; age: aligned

2. Almoni Example [m-000000000002] - 25 - 45/100
single, ashkenazi, kosher, jerusalem
052-0000000 (example)
community: aligned; location: not aligned; age: not aligned

112 more profiles were not shown because a detail a required rule depends on (marital status, age or a stated requirement) is missing in the source. Confirm with the family before suggesting them.

Reply "5 more" for additional candidates, or send updated criteria.

Each suggestion shows: name, ID, age, a score out of 100, key details, contact details (and resume links when there are any), and the score explanation.

In the email itself the reply arrives as a neat table: one row per suggestion, alternating row colors, large type. Above is the plain-text version; this is how the reply looks in the email (for a different request):

A candidate's full profile

Send a first and last name (or an ID such as f-0a1b2c3d4e11) as the subject, and get every column of that row in the sheet, including links, with the resume and picture attached as files when there are any.

How suggestions are chosen

Strict rules (anyone failing them is not suggested)

• Kohen and divorcée: a Kohen is never suggested with a divorced woman, and a divorced woman never gets a Kohen.
• Kohen status only when stated: a candidate is marked Kohen or daughter of a Kohen only when the sheet explicitly says so as a status (e.g. in the notes). Never from the surname. If Kohen isn't stated in the list, the person is treated as not a Kohen.
• Divorced man and daughter of a Kohen: allowed, so not excluded.
• Age window: the man's age minus the woman's must fall between age min and age max (default 0 to 3).
• Your stated requirements (the "partner …" fields, and for a man, head covering): a candidate whose detail differs is not suggested.

Held back (a detail is missing, not excluded)

When a strict rule depends on a detail the sheet doesn't state, the system doesn't guess. The profile isn't suggested, and the end of the reply says how many such profiles there were. For example:

• A request for a Kohen: a woman whose marital status is unclear (e.g. the row says both single and divorced).
• Anyone with no known age.
• A requirement you stated (e.g. partner community) when the candidate's row doesn't state that detail. Head covering is the exception: a candidate whose row doesn't mention it is shown.

The score

Among those who pass the rules, suggestions are ranked by a match score out of 100, built from what your request states:

Score = the share of weight that matched, out of the items checked. It measures fit to the criteria only. Deciding what is a good match stays with the matchmaker.

Subject and body commands

Any other subject is an ordinary subject, and the body is read as a request. An email whose body has request fields is always a request, even if the subject is a name. A leading "Re:" or "Fwd:" is ignored.

Saving defaults (in the body):

save defaults
age min: -1
age max: 4
same community: no

Owner commands

Three commands manage the list of authorized users. They work only from the owners' email addresses. Any other registered user who sends them gets a reply that only owners can add or remove users.

• add user: example@example.com
  or הוסף משתמש: example@example.com
  The address joins the authorized users and can send requests right away. An address that was removed before is authorized again.
• remove user: example@example.com
  or הסר משתמש: example@example.com
  The address is removed and gets no more suggestions, even if it is on the sheet's share list. Owners can't be removed.
• list users or רשימת משתמשים
  All authorized users, plus anyone who was removed.

• Put a command in the subject or in the body. One email can carry several commands, one per line, adding and removing together. One command can take several addresses separated by commas, and a line with only an email address gets the command above it (or the one in the subject).
• Your signature is ignored: reading stops at a signature line (--, "Thanks", "Regards", "Sent from…") and at quoted text, and lines without an email address (name, phone, greeting) are skipped. An email address in your signature is not added.
• Upper or lower case doesn't matter, and spaces around the colon are fine.
• The reply is short, Hebrew first and then English: one line per address (added, removed, already authorized, not on the list, owner can't be removed, or invalid email address), then the number of authorized users.
• Changes are saved and stay in effect after a restart.

Example:

The reply:

✅ example@example.com נוסף/ה למשתמשים המורשים. סה"כ מורשים: 12✅ example@example.com was added to the authorized users. Total authorized: 12

A multi-line example (the signature at the end is not read):

add user: example1@example.com
add user: example2@example.com
remove user: example3@example.com

--
John Doe
050-0000000

The reply:

✅ נוסף/ה: example1@example.com
✅ נוסף/ה: example2@example.com
✅ הוסר/ה: example3@example.com
סה"כ מורשים: 13
✅ Added: example1@example.com
✅ Added: example2@example.com
✅ Removed: example3@example.com
Total authorized: 13

More suggestions (5 more)

Each reply brings up to 5 suggestions. For the next ones, reply in the same thread with one of these on the first line:

5 more · more 5 · more · עוד · עוד 5 · 5 עוד

• Each time brings at most 5 suggestions. Asking for more than 5 brings 5, with the line "Limited to 5 results per request".
• Only suggestions not yet sent in this thread.
• The quoted text your mail app adds below ("On … wrote:") doesn't matter.
• When there are no more, you'll be told so, and you can send updated criteria.
• "more" in a thread with no results yet gets a note to send a request first.

IDs

Every profile has a stable ID, shown in brackets next to the name: f- plus 12 characters for a woman, m- plus 12 characters for a man (e.g. f-000000000001, made up).

• The ID stays the same across every sync, even when rows are added, deleted or moved in the sheet.
• It changes only if that row's name or contact details are edited in the sheet; the profile may then be suggested again in an old thread.
• Exact duplicate rows are counted once, so no two profiles share an ID.
• Send an ID as the subject (or the first body line) to get the full profile. If the ID has changed, the system falls back to the name next to it.

Privacy

• The profiles are real personal information about families.
• Replies go only to authorized matchmakers, and only to the address the request came from.
• The system doesn't pass information to anyone else or publish it. It only reads the sheet and never changes it.
• Reply contents are for your use as a matchmaker only. Please don't forward them.

FAQ

Contact

To join as an authorized matchmaker, for questions, or to correct details in the list, contact the admin through the SmartApz contact form.

The address for requests: matronitashiduchim@gmail.com (authorized matchmakers only).