Miami Beach, FL – The local plastic surgeon who appeared in a controversial music video is under a new wave of criticism after his offer to Jewish singles.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
Dr. Michael Salzhauer, the Orthodox Jewish Bay Harbor plastic surgeon who made national headlines for commissioning a rock band to write a song about nose jobs, has put himself front and center with a controversial new offer.
The doctor’s new plan involves cosmetic surgery for Orthodox Jewish singles who cannot get married. “I made an offer on my Facebook page that if there were any singles in the Orthodox community that felt they could benefit from cosmetic surgery, I would do it pro bono,” said Salzhauer.
Salzhauer said he was inspired by a recent article in a Jewish newspaper that detailed the crisis of getting married in the Jewish community. He believes that cosmetic surgery could lead to more marriages. “The first question that mothers of prospective grooms ask a potential bride is, ‘Well, is she pretty?'” he said.
Fresh off the music video controversy where the lead singer plays a young man who cannot seem to get a date because of a nose that looks like “Jewcan Sam,” comes another splash that some may find offensive. In the Orthodox Jewish community, many couples are set up by match makers. Under Dr.
Salzhauer’s plan, these match makers would single out Jewish singles who they thought needed cosmetic surgery but cannot afford it.
Salzhauer, who is very involved in the Jewish community and was honored Tuesday night from an organization that helps out Jewish children with cancer, says this is his way of giving back. “A lot of good could come out of all this publicity, if it helps people in my community find their prospective matches and form families and have happy lives,” he said.
He will go bankrupt once girls start lining up because some matchmakers passed their own subjective opinions about looks of the girls. I feel like he is a novice that wants to find a good way to refine his skills so patients in pro-bono work can’t complain much if the outcomes are not that good.
What these quacks won’t do for publicity!
Mammish ah Tzaddik. Now, no heimishe girl will have any excuse for not being a perfect Anglo-Saxon Madison Avenue fashion model. What’s next? Will girls have to be graded according to professional beauty contest judges?
Will each successful surgery be a Small Miracle? Before and After pictures will be a new requirement.
Kudos Doc! May Hashem guide you in your holy work, and give you only the utmost Hatzlacha and Bracha!
My Florida friends say this doc is top-flight.He’s offering his G-d-given talents to help those who want it. You can argue about “if” someone should go to such lengths, but the doc is providing a service. And, btw, that Groggers vid is hilarious!
Hatzlocha rabo, doc!
How offensive!!!
The shadchan will tell a girl “you need cosmetic surgery” and then the doctor will give it… Where do I start with how wrong this is!?!?!
no one is forcing you to do the nose-job, but if money was the issue, this is wonderful. kudos doc. btw. what about the anesthesia bill?
this is great. He is doing a great job by offering it to those who cannot afford it. So me girls or boys need it
Dear Anonymous: I understand why my offer is controversial. Not everyone “holds by” plastic surgery. However, I have been in private practice performing cosmetic surgery for nearly 10 years and have thousands of patients (for the cynics, I’ve never been sued and no one has died.) I have seen many young men and women blossom after cosmetic surgery and find matches. The rock video was for publicity, the offer to do surgery is NOT a publicity stunt. I have been speaking privately with Shadchanim over the years and it has been very difficult for them to discuss this with their clients openly . I am trying to use the “controversy” around the video to make it easier to open up the discussion among singles and shadchans. My website is balharboursurgery.com, it is NOT TZNIUS by the nature of the work, so BE FOREWARNED. There are hundreds and before and after pictures and more than 1100 hand written testimonials available to review. Any questions you can email me directly at [email protected].
There is a serious hallachic question if one is permitted to have cosmetic plastic surgery (as opposed to reconstructive plastic surgery).
One should ask one’s personal Posek before undertaking this, even if it’s free.
In any case, may all bnos and bnei Yisroel find their proper zivug quickly and easily.
#11 : You are right. Each case needs to be evaluated on its own halachic merits. That’s why the referrals need to come through a Shadchan/Matchmaker in consulation with Rabbonim.
I agree, may all bnos and bnei Yisroel find their proper zivug quickly and easily.
Speaking as someone who spent years in the shidduch system and dated dozens of women, I can tell you this: The best way to increase a man’s ability to attract a shidduch is to perform plastic surgery on his wallet to make it appear a lot bigger and a lot more full than it actually is. Believe me, I speak from experience: if a guy is loaded, he could look like the Elephant Man and girls will still be beating a path to his door. I live in the 5T so I know of what I speak.
All you haters:
He wants to help. Ok? This is how he can, and its a HUGE help. What do you want, just his money? Lets see you 1) attain the caliber this man has and 2) care this much about others.
Until then, collect your welfare/food stamps/section 8 and the rest of my money and kvetch and describe as “quacks” people who are so far out of your league both in philantrophy and accomplishment.
All this is more fodder for the oilam to say that Orthodox Jews are backwards and deplorable. And it deepens the chasm between the Orthodox and the rest of Jewry.
Ah, but what does it matter: They’re all tumah anyway, so who cares what they think, right?
What about the ladies like myself who are having major marriage problems because of weight issues from having children. I had some c-sections and if I had a tummy tuck and lipo my husband might give me a chance. If only these guys would go into marriage loving their wives for who they are instead of their looks only and realize that things change, maybe I wouldn’t be in this situation. I would take that surgery for free any day…
Chas vechalila that this man should be accepted on his merits.
But no: that is not the way things are done on VIN. First and foremost we must rubbish everyone who wants to do a good deed.
When you sit around your shabbas dinner tables tonight, exchanging witty divrei Torah, stop and ponder on the ideas of sinas chinam and lashon hara.
I have purposely transliterated all Hebrew words so that there can be no excuse for anyone not understanding what I have to say – unless some readers do not know what sinas chinam and lashon hara are in the first place.
Now he’s definitely going to be investigated by the AMA and most likely, shut down. The AMA cannot tolerate “free cosmetic surgery” since it’s not good for business.
I must attest that the idea of free plastic surgery to attune you for someone else’s eye you have not even met yet is like putting tires on your car and not even knowing if you are going to drive in the winter or the summer. Either way, I guess its a really charatable thing. And will he take credit for a marriage arranged in his skills and his conjecture? Perhaps we can all take our yidden laws off the table and just jump onto an operating table. That might solve this ‘crisis’, huh?
This is an excellent opportunity to readers to honor Mrs Sandler (France survivor) request that we show love to one another. Think how you may dan-lekaf-zchus this doctor even if you disagree. Form a narrative if you need to and please share it here with us all. Mine goes: he means well.
Do not deride plastic / cosmetic surgery.
Its not for everyone, and you need the right doctors, but a lot of serious stuff can be fixed easy..
I have had many surgery’s, plastic surgery these days is not painful, but be sure you get the right Doctor.
On the surface it seems benign enough. The patient benefits with better “curb appeal” & higher self-esteem, while the good doctor gains publicity.
But, I have a problem with the overall superficial message to frumkeit; not to mention how shallow it must sound to the secular and Gentile world.
Remember being told that beauty is only skin deep? To look beyond appearances & discover the spiritual beauty within? There’s nothing wrong with a pretty girl or a handsome lad, but how about offering some coaching or actual counseling before getting out the scalpel? Far too often, people blame a prominent nose, receding chin, etc. for their lack of popularity. Many times all they really need is a wardrobe update, new eyeglasses, a tidier hairstyle and better grooming routines. Others blame their looks when their personality is really the problem. Still others have been segregated from the opposite gender most of their lives and never learned how to interact and relate to a prospective mate.
Dr. Salzhauer sounds like a good guy, but I’d be far more impressed if his offer was for burn & accident victims or those born with congenital defects; and not to people with superficial hangups.
my sister has great midot and in my opinion looks fine and does not need cosmetic surgery to enhance her shidduch prospects. However my mother is heavy ,and I feel my sister is not getting shidduch offers because my mothers dress size is too large. Is the doctor willing to perform pro-bono liposuction or a tummy-tuck on mothers so their daughters can get married.
I believe that you are being way too harsh on this doctor who has offered his services to those who feel the need but do not have the means to take advantage of what others have the luxury to afford to do in order to feel better about themselves and put their best foot forward. In many, many cases it is NOT the looks itself that sabotages a person from moving forward in life. It is the lack of self confidence and self esteem that keeps them from getting what they rightfully deserve. It is the fact that they are too harsh on themselves and dont’ love themselves enough or appreciate themselves enough and are too critical to the detriment of their own self worth and and emotional health. No matter how many people tell them they are beautiful and amazing they just don’t feel it because the flaws they see through their own eyes whether real or imagine hold them back from have the full and happy lives they deserve.
So whether real or imagined, an offer like this with a minor or major tweak can change a person’s outlook and perspective on their own self image and change them from a wallflower to a go getter. It is not always what others think but what they think that holds them bac
The Doctor is simply acknowledging what everyone already knows but does not want to say….People are judged by their appearance. Many mature single women (and men) may consider contacting him to see if he also offers free non-invasive procedures that would help them maitain a more youthful appearance (i.e. fillers such as juvaderm and botox) which would not alter their appearance drastically.