“I’m the most generous guy there is. More than once I’ve paid 700 to 1,000 shekels on a first date. I felt the date went perfectly; the girls even wrote me after that they had ‘the best time in the world,’ and then the next day they stopped responding.”
"I'm not mad about it, since the decision to spend that money was mine. Still, I'm frustrated. Sometimes I just think about divorced men with children who can’t afford to spend that kind of money, but still do it to impress someone who ghosts them the next day."
“Seventy percent of the women I went out with treated me like a sponsor. Maybe because when a woman sees a man who dresses well and wears a nice watch, she immediately assumes he has money. That’s why I drive a simple, modest car.”
"Some women even commented on it. They were surprised and asked me, ‘How do you get into a car like that?’ So I’m looking for a woman who will want me even if I come to pick her up on an electric bike, with or without money", says this week’s bachelor, Ofek Ariel Amoyal, 26, from Haifa.
Amoyal works as a private tennis coach in the mornings and at a jewelry store in the afternoons. A competitive athlete for much of his life, he says sports taught him how to set goals and stick to them until he reaches them.
Today, that same focus is directed at finding a loyal partner. To build a stable future for them both, he spends most of his day working. In the little free time he has, he likes going out to restaurants with friends, drinking wine, spending time with his family, which he says comes before everything else, going to the beach and resting.
“Right now, my biggest challenge in dating is time because my work takes up most of it,” he says. “But when I set myself a goal, I reach it. First I worked hard for the car I wanted, and now I’m working even harder to buy a home.”
“I’ve put on tefillin every day since I was 13, and I’ve never missed a day,” he says. “That’s how I am when I commit to something. I hold myself to it, and I bring that same commitment to relationships.”
"If I like someone and the interest is mutual, I'll do everything to make it work. I’m very emotional and can be very intense when I’m interested in someone, but if I feel she isn’t as invested, I’ll step back. I’ve been hurt before, and that has made me more careful about where I place my energy.”
“I don’t like games,” he says. “She doesn’t have to answer right away, but if she barely responds, that tells me she isn’t serious. If I can make time to reply during my day, she can too. I believe that someone who wants a relationship will make the effort and show respect for it.”
How do you usually meet women?
“Through Instagram, where I come across as more approachable,” he says. “I would really like to meet someone face to face, but something about the way I look intimidates women. Ninety percent of the women I’ve approached turned me down. Some told me I look like a 'player', the kind of man who gets everything easily.
“Women tell me they’re afraid I’ll hurt them. It frustrates me, but I understand it too. There are a lot of good-looking men who really do cheat, but I’m the complete opposite.”
He says cheating is something he cannot accept, even from a friend. “If I knew a friend of mine was cheating, I’d have a serious talk with him and tell him it’s unacceptable to hurt his woman,” he says. “I’d probably cut him out of my life. People destroy families over nonsense, and that makes me afraid and wonder whether I’ll find someone loyal I can truly trust.”
Have you ever been cheated on before?
“I experienced disloyalty from my ex, and it really affected me. After the breakup, I asked my father if he would still love me if I decided to stay single forever. He hugged me, of course, and told me he would always love me. I believe that fear may have become a defense mechanism.
“At work, quite a few married women have hit on me, and that has made me more afraid of being cheated on. How can I be sure that while I’m working all day, my partner won’t do the same? Maybe the fear that one day my family could fall apart because of infidelity is holding me back from a relationship.”
How can I know that while I’m working all day, my partner won’t behave that way and cheat on me? Maybe the fear that one day my family could fall apart because of it is holding me back from having a relationship.”
Still, he says he knows he has the qualities needed to meet someone and build something real. “At the end of the day, I have what it takes to meet someone and make it work. So aside from time and my fear of disloyalty, maybe I’m choosing women who are wrong for me.”
What kind of women are you drawn to?
“I’m attracted to women who are well-groomed and put together, with styled hair and a good scent, because I invest a lot in myself too. But beyond looks, I need to meet a woman with values and a good heart. That, for me, is the winning combination. I want a partner with aspirations and goals, someone who knows what she wants to do with her life,” he says.
Family, he adds, must matter to her as much as it matters to him. “She has to be a good and loyal woman who sees family as a top value. I won’t date someone who spends all her time at clubs with her girlfriends, or someone who has male friends. That’s not for me. I'm old-fashioned and a little jealous, but within reason.”
“In a world where boundaries feel so loose, it makes sense to me that I’d want to protect my relationship. It comes from wanting to build a home and keep it safe, not from control or toxic masculinity.”
What is your biggest flaw?
“I react emotionally, and only afterward do I calm down.”
What is love to you?
“Mutuality in every sense.”
Do you believe in love at first sight?
“No. That’s attraction at first sight. Love doesn’t happen instantly; it’s something that has to develop over time.”
When was the last time your heart was broken?
“Never.”
What have you learned about yourself in relationships?
“That I’m total and give 100%, and of course that I still have a long way to go in improving myself.”
What is the most important element in a relationship?
“Loyalty.”
What offends you?
“I don’t get offended. I get disappointed.”
What is your ideal partner like?
“She knows what she wants to do in life and has very high ambitions and desires. She cares about me, worries about me, takes interest in me and puts our relationship first.”
Do you have deal breakers?
“A woman who has sex on the first date.”
Smoking?
“Preferably not, but if she’s my match, we’ll figure it out.”
What age range are you looking for?
“23 to 35.”
Would you consider dating a divorced woman, with or without children?
“Unfortunately, no.”
Tell me about your worst date.
“I once started texting with someone, we talked and everything was going really well. In her Instagram photos, she looked great. But when I got to the date, I didn’t recognize her and thought someone had pranked me. I asked a friend to call and say he was in the hospital, then I drove her home quickly, and that was the end of the date.”
Describe the perfect date.
“There are no rules, because it’s not about the place or the situation, it’s about the person. But generally: a bottle of wine, sunset, good cheeses, good music and a good woman.”
Should a man pay on the first date?
“Yes. A woman has never paid for me.”
What do you do in your free time?
“I don’t have free time. I’m always working.”
What is your favorite place, and why?
“The tennis court. That’s where I let everything out, and the moment I step onto the court, everything falls into place.”
What makes you laugh?
“People who think they know everything.”
When did you last cry, and why?
“When Grandma Mazal died.”
How close are you to your family?
“Very close. They mean everything to me, and without them I’m nothing.”
What were you in a previous life?
“A tennis ball.”
The last series you binged?
“Breaking Bad.”
What music do you listen to?
“Everything: Mizrahi, pop, rap.”
Tell me something no one knows about you.
“I was supposed to be on the TV reality show New Love this year, but they didn’t air me.”
How would your friends describe you?
“Hardworking, sensitive, caring and funny.”
How do you spend Shabbat nights?
“Kiddush with my family and rest.”
Where can women approach you?
“Anywhere.”
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
“A husband and father, an entrepreneur and businessman.”