Publication: New York Daily News,
Sunday, December 22nd, 2002 (article excerpt)
By Sari Botton
Matzoh Balls on Christmas
Christmas Eve can be one of the loneliest nights of the year for Jews — and for Jewish singles, especially. While their Christian friends are gathered with their families around brightly lit Christmas trees in what seem like blissful Norman Rockwell scenes, Jews often feel left out, at a loss for places to go and things to do.
It has become something of a New York Jewish Christmas cliché to go to the movies and out for Chinese food. But some Jewish singles have found that it doesn't have to be so desolate. Instead of kung-pao chicken and the movie ticket, they're opting for Matzoh Balls. No, not the knaidlach you find in bowls of steaming chicken soup, but Christmas Eve galas at trendy New York City nightclubs, designed to help them find mates.
There [is] the Matzoh Ball at Guastavino's, a restaurant and nightclub on E. 49th St., produced by the Society for Young Jewish Professionals (SYJP).
Silent night? For Jewish singles in New York City, Christmas Eve should be anything but. "What's nice about going to an event like that is that you know at least two things about the people you're meeting — they're Jewish and they're available," said Jodi Gitler, 28, who met her husband, Phil, also 28, at the Matzoh Ball in 1996, when it was at the Roxy.
"I met my wife at one of our Matzoh Ball events in 1997," said Andy Rudnick, managing director of the SYJP, who founded the event in 1987. "People are there with the intention of meeting someone, and when that kind of energy is being felt all over the room, sparks fly and things happen." Rudnick said he expects about 1,200 people to attend this year's party, for which tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door.
The society will hold similar parties simultaneously in seven other cities around the country, with 12,000 expected to attend in all.
Jewish mixers often have a cheesy connotation — a kosher meat market. "I had been reluctant to go because usually, when you think of Jewish singles events, you think of bad music and there are a lot of old guys and younger girls," said Amy Levine, 24. But attending the Ball last year turned out to be a good move. "I ended up meeting my boyfriend," she said. The two will celebrate their first anniversary at the scene of their first encounter — and they'll bring a bunch of single friends inspired by their good luck.
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