Publication: Palm Beach Post, December 24, 1993
by Scott Shifrel
A HOLIDAY TREAT: THE MATZO BALL
So, you're stuck alone on Christmas Eve and all your goyish friends are at home with their folks.
The solution: The Matzo Ball, the biggest dance and social event around for the hip, young Jewish crowd. ``Usually, there's nothing to do on Christmas Eve except go to a movie or eat Chinese food,'' said Andrew Rudnick, who started the Matzo Ball in 1987.
Confronted with that problem, and eager to meet a nice Jewish girl, Rudnick came up with the idea for the Matzo Ball as a way for Jewish people to meet in a nonreligious setting.
Beginning in New York and Boston, the ball soon spread and is now in 13 cities, including two locations in Boca Raton - Club Boca and the Cazba.
For $15 ($20 at the door), you get hors d'oeuvres, door prizes, a buffet and a dance floor to share with a mostly Jewish crowd.
``The holidays put pressure on people,'' Rudnick said, explaining why he started the event while working in commercial real estate in New York.
One bash grew into a nation-wide club, called the Society of Young Jewish Professionals, with its own magazine, personals ads and, Rudnick said, more than 7,000 members.
The club also sponsors other events. There's the Meet Knish on Martin Luther King Day and the Halvah Heart on Valentine's Day. The group also sponsors benefits for groups like the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith and the Holocaust Museum.
But it is the Matzo Ball that spurs the most excitement.
`"It is one of the foremost events . . . on Christmas Eve," said Mikhal Stein, of the New England ADL in Boston, where the Society of Young Jewish Professionals is headquartered.
Club Boca, which had 2,500 people at last year's event, expects another big crowd, said office manager Greg Sage.
Rudnick said 700 people have married after meeting through his group. But match-making marketing has kept the 29-year-old so busy he's hardly had the time.
"I've almost defeated my own purpose," he said.
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