Dear God, I’m Ready To Meet The One

by Holly Lebowitz Rossi

What’s a nice single Jewish girl in search of a smart, funny man doing at a place affectionately called BJ?

Capitalizing on the latest, greatest trend in matchmaking—one even your mother can get excited about.

Congregation B’nai Jeshurun (yes, their url is bj.org) in New York City is renowned as a home for hip, young Jews, and, without even billing itself as a singles organization, the congregation’s twenty- and thirtysomething networking group, Tze’irim, has recently been the source of a number of happy matches.

One of those is Lauren Rott, whose first date with her fiancé involved dancing with the Torah at a Tze’irim Simchat Torah celebration. Rott sees same-faith dating as a wonderful byproduct of being part of a spiritual community: “I think it’s a great way to meet somebody, not necessarily with the stigma of an online dating service or singles party. People come to our events as a way of making friends, and within that, their chance of meeting someone is even greater.”

It’s plenty hard to find a partner to date and eventually marry. It can feel even harder when you want to meet someone who shares not only your love of sushi and old movies, but also your deepest-held religious and spiritual beliefs.