Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By richards on March 26, 2015

TIME Living Love Meet the Jewish Matchmaker of Your Mothers Dreams Erin Davis The logo for Shabbatness is a Challah-shaped heart. Inspired by her grandmother's Holocaust survival, Erin Davis wants to set up Jewish singles without anyone having to swipe left or right

Im sitting in a Manhattan apartment watching the sun set with 11 of New Yorks most eligible Jewish singles. Its Friday night and the table is a traditional Shabbat settinga Kiddush cup filled with red wine, freshly-blessed candles and challah bread thats been ripped apart and passed around the table. The crowd is hushed as Erin Davis a 30-year-old, waif-like blond, our host for the night, announces its time for ice breakers, where well read funny and ironic facts about each other and guess who it could be.

Later Ill leave after arranging a date with an adorable man handpicked by Davis whom my mother would kvellahem, gushover. This is Shabatness, an invite-only service that sets up young Jewish professionals over Shabbat dinners.

Davis is quite rare, a matchmaker who does things the artisanal way, setting up singles through dinner parties, not apps or algorithms. She started hosting at least one Shabbat dinner a month in 2013. I felt there was a void in the Jewish community of Shabbat dinners in intimate homes, she says. And I realized it was an ideal environment for singles to meet each other.

She interviews singles and promises those selected for the dinner a potential partner, a night of unlimited alcohol and a meal, at her apartment or one of the guests who chooses to host, all for just $36a division of 18, or chai in Hebrew, a lucky number in JudasimThe idea became a business when Davis applied and received a fellowship through PresenTense, a social entrepreneurial program with a focus on the Jewish community. Davis got access to mentors, donors and business classes to put her vision in place.

Labe Eden, a committee member at PresenTense who has attended a few Shabbatness dinners, says he was struck by Davis and her idea from the get go. He explains it as a more wholesome experience than dating at a bar. You dont have to necessarily impress anybody. You get to be you, he says.

The idea could seem old schoolbut each dinner has its own special twist. One dinner was called Bourbon and Beatbox, where American Idol contestant and special guest Jay Stone beatboxed the Shema, a prayer from the Torah. One night it was Magic and Macarons, where a Jewish magician performed and macarons were served for dessert. Another called Shabbat in the Sky was held in a 52nd-floor penthouse in New Yorks financial district. And her next one will feature only male homosexual couples.

Even with modern traditions, the core of the evening is Judaism. Davis inspiration comes from her own grandmother, Rose Goldberg, who survived the holocaust in hiding after being sent to the ghettos of Wladimir Wolynsk in Poland. I used to think she was just this old-school sweet Polish lady, Davis says. But after traveling Europe and researching the genocide, she felt it a strong pull toward preserving Jewish heritage and rituals.

And its a heritage thats getting diluted. A 2013 PEW study revealed that the percentage of U.S. adults who say they are Jewish when asked about their religion has been cut by about half since the late 1950s. And more than half of Jewish Americans have married a non-Jewish spouse.

The studies disturb me, and there are small things to do to keep the tradition alive but make it our own, she says. And the recent rise of anti-Semitism across Europe is especially troubling to her, even thought its not prevalent in New York.

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Meet The Jewish Matchmaker of Your Mothers Dreams

Category: Jewish American Heritage Month
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