Pages

Sunday, August 10, 2008

First Srugim, now this

Hattip: Eliezer Strongbad

A Jewish singles scene on the Upper West Side of Manhattan?!

No way!

Surely this is breaking news!

Sigh.

Following in the footsteps of the WSJ, which featured a story on Jewish dating in its "Houses of Worship" column, the New York Times has "discovered" the Jewish singles scene in the UWS and written about it.
The Westmont is home to large numbers of young Orthodox Jews, and because pressing elevator buttons is forbidden on the Sabbath, which begins Friday evening, the many young people who had been invited to dinners in the building were hiking up multiple flights to reach their destinations.

Young men wearing dark suits pressed against the walls as young women in pencil skirts and high heels carefully made their way up the stairs, balancing berry pies and dishes of potato salad in their arms.

One of the dinners took place in the 12th-floor apartment of Baruch November, a 31-year-old Orthodox man. In the living room, a score of young men and women perched on futons and folding chairs, waiting in slightly awkward silence for the meal to begin.

I looooooove the awkwardness of a singles' meal (or at least, meals featuring mostly singles - I don't think I've ever actually been at a singles-only meal). It always lends itself to some good story afterward. At any rate, the article is an interesting (if not exactly new) read. I really do wonder what people who aren't familiar with the community think, though. Like, I would think it sounds slightly insane. Or is it just me?

1 comment:

  1. Outsiders must think we are so strange. Heck, even I think the UWS scene is strange! Thank G-d I don't live there...

    ReplyDelete