YI Woodmere singles event’s target: 45—55

Older Five Towns singles have a new place to meet and mingle: The Young Israel of Woodmere’s Singles Initiative.

The YIW group has been organizing high-quality matchmaking events, and on Dec. 21, greeted a capacity crowd at Masago Asian Fusion restaurant, 1034 Broadway in Woodmere for wine tastings, an elegant four course meal, and lots of networking. The event, for men and women aged 45 to 55, was billed as A Sterling Evening.

In the run up to the event, organizers got calls and emails with requests to attend from Florida, Missouri and Europe. Because of a lack of space and to maintain a controlled atmosphere, they needed to cap the event at 70 men and women and had to close registration, turning people away.

Rabbi Aaron Glatt, assistant to the rabbi at YIW, welcomed the men and women on behalf of the YIW and gave a short dvar Torah. Amir Besterman of Yarden Wines walked among the tables and explained each of the wines presented. YIW member and Judaica expert Jonathan Greenstein, host of The Jewish Channel’s “Jewish Gilt” program, presented a 15-minute interactive slide show about antique silver.

The YIW’S 20 member Singles Initiative Committee plans events, activities and programs to facilitate matchmaking among all age groups. Previous events included a Salad Wars program where groups of men and women worked together on a salad making task, and a Dine ’N Meet program at a community Shabbaton, both for younger singles.

The singles, evenly divided between men and women, were seated at tables in the dining room and the men rotated after each course to the next table, enabling the men and women to meet in a relaxed way.

As the program came to a close, the men, dressed in jackets and ties, and the women fashionably dressed as well, continued talking animatedly, in a warm, relaxed and yet high-energy atmosphere.

Facilitators assisted the men and women in introducing and answering questions, providing a list to each participant for future contacts.

This vibrant event committee from the Young Israel included Marjorie Glatt and Sima Greenstein (also online connectors with YUConnects), Shari Kaufman, Sheri Hammer, Sandy Klein, Batsheva Donner, Mark Bernstein and Bonnie Sigman. Malky Galler and Baila Sebrow (matchmakers with SawYouAtSinai) lent a hand for the night and will assist with follow-up. The Orthodox Union’s Singles Connection and SawYouAtSinai helped publicize the event.

One woman took a list of participants and as she left told one of the facilitators that the event was in “very good taste, very nice. I didn’t feel uncomfortable. It was an upscale place and the food was delicious.”

A man, glass in hand, commended one of the facilitators. “You did G-d’s work,” he said. “Bringing people together in a pleasant, informal setting allowed people to try to get to know each other in a somewhat relaxed fashion and the food was great.”

“It was a good experience,” said another man as he left, and smiled, “I got two numbers.”

“It was a successful event,” assessed Sebrow, one of the facilitators. “There was positive energy and hopefully positive outcomes.”

“It was a different kind of event,” said Hammer. “They see potential here. We tried to make it an interesting event with things going on throughout the evening. It was diverse and yet homogeneous. Something good should come from this.”

For more info or to get emails on upcoming events, visit YIWmeet@gmail.com.