Group therapy in a blog.
NYC X-Mas Eve Jewparties: The JTA Recap
Ballers (definition via Urban Dictionary)
A thug that has “made it” to the big time. Originally referred [to] ball players that made it out of the streets to make millions as a pro ball player, but now is used to describe any thug that is living large.
Ex: Pain is a part of the game when you’re a baller.
Matzoballers (definition via EDK)
Young Jews who spend their Christmas Eves party-hopping and hoping to get lucky.
Ex: Those Matzoballers were trippin’ if they thought they had it made in the shade with all them Hebrew honeys because oh-no-they-di’n’t.
Every Christmas Eve, as I’ve said before, the young Jews go a little stir-crazy. In an apparent fusion of insanity and journalistic responsibility, the JTA’s Berkman and Harris hit 5 NYC parties in one night, trying to get a flavor for who threw the best parties for Jews on Christmas Eve.
You can hear “all about it” in this JTA podcast. And by “all about it,” I mean that there wasn’t much to tell other than that the best party was thrown by the gay community. But that’s not JTA’s fault, really; the parties are frighteningly similar and non-exciting, and as one of the young newsmen noted (and I paraphrase) you reach a point when you’ve reached a point. And then you tip.
Enjoy!
I’m a fan of your writing as I told you once privately, Esther, but I think what you’ve written here is neither accurate nor true.
First, taking nothing away from the gay event which I’m sure was great and which the reporters state had the best “Christmas spirit,” the reporters clearly cite our event at Hiro as the “best party” of the night and the “party of the year” in the podcast.
Second, I think it’s easy to generalize and to form an impression of all of these events from whatever events you did attend in whatever year(s) you did attend them. But you told me once that you’ve never attended our event and I don’t think that’s changed. Given that, I think it’s unfair to lump our event with the others as “frighteningly similar” and “non-exciting.”
These JTA reporters are able to offer “party-hopping” stories such as these because there are many Dec 24 Jewish events in NYC each year. But our event, “The Ball,” has been the biggest event, by far, in each of the 13 years of its existence. In fact this year more than 4,500 people attended which I have every reason to believe was the best-attended Jewish Singles event in US history and was likely the biggest “singles event” ever more generally. (Sorry for how bombastic that sounds).
This year, we took over 5 major NYC venues for our 20’s and 30s event and provided another event in a 6th venue for 600+ Jewish Singles age 40 and above. I don’t think any other organization or group – Jewish or otherwise – has ever done anything like that. Yes, our 20’s and 30’s event at Hiro was, as the reporter stated “rocking” and it was similar to the other events in that it featured a DJ and dancing. But that wasn’t all we offered on that night.
At The Park, we offered multiple environments for people to meet and talk including a beautiful heated outdoor garden. At Earth, we deliberately hired a DJ specializing in quieter lounge music so that it would be easy to talk and so that people who met at one of the other venues would have a place to come to to grab a seat and converse further. At Highline Ballroom, we offered a great live 80’s cover band. At The Cabanas we offered two more environments, including another lounge environment for easy conversation. Back at Hiro, there were three performances by aerialists as one of the reporters mentioned.
In past years, we offered various forms of entertainment including comedians like Curb Your Enthusiasm’s Susie Essman. We even booked Jon Stewart in 1996 or 1997 but I canceled his appearance prior to The Ball when I realized that very few potential attendees had heard of him at that time. Not the best decision I ever made
Unique to our event, we provided free Hummer limousine service between our 5 downtown parties. Virtually everyone was able to leave one venue and immediately enter a limo for a luxurious ride to their next party destination (and this provided another great opportunity for meeting as the limos held 20 people each).
Our event is relatively inexpensive but we realize that the entire night – with taxis or parking, drinks, coat check, etc – isn’t and we also realize that it’s a night that people look forward to all year. So we work very hard to make sure that it’s a great night every year in every aspect – the admission process, coat check, entertainment, limos and, particularly, adjusting the lights and music to please (I’m generalizing now) both the 25-year old attendee who just wants to dance and the 35-year old who only wants to meet someone special. Providing many different environments and experiences further accomplishes this and our dedication to providing these different experiences (and to not providing simply a dark, loud club environment) is another reason that I think our event is unique. In fact, I think it’s one of the main reasons our event has remained the most popular for so long.
I realize this long comment is a more-than-a-little self-indulgent and if anyone got this far – thanks. I appreciate you letting me post it.
Jeff Strank
Founder
LetMyPeopleGo.com
Jeff, thanks for writing and no need to thank for posting–that’s what we do here. It’s all about the conversation, and I’m more than willing to admit that my experience may differ from other people’s.
I guess everyone hears reports from different sources, and even the same podcast can result in different impressions…glad you guys had a great time at your party/ies, but most of the “on-the-street” reports I heard were “frighteningly similar.” Most of the responses from friends who’d been to these parties had the best time when they went with a group of friends to hang out with, independent of the venue/organizers. And of the ones I talked to (admittedly within my immediate sphere of contacts, whatever that means in terms of it being a representative/non-representative sample), most of those reported that “you know, it’s a Matzo ball…I guess it was ok, but nothing special.”
That said, I’m glad your parties have been so successful and that you continue to get nachas out of them. Certainly, there’s a market for it, as Jews apparently need to party Christmas Eve. But the whole thing can be overwhelming…
Nice job turning away Jon Stewart, though.
Please send me the list of future “rejects” from your parties, so I can know which Jewish celebrity-to-be will break big next. 
I think it’s a grand tradition, that even if regularly ‘overdone’, is a good ongoing effort at a year end ‘mixer’. And goodness knows we really need more of that, right? So however it gets done, it’s still probably a good thing. Cheers & Good Luck, ‘VJ’
[…] pans the concept of the NYC X-Mas Eve Jewparties on the whole as all “frighteningly similar and unexciting.” She sat the evening out, […]
There’s many parties to choose from and a gamut of fun possibilities and horror stories to acrue at any of these. One of my friends bristled at the thought of going to the LMPG party, hating the ‘type of people’ who go to it. Other friends bristled at the thought of going to Heebonism, cause why go to the Knitting Factory when you could have your pick of some pretty cool clubs. Different scenes for everyone.
And easy to have a bad time at any of these parties, but I, and I think thousands of others, must like something about them to come back every year. I left feeling like it was something special–if you’re a single Jew, there’s a damn lot of Jewish singles in one room (or 5 rooms) there to party.
Thanks, Jeff, for putting it on!
P.S. I haven’t totally figured out how the trackbacks work yet (I guess it puts the link there to my blog post automatically)?
Actually, I didn’t sit the evening out. I went to Heebonism. I should have said that. And I also should have noted that I had a pretty good time–lots of cool people from all walks of life, people I knew from various places and their friends whom I met for the first time. There were rooms with loud music, and rooms where you could actually hear people talk. And that’s pretty much what I wanted in an evening.
And Daedalus, btw, your trackback worked.
Did you observe [or partake in] the strip dreidel game? Very curious to hear how that went.
Um, as Buffy used to say, “A world of no.” I steered clear of that. Especially since a friend of mine went in with a camera and came out with pictures of men’s asses. So not my scene. But God bless the strip dreidel players, because the world needs all sorts…
Glad you had a good time, Daedelus.
i tend to steer clear of the MatzoBall. i honestly have more fun at a Chabad gathering than i would at one of these, and i’m far from religious. why is it that the Chabadniks are more enjoyable company? because the people who attend their events are not simply about “hooking up with other Jews.” it might also be because they don’t judge people based on how they look or what their background is.
with that said, a friend (who also shares my sentiments on avoiding the MatzoBall crowd) got free tickets from her job, and since my plans to travel out of town that week fell through i figured why not. it’s free, and if it sucks we can always leave and hit a nearby bar or 24 hour diner. we were there a grand total of 30 minutes before the music took a drastic turn for the worse, not to mention the fact that super creepy guys flocked to us like vultures to a carcass in the desert. did we have any interest in talking to them? no. in fact, the only reason we even went (other than it was free) was for a laugh. we heard the horror stories from people we knew who had gone to these in the past, and we wanted to see for ourselves if they were true. referring back to the judgment portion i mentioned in my opening paragraph, i noticed a bit of that when the girl standing on line in front of us checked in at the reception table and the ticket takers were curious about her last name- Petersen. they made some crack about it not being a Jewish last name, and she nonchalantly responded that her father converted. they simply retorted with “that’s cute.” once again, another example of people who forget that Jews-By-Choice are supposed to be held in the highest regards.
i apologize if anyone (especially Jeff Strank) finds my comment offensive, but the MatzoBall just isn’t for everyone.
H, I agree with you that these events (or any particular event) isn’t for everyone. But the event you are describing isn’t our event – the name of our event is “The Ball,” we didn’t give away any free tickets to the event, I purposely bring in and manage our own DJs so that the music never “takes a drastic turn for the worse” (although obviously that’s subjective), we had 7 DJs playing all sorts of different music in 6 venues rather than just one DJ in one venue, and our employees on that night (many of whom aren’t Jewish) would simply never say something like you described. In fact, being lumped in with events like the one you are describing was essentially the rationale for me posting in the first place. Sorry that you didn’t have a good time nevertheless.
Hi Jeff,
Just curious: were all the cougars at the under 40 parties, and all the piranha’s at Duvet? Did you hold the “older crowd” party at that venue just incase the 40+ men fell asleep before midnight? Was it co-sponsored by Levitra?
Seriously though, what was the proportion of men to women at that party and what was the # of people?
There were a little over 600 people at the 40+ party. I can’t personally report on the male/female ratio because I was managing the 20s and 30s events downtown and I wasn’t there. My manager and employees told me that it was a good mix of men and women and that people had a very good time. I realize that sounds like what you probably expected me to say but that is what they told me. We will definitely hold another 40+ event next Dec 24.