FIND ME A DATE
page 48
Right: Sue Ellen Simon of
Temple Beth El's Michigan
Jewish Singles Network.
Career
Confused?
Consider These
Options
Far right: Kari Provizer of
Temple Israel's Beshert
Connection.
Below: JoAnn Miller of Lunch
For Two.
JENNIFER FINER
Bottom: A New Beginning's
computer system.
SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
Roger Herman of North Car-
olina is a business futurist who
concentrates on workforce
trends. He paints a futuristic
sci-fi look at job opportunities
for young adults. Here are
some of his projections:
Service industries
C/D
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CC
UJ
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extensive research to en-
sure that members are
"legally single" and make
reservations for you, the
meals are on you.
Farmington Single
Professionals is another
local organization for
searching singles. The
group plans events for
singles — a dart league,
a bowling league, euchre
and dinner parties.
Some area dating ser-
vices refused to give in-
formation over the phone,
while many did not re-
turn calls.
With this type of corn-
petition, can the Reform
temples keep up with
technologically sophisti-
cated secular services?
For those who want the as-
surance of finding only Jewish
dates, perhaps. But even Lunch
For Two and A New Beginning
can find another Jew among
their member lists, if you so de-
sire.
Nationwide, a handful of Jew-
ish singles networks are already
doing what the temples are try-
ing. Jewish singles networks ex-
ist in south Florida, New York,
the Mid-Atlantic region, Colorado,
Indianapolis, Cleveland and Al-
buquerque.
Who signs up? People who are
"sick of the bar scene, don't know
how to meet people. People who
want to have fun with dating and
who want to meet someone Jew-
ish," says Mrs. Provizer.
Any Jewish single, age 21 and
up, can join the Beshert Connec-
tion, regardless of denomination.
Current members range from 24
to 40 years of age.
Debbie Willens, 48, learned of
the Beshert Connection from The
Jewish News. The big draw was
that it's all Jewish people. The
only problem: Not enough men
have signed up.
"There are so many guys that
think this is a weird way to date,"
says Ms. Willens. At the same
time, many men complain "they
can't meet any nice Jewish girls.
And I say to them, 'You can't
meet nice Jewish girls in a bar.'
The bar scene is not the thing —
especially if you want to meet
quality people. The quality of peo-
ple in these books is ex-
cellent."
Tina Farentino and
Hank Greenwald are the
Jewish owners of A New
Beginning. Using com-
puters, members can
learn personal history, see
a video and hear the per-
son talk about him/herself.
They specify characteris-
tics they'd like in a date,
including ethnicity or re-
ligion, and the computer
finds potential matches.
With other dating ser-
vices, "it's a blind date, and
you're trusting your salesperson,"
says Jeff Reiter, general manag-
er of A New Beginning. Like the
temples, A New Beginning is a
self-selecting service.
JoAnn Miller, 38, is president
of Lunch For Two. She says sin-
gle Detroiters join dating services
because they don't know where
else to turn.
"We're brought up with the
idea that you leave your parents'
house, get your degree and while
[at college], meet the man of your
dreams, marry him, start on your
merry way. I believe people join
dating services for the mere fact
that it is so difficult out there."
Dan X., who is Jewish, joined
Lunch For Two because he was
tired of meeting people at bars.
Out of two dates so far, one has
moved on to dinner and one has
become a friend.
On his membership question-
naire, Dan, 28, indicated that he
wants a Jewish partner.
"At first you'd like to meet the
woman of your dreams, but I had
so much fun meeting the girl rm
gonna still be friends with that I
probably would stay a member
just to meet people," he says.
Dan might give a temple dat-
ing service a try, but he hes-
itates. "I haven't been a good
judge of whom to date in the
past. Sometimes I get lucky;
sometimes I don't. Picking
somebody out of a book is
even harder, I think."
Alan (a pseudonym to en-
sure confidentiality) found the
Beshert Connection through
The Jewish News. He says it's
a "struggle" to meet other sin-
gle Jews in Detroit.
"The Jewish community
neglects the singles," says
Alan, 38. "It's nice to see some
of the shuls trying to do some-
thing."
For singles in their 20s, Alan
says it's easier. "If I go to a YAD
event, rm the oldest person there.
It seems to be a big stigma here
in Detroit being single and in
your late 30s, whereas if you go
to Chicago, it's the norm."
"Most people have the gen-
eral impression this means
flipping burgers at McDon.-
ald's. It goes far beyond," he
said. "We are seeing new oc-
cupations in the future with
opportunities that don't even
exist today. Who would have
thought of a job called a Web
master for someone who man-
ages Internet activities for
companies? The job is still too
t: new to see how high it will go
in pay."
The service industry he talks
about also includes hospitali-
ty, finance and banking jobs
and other service-oriented
fields. Mr. Herman said some
service industries, such as dry
cleaners and fast-food restau-
rants, are growing so rapidly
they will have a number of
management job openings.
Ever hear of a neighbor-
hood concierge?
If not, you'll soon see people
in this unique new job, which
is similar to a hotel concierge.
This person does all the er-
rands regular folks in the
neighborhood don't have time
to do — run to the cleaners,
take the car to the mechanic or
plan a party.
Boston has some neighbor-
hood concierges, and corpora-
tions are also employing
concierges for their employees.
It doesn't take a brain sur-
geon to figure out that any-
thing having to do with
computers is, and will con-
tinue to be, a hot field.
From programming to com-
puter applications, there will
be tons of jobs. "Thday's gener-
ation of 20s and 30s will be dri-
ving the industry," Mr.
Herman said, citing an inno-
vation called Smart House.
The application lets you call
home from your office to per-
form tasks such as opening or
CAREERS page 52