Summertime at...

THE

/-

Mirjam Gunz-Schwarcz and, inset, Anita Turtletaub.

A Weekend Of Singles

Sixth Bais Chabad Shabbaton culls solo Jews from
all over the place .. . looking, perhaps, for you.

.

LYNNE MEREDITH COHN STAFF WRITER

or three years now, Jewish
singles have converged in
West Bloomfield on Labor
Day weekend, hoping to
meet their beshert. Some have —
the 25th couple who paired up
was married Aug. 17 — and at
least 14 babies have been born to
these couples.
As for the ones who haven't
gotten married — well, they still
have a ball.
The Bais Chabad Shabbaton-
im, planned over Labor Day and
/-
Presidents Day weekends, are
geared for observant singles over
30, with some twentysomethings
and less observant singles still
attending.
"When you go to a singles
weekend, psychologically it's so
difficult — you have to keep a
smile on the whole time," says
Mirjam Gunz-Schwarcz, assis-
tant to Shabbaton coordinator
Dr. Anita Turtletaub. "Yet I be-
lieve if you go with the idea that
you'll have a good time, your at-
titude is better for meeting
someone."
The Aug. 29-31 event at Bais
Chabad Torah Center in West
Bloomfield is Turtletaub's sixth
venture into planning an event
for Michigan's Jewish singles
scene.
Divorced and looking to meet
someone herself at the time,
Turtletaub recalls, "it seemed
like most Orthodox people in the
Midwest were going to New
York [to meet someone], and
seemed unfair that New York
was the mecca of Orthodox dat-
ing. The personality of the Mid-
westerner is somewhat different,
\
/— and [some people] didn't have
the money or inclination to go to
New York all the time [to meet
someone]."
A quick call to the national
Orthodox Union (0-U) and

F

Turtletaub was opening up a
Midwest office for the 0-U's sin-
gles division, voluntarily.
Her first Shabbaton drew 175
people. Eventually, the O-U
hired her, and while lecturing at
an East Coast shabbaton,
Turtletaub met the man who be-
came her husband.
No longer working for the 0-
U, Turtletaub instead works for
the people she used to be — sin-
gles searching for their beshert.
She came to the aid of metro
Detroiters — from her home
base in Chicago — by way of
Rabbi Elimelech Silberberg, the
rabbi of Bais Chabad of West
Bloomfield who wanted to start
some singles efforts.
Most Orthodox Jets get mar-
ried in their 20s, says Gunz-
Schwarcz. But for those who
remain single into their 30s —
including divorcees and ba'alei
teshuvah (newly observant) —
it's a different scene.
"Older singles have less con-
nections and need more assis-
tance," says Gunz-Schwarcz.
Turtletaub gives "the person-
al touch; I'm there and I make
sure everyone meets who they're
supposed to be meeting. I'm
bringing singles from all over the
United States and Canada right
to their doorstep."
For $175, singles get mixers,
meals, home hospitality, a musi-
cal melava malka (post-Shabbat
party) and an elaborate Sunday
brunch. Plus, at the upcoming
event, Rabbi Jeff Forsythe from
Brooklyn, N.Y., will speak about
forming successful relationships.
The weekend ends with whirly-
ball.
"If you're single and want to
meet someone, you have to make
an effort. It's not going to knock
at your door," cautions Gunz-
Schwarcz.

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