Matzo Ball

Historical

Historically, Jews in Europe would hide in their homes and villages during the Christmas holiday, for fear of violence from locals. In the United States, Christmas and Christmas Eve typically serve as times of family gathering and prayer for Christians and many others.

The atmosphere of religious liberalism and tolerance in the United States has offered American Jews the opportunity to enjoy the holiday period.

At the same time, many American Jews do not engage in the same family-gathering activities on the Christmas holiday that Christians in the United States do.

Social

With Christmas Day a work holiday throughout the United States, there is a space of unfilled free time during which much of American commerce and society is not functioning, and which could lead to a sense of alienation or loneliness for American Jews.

Typical contemporary activities were usually limited to "Chinese and a movie"—consuming a meal at a Chinese restaurant, which tend to be open for business on the Christmas holiday, and watching a movie at the theater or at home, stereotypically a rerun of It's a Wonderful Life.

With the rise of the Matzo Ball and similar local events, the night of December 24 has become an opportunity to transform this otherwise brief period into one made to gather, socialize, catch up with old friends, network, drink, flirt, and romance. The event has turned Christmas Eve into a matchmaking or dating event for young Jews and "the biggest singles night of the year." The event is an opportunity to meet "'a lot of like-minded people dressed up to have a good time, network, find their mate'."

Whether "by their own volition or by the insistent nudging of their parents and grandparents," many young American Jews now attend these Christmas Eve singles events. While some party-goers admit that they attend with an eye toward flirting and romance, others maintain that they go only to spend time with friends, dance, and drink cocktails.

Events such as the Matzo Ball are also seen by some leaders in the Jewish community as a last chance to engage some young American Jews who come "out of the woodwork" for drinking and socializing but are otherwise difficult to reach and uninvolved with Jewish organizations.

Event

The first Matzo Ball event was held in Boston in 1987 and organized by local social figure Andy Rudnick.

As a Boston University senior in political science and part-time bartender in 1986, Rudnick attended a Jewish young professionals Christmas Eve gathering at a local hotel, where he found a staid atmosphere similar to a high school prom, with women on one side of the room, and men on the other. The environment, including the strong lighting, waits to purchase drink tickets and to receive a drink, bad music, and stale latkes were not conductive to meeting people and having fun.

Following that incident, Rudnick began developing the idea for hosting an event the next December 24 at the nightclub he then bartended part-time at, Metro. He and his friends built up awareness of the upcoming event through word of mouth, posters, and flyers hand-distributed, including at malls. Some coverage of the event by local radio DJs, who invited Rudnick on-air to promote it, and Rudnick's on-air exaggerations about expected ticket sales, helped spread the word and 2,000 people attended the first Matzo Ball. Rudnick soon quit his job in commercial real estate to focus on the organization and event, and expanding to other cities.

The name of the event and the name of the organization were created on-the-spot in 1987. The event name was inspired by Rudnick's Irish-American coworker's question about Jewish cuisine, and the organization's name was thought up by Rudnick and his Italian-American nightclub bosses, Boston Entertainment mogul brothers John and Patrick Lyons, who were concerned about offending both Jews and Christians with the stereotypical name Matzo Ball for an event being held on Christmas Eve, and harming the club's reputation. Other names for the event considered by Rudnick were 'Tribe Trot' and 'Heeb Hop', both of which were rejected upon the recommendation of Rudnick's mother, who also found the name Matzo Ball to be cute.

The event has permeated American Jewish consciousness, even winding up in fiction, and has been cited as a desired destination in online gossip publications.

Tickets and crowd

Matzo Ball events are generally held at popular nightclubs in the cities in which the event is located. The average age range of the crowd spans from the 20s through 40s, unless otherwise specified. A ticket purchased at the door can cost $30–40.

Attendance at the New York event can average from 1,100 to 1,700 people, with an entry line forming outside the venue 30 minutes before the scheduled start time. Crowd sizes at smaller venues, like in Boca Raton, can be 800 to 1,000 people., but with a crowd that arrives later, leading to a long line for entry at midnight.

The event is typically scheduled to begin at 8 or 9 p.m. and run through the last call time for the state/locality, with peak attendance and flirting at approximately midnight.

In some cities, ticket prices include hors d'oeuvres and sometimes a ticket for a free drink, sometimes limited to early arrivals. The crowd is often well-dressed.

Associated activities

Some party-goers to Christmas Eve singles events "pregame" with friends at home before arriving at the event.

In some cities, the Matzo Ball is linked officially or unofficially to other Jewish events on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, such as volunteering at local food banks.

Rudnick and SYJP have also experimented with a variety of other activities, including singles cruises, Valentine's Day and Passover-linked parties, and a magazine.

Co-sponsorship

The official organizer for the Matzo Ball events is Rudnick's Society of Young Jewish Professionals. An occasional sponsor of the Matzo Ball is JDate, even during those periods when JDate organized its own Christmas Eve event in Los Angeles under the name 'Schmooz-a-Palooza'.

Local groups and individuals also sometimes work with SYJP, especially when the event is new or newly reintroduced in a given city.

Crowd diversity

At various times, the Matzo Ball has experimented with dividing some of its venues by age into different rooms or even separate adjacent venues, even giving a separate event name, "The Big Chill", to the party catering to 30-somethings seeking a less-noisy environment. The events are open to the public, and couples and non-Jews looking for a Christmas Eve activity are welcome to come, "though, obviously, it caters largely to young people who aren't spending Christmas Eve with their families or at church."

In some Matzo Ball cities, a number of attendees are from out-of-town, particularly in cities that have large numbers of visitors or where families tend to gather for the winter holidays, such as Boca Raton, which has a large number of New Yorkers during the holiday period.

Atmosphere

Rudnick's formula for the Matzo Ball atmosphere is to find a large venue that can handle the large crowds, and for the lights to get dimmer and the music to get louder gradually over the course of the night. This allows for easier mingling and conversation earlier in the night before the hip-hop and dance/house music becomes loud enough to encourage dancing.

Rudnick rejects the usual aspects of Jewish social events, including name tags, announcements, and live bands, because they would be a distraction from mingling.

Locations

Rudnick and SYJP expand the Matzo Ball to new cities when they believe that have found the infrastructure and potential clientele of young, upscale Jewish people necessary to make the event successful.

As of 2014, it has expanded to the following cities:

In past years, the Matzo Ball also held events in the following cities where it no longer does:

Prior to the mid-2000s, in Los Angeles, the Matzo Ball had ceded the region to the much more locally long-standing Schmooz-a-Palooza hosted by Stu & Lew Productions (which was acquired by JDate in 2006), before becoming a co-promoter for the event with JDate. Starting at least as early as 2009, the Matzo Ball partnered with JDate and promoted as a Matzo Ball the JDate/Stu & Lew Productions Schmooz-a-Palooza. By 2014, the Schmooz-a-Palooza brand appeared to have been retired from use.

Results

Rudnick promotes the in-person meetings that take place at the Matzo Ball as an antidote to online dating and its tendency to urge daters to always look for an even better catch around the corner.

The socializing and flirting that takes place at the Matzo Ball gives rise to many romantic relationships. The organizers believe that more than 1,000 marriages have resulted from meetings at various Matzo Balls (and stopped counting after reaching the 1,000 mark), and Rudnick himself met his wife at a Matzo Ball in 1997, where she tended bar.

As of the mid-2010s, there is now a "second generation" of Matzo Ball attendees — children born to parents who first met at the Matzo Ball in previous decades — who are now old enough to attend.

Competitors

There are also a number of competitors to the Matzo Ball and other events organized in cities where no Matzo Ball is held.

The competition among the Christmas Eve parties has occasionally been stiff, especially during the "Matzo Ball wars of the early 90s", with use of similar-sounding event names, the use of touts and bouncers to chase away those touts outside events, and ticket dumping to "crush" the competition.

The Ball

A major competitor to the Matzo Ball in New York is known simply as "The Ball", which began operations in 1994. In New York City, The Ball focuses on having separate venues, five as of the early 2010, targeted by age demographic, and with attendees receiving limousine service between venues, although party-goers must purchase an all-access pass to attend all five events.

In 2008, the organizer of The Ball, LetMyPeopleGo, attempted to expand the event into 24 other cities with significant Jewish populations. In almost all of those cities, with local marketing and co-hosting of the event performed by JDate, it was cancelled near the event date.

However, the Los Angeles version of The Ball, which was instead co-sponsored and co-marketed by the young adults divisions of the LA Guardians, the Los Angeles Jewish Home for the Aging foundation, was successful and held again in 2009. The co-sponsorship continued, raising money for the LA Jewish Home, through 2012. In 2013, the Guardians and The Ball broke off their association, as the Guardians began organizing their own Christmas Eve event. The Ball, in turn, partnered nationally with online dating sites Match.com and OKCupid, both of which advertised The Ball events across the country to their members.

As of 2014, The Ball held Christmas Eve events in two cities: Los Angeles and New York.

New York City

Other New York City Jewish Christmas Eve events include parties for "the pro-Israel crowd, Jewish gays and lesbians, and downtown Jewish hipsters."

The sheer number of events, combined with the compactness of Manhattan, means that events are often held within a short walking distance, if not eyesight of one another.

Chicago

Likewise, by the late 2000s, Chicago Jewish Christmas Eve events ran the gamut of tastes and preferred crowd. These included gatherings named 'Rockmitzvah', 'Hubukkah', the 'Heebonism' bash (sponsored by Heeb Magazine), and the more mainstream 'The Juju Ball' and 'Retro Eve', a long running but now defunct event.

Washington, DC

In Washington, DC, a longtime competitor and alternative to the Matzo Ball has been the Gefilte Fish Gala, an event with no admission charge but only a requested donation, which is usually also held on Christmas Eve unless the night of the 24th coincides with Friday night, the Jewish sabbath.

Beginning in 2010, an informal group of Washington, DC, Jewish young professionals decided to organize another competitor to the Matzo Ball, the Falafel Frenzy, with all proceeds going to charity. The event has been successful in collecting money for local charities and continues to be held.

Atlanta

Atlanta, which had previously hosted an annual "Matzah Ball" unrelated to the SYJP event, has been the home of competing events for both mainstream audiences, such as the 'Bagel Bash', and niche groups, such as the local NCJW section's 'Santa Klutz Ball' for older singles.

Houston

For a number of years, the Houston JCC sponsored that city's annual 'Bagel Ball' Christmas Eve party, which is now run independently.

Heeb Magazine 'Heebonism' events

Heeb Magazine sponsored and organized its 'Heebonism' events in various U.S. cities on Christmas Eve, targeted toward a "hip" audience seeking an alternative to events like the Matzo Ball, beginning in the late 2000s. By 2009, Heebonism had expanded to five cities nationally. Nationally, Heebonism organizers sought to offer a more "culturally substantive" and non-conformist event, with activities including "strip dreidel", video games, and light food. At the Los Angeles/Palm Springs Heebonism in 2009, strip dreidel was led by porn stars James Deen and Joanna Angel. In Denver, the local Heebonism event had its origin as a private pre-party for those seeking alternative entertainment before heading to the Matzo Ball. By 2013, Heebonism had retrenched and Heebonism events outside of Denver apparently had been eliminated.

Jewish community organized events

Other major cities have homegrown and well-attended Christmas Eve events that were established long before the Matzo Ball or The Ball entered the local scene.

Federation YAD/YLD

These include Seattle's Latkepalooza, Cincinnati's Latkapalooza San Francisco's The Latke Ball, Tampa's Vodka Latke, Phoenix's Mazelpalooza, Dallas's Matzah Ball, and Austin's Mazel Ball, all of which are sponsored by their respective Jewish Federation's young professionals division.

Jewish Community Centers/Hillels/FIDF

Christmas Eve events run by local Jewish Community Centers, typically by their young adults division, include Chicago's Matzo Bash (in conjunction with Taglit - Birthright Israel, FIDF, and other groups), Orland's Twelve24, Dallas's Matzah Ball (in conjunction with the local Federation young adults division), and Las Vegas's 'Light it Up' (previously ran for 17 years as the Bagel Ball).

Cleveland's local Hillel young professionals group co-sponsors with FIDF the annual Wrap Up Bash.

Schmooz-a-Palooza

Schmooz-a-Palooza was the long-running Los Angeles counterpart to the Matzo Ball, and was held for the 20th straight year in 2013. It originated with Stu & Lew Productions, which was acquired by JDate in 2006. The event evolved over the years from a social mixer to a party atmosphere, bringing together, for example, southern Californians who had not seen each other since their younger years in Jewish communal settings. It was also a noted opportunity for reconnecting and romance.

By the late 2000s and early 2010s, Schmooz-a-Palooza had become integrated into the Matzo Ball network of nationwide events and faced competition from other local events, including a local young Jewish professionals charitable group's directly competing mixer and a Jewish comedy night at the Laugh Factory, along with more loosely organized events, such as music performances by Jewish musicians and informal socializing and drinking organized by local Moishe Houses.

By 2014, the Stu & Lew Productions and 'Schmooz-a-Palooza' brands appeared to no longer be in use for Christmas Eve parties and to have been retired.

Other Christmas Eve singles events

Prior to Rudnick's organizing of the Matzo Ball in Boston in 1987 and expansion into other cities, Jewish organizations in other cities had used similar names for their own Christmas Eve singles events.

The Jewish Community Center of Dallas organizes its annual "Matzoh Ball" or "Matzah Ball" event, having begun in either 1981 or 1984. The event continues to be run each Christmas Eve under that name, now jointly organized by the JCC of Dallas and the local Jewish Federation young adults division, and is unaffiliated with the Matzo Ball event and Rudnick.

Atlanta also had its own "Matzah Ball" for many years.

An identically named Matzoball event has been held on Christmas Eve in Toronto since 1988. As of 2013, it is sponsored by the Canadian unit of the Jewish National Fund and organized by Magen Boys Entertainment. The event organizers have indicated their desire to expand to other cities in Canada, particularly Montreal and Vancouver, in future years.

SYJP trademark disputes over Matzo Ball name

Rudnick and SYJP have also come into conflict with organizers of other events named similarly to Matzo Ball, including Seattle's Jewish Federation young leadership division, which changed it event name from Matzah Ball to Latkapalooza in 2004 after receiving a cease-and-desist letter from Rudnik's attorneys. The Federation's attorney's insisted that because of the lapse in SYJP's federal trademark registration for the term in the late 1990s, and because the Federation had been using the term locally during that period, they were entitled to continue to do so.

Bowling-related events

The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles entertainment division organized a late spring "Matzah Bowl" event for a number of years, beginning in 1996. In Atlanta, the promoter of the 'Bagel Bash' organized an early spring bowling function for singles called the "Matzah Bowl". A 2009 Christmas Eve musical event at Brooklyn Bowl, co-sponsored by Israel's New York Consulate General, was dubbed "The Matzah Bowl". The event derived its name in part from its location in a Brooklyn bowling alley.

Other events not targeted at single adults

Smaller Jewish community entities have also used variations on the "Matzo Bowl" name for a variety of events, including for knowledge competitions held by individual synagogues and fundraising events organized by chapters of Alpha Epsilon Pi.

The Greater Kansas City Council of BBYO and its AZA Nordaunian chapter sponsor a large annual teen dance called the Matzo Ball, which celebrated its 75th anniversary in April 2010.

Criticisms

The Matzo Ball and similar events have been subject to mild criticism that the events are "meet markets" or, more punningly, "[kosher] meat markets." Women attendees tend to dress inappropriately in a revealing manner while men at the event are liable to use awkward pickup lines and noticeably prowl.