13 Days Til Xmas

Matchmaker, Matchmaker Lent Me a Hand - Attempt #4

Hello my friends!  Mazel Tov!  I feel LUCKY!  

Whew I am feeling so much better after having met my Shadchan.  What's a Shadchan you ask?  Well I'll tell you.  She is a Jewish Matchmaker, a centuries old tradition. Believe me, I didn't know what one was when I began either but Charlotte made the arrangements, and I did after all promise to put my trust in her wisdom.   I have a REALLY good feeling about the match from this meeting today. 

Let me set the scene.  Lower East Side Manhattan - Crossing Delancey, like the movie, only in the winter and there is no pickle guy on the corner, no children in the park and no bubbe (grandmother) on the bench giving us advice.  Instead, we found ourselves passing Chinese restaurants with Christmas lights beside converted synagogues in what once was a flourishing Jewish community.  Now it's different.  But tucked in this little gem of a neighborhood I had never been in before was my Shadchan - my matchmaker, Mrs. Sadie Finkelstein, and she is WONDERFUL!

Somehow, it escaped her concern that I wasn't Jewish.  Never once did the word 'shiksa' leave her lips.  Did it matter to her?  I don't think so, although I think it probably should have.  Who knows, perhaps the man she has in mind for me isn't Jewish either.  Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself.  We arrived freezing and sweet, nurturing Sadie warmly greeted us with food and coffee.  I think she was around seventy years old but quite the hipster, wearing a fashionable Missoni tunic!  In her Eastern European accent infused with Yiddish and English, Charlotte and I learned words that I could readily adapt to my own predicament of singlehood.  It was strange how we understood what she was saying even when she referred to someone as 'dreck'  It just sounded how she meant it - trash.

This is what we learned: There's no use in kvetching.  Complaining is fruitless because according to Sadala (our cute name for her,) "Man plans and God laughs."  Apparently, I shouldn't worry so about finding a man, because I'm quite the shayner maidel: a beautiful girl.  Of course, I am acting quite meshuggena (crazy) with all my lists because according to Sadie, my beshert won't be found using criteria.  After all, your beshert is your fate - the man who is pre-determined for you.  So, apparently, it's farkakte (ridiculous) to stress over this dating thing.  Cause' clearly, I'm not in control here.  

Well, intrepid daters, once Sadie read my completed Shidduch Profile Questionnaire - which I kid you not had questions like: Do I wear stockings, do I go to the movies, she quickly produced my match.  Somehow I think the shidduch process is probably just for the Orthodox, but who am I to know?  I didn't even know what shul was and the only kosher I keep is the container of salt in my pantry.  But Sadie said to trust her, so I do.  Maybe there is such a thing as shidduch-lite.  She matched me with someone whom she stated as PERFECT for me.  A real mensch she said.  A great, caring person of good character and generosity.  She refused to show me his picture though, but she promised he was very handsome, plays the guitar, cooks and does a fair amount of philanthropy.  That word hung in the air after she said it, because it usually implies money, something I'm sure my mother would be pleased about.  Me not so much, but appreciated none the less.  Yes, it could be possible to please even my mother.

There were other things above and beyond my matching with someone that made the day so special.  The gift of laughter and sharing of hearts between the three of us took away the bah humbug that had threatened my heart days prior.  Sadie was everything that Charlotte and I had been missing in a mother or grandmother.  Her warmth and hospitality set my heart right after the horrible experience I had in Meryton this past Sunday.  On our freezing cold day, in an apartment where the radiator was so hot, causing us to shvitz like water buffalo, we shared in the true spirit of the holiday season and it didn't matter what religion any of us were.  To me that's the magic!

So in your quest for dating venues, you may want to consider this avenue.  Of course, you might not find such a diamond - or emerald - as Sadie, but you definitely will find someone who wants you to be happy and willing to go the distance in helping you.  I wish that for you, dear friends.  I wish you friendship and people like Charlotte and Sadie in your life.  

Today's song, brings down the tempo a bit.  Josh Groban's "Thankful."  Something to make us think, stop and recognize that there is so much to be thankful for:  I for one am thankful to Sadie, my Jewish matchmaker, for bringing me back to Christmas life!  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoygmylt2iM

I'll see you tomorrow night after my speed dating date!  Stay tuned, kiddos.