Let my people date
Jewish ‘Friends’ spotlights Orthodox singles scene
IT’S the kosher version of “Friends”: a Web series about six 20-something, Upper West Side singles — Orthodox Jews — navigating their way past irritating roommates, overbearing relatives and technological mishaps. That its main characters are a gallant young rabbi named David and his crush, Sarah, an artist, makes things more interesting.
Such is the world of “Soon by You,” a dramedy whose fourth installment just aired on YouTube. It’s the brainchild of Leah Gottfried, a former child actress who grew up in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn and majored in film at Yeshiva University’s Stern College for Women.
Gottfried, who’s 26 and single, says it wasn’t until she saw an Israeli TV show about young Orthodox professionals that she realized that she had never before seen characters she could relate to.
“It dawned on me: There should be something like this in New York, because there’s so much material here,” says Gottfried, who plays another Sarah in the show. “I kind of created [it] because it was something I wanted to watch.”
Getting married in your early 20s is par for the course in traditional Orthodox circles, so being single in the winter of your 20s can be an isolating experience.
“The pressure is the problem,” says co-producer Jessica Schechter. An Upper West Sider for the past five years — and an actress and co- median — she’s 29 and single. “I don’t know if I would have had my professional accomplishments if I’d been married.”
“Soon by You,” titled after a Jewish expression about being next up at the altar — uh, chuppah — suggests that there’s more to life than waiting for your bashert (Jewish soulmate) to come along.
“We’re trying to flip the narrative that you’re nothing until you get married,” Schechter says. “Your life’s already begun. You’re living it every day.”
But the show does make for interesting first-date conversations.
“Some guys are excited about it,” says Gottfried, who says it’s easy to weed out non-contenders if they don’t support her artistic endeavors.
True to its roots, the show’s storylines skew to such modern Orthodox dilemmas as: what to do when the person you’re dating wants to move to Israel, and how long to wait before inviting someone for Shabbat dinner.
Co-writer and producer Danny Hoffman, who also plays David, says the show’s struggles are universal.
“This is the stereotype of Italians, too: ‘Get married already!’ ” says Hoffman, who’s 30, married and lives in Washington Heights.
Since the show first launched in spring 2016, fans — Jewish and not — have made themselves clear, Gottfried says.
“Everyone’s pressuring Sarah and David to get married already,” she says, laughing.
Typical Upper West Side yentas.