TRUE CONFESSIONS OF A JDATE ADDICT
Amy Klein

“…I’ve just moved to Los Angeles, and "deciding" you’re ready to date and actually finding someone to date are two different stories. So I’m signing up on this dating site for Jews – because I’m so traditionally, culturally, psychologically and emotionally Jewish that I never seem to fit with anyone else. Besides, I’m not even sure it would count in my parent’s eyes if the guy weren’t Jewish.

“Anything interesting lately?” my father, an Orthodox dentist from Brooklyn, asks during our weekly conversations before Shabbat. By “interesting,” he means dating-wise, and by “anything,” he means future husband material. This succinct line of questioning is a step up from the last lecture I received when I was in New York: I was imprisoned in his dental chair for a free cleaning and had cleaning trays in my mouth.

“You’re having fun now, Amy, but as you get older, it’s not so easy to find someone,” he said as he adjusted the trays. “Especially for women. You get older, your body changes, your face gets wrinkled, and you just don’t meet as many people,” he said, and removed the trays. I spit, but I wanted to throw up…”

Amy Klein has worked as a reporter, editor and writer for the last ten years at The Jerusalem Post, The Forward, Ladies' Home Journal and Marie Claire magazine. She is the Managing Editor of the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles, where she's lived for the past three years. She is currently taking her MFA at Antioch University in Los Angeles.