H eadlines
Lox Continued from Page 1
say that they were on dating apps.”
Lorraine and Kevitch were
earnest in their intentions to
create Lox Club: More than
creating a dating app for partic-
ularly discerning users, they
wanted to make sure their users
were “in it for the right reasons.”
They designed an app that
required users’ Instagram
and LinkedIn accounts to be
vetted, not for followers, but to
make sure they held the Jewish
values that were instilled in
them: “family-oriented” and
“career-driven.” And just like the smoked,
cured salmon of the app’s
namesake, Lox Club member-
ship doesn’t come cheap,
costing anywhere between $8
and $12 a month.

But despite wanting the
users to take the app seriously,
Lorraine and Kevitch were
not interested in the app being
self-serious. The entire concept
of Lox Club was built around
a fictional narrative Kevitch
created about a star-crossed
couple and a speakeasy hidden
in a deli that shared the app’s
name. For Lorraine and Kevitch,
who see their app from an aerial
perspective, Lox Club’s wins
are clear. The founders attend
friends’ weddings, receive
messages and see Instagram
posts from lovebirds who found
their match on the app.

“That’s like our superpower:
People are almost proud to say
that they’ve met on Lox Club,”
Lorraine said.

Though Lox Club’s self-pro-
claimed exclusivity is what
Lorraine and Kevitch believe
separates it from other dating
apps, it may also be its greatest
challenge. Users aren’t sucked into the
vortex of scrolling and swiping
— they can only see six to 12
profiles every several hours on
the app. And beyond just a limit
in the number of users one can
swipe through each day, there
just seems to be a limit in users,
period. One user, Michael, a photog-
rapher in New York, has been
using Lox Club for about six
months. A few weeks ago, the
app notified him that there were
no more users in New York and
instead displayed the profiles of
users in Philadelphia, and even
Los Angeles. And within this
smaller dating pool, Michael
noticed some homogeneity
among its users: Many of them
are in STEM professions, own
their own businesses and have
significantly more Instagram
followers than users on the
other dating app he uses, Hinge.

Lorraine and Kevitch are
aware of this; they’ve noticed
that Lox Club members are also
commonly lawyers, doctors and
consultants, mostly in their 20s
and 30s.

“It is a little intimidating,”
Michael said. “Would they be
OK with dating a creative who
doesn’t make a ton of money?”
The centering of career
ambitions on the app was
discouraging to Michael, who
felt like a “robot” when talking
about career goals. He felt like
people talking about their jobs
was contrary to the app’s goal
of not taking itself too seriously.

“Out of all the [apps] I’ve
used, Lox Club definitely feels
like the most serious,” he said. “I
can’t think of any other dating
app where front and center, is
career ambitions.”
Lorraine and Kevitch wanted
to “avoid the elitist mentality,”
but given some user’s experi-
ence, they may have missed the
mark in that regard.

Among the sea of Davids
and Bens on the app — and
boy, are there a lot of Davids
and Bens — the profiles seemed
to follow a few trends: venture
capitalists, Wharton grads,
men in button-up shirts posing
holding big freshly caught fish
Alec Lorraine 
Courtesy of Alec Lorraine
or golf clubs in awkwardly
cropped photos. It all cements
that Lox Club serves a partic-
ular clientele, just maybe not
the one Lorraine and Kevitch
had in mind.

But if even Kevitch admits
that dating apps are “cringe-
worthy,” and if Lox Club is
subject to user critiques, what
does it mean for a dating app to
be successful?
Some Jewish matchmakers
in Philadelphia, whose job it
is to connect young Jews with
romantic partners, believe that
many people are simply sick
of dating apps, which is why
they turn to more specifically
tailored dating opportunities
like matchmaking.

“People with the apps delete
them en masse, or they take
a week-long break from them,
or they farm out swiping to
somebody else,” said Danielle
Selber, assistant director of
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Austin Kevitch
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Tribe12 and founder of the
organization’s matchmaking
initiative. But despite dating app
burnout, according to Erika
Kaplan, senior matchmaker at
Three Day Rule Matchmaking
in Philadelphia, matchmakers
still see dating apps as a viable
choice for those looking for
love. “We don’t knock the apps,”
she said. “I think that there
are plenty of relationships that
come out of the apps.”
Selber described online
dating as a “roulette,” an unpre-
dictable, unreliable means of
meeting a partner. But for love,
something just as unpredict-
able, niche dating apps can be
helpful for those looking for
something specific from a
partner. “There’s room for everyone
to play,” Selber said. “If you’re
not for someone, you’re for no
one.” Ultimately, Lox Club doesn’t
need to be for everyone. In the
realm of dating, when users are
trying to find a date or a partner
in an unexpected place, failure
and flops are to be expected.

For Lorraine and Kevitch,
who are able to see the fruits of
Lox Club’s labor in weddings
and Instagram posts, Lox Club
is a triumph because it has
connected people who may not
have otherwise connected.

Though Lox Club might
present limited options for
some, or might be off-putting
for others, it’s changed the lives
of a lucky few. And there’s no
denying the success in that. l
srogelberg@jewishexponent.com |
215-832-0741 JEWISHEXPONENT.COM



H eadlines
High “First hugs. The feeling you get
making eye contact on site.”
At the same time, Sklover
wants to accommodate the 30%
of members who are not comfort-
able returning, That’s why the
rabbi will offer online versions of
the services via Zoom.

Goldberg thinks as many
as half of Temple Sinai’s
members may prefer the
Continued from Page 1
services. Conservative, Reform
and Reconstructionist temples
mostly hosted online events,
according to rabbis and
synagogue directors.

Orthodox and Chabad
communities didn’t offer
electronic options because
Jewish law restricts the use of
technology during holidays,
according to Rabbi Yochonon
Goldman of B’nai Abraham
Chabad in Philadelphia.

Especially with
the emergence of the delta variant,
which has caused cases to
rise nationwide in the last few
weeks, this year synagogues are
still going to take COVID-19
precautions, like
social distancing, masking and online
options, if their congregants are
still concerned come September.

But rabbis and synagogue
directors feel
confident reopening for big events
because most of their adult
members are vaccinated, they
said. And in surveys and
conversations, congregants
have indicated that they are
eager to come back.

High Holidays services
just aren’t the same at home,
rabbis said.

“Religious life is commu-
nity,” said Rabbi Lance Sussman
of Reform Congregation
Keneseth Israel in Elkins
Park. “Without community, it
doesn’t feel right.”
B’nai Abraham Chabad and
the Chabad of Penn Wynne
have been open for Shabbat
services for months, according
to their rabbis. But at both
locations, attendees have worn
masks and maintained social
distancing precautions in their
spacious sanctuaries.

But High Holiday services,
of course, are on another level.

Each shul has between 100 and
125 families in its congrega-
tion, but between 175 and 225
people usually show up for
High Holidays events.

Most people at each
synagogue are vaccinated,
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM help members who still feel
unsafe in public, older members
who don’t mobilize as well and
people who may just not be able
to make it in person.

Sussman and Keneseth
Israel have offered digital
services for 10 years. But the
rabbi acknowledged that the
practice has been particularly
helpful during the pandemic.

I would love to see life get back to normal as
much as possible.”
The inside of the Chabad of Penn Wynne
so masking will be optional,
according to synagogue
leaders. And social distancing,
if necessary, will not be diffi-
cult in sanctuaries that can fit
hundreds of people.

“I would love to see life get back
to normal as much as possible,”
Chabad of Penn Wynne Rabbi
Moshe Brennan said.

At Conservative, Reform and
Reconstructionist synagogues,
the conditions and plans are
similar. Most congregants are vacci-
nated. Sanctuaries will be
open. And rabbis are excited to
welcome their communities for
their first big, post-pandemic
gatherings. Temple Sinai, a conservative
synagogue in Dresher, dropped
its crowd size limit for indoor
Shabbat services earlier this
summer, Executive Director
Ari Goldberg said.

The temple has a 400-member
congregation and a sanctuary/
auditorium that, when fully
open, can seat up to 1,800
people. Goldberg expects the
high holiday crowd to approach
1,000 attendees.

“One of our themes is
together again at Temple Sinai,”
Goldberg said. “Anyone who
wants to come back into the
building for services is going to
be able to this year.”
At Sussman’s Congregation
Keneseth Israel, the sanctuary/
auditorium is even bigger, with
space for about 2,500 people,
Photo by Lee Moskow
but Sussman does not expect
the synagogue’s 800 families
to fill the space. The last time
they did that was for a 9/11
memorial service 20 years
ago, so the reform synagogue’s
High Holidays plan for family
and pod seating should be
manageable, the rabbi said.

Sussman is also sticking with
the indoor mask mandate for
the time being.

Or Hadash, a Reconstruct-
ionist synagogue in Fort
Washington, saw overwhelming
evidence in recent surveys
favoring a return to the sanctuary.

The synagogue has 150
families in its congregation.

Out of members 12 and older,
91% are vaccinated and 70%
want to return to the temple
for the High Holidays, Rabbi
Alanna Sklover said.

Sklover said Or Hadash’s
crowds those days usually top
out at 200 people, which doesn’t
leave enough room for social
distancing in the sanctuary. As
a result, those who aren’t vacci-
nated will be required to wear
masks. And since kids under
12 aren’t yet eligible for the
vaccine, all children’s program-
ming during the High Holidays
will be conducted at a social
distance. Those minor restrictions,
however, will not dampen the
moment, Sklover said.

“There’s nothing that can
beat seeing one another in
three dimensions,” she said.

JEWISH EXPONENT
RABBI MOSHE BRENNAN
online option come September
so, like Sklover, he’s going to
continue offering one. Since
the pandemic started, the
synagogue has offered a digital
service option via a livestream
on its website.

According to Sklover and
Goldberg, the online options
“We call it multi-access,”
Goldberg said. “So folks who
are able to come in person and
then folks who are not able to
come in person can still partic-
ipate via the livestream.” l
jsaffren@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0740
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17