I noticed a few things at synagogue during this past High Holy Day season. It was always pretty easy to spot the singles in the crowd. New couples sit together with their heads touching, whispering in each other’s ears, holding hands during breaks and looking smug in their coupledom. Singles are the ones twisting and turning, craning their necks to scan the crowd looking for the other young adults sitting wedged between their doting grandparents and nosy parents. And since it’s the one time of the year when everyone, and I mean everyone, shows up that means all singles have to show up dressed to the nines (yet still respectful of course) because you never know who you’ll run into.

All the Bubbies in the crowd would call attention to the young gentlemen whom they thought were handsome and hearing loss means subtlety gave way to sheer embarrassment as the Bubbies would loudly whisper “Maybe he’s single Honey?” The Mothers wouldn’t even bother trying to be subtle and instead they would actually point – with their pointer fingers – at the single sons of their friends sitting in the congregation. What they never seemed to catch on to is that singles have their own routine down.

The singles will check out the crowd, make eye contact when possible, and brush the hair out of their eyes or scratch their heads with their left hands so that any hopefuls might be adept enough to catch the fact that the ring finger is bare. Bathroom breaks are timed so that as many young singles as possible would follow the lead and get up to go outside at the same time in order to mingle.

Temple is a great place to meet someone because you know right away that the person is family-oriented and you know what denomination they are. I don’t mean to be disrespectful of Judaism, but an opportunity is an opportunity. Kol Nidre is like an added Jewish singles event on the Community Calendar except everyone is dressed in suits instead of little black dresses. A large temple can mean seeing your JDate matches live and in person. Get the most out of the Jewish New Year and the Day of Atonement as possible: whether that means praying, meditating, meeting your special someone or all three. Trust me your Rabbi will be proud and honored to hear that a new couple met when they went outside for some fresh air during his thirty-minutes-too-long sermon.