New Comedy Series Depicts Orthodox Singles Life in New York City

Srugim is a popular award-winning TV series produced in Israel about the lives of a group of Orthodox Jewish singles living in the Katamon section of Jerusalem. It ran for 45 episodes in three seasons between 2008 and 2012.

But there are also Orthodox Jewish singles in the USA, and many of them live and date on Manhattan's Upper West Side. Modern Orthodox filmmaker Leah Gottfried took the concept and created a new series in English called Soon By You about these singles and their dating adventures. The first episode, The Setup, was released this week.

As Sarah Trappler Spielman wrote in Tablet this week,

The Setup, a short film about Jewish dating by 25-year-old Modern Orthodox filmmaker Leah Gottfried, was described by its producers as “Friends but with Jews” and “Srugim but in New York.” The film, which won an audience award for Best Short at the Washington Jewish Film Festival, also serves as the pilot episode for Soon By You, a new web series that depicts the lives of six Modern Orthodox twentysomethings dating in present-day New York City.

We watched the first 16-minute long episode and we think it has potential as a long-running series that gives insight into the unique challenges that young single Orthodox Jewish professionals face in a largely secular multicultural environment such as New York City.

Enjoy!

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