The idea for The Jewish Dating Game came to Linnea Sage in the middle of the night. The New York City resident sought to fill two “voids” in her life: creativity and Jewish community.
The next day, she called a theater and got an opening for the first show four weeks later. It was a “sold-out success,” according to Sage.
The show is scheduled to debut in the nation’s capital on Jan. 27 and 28 at the Edlavitch DC Jewish Community Center.
Launched in New York City in 2024, The Jewish Dating Game is a live matchmaking experience where singles blind date on stage. Sage hosts the shows, and her husband, Paul Skye Lehrman, is the director and producer. The two winning couples go on a dinner date at a partner restaurant, usually Jewish or Israeli.
Participants and audience members can mingle after the show to get to know one another.
“It’s always tied back to Jewish community,” Sage said. “The purpose of this show is to spread Jewish joy and to create a safe space for Jews to feel comfortable being publicly Jewish.”
Sage selects two Jewish main contestants pre-show to join her on stage, then chooses three potential matches for each contestant.
“Each individual ‘game,’ so to speak, is guided by Linnea hosting, but also incredibly intentional, curated questions that Linnea offers to the main contestant as a way to guide through the experience,” Lehrman said.
These “very useful questions” run the gamut from personality and individuality to what contestants are seeking for the future.
“I always say, ‘Hashem is in the works, giving you the question that’s supposed to come your way,'” Sage said. “And so these people get seriously vulnerable questions.”
Other questions may lead to cultural commonalities, such as “Who was your Jewish icon growing up?” or “If you could invent a Jewish superhero based on a Jewish fable, what would it be?”
“They’re making this dinner date without having seen each other, but it’s because the main contestant has found someone out of the three that they feel a real connection to,” Lehrman said.
The blind dating aspect removes any preconceived notions that someone may have based on appearance, according to Lehrman.
“That happens visually really quickly,” he said. “So, we have found that structuring in this way allows someone to get to know someone that they otherwise wouldn’t have given the time of day. It just creates an experience that is hard to replicate in real life.”
“We really want people to find love,” Sage said.
For many, it can be difficult to be authentic and honest in front of 100 people in a room, especially when it comes to something as vulnerable as love. So, the shows are never recorded or posted online.
“It’s so important to us that we preserve the privacy of those individuals on stage,” Lehrman said. “We want individuals to be set up as best as possible to be themselves, but if they know that this is going to end up on Instagram, then we might get a different version of them.”
Sage, an actress and writer, dabbled in matchmaking prior to launching The Jewish Dating Game.
“I’ve always had a good sense of people, and I’ve made successful matches in the past, just for fun,” Sage said. “And it just felt like a calling that I hadn’t really tapped into, and now I’ve just leaned all the way in.”
She pursued matchmaking with Lehrman’s help after the two experienced setbacks in their professions. “I’d been sort of at a crossroads with my career in voiceover because AI came knocking and decimated our industry,” Sage said.
“[The Jewish Dating Game] started for two reasons. … Because our creative careers were being impacted, there was this creative void that Linnea was feeling,” Lehrman said. “Post-Oct. 7, there was a big void in this reinvigoration of a need for community in the Jewish space.”
Over months, Sage grappled with how to fill these gaps, according to her husband.
“And then, overnight, she goes, ‘I had this idea where I could be creative, and I can start building a community around this,’” Lehrman said.
The Jan. 27 and Jan. 28 shows mark The Jewish Dating Game’s D.C. debut.
“We are so thrilled,” Lehrman said. “I think the community there is a community that will really resonate with what we’re doing.”
Jewish communal professionals in the D.C. area, including EDCJCC’s EntryPointDC Ambassador Sarah Fredrick, spoke to the scarce but growing Jewish matchmaking efforts in the DMV. “There are so many places and resources to find and build Jewish community and develop Jewish identity and explore spirituality and dive into Jewish culture,” Fredrick said.
“But I felt that there has been a gap around infrastructure to support Jewish young adults in finding and cultivating romantic relationships. Fortunately, I think that The Jewish Dating Game is part of a positive movement; there has been a lot — recently — more players stepping into this space.”
Stacy Miller, a community organizer, said she leads the charge in DMV Jewish matchmaking through Stacy’s Social Circles and the NoVa Tribe Series. She’s coordinated and hosted matchmaking events for the past 15 years, focusing on curated, individual experiences, which have seen success.
Miller created Interest Tribes through the EDCJCC for age cohorts that share a common hobby: “I’ve had several marriages [result] from that.”
In 2025, community organizer Miriam Levitin launched Luv With Lev, the only D.C.-area Jewish organization dedicated to supporting dating and relationships, according to its website.
“I wanted to provide opportunities for people to meet, explicitly focused on dating in a Jewish context,” said Levitin, whose summer 2025 event at a Washington Nationals game introduced a couple who have been dating for six months now.
Olivia Hazlett, a Jewish communal professional and D.C. resident, took up matchmaking for fun through the organization Matchbox.
“I think in this day and age, people are looking for something different, and I think that matchmaking provides that personalized touch,” Hazlett said. “Also, in my experience, when I’m bringing in friends and friends of friends, this person is well-vetted. It’s not just some stranger. It’s somebody who can be vouched for, and I think that that carries a lot of weight and value.”
“It’s kind of kicking off a little East Coast tour,” Sage said about the D.C. events, adding that The Jewish Dating Game will next run in Philadelphia, then Miami. “I’ve got high hopes.”
