Inside Jewish Spice: The Facebook Relationship Group You Didn’t Know You Needed
Image by Pixabay / Laura E. Adkins
By Sonya Kreizman February 10, 2017
Click here to anonymously submit a dating question for Sonya’s weekly column.
I recently stumbled upon Jewish Spice, an original Facebook group created by Inna Goloborodsky, who described it as a place where “Jewish people can come together and discuss complexities of relationships, ask questions, give advice and support each other.”
This year, Jewish Spice is celebrating its one year anniversary with over 10,000 active members that engage in daily relationship advice conversations while trying to help one another. What amazed me most about this group is the amount of feedback, honesty and care each member tries to contribute to each post. Typically, there is a question posted anonymously by the group’s admin and to which members begin commenting on and sharing their advice. I remember one post in particular where a woman asked how she should please her husband who (to put it nicely) was not the most supportive of her looks, hobbies, etc. Immediately I saw the comradery of the members encouraging her to not waste time on someone who did not appreciate her, and to leave the schmuck by telling her that she deserved someone better who would value her. This post had over 100 comments of kind words and support. As Inna puts it: “I love that this group allows for important topics and conversations to take place that help members build stronger, healthier and happier relationships.”
I sat down with Jewish Spice’s lovely creator to find out how this group originated.
Q: When did you know Jewish Spice was a hit?
A: I walked into a salon in Brooklyn to get my eyebrows done and I overheard two girls whispering about what one guy wrote in Jewish Spice. This happens often these days… Jewish Spice is the talk of the town! As my friend would say: “Jewish Spice is life.”
Q: What inspired you to start Jewish Spice?
A: I once came across a quote by Rabbi Menacham Mendel Schneerson (The Rebbe): “If you see what needs to be repaired and how to repair it, then you have found a piece of the world that G-d has left for you to complete.” This idea really stayed with me. I observed so many people around me struggle with relationships. They either needed advice or just to know that someone was there to listen and then there was the world of Facebook. The two ideas came together and Jewish Spice for Relationships was born in January, 2016. There were numerous relationship groups, but this one had a special soul. Jewish Spice was comforting, kind, wise, humorous, and sarcastic and always with a touch of love.
Q: What do you think made the group so special?
A: One special feature that I included from the start was that members had an option to post questions anonymously. This turned out to be the “secret sauce” to the group. As it turns out, when not faced with posting a question from your personal profile, people are much more open with their questions. This past year this group grew into a real community. Members feel safe sharing their stories, experiences, questions and in return others are always ready to give advice and share wisdom and lessons from their own personal experiences. In the course of this past year, I and many members in our group have fostered friendships and made new friends. There was even some matchmaking!
This group inspired me so much that I told Inna I wanted to lend my professional ear and knowledge to its members in hopes to help someone out. What I’m most passionate about is helping people in need, especially in confusing relationship predicaments. So I teamed up with Jewish Spice to answer some anonymous questions that I hope will help those facing the same issue.
Question: Why would a girl just stop texting me back? What am I doing wrong?
Sonya: My philosophy is simple. Do not waste your time stressing and obsessing over someone who stopped texting with you. Clearly there’s something the other person is dealing with. If a girl stopped texting, don’t harass her. She might feel like it’s too much attention. Simply back off and see if she comes back around. If not, move on. Always remember to only direct your energy to those individuals that want to have you in their life.
Check out the Facebook group and feel free to ask questions there! Stay tuned for the next article, where I will answer more questions posted in the group.
Sonya Kreizman is the co-founder and CEO of Crush Mobile, a company that develops mobile dating apps like JCrush and MiCrush, targeted at specific singles markets across the world. Sonya is responsible for managing day-to-day operations such as overseeing developers, designers, marketing strategy and most importantly, answering each and every dating question sent by an existing or future user. Her no-nonsense, pragmatic advice has been heralded by many critics, especially within the dating app scene. It is Sonya’s wide-ranging knowledge of millennials and online dating that has set her apart from the rest. In a business where most “dating coaches” have a book and a couple of life experiences as credibility, Sonya is the only dating app CEO offering real time advice. As online dating and traditional dating quickly become part of the same fabric, Sonya’s words are proven more and more invaluable.
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