Want A Jewish College Roommate? BBYO Has The App

Image by BBYO
(JTA) — Finding a Jewish roommate at college can be a challenge, given that Jews make up only about 2 percent of the American population. A new free app hopes to make the matching process easier.
Joomie (yep), launched over the weekend at the BBYO International Convention in Dallas, asks incoming first-year students questions about their Jewish identity and personal habits with the aim of creating harmonious Jewish dorm mates.
“Questions range from their Jewish youth group affiliations and whether they’re Sabbath observant and keep kosher, to what kind of music they like, types of campus activity interests they have, and whether they’re early birds or night owls, and messy or neat freaks,” according to a news release.
Matt Grossman, BBYO’s CEO, said: “We believe that usage of Joomie will help facilitate the transition to college for many students, and ultimately promote a greater engagement in Jewish life in campuses across North America.”
Engaging young people in Jewish life is the life blood of the pluralistic teen group, whose annual meeting is one of the biggest Jewish gatherings in the country, period.
Nearly 5,000 teenagers, presenters, activists and staff attended this year’s BBYO conference. Speakers at the star-studded affair included Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, “Shark Tank” star and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, the eminent Holocaust historian Deborah Lipstadt and former Housing and Urban Development secretary Julian Castro.
Cuban said he “loved” his time in BBYO as a teen. But there’s no word yet on whether the shark would invest in Joomie.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 2
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
- 3
Culture Did this Jewish literary titan have the right idea about Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling after all?
- 4
Opinion I first met Netanyahu in 1988. Here’s how he became the most destructive leader in Israel’s history.
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion Gaza and Trump have left the Jewish community at war with itself — and me with a bad case of alienation
-
Fast Forward Trump administration restores student visas, but impact on pro-Palestinian protesters is unclear
-
Fast Forward Deborah Lipstadt says Trump’s campus antisemitism crackdown has ‘gone way too far’
-
Fast Forward 5 Jewish senators accuse Trump of using antisemitism as ‘guise’ to attack universities
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.