It's not easy being single. Even the girl next door has trouble finding a date these days. Singles seem to be working longer hours.  We're single parents struggling to spend quality time with our children and still carve out a few hours for ourselves.  We're caring for our parents or volunteering or just too shy to go out and introduce ourselves to people.

And when we do find a little bit of time or courage to search for a significant other, it can seem almost like an impossible dream to find someone else who's single and willing to share the effort of finding out if the two of us might click.

Now, add in the fact that we're Jewish, which cuts down our pool of possibles to less than 1% of the single population, and also add in the fact that we're plus-sized.  If it seemed difficult to find a partner before, now it may seem downright impossible.

So many plus-sized Jewish women and men spend their lives trying to be something they're not, trying to live up to ideals they can't meet, or fighting against them.  But just like anyone else, they dream of meeting their beshert--their soulmate, their kindred spirit. But trying to be something you're not and trying to find a life partner are mutually exclusive activities.

I used to try to do both, but of course it never worked.  I struggled so hard to be thin, and then I would go out into the singles world to meet my beshert.  But as soon as I gained weight again, back into my shell I would go.  Then I started looking on all the Jewish single websites, and it seemed like 99% of the members were looking for someone thin.  I got tired of it and decided to change it.

I knew that there had to be other Jewish singles in my situation, so I created the Big Beautiful Jewish Women singles club on Yahoo.  The name says "Women," but it is for both men and women to meet each other.  It is a place to meet people, to make friends, to find romance.  Our members are either full figured/plus size themselves or interested in meeting someone who is. 

Online singles clubs are a great way to meet people, and a club like Big Beautiful Jewish Women is obviously something a lot of Jewish s singles have been looking for.  When I started the club, I felt that if 50 people joined, it would be a success.  So far there are just over 300 members, and new people are joining every day.  Most of the members are from the U.S., but we are starting to draw people from all over the world. 

There are many features to take advantage of, including a member contact list, profiles, message board, instant messaging, and chat room. And best of all it's free.

And we recently started two regular chats per week.  One on Sundays at 8:00 p.m. and one on Mondays at 9:00 p.m. (Florida time).

This is a safe, fun and effective way to meet people, and there is never a worry about whether your weight is going to be a problem for a prospective partner.

Quite a few members have sent me their "thank yous" for starting the Big Beautiful Jewish Women (and Handsome Jewish Men) singles club. It's very gratifying to me to know that so many people are finding it to be a place where they are comfortable being themselves and meeting others.  I'm hoping that someday soon we'll be able boast of a wedding between two people who met through our club!

Please join us.  The URL is: http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/bigbeautifuljewishwomen