Chinese Food Can’t Hold a Candle to Jewbilee

Blake Deadly performed before a crowd numbering more than 1,000, with DJ Nandi in the background. | MICHAEL LUONGO

BY MICHAEL LUONGO What’s a gay Jew to do on Christmas Eve in New York?

One option is heading over to the Jewbilee, which on December 24 marked its 11th year. This most recent edition was held in Slate in the Flatiron district.

DJ Nandi spun Israeli and American pop. | MICHAEL LUONGO

According to Andrew Friedman, the assistant manager of Hebro, the gay Jewish-themed promotional group behind the event, more than 1,000 gay Jews and their friends turned out to listen to Israeli and American pop music spun by DJ Nandi. Go-go boys provided eye-gelt — garbed in blue, white, and silver, the colors of Hanukkah and the Israeli flag, stars of David dangling from their chests catching the strobe lights as they moved. Drag performers Miz Cracker and Blake Deadly, both New York Jewish queens, entertained the crowd, many of their jokes focused on being one of the Chosen People, sweating in their drag outfits like their ancestors did building pyramids, and the irony of many popular Christmas songs being written by Jews (Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas” probably the most famous example).

A gay Jewish Christmas tradition thrives in its 11th year

Jewbilee has become a huge draw for Christmas Eve. | MICHAEL LUONGO

Lest anyone forget, without the most famous Jew of all, Jesus, there would be no Christmas. No matter persuasion or orientation, the Jewbilee has become part of the New York holiday season calendar.

Two Jewbilee partiers, in menorah T’s, donned bunny ears. | MICHAEL LUONGO

Friedman said of the evening, “While eating Chinese food is the go-to for our ancestors on Christmas Eve, the Jewbilee has created a low-fat gay alternative to that tradition! There's only a few days a year where Jews feel Jewish and Christmas Eve is one of them. Jewbilee brings together over a thousand gay Jews and the guys that love us and queer Jewish talent for a night of fun, dancing, and maybe some husband-hunting!”