bashow

plural bashows

1. JudaismIn matchmaking, a preliminary meeting of a potential couple in one of their parents' homes.

   Well, I'll never forget the very first thing your mother said to me during our bashow […] "Can you cook?"

   2014, Una LaMarche, Like No Other, page 184

   4 more examples

   The dates often consist of a bashow, in which the boy and girl meet in one's home (with others in the house at the time to prevent yichud, as explained above) rather than going out […]

   2012, Kiki Beth Ehrenpreis, "Obesity and Dating in the Orthodox Jewish Community; The Role of Self-Esteem and Religious Coping", thesis submitted to Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology

   But some Footsteps members say that the organization has helped save their lives. For instance, Miriam Weiss (not her real name, 26, is a former Satmar Hasid raised in Jerusalem’s Mea She’arim, who came to the U.S. with her family as a teen. At 22, she married a man she had met on one supervised 10-minute date, which is called a bashow. But she had other ambitions and did not feel ready for the life of a Satmar wife and mother.

   2013 November 29, Debra Nussbaum Cohen, “Off-road Jews: A Helping Hand for Those Who Stray From the ultra-Orthodox Path”, in Haaretz, archived from the original on 23 Dec 2025

   Soon we were alerted that the Horowitzes were ready for us, and we walked over to Malky's apartment. The bashow was about to begin. Malky's apartment was small and warm, and as I walked in, I passed a small kitchen. On the countertop was a bottle of vodka and a cake, waiting to be shared once the engagement was final.

   2019, Abby Chava Stein, Becoming Eve, Seal Press

   Worse, the director can’t decide if the characters are chasidic or Litvish. They wear fedoras (Litvish) but have sidecurls and beards (chasidic). Motti’s dates are similar to bashows, or chaperoned quasi-dates in one of the parents’ homes (chasidic). Also, how many chasidim go to college?

   2019 November 19, Eli Reiter, “New Shiksa, Same Old Chasidic Stereotypes”, in New York Jewish Week, archived from the original on 15 Jun 2025