Morgan Raum does not own a dining table.

She does not host Shabbat dinners in her apartment. In fact, she says plainly, “I cannot cook at all.” And yet, in New York City, Morgan has become one of the most influential hosts of Jewish gatherings right now.

Her dinner party series, Shabbat Club, is not a synagogue program or a pop-up dinner party in someone’s brownstone. It’s a roaming series of Shabbat dinners, cocktail nights, and themed events hosted at Jewish-owned or operated restaurants and bars.

Her approach is refreshingly straightforward: find excellent Jewish-owned restaurants and bars, convince them to let her take over for a night, and let them do what they do best.

"I'm lucky in that they do a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to food and drinks. I don't have to think about that. I just need to find a good restaurant or bar that I know is already popular or highly rated or up and coming," she explains. "And try to meet them where they are and allow them to showcase what they do best. So if it's a cocktail bar, we're showcasing their cocktails. If it's a deli, making sure people get all the good deli options, and not trying to have them do something that they're not. And really just bringing the vibes to them."

What sets Shabbat Club apart from other Jewish gathering spaces in New York, and there are several, from Hot and Holy to Schtick to Elevate Shabbat, is Morgan's intentional focus on food culture and her emphasis on the non-religious aspects of Jewish identity.

"We really try to emphasize the cultural traditions," she says. "Obviously we're doing Shabbat, we're lighting the candles, we're eating challah bread. But beyond that, it's moreso a gathering at a culturally Jewish place with Jewish people who aren't also typically going to shul. They're not keeping Shabbat, they're using their phones. I'm really trying to reach those people, like myself, who didn't grow up religious or are not religious and are looking for a place to meet like-minded Jewish people in an unintimidating religious environment."

This personal connection to the mission runs deep. Morgan never celebrated Shabbat growing up. She didn't have a bat mitzvah. Despite her mother being Israeli, she didn't visit Israel until Birthright and didn't know much about the country until a Modern Israel class at NYU completely transformed her perspective. "That class completely changed my life," she tells me.

When I ask how she measures success, Morgan does not mention ticket sales or Instagram metrics. “The primary indicator is if I have fun,” she says. “If I leave happy and not stressed.”

There are other signs. Text messages after the event. People reaching out just to say thank you. For her matchmaking-focused dinners, she sends post-event surveys asking a simple question: Did you go on a date?

“A lot of people do,” she says, smiling.

The best events? Her annual costume Purim party draws the biggest crowds and highest energy. But her favorite is the Rosh Hashanah seder on the second night at 12 Chairs, a beloved Jewish restaurant in New York. Unlike her public events, this one is invite-only, reserved for the community's core members. "It's really for them, the people who don't have somewhere to go for Rosh Hashanah, maybe they live far away or they're foreign."

While Morgan may not be able to host in her studio, she's still amassed an enviable collection of Judaica: multiple kiddush cups, candlesticks from Feldi Studios and Oneg, Shabbat Club-branded matchboxes, a seder plate from The Nosh Table, and a menorah from Tchotchke.

Her personal style reflects the same elevated-casual approach as her events—she's wearing layers of Jewish jewelry, including rings from Hila Sade, and a particularly striking ring from a Tel Aviv pop-up that traces the outline of Israel's borders. "I have never seen anything like it," she says, showing me the piece on camera. Though she’s not wearing any, we share a love for Rachie Shnay’s pieces too.

Her favorite item? A Shabbat necklace from Mamaleh, obviously.

When I ask—perhaps too eagerly—how she made the leap from a W-2 job to full-time entrepreneurship, Morgan is both practical and encouraging. "I did that in October 2023. At that point, I was making more income from my food Instagram than I was at my job, and I was spending way more time at my job. I loved working at Lox Club, but I had been there for three years and I wanted to bet on myself. Especially because I had proof that it was working."

Her advice for others contemplating the jump? "Start the new thing before you leave. I know not everyone can, but if they can and they can get proof of concept and people who believe in them, then that's the most important thing. And save up, at least."

For growing an audience—something I'm navigating myself with this newsletter—Morgan emphasizes collaboration and cross-pollination. "The best thing you can do probably is reaching new people through other people," she advises, pointing to her successful Hanukkah gift guide where tagging featured businesses led to reshares and 250 new followers. "Just connecting with other Jewish people, businesses, making sure the branding and title of the newsletter is cool."

As Shabbat Club continues to grow, Morgan remains grounded in the simple mission that started it all: creating spaces where Jews can gather, eat well, and feel at home. When I tell her that people in Dallas are paying attention, that her work is inspiring communities far beyond New York, she seems genuinely moved.

Her advice for a non-traditional Shabbat menu item? "Maybe breakfast for dinner, like a bagel board." She pauses, then lights up. "Oh, you know what I found out? There are challah bagels. So maybe it would be challah bagels."

It's this kind of playful creativity that honors tradition while making it her own that defines Morgan's approach. She's building something new: a model for Jewish gathering that's as much about vibes as it is the ritual of gathering every Friday night.

And she's doing it all from a studio apartment without a table, which somehow makes the whole thing even more impressive.

Click here to stay up to date on Shabbat Club’s upcoming events including one on January 16th for Morgan’s Safta’s Table Shabbat Dinner Party and one on January 28th at Shvitz Club.

As you consider you Shabbat menu for tomorrow night, let me offer this few years ago, I stumbled upon a video by popular TikToker and Taiwanese cook, George Lee, encouraging his audience to roast - then freeze - sweet potatoes before eating them.

The video stuck with me but my hunger had always prevailed over foresight and until last week I had neither excess sweet potatoes nor, notably, time to prepare and wait before enjoying.

Per Lee’s recommendation, I also happened to have Japanese sweet potatoes on hand. I decided to follow his instructions Thursday afternoon with optimism that it’d result in a solid side dish for Shabbat the next night.

I veered from his direction slightly and reheated the potatoes after pulling them out of the freezer and prepared them to the requirements of my individual family members; mashed for the baby, sliced for the toddler, and halved for myself and Scottie.

Now listen, I have an adoring and supportive husband, but when he says something I cook is “incredible,“ it is not faint praise. Unaware of the new technique, he continued, “It’s more like a baked apple than a sweet potato.” I hadn’t added anything - no butter, no sugar - and was eager to see if he was right. He was.

Something had clearly changed on a molecular level. There was a rich, buttery, creaminess to the texture and the sweetness had deepened into more of a caramel richness. Hard to say if this was strictly due to the freezing or the higher cooking temp of 450º F. I usually don’t follow a recipe for potatoes of any sort, so hats off to me for trusting an expert. These were worth the planning and patience.

In fact, that extra bit of time (and the subsequent result) was the deciding factor in landing on Thursdays as the “publish” day for this newsletter, which I’d originally planned to release on Fridays.

So while not a Shabbat “recipe” per se, please consider this tip should you be inclined to make sweet potatoes. I prefer mine warm but if you do try the frozen variety, let me know what you think. The reviews and comments make comparisons to ice cream.

Also, according to the full recipe, which you can find here, “frozen baked sweet potatoes like this are known to contain less calories, as well as a number of health benefits. The freezing process creates an abundance of ‘resistant starches,’ which passes through the small intestine without getting digested and instead feeds bacterial fermentation in the colon.”

I have no idea if any of that’s true but let’s say it is and pour ourselves an extra glass of wine.