“That’s sooo cute,” Shira gushed. Eva tried not to flare her nostril. Was everything cute and sooo?

“Money is a struggle, whether they have loads of money or they have no money, it has a sense of anxiety.”

—Simi Mandelbaum, Kosher Money, Episode 4

The spread was cute, Shira would give them that. Plenty of salads for the wives, plenty of meat for the men. The decor was in Northwestern purple and white, kitschy, but fun, she decided.

“We were on FamilyCare the first year Yoni was in school, but I was able to get health insurance the next year when I got a new job,” one woman — she’d introduced herself earlier as Bina — was saying.

“Is the application process hard? Is there a ton of paperwork?” asked another one, Tzippy.

“They ask for a lot, but nothing crazy, you can probably get all of it off your computer in one shot,” Bina answered.

Shira looked around. Everyone seemed to be following the conversation, but it was totally irrelevant to her. Money was not her pressing problem.

“What are you doing, Shira?” Tzippy asked her.

Shira was surprised to be addressed, but it made sense. There were only three new people in this group — Tzippy, herself, and Sori — who seemed like an introvert’s introvert and hadn’t said more than “Hi” all night.

“My in-laws…” Shira let her voice trail, hoping they wouldn’t say more.

“You can be under their plan?” Bina asked. “I thought only kids up to age 27. Can you be included on your in-laws’ plan?”

Shira shifted her plate from one hand to another.