Victoria Stone recently hosted eight friends for Shabbat dinner in her Calabasas, Calif., home. The occasion was notable because, while Stone calls herself a “staunch Zionist” who once lived on a kibbutz in Israel, she’d felt alienated since childhood from the Friday night ritual and Shabbat observance that she recalls being oppressively strict.

But her longtime friend Susan Salzman recruited Stone in October as a beta tester for Together @OneTable, a recently launched Shabbat offering for Jews 55 and up. Salzman, the initiative’s director, and OneTable President and CEO Aliza Kline are betting that Jewish empty nesters will jump at the opportunity to sign up online and connect around a neighbor’s Friday night table—much as 20- and 30-something-year-olds have done through OneTable’s original program.

Stone invited a half-dozen friends, all in their early 60s, for cedar-planked salmon, snap peas, kiddush and conversation. “Everyone brought something, and it was really fantastic—the connection, feeling part of something,” Stone recalled. “The opportunity to do Shabbat the way I wanted to was very empowering.”

OneTable was designed to engage a post-college crowd with traditionally weaker communal ties. But over time, Kline became aware of a parallel need among Jews past the phase of life where relationships are forged through children’s routines. “We’d hear from people complaining, ‘I meet someone at pickleball or a lecture, but there’s no natural way to get together again,’ ” she said.

From that sentiment, Together @OneTable was born. Kline anticipates the average gathering will include six to eight diners, half the number of attendees at millennial dinners. The meal is also more likely to be older participants’ evening event, rather than “just part of your night,” as it may be for younger people, Kline said.

Other possible tweaks being considered: pairing diners by interest and, when preparing food isn’t feasible, offering catered meals. “The role of the host is filling up their table, not necessarily cooking,” Kline said. “It’s about getting together.”

That’s what clicked for Stone, an insurance broker who has since rejoined a Jewish networking group she’d left. “I realized there’s a cultural feeling I have with other Jews,” said Stone, who plans to host Shabbat again soon. “It feels like home.”

Hilary Danailova