KIO/Michigan/Tri-State joint retreat

About 20 men showed up Oct. 24-26 from men's clubs at Conservative congregations in Michigan, western Pennsylvania, Cincinnati, Kentucky and Columbus for the first KIO/Michigan/Tri-State regional retreat at Deer Creek Resort and Conference Center in Mount Sterling.

Ron Ferer of Columbus' Agudas Achim arranged for the catering by Chani and brought a Torah. Douglas Segerman brought the siddurim and chumashim.

There were a number of great ideas and interesting points mentioned, and I'll list them here individually.

FMJC Conventions -- I could not show my face before any of those present if I did not mention that the FMJC Convention for 2009 is July 1-5 in Philadelphia. It should be a good program, with lots of good ideas to bring back for use in Columbus.

Mike Mills of Cincinnati, who is on the executive committee of FMJC, wants Columbus to host the FJMC Convention in 2011. This will require a lot of work and fundraising on our part

Hagbah Training -- This is a little program that was demonstrated by Dr. Ira Ungar of Pittsburgh that he developed as a way to ensure that there are always knowledgeable people available to lift the Torah in the synagogue. The program takes about 45 minutes, and teaches people a fool-proof way to lift the scroll, no matter how heavy or lopsided it might be.

Monday Night Sex, Beer and Football -- This is a program that combines everything, including a weekly d'var, that one might want in a Men's Club program.

Hearing Men's Voices -- This is a longstanding FJMC program that we could include as a part of other programming, or we could begin as a separate deal. It basically involves picking a topic -- over the weekend, it was dealing with aging parents -- and letting people explore their own feelings about things through their and others' experiences.

Sundry other things -- Also mentioned were the World Wide Wrap, Build-a-Pair, Yom Hashoah candles and the FJMC Convention for 2009. And a host of others that will blip in and out of my memory over the next couple weeks. Did I mention the 2009 convention. This was a very big item for the two FJMC facilitators present. We all should consider going to the FJMC convention in Philadelphia in 2009.

It's Quiz Night!

After a hiatus of a couple years, Men's Club is bringing back synagogue-wide Quiz Night. It is scheduled for Saturday evening, January 24th. Look for more information coming soon.
Dale, Bill, Matthew and Mike

Two brunches and a trip to Canton

Next Men's Club Brunch, Sunday, November 9, 10:15. The speaker will be Bill Cohen, statehouse correspondent for National Public Radio, who will discuss the election results.
Trip to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton on Sunday, November 16. We will arrive at the hall at approximately 11 AM and stay until about 3. For those who plan to arrive earlier or stay later, their hours are 9 AM to 5 PM. Admission is $15.00 for adults and $8.00 for children ages 6 to 14. There is a two for one discount coupon in the Entertainment Book For those of you concerned about missing games that day, the Bengals are at home against the Eagles at 1:00. The Steelers are at San Diego at 4:15. The Browns play on Monday night at Buffalo. (No excuses for you Browns fans not to attend!!) For additional information, please contact Mark Rosensen mrosen3216@aol.com.
The December 14 Brunch speaker will be Gary Smith, president of the brotherhood at Cincinnati's Adath Israel Congregation and an FJMC Keruv consultant.
What is Keruv? We know that, increasingly, our families are growing to include members who aren't yet, and might never become, Jewish. But do these families feel as comfortable as we might hope they would when visiting the synagogue and taking part in social activities?
Men's Clubs across the nation have begun addressing these questions with an eye toward helping all of our Jewish families in their many forms find a home here.
The word "keruv" is Hebrew, and its root means "to bring close." As the word implies, keruv initiatives are aimed at bringing people closer to the synagogue, the Jewish community, and Jewish life itself.
The Federation of Jewish Men's Club and the USCJ's Keruv initiatives, seek to provide guidance and comfort to those within congregations who are intermarried, whose children are intermarried, or who have extended family of another faith.
Here at Tifereth Israel Men’s Club, Vice President Bill Chronister and Treasurer Matthew Kennedy are leading the effort.

No prayerbook on hand? Turn on your 'JewBerry'

Thousands of observant Jews around the world are praying three times a day - using their BlackBerry handheld devices.
A software program for BlackBerries combines Hebrew prayers and technology, the brainchild of two entrepreneurs who attended New York's Yeshiva University.
The program, which provides texts of daily prayers instead of the traditional, printed book, has been dubbed the JewBerry.
The program is not linked to Research in Motion Ltd., maker of the BlackBerry.
Throughout the day, Jews gather in office-building stairwells and conference rooms to pray, and while sometimes you might not remember your prayer book, no one goes anywhere without their BlackBerry, says co-creator Jonathan Bennett, of Cedarhurst, Long Island.