New England commemorates 80th anniversary of retreat

Offers new programming for 65 attendees

By Martin Paley and Norwin Merens

FJMC New England Region, in conjunction with the Connecticut Valley Region, held its “TheRetreat” June 4-7 at Camp JORI in Wakefield, R.I., marking the 80^th anniversary since the region’s first retreat in 1946.

Paul Davidson leads davening.

Sixty-five men attended a weekend of informative general interest sessions, inspired Shabbat services, sporting and recreational events, art displays and fundraising initiatives to sponsor needy children to attend Jewish summer camp.

Ron Bernstein and Howard Kaufman served as 2026 retreat co-chairs. Committee members included Steve Baturin for ritual, David Beckman for audio-visual, Bob Braitman and Bob Broder for programming, Larry Bressler as past-co-chair, Neal Farber as speaker chair, Elliott Feldman for catering, Richard Gray for hospitality, New England Region President Marty Paley as former chair and ex-officio and Ed Willins for sports programming.

Rabbi David Singer

Rabbi David Singer

TheRetreat organizing committee was thrilled to have one of the rising leaders in America’s Jewish world as its scholar-in-residence at last month’s retreat. Rabbi David Singer is a dynamic young rabbi who leads the nationwide peer education group, Limmud North America. Rabbi Singer is the author of many articles as well as “Yisrael Sheli,” a religious school textbook about Israel.

Jody Kipnis, executive director of the Holocaust Museum Boston, spoke about the establishment of the new museum and its exhibition for the next generation. She also serves as a commissioner on the Massachusetts Special Commission on Combating Antisemistism. FJMC’s Irv Varkonyi, chair of FJMC’s Committee to Combat Antisemitism, also addressed antisemitism initiatives at retreat and how the global organization is now addressing the highly charged topic.

Showcasing artwork.

The Peace Islands Institute (PII), founded by Turkish Muslim Americans in 2003, was also represented and gave a talk.  The nonprofit seeks to build relationships that support peace, friendship and dialogue with the Jewish community. The presentation by one of the leaders of the institute spoke of the Hizmet movement, and the session was moderated by Marty Paley. This represents another in a series of engagements between PII and NER FJMC.

Listening to the keynote speaker

Hearing Men’s Voices was well-represented with three new sessions. The first was “Introducing Your Dad,” where attendees imagined our fathers and how much we may realize how we are like or unlike them. A second session, “Walk with the Docs,” was an interactive nature walk in which participants discussed the book Eat Your Ice Cream, which offered an opportunity to learn and express feelings about wellness today. The third was “The non-service service,” which gave those attending a chance to share their experiences on why some men don’t attend services and what changes are needed in order to ensure a meaningful experience.

All told, TheRetreat was a huge success and continues a tradition of leading the nation in providing an exciting, educational, inspirational and relaxing weekend for Jewish men.

Martin Paley is New England Region president and HaD’var correspondent. Norwin Merens is a HaD’Var contributor and copy editor.