“We fall into a pattern of being in the business of being in business”! So began a series of challenges by Rabbi Avi Olitsky, who is the senior Rabbi at Beth El Synagogue in St. Louis in a recent webinar sponsored by FJMC. 

Pointing out that the pandemic has essentially taken us out of the walls of our buildings and that essentially “the world is our synagogue”, Olitsky asked attendees to identify what the true purpose of their organization is. Why do we do what we do?

Before you read on, we’d be interested in your response to this challenge. Follow this link and tell us why you are involved in Men’s Club and FJMC?

Here are a few “whys” that he mentioned, models that work in some places. Do they work in yours?

• Social justice
• Learning
• Youth Engagement
• Lifecycle Events
• Hamish sort of “mom and pop” feel-everyone knows your name

HOW DO WE PIVOT FROM BRINGING MEN IN TO FINDING THEM WHERE THEY ARE?

Rabbi Olitsky challenged us to ask ourselves if our programming, etc is still relevant. If you are talking about something at the dinner table and your men’s club isn’t addressing it, it risks falling into irrelevance! He said that the ideal community organization like our men’s clubs should provide comfort, build community and engage the unengaged. 

I encourage you to watch the entire video of this important webinar.

In the meantime, while we are all having numerous virtual events, are you tracking those who attend? Are people coming back, looking for more? Is your club asking “why” you are doing what you are doing rather than just “how” to get it done? For instance, WHY do we blow the shofar is a more pertinent question than just HOW to accomplish the task?

Is your club mired in 20th century communication methods? Are you posting frequently on social media? Can you get op-eds into your local newspapers or Jewish publications? Has your club truly looked at what the men of your community need? A simple survey may not work but consider putting a question on Facebook: “What do you need from a Men’s Club?” In fact, why not post your answer to that question right now in the FJMC Hq Facebook group!

How do we reach men who aren’t involved? Rabbi Olitsky advises moving away from “joining” to simply encourage participation. Figure out how to get guys together around something that they are already doing: watching sports, streaming movies on Netflix, talking about their health, being dads. The list is only limited by your imagination.

Again, watch the webinar. You’ll be glad that you did!

Dr. Bob Braitman

Past International President

Midwest, KIO and Tristate Regions creatde an amazing virtual retreat which included a Hearing Men's Voices discussion titled, “Besides that, how’s 2020 been so far for you?”, a session on Chevra Kaddisha by Hazzan Steve Stoehr, an update on the Abayudaya community by Mosha, one of our FJMC brothers from that community, a presentation on home brewing beer,  a Mindfulness Meditation service, Torah study and more.

We have enhanced our membership database to make it easier to update your club's list.  You can now export the current database into a spreadsheet, add new members and update existing member information and import that spreadsheet into the database.  Watch this 5 minute video that shows the step by step procedure to use this feature.

It is important that you update your club's list of members for the following reasons:

1. Your club members have paid to receive benefits from FJMC.  If we don’t have accurate email and US mail information, we cannot deliver those benefits.  Imaging paying for a magazine subscription and not receiving it!
2. Updating your list of officers in the database allows us to route important information intended for leadership to the right audience.
3. Updating your membership list is a requirement for the Quality Club Award
4. You want your club to be billed correctly.  Your bill is based on the number of members in the FJMC database at the end of the prior fiscal year.  The fiscal year begins on September 1.
5. If we can expand our the number of email addresses in our database, advertisers will pay us to send their advertisements as part or our publications. (We don’t share email addresses with them).
6. We need to be sensitive to the families of those who have passed away and remove their husbands/fathers from our active emailing list.

As many of you may know, the International Kiddush Club (IKC) has been busy hosting a variety of virtual events including Friday night l'chaims/Kabbalat Shabbat singing.  If you would like to be informed of these events, join IKC by sending an email join@kiddushclub.org.

Without the FJMC, valuable Jewish programming might never occur.  FJMC needs your financial support to in order to continue to create the important programs which keep your Men’s Club vibrant.  You can help preserve the significant impact the FJMC and its members have made, on behalf of the Conservative Movement and World Jewry, by making a pledge. Our movement depends on you!