Men's Club

Who We Are:

The EBJC's Men's Club is affiliated with the Federation of Jewish Men's Clubs, whose mission is to involve men in Jewish life.

We sponsor numerous events throughout the year which enrich the EBJC family, including:

• participation in basketball and pickleball leagues, and hikes that promote the physical health of our members,
• religious programs like the Federation’s World Wide Wrap as well as other annual events like the Men’s Club Shabbat/Scholar-in-Residence Program, our Father/Child Shabbat, and our Yom Hashoah Candle Program where we distribute yellow candles to memorialize the שֹׁואָה,
• programs of interest and/or service to the EBJC community, such as our recent Murder Mystery Night and our L'Shana Tova greetings program before Rosh Hashana, to promote the relationships between men in our congregation, and between members of the congregation in general,
• fund raisers to help support EBJC, both in specific projects like chairs and flat panel displays, as well as in the annual budget; we also make contributions to feed the hungry and support survivors of the Shoah,
• and programs to support the larger community, such as blood drives and forums for political discussions.

The Men's Club is open to all male members of the EBJC community aged 18 and over.   (But just about all of our events are open to everyone in the EBJC community and beyond.)

For more information about the Men's Club, click HERE.  Men's Club membership is $36 per year ($25 for seniors).  To ask questions and/or to express your interest, please contact one of the co-presidents (see below for contact information) or email mensclub@ebjcmc.org

Please note that the Men's Club board meets monthly.  Dates and times can be found on the EBJC Calendar .  Meetings are open to the general community.

Upcoming Events

• Whale Watching Cruise

  Sun, Aug 25 @ 2:30 p.m. Men's Club will be sponsoring a whale watching cruise out of Atlantic Highlands.  The cruise leaves the dock at 2:30PM and returns to the dock at 5PM.   We will be organizing car pools from East Brunswick.  To participate, please a) sign up in the form by clicking here  AND b) please buy your tickets by clicking here.  Questions? Contanct Mark Foladare at mfoladare@att.net 
• September 19 - Men's Club L'Shana Tova Greeting Program.  Men's Club has kicked off its annual L'Shana Tova greeting program.   We're already getting lots of responses!  Every year there are people who put off participating and try to get added AFTER the deadline.  Don't be one of those people!  For more information about how to participate, please click HERE .

Ongoing:

• Basketball (contact Lloyd Shepetin at leshepetin@aol.com )
• Pickleball (contact Joel Greengarten at jgg998@comcast.net )

Recent Events:

• Our NNJR region participated in a multi-region FJMC retreat at Camp Zeke in Lakewood, PA.  attended by  Men’s Club members from our tri-state area.  We had a great time, praying, playing, and learning from our peers.
• Men's Club and Sisterhood co-sponsored a breakfast about the experience of Jackie Okun, who grew up as a Jew in Egypt in the 1950s.  Because of political instability and anti-semitism, her family left Egypt for France, and ultimately landed in the US.  It was a fascinating talk!  Please email howardjacobs@ebjc.org if you are interested in listening to a recording of the event.
• The NNJR President’s Dinner is an annual event where the president of the region, and of our local club are installed.  This year our own David Julis was be installed as the president of our Men's Club regional organization, NNJR.  This will be his second and final year as our regional president.  Also, the co-presidents of our local Men's Club (Arthur Fliegelman, Marty Hoffman and Howard Jacobs) were similarly be installed for another year. 
• Men's Club sponsored a Kabbalat Shabbat with East Brunswick's mayor, Brad Cohen.  Mayor Cohen gave us his insights as to  what’s new and coming in East Brunswick and answered lots of questions. 
• We sponsored Men’s Club Shabbat, where about 25 of our members led different parts of the service, and a similar number of families helped sponsor the kiddish.  This was a good way to get additional people involved in synagogue life.
• We participated in a regional GoKart racing event in Edison.
• Men's Club recently distributed Yellow Candles to commemorate the Shoah, as well as an electric candle to commemorate those lost in Israel since October 7.  For more information on this, as well as way to donate in memory of these events, please click HERE.
• Men's Club hike, open to all. This has consistently been a popular and well attended event.  We did 2 such hikes in the last year.   We will probably do this again in the fall of 2024.
• Pickleball Tournaments.  We have run 2 such tournaments, in conjunction with EBJC, in the last year, which were lots of fun!  We will probably do this again in December of 2024.
• Murder Mystery Night!  Someone in our congregation has been murdered,! 94 people came out to enjoy the evening and some even solved the crime!
• World Wide Wrap - to promote the mitzvah of putting on Tephillin.
• Torah on Tap.  Along with Rabbi Larry, a bunch of us (men AND women) visited a local craft brewery.  We sampled their wares and had a good time chatting in an informal setting.
• Our annual Man of the Year / Youth of the Year event this year was held on January 7, 2024 at B'Nai Tikvah in North Brunswick.  Congratulations to our honorees, Joe Goldman and Maya Baskind!
• Our annual blood drive saves lives!  This year it was be held on 1/14/2024.  It was again very successful, exceeding the goals of the NJ Blood Services!
• Men's Club, in partnership with EBJC, sponsored a very successful pickleball tournament on 12/24. 
• Discussion of the book Shards of War, written by Michael Kesler, led by his wife Barbara Reed, and her daughter Rabbi Esther Reed.  For more a recording of the session, please contact howardjacobs@ebjc.org .
• Hanukah Night with the NJ Devils.  This was fun and included a concert by the Maccabeats, even though the Devils lost!
• Sukkah Hop.  This was a fun, kids-focused event that visits several sukkot in the EBJC neighborhood.
• Burgers and Brews in the Booth, a dinner in the sukkah.

Quality Club Award

Our club belongs to an international association of Men's Clubs - Federation of Jewish Men's Clubs, or FJMC. Each year FJMC recognizes to those clubs that meet a long list of criteria with the Quality Club Award.  Our Men's Club has won this award each year since it was established in 2006!  So we must be doing something right! 

Co-Presidents:

Howard Jacobs - 732-402-2273

Marty Hoffman - 908-380-5448

Arthur Fliegelman - 732-257-0730