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 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.  See Upcoming and Past events  below.

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

- TBD

Ongoing:

• Basketball (contact Lloyd Shepetin at leshepetin@aol.com ).  Wednesday at 7pm, and Sunday 8:30am
• Pickleball (contact Joel Greengarten at jgg998@comcast.net

Recent Events: 

• 50/50 Raffle - Men's Club once again conducted a 50/50 raffle this year to raise funds for the EBJC Men's Club. This year this raffle was done throughout North America by the Federation of Jewish Men's Clubs (FJMC). Members of EBJC bought $1102 worth of tickets. 50% of the funds we raised went go to the raffle winners and the other 50% went to the EBJC Men's Club.
• Yellow Candles for Yom Hashoah.  Commemorating those lost in the Shoah and on October 7th, 2023.  These funds went towards supporting Holocaust Education and Hillel at Rutgers.   
• Men's Club Shabbat.   This was held on June 14.  Men's Club participated in leading a portion of the davening, reading Torah, and in many other ways.
• NNJR President's Dinner was on June 18.  For the past two years, David Julis has been president of our Men's Club regional organization, NNJR.  There was a dinner at the Highland Park Conservative Temple at which he officially turned over the reins to his successor.   
• Men's Club Spring Hike - After the first attempt was rained out, there was great weather for the hike.  They met at Tamarack Hollow Preserve and had a great time.
• Somerset Patriots game - Men’s Club sponsored a visit to the Jewish Heritage Night at Somerset Patriots. It was be a fun night and the Patriots won 12-0. 
• Comedy Night @ EBJC:  We hosted Jon Fisch, our featured comedian, who has performed in NYC comedy clubs and has appeared on various television shows including The Late Show with both Stephen Colbert and David Letterman.  Another comedian kicked off the program.  
• We had a  discussion on Combating Antisemitism led by Dan Rozett of Federation in the Heart of NJ focus on what is going on at high schools and colleges which was appropriate for both parents and high school and college-aged kids.  Dan's talk can be found HERE, and the notes for the talk can be found HERE.  Prior to this, at 9 am we had a brief service let by Rabbi Larry on the use of tefillin.
• We had our annual blood drive again this year in January.  Giving blood literally saves lives, and there is no greater mitzvah!  Over the years EBJC has donated over 1400 units of blood!
• Also in January we visited a micro-brewery with our Rabbi and watched a football playoff game.  
• This event was well attended by Kesher families and there was lots of good spirit to go around.
• Men's Club sponsored a whale watching cruise out of Atlantic Highlands. We got to see whales and it was a great day!
• We held a Welcome Back Picnic on the first day of Kesher. 
• We hosted 45 men and women for a wonderful dinner in the sukkah.
• We took a hike on a perfect autumn afternoon. 
• We sponsored our annual L'Shana Tova greetings program, giving all members of the congregation an opportunity to wish each other a Happy New Year!

• We held our 3rd successful pickleball tournament the day after Thanksgiving.

• Our Six13 concert was a huge success!  More information can be found HERE.  This program was a partnership between EBJC Men's Club, EBJC Sisterhood, and B'nai Tikvah Sisterhood.

• This year we honored Ron Berger as our Man of the Year, and Ophir Filhart, Sarah Kaplan, and Susanne Kaplan as our co-youth of the year.  There was  a luncheon in their honor on 12/15 at 1:00PM at B'nai Tikvah in North Brunswick.  

• Hanukah Night with the NJ Devils.  As always, this was fun and included a concert by the Maccabeats.  This year the Devils even won!

Last Year's 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.  
• Pickleball Tournaments.  Last year we ran 2 such tournaments, in conjunction with EBJC, in the last year, which were lots of fun!  We did  this again in November of 2024!  So now we're up to 3!
• 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 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!  We were granted this award again in 2025, so we must be doing something right!   

Co-Presidents:

Howard Jacobs - 732-402-2273

Marty Hoffman - 908-380-5448

Arthur Fliegelman - 732-257-0730