Submission #22076 by Temple Israel Men'S Club - Charlotte, NC (1709)

I have read the 2021 Torch Awards Program Guidelines.
Club Name
Temple Israel Men'S Club - Charlotte, NC (1709)
Men's Club Shabbat Havdallah
Club Representative
Person completing form
Michael
Eisner
Club President at time of convention if known at this time
Michael
Eisner
Club President Now
Michael
Eisner
Men's Club Shabbat

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For years, our Men’s Club Shabbat ended after Saturday’s kiddush. With the limited in-person opportunities caused by our leaderships’ response to Covid, we were looking for more ways to get together. What better way than an outdoor Havdallah service?
We chose an accessible location at a member’s community picnic shelter (member’s back yard, synagogue parking lot, town park, anything would work). One guy brought snacks, cups, and water, one guy brought cigars to share, 2-3 guys brought bottles to share, and we asked people to bring the havdallah sets we had distributed with their Men’s Club Shabbat gift bags. There were mainly men, a few women, some kids (who went home when the cigars were lighted). What was perhaps the best part was there were guys from the neighborhood who came over who were members of MC but this was their first event, one guy who wasn’t a member but will join (he doesn’t belong to our shul), and even a curious (ok, nosy) neighbor. We had a brief discussion of havdallah, a nice service, and then 3 hours of schmoozing.
Attachments
Self Assessment
Celebrating Jewishly as we build stronger relationships is impactful. Showing our next group of MC leaders how easy it is to grow a successful club through focus and our “Bring-a-Friend, Make-a-Friend” approach is also impactful. Kids seeing their parents get together to “do Jewish” in a way they haven’t seen before was also powerful.
We had guys who said we could easily add this element to MCS and they took over to make it happen. It was something we had never done, and it really started with the decision to give MC members Havdallah sets. There was Leadership, Innovation, and Community at work!
Combining a focus on building stronger relationships in a Jewish context with a "Bring-a-Friend, Make-a-Friend" approach to smaller, more manageable programs is starting to pay off.

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Original Program
Previous Submission
Yes