- Thank you to Temple Beth Am Men’s Club President Larry Schwartz for hosting our spring 2025 South Florida Region FJMC Club meeting and training event
This webpost highlights ideas discussed and exchanged on March 9, 2025 at a Florida Region FJMC Club training hosted by Temple Beth Am Men’s Club in Margate, Florida. For more information about how Florida Region FJMC can bring a training program like this to your Men’s Club or Brotherhood, please email Florida Region FJMC President Ed Kochman at EKochman@FJMC.org.
Three of the most tangible benefits of affiliation with the Federation of Jewish Men’s Clubs (FJMC) are (1) direct access to hands-on training for your Men’s Club and Brotherhood members and leadership, (2) a nationwide network of Regional Consultants and (3) a robust portfolio of original FJMC Club Member and Leadership training resources.
On March 9, 2025, Florida Region FJMC brought these elements together in South Florida; many thanks to Temple Beth Am (Margate) Men’s Club President Larry Schwartz for hosting our second face-to-face Florida Region FJMC Club meeting / training of 2025. The training program was also livestreamed and recorded, making it available to every FJMC affiliated Men’s Club and Brotherhood across the entire FJMC organization.
Twenty two leaders representing seven different Men’s Clubs and Brotherhoods were in attendance (and even more online) for a half day of learning, round table discussions and training. Attendees included FJMC Seaboard Region First Vice President Johnny Parker and past FJMC Northern NJ Region President Elliott Brown.
The morning began with greetings and welcoming remarks from Florida Region FJMC President Ed Kochman, followed by a Dvar Torah from Beth Am Rabbi Michelle L. Goldsmith of Temple and a spirited Birkat.
The club training program agenda opened with a roundtable discussion on “Engaging Existing and New Men’s Club Members” facilitated by Florida region FJMC Presidential Appointee Jason Waksman (Torat Emet Men’s Club Boynton Beach). Many ideas were shared by many club leaders to forge relationships with and engage (younger) members including working through other arms of the synagogue and its Hebrew school, taking pictures, making phone calls, using “new” social media media and sponsoring events of interest to younger families. Specific suggestions included sponsoring a local scout troop, USY or Kadima and engaging with local food pantry. Recent Florida transplant Elliott Brown (Torat Emet Men’s Club Boynton Beach) suggested to directly engage with the next generation when they drop their kids at Hebrew School. Other suggestions to engage (younger) members included sponsoring a professional business networking roundtable, connecting with the Jewish War Veterans, sponsoring Man of the Year / Youth of the Year gala (with huge fundraising potential through sponsorships and an ad journal) and anything involving booze, sports and BBQ. Common challenges noted by several Clubs included demographic, security and generational issues.
Florida Region FJMC Treasurer Moshe Adler (Temple Beth El West Palm Beach) discussed eligibility requirements to qualify for the 2024/2025 FJMC Quality Club Award and Torch Awards. The FJMC Quality Club Award is given each year to member clubs who meet established criteria; it was developed to encourage clubs to offer specific types of activities at the local, regional, and international level; eligibility criteria may also be used as a blueprint for a club to follow in planning its yearly programming. The purpose of the Torch Award Program was created to promote development of new, adapted or enhanced club programming and practices that achieve excellence; Gold, Silver and Bronze Torch Awards are presented based on the individual quality of programs. The award plate (tag), to be added to your club’s plaque, is presented in even numbered years at a regional event and in odd numbered years at the FJMC International convention. “Every Club in the room should apply for a quality club award as well as Torch Award for their outstanding programming“, said Moshe.
Dr. Eric Perlman (Beth Sholom Men’s Club Melbourne) facilitated a detailed presentation on “How to Run and Effective Men’s Club Board Meeting”. Whether the purpose of the meeting is to coordinate an event, discuss a temple project or to disseminate information, be organized and distribute necessary information prior to the meeting. Meeting participants should know who needs to attend and why they need to be there. Establish ground rules and make sure that people who have ownership of a project can either be there or submit their report in advance of the meeting. Other logistics to consider include where, when, food, WiFi access, AV and other necessary technology tools, etc. Decide whether the meeting will be held live, via Zoom or as a hybrid meeting. Manage your clock, manage your time and manage your participants. There are loud folk and quiet folk; keep your meeting from being hijacked by the loud ones and limit individual speaking time if necessary. If something important comes up during the meeting then add it to the “white board” to or move it to the “parking lot” and stay on agenda. Don’t do everything yourself; delegate functions to others such as running the tech or taking notes. If the meeting will be conducted via Zoom or as a hybrid live/zoom meeting then be sure you (and your audience) understand how to use the technology including creating breakout rooms, sharing screens, how to mute, the raise hand tool, the whiteboard, etc. Zoom meetings can also be recorded and stored for future reference.
Temple Beth Am Men’s Club President Larry Schwartz discussed the upcoming launch of our 4th annual Florida Region Football Pool, a NET-NET fundraiser for YOUR Men’s Club or Brotherhood at ZERO COST to your club; here’s how it works. There will be a total of 496 tickets available for purchase. Your Men’s Club or Brotherhood will directly receive 15% of all ticket sales made by your Club – that’s $3 of net fundraising for YOUR Men’s Club or Brotherhood for every ticket sold. Sell 100 tickets; make $300 in direct fundraising for your Club! Each of the 496 tickets to be sold will contain a unique combination of numbers that represent two different teams playing every week for the entire 18 week, 272-game regular-season NFL Football schedule for 2025/2026. If the combined scores of both of the teams are the highest for that week then the ticket holder wins $150. If the combined scores are the lowest for that week, the ticket holder wins $50. Winners will announced by a Beth Am weekly email blast. Again, there is ZERO COST to your Men’s Club or Brotherhood to participate in this fundraiser and you have everything to gain. The more tickets that you can help to sell will result in more money for YOUR Men’s Club or Brotherhood. Plus, each player will have the fun of being part of the game throughout the entire 2025/2026 football season. Tickets will go on sale soon – stay tuned for more information.
Florida Region FJMC Webmaster and Convention Focal Rich Nebb (Temple Torat Emet Men’s Club Boynton Beach) encouraged everyone to join the Florida Region FJMC delegation to attend FJMC International Convention, July 3 to 6, 2025 at the Sheraton Grand Chicago Riverwalk in Chicago. The theme for Convention 2025 is “Embracing Change, Energizing Communities”. There will be many pre and post convention activities for delegates and their significant others including seats to see the Cubs vs Guardians at Historic Wrigley Field, an evening Boat Ride on Lake Michigan & Fireworks, a tour of the Museum of Science & Industry, a daytime tour of Jewish Chicago and more. Other features of Convention include a Program Fair, Torch Award and Ma’asim Tovim award presentations, multiple parallel tracks of engaging and thought provoking speakers and training sessions as well as several different flavors of Shabbat service. Register for the 2025 FJMC International Convention at: https://convention.fjmc.org/2025-chicago/. Florida Region FJMC President Kochman added that the Region recently approved a $300 per person Convention subsidy, available to (up to six) FJMC affiliated Florida Men’s Club & Brotherhood members that have not previously attended an FJMC Convention.
The half-day training program concluded with a Q&A on the presented topics. Shortly after the event concluded, Florida Region FJMC President Ed Kochman transmitted the following message to all meeting participants:
“I want to personally thank Jason, Eric, Moshe, Rich, and Larry for their participation and presentations today during our leadership training program which took place at Temple Beth Am in Margate FL. This was the third FL Region training program which has taken place in diverse geographic areas of our state in the past two years. I want to thank our Host – Beth Am in particular for making us feel welcomed and the beautiful D’var Torah by Rabbi Goldsmith and the work by the Synagogue House staff is setting up the two rooms for our program and breakfast today. I was also moved by the Shabbat Services at Beth Am Yesterday with the Rabbi’s introduction and explanation of the FJMC Sefer Haftorah which was read from during services and paraded around the congregation with the two Torah’s during the Torah Processional and Recessional. The congregational lunch after services was also a warm experience.
Todays session had three zoom viewers however their identity was not known. It was rewarding to have a Regional Training Event with not one, not two, but Three Regional Presidents (2 retired) and additionally another Regional Exec officer present for our program. There was a lot of give and take from those assembled in the room with much conversation about running effective meetings, the FJMC Yellow Candle Program, The Torch and the Quality Club awards and also about other programs to promote the clubs and also encourage younger members. I was grateful for the opportunity to present such a well rounded program and it would not have been possible without your contributions. We even managed to stay within our time constraints. The give and take generated some new ideas for clubs and also made them aware of the vast resources available on the FJMC website. Again, a Yasher Koach for all who participated, and also big big thanks for our visitors who also participated with their questions and suggestions.”
This meeting was proudly brought to you by the Florida Region of the Federation of Jewish Men’s Clubs (FJMC); we serve the needs of affiliated Men’s Club’s and Brotherhoods throughout the State of Florida. If you are not yet affiliated with the Federation, then today is the day to join us. Learn more about the FJMC Florida Region and our growing network of Jewish Men’s Clubs and Brotherhoods at www.floridaregionfjmc.org and please visit and LIKE our Florida Region FJMC Facebook Group at www.facebook.com/FloridaRegionFJMC.
The Florida Region of FJMC is part of a confederation of over 200 affiliated Men’s Clubs and Brotherhoods representing over 20,000 members across the United States, Canada, Latin America, Mumbai, India and beyond. Learn more about how your Men’s Club or Brotherhood can affiliate at: https://fjmc.org/for-clubs/affiliating-with-the-fjmc/.
About Post Author
