Beth El

President's Message

by Alex Pomerantz

I am pleased to bring greetings from the Beth El Men’s Club. First and foremost I would like to thank our dedicated officers and board of directorswhowork so hard throughout the year to ensure the success of our club.

The Beth El Men’s Club had another great year of programming and community involvement. The following is a list of some of the programs we were involved in:

1. We hosted two brunches. One to welcome Rabbi Tendler and another to welcome Cantor Piltch.
2. The annual Tides game outing in July was chaired by Marc Davis and as always was a big success.
3. We had a joint program with Sisterhood in October where J.F.S. talked about the services they offer.
4. We had our second annual ODU Basketball Night in November.
5. Friday night services at Beth Sholom were held twice this year. These events were chaired by Mark Schneider.
6. We honored Dr. Adam Foleck in January as our 2008 Blue Yarmulke Man of the Year.
7. Thanks to Richard Gross and Mark Kozak, we had another huge crowd for Bingo in February. Enough money was raised for our club to again aid Beth El by increasing our assistance to the Religious School and the Camp Scholarship Fund.
8. We helped the JCC with their annual Yom Ha’atzmaut day.
9. We passed out candles to the Religious School and Hebrew Academy for Yom Hashoah. Harold Zedd and Mark Schneider chaired this program.
10. We sponsored the reading of the names for Yom Hashoah. This event took place at the JCC and was chaired by Stanley Serxner.
11. Our annual Men’s Club Shabbat was held in April. The service was led almost entirely by the Men’s Club. This program was chaired by Norman Soroko.
12. In April, we had a Learners Minyan where Rabbi Ruberg took us through the steps of the daily minyan.
13. In May, our Mother’s Day brunch featured a speaker about genealogy.
14. We continued to coordinate the weekly Shabbat ushering schedule.

At this time, we are still putting together our plan for the new year. We will continue our annual traditions such as Bingo, the Tides and ODU games, leading services at Beth Sholom, helping with Yom Hashoah and Yom Ha’atzmaut, contributing to the Religious School and Camp Scholarship Fund and bringing in great speakers throughout the year. I am also working with Rabbi Ruberg, Rabbi Tendler and Cantor Piltch to see how the Men’s Club can enhance Jewish life in our shul.

To keep up with all the latest Men’s Club news, please e-mail Noelle at noelle@bethelnorfolk.com and ask to be added to our weekly e-mail list.

If you are not currently a member of the Men’s Club, we invite you to join. Board meetings are open to all and usually have some great nosh, so come on by.

On behalf of all the Officers and Board of Directors, I want to wish you and your families a very happy and healthy New Year.

Men's Club Officers

Men's Club Board of Directors