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March 7, 2003/Adar2 3 5763, Vol. 55, No. 28
Male bonding
LEISAH NAMM
Managing Editor
Participants in the Temple Chai Men's Hiking Group hike on a South Mountain trail. Pictured, from left, are Gerry Lynn, Gary Goldberg, Larry Sands and Jere Friedman.
Photo by Barry Cohen
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It's not unusual for a group of women to come together to discuss their lives, their experiences and their families. Now a group of men at Temple Chai are trying to create a similar bonding experience for the synagogue's male members.
"We're trying to build an intergenerational community among men," says Rabbi Peter Levi, one of the group's founders. "To really have those type of conversations that we're not just talking about our families or our work or sports but really (trying) to explore who we are in our relationship to the world around us."
The program, Chai Menschen, originated last spring and its first event was an October discussion led by Phoenix psychologist Dr. Larry Ettkin and Michael Liebman, a certified behavioral health counselor, about "Friends: How Many of Us Have Them?"
The discussion covered how males often have other male friends as children, on sports teams and then in college, but after getting married and having children, male relationships are more difficult to maintain, says Jere Friedman. He said that since he joined Temple Chai eight years ago, this is the first time there's been a concerted effort to have some programming geared toward and focused on men and issues that adult Jewish men face in today's world and the local community.
Other monthly programs included "There is Evil," a text study and discussion with Temple Chai Rabbis William Berk and Peter Levi and "Life in Israel," where three Israeli men discussed, as the name implies, life in Israel.
The synagogue has had annual men's retreats for years, Levi says, but this is its first effort to start a men's community year-round, which now has about 45 members. "It's not like a lecture series that you come and go," Levi says. "We ask people to commit to being part of the program and coming to our programs for the year - that will give us a chance to develop community."
Says Jules Rossman, Chai Menschen participant, "By getting to know each other on a more intimate basis than just smiling at each other at the temple. ... we can talk about things that men might not talk about in other company. I think men need this kind of a group."
Temple Chai membership is required for Chai Menschen, except for monthly men's hikes led by Rabbi Barry Cohen, Jewish News editor. There will be not be a March hike, due to an annual men's retreat, but the next one will be on April 27. Call Cohen, 602-405-4353, or Friedman, 602-992-8383.
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