Men’s Club

The Men’s Club is a lively group just for men over 60! It is the perfect place to make new friends and develop your social network. Enjoy chatting with other guys on a wide range of subjects, ranging from religion, sports, politics, marriage, and divorce.

For men, the workplace, oftentimes, provides a source of structure and social relationships. After retirement, a lack of that structure and the means for developing and maintaining relationships becomes more difficult.

• Participate in discussions about current events, relationships, health, and any issue that interests participants!
• Weekly & Bi-Weekly groups like Poker Group, Book Club & Dining Out! For more information about a particular group, see the detailed descriptions below.

***The group collects $50 for refreshments, guest speakers, and other fun additions.

For more information, please contact Jay Doniger at [email protected] or Toby Gottesman at 240-221-3553.

The heart of the Men’s Club is the regular general meetings held every Tuesday and Wednesday.  Members (and guests) may come to either one or the other, both, or neither of the sessions.  These meetings allow us to get to know each other better while sharing thoughts and opinions on a range of topics.  Meetings are facilitated by a volunteer member who leads discussions on a variety of topics he selects.  They may be in the areas of personal issues, current events, economic, social, or political issues of the day, financial matters, Judaism and Israel, technology, etc.

We intersperse our regular meetings periodically with an outside expert lecture on a topic of interest, such as health, politics, government, science, etc. We also have some social events, such as Chanukah and Purim parties, an annual luncheon, a Halloween pizza party, and birthday celebrations. Once a month, we break up into smaller discussion groups. Tuesday Meeting | 1:15 PM   –  Wednesday Meeting | 1:30 PM

The Men’s Club Poker Group meets at 6:45 PM on Thursday evenings. On the 1^st and 3^rd Thursday of each month, it meets at the JCC (Room 111), 6125 Montrose Road, Rockville 20852, and on the 2nd and 4th Thursday, it meets at Leisure World (Clubhouse 2), 3300 North Leisure World Blvd., Silver Spring, MD 20906. If there is a 5th Thursday in the month, they do not meet. If you wish to play in a given week, please let Vince Berg ([email protected] or 301-257-8362) know by 9:00 AM on Wednesday morning.

1st & 3rd Fridays of Every Month | 11:30 AM

This group meets in the Bender JCC IAC Room (Old Library) on the first and third Friday of every month at 11:30 AM.

Virtual (online) meeting using Zoom

For more information or to be added to the email list, contact Vince Berg at 301-257-8362

Meets the 2nd & 4th Tuesday of Each Month at 3:00 PM

The film group members, led by David Fenster, watch a different classic movie each session in the Social Hall.

1st and 3rd Friday mornings at 9:00 AM using Zoom

It is led by Steve Sherman, who is both a CPA and an attorney and has extensive experience in both long-term investments and trading. The group discusses all types of investment styles, such as value or growth investing, the use of stock options, stock charts, financial ratios, etc. It discusses individual stocks or industry sectors for investing and current market events. All participants are encouraged to share their views on various investment types, including dividend stocks, growth stocks, mutual funds, and ETFs. They also discuss their own investment portfolios and strategies and comment on general market conditions. If you wish to participate, contact Steve Sherman at [email protected] or 202-244-5950, and he will send you a Zoom invitation.

This group meets using Zoom (only in January and February on the second Monday) or at a local restaurant at 1:00 PM on the second and fourth Monday of each month. The group is emceed by David Frank and has fun talking about the sports you want to talk about. Please contact David at 301-452-3259 if you wish to join the group and receive Zoom invitations.

Fridays | 1:30 PM

The weekly lunch get-together, organized by Ed Chidakel, will meet at a different restaurant each week.

Gary Katz leads a second investment club. This group will meet in the Social Hall (or Gallery) every 1st and 3rd Tuesday of the month. These meetings will be in-person only with no option for virtual participation. Its focus will be its members’ approach to investing in specific stocks or mutual funds, which distinguishes this group from Investment Group 1. Other topics would, of course, be welcome. If you are interested in becoming a part of this group, please contact Gary at [email protected] or 847 212 7490 (c).

The Men’s Health Group envisions bringing in physicians(or other health care professionals) with different specialties to discuss topics of interest. It will be run by a committee of physicians led by Dr. Victor Steiger. If you would like to join the committee, please contact Victor at [email protected]. The plan is to have a 30- to 40-minute lecture, followed by 15 minutes of open discussion. No personal medical or surgical advice or guidance will be given. To enable an open/frank discussion, attendance is restricted to Men’s Club members and prospective members.

The Poetry Group is led by Ron Klingman. It meets on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Wednesdays of each month at 12:45 PM in the JCC library. For more information or to join the group, please contact Ron at [email protected] or 240-606-8500.

The Men’s Club has periodic special lectures and events. If you have any ideas for other lectures or events, please bring them to the attention of our facilitators.

Bruce Cheson leads a monthly book group. The books will be either fiction or non-fiction, of any category. Group members will pick future book choices. The host for each month is expected to develop a series of questions, generating lively and interesting discussions. This group will meet for 1.5 hours on the Second Tuesday of each month at 11: AM. If you are interested in being part of this group, please contact Bruce at [email protected] or 301-509-9725.

The JCC Men’s Club visited the US Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) to see the new “America and the Holocaust Exhibit.” Approximately 35 members of the Men’s Club participated. We split into 2 groups each led by a docent for a 90-minute tour. Arrangements for the tour were made by Isaac Bokman, who volunteers as a volunteer at the museum.

The new exhibit explores the prevailing attitudes of the general population in the US regarding the entry of the US into the war in Europe before the bombing of Pearl Harbor and subsequently. Additionally, the exhibit addresses the attitudes of the American people and its government once the US entered the war. It examines why the failure to rescue Jews because restrictive immigration policies as well as the failure to use of military force to slow down the rate at which the Nazis were murdering Jews throughout Europe in Death and Concentration Camps.

There has been much criticism of the US government for not exerting greater efforts during the war to save Jewish lives by military means such as bombing the rail lines leading to death camps or the bombing of the death camps themselves as adjunct actions to routine US military missions. Either of those adjunct military actions would have reduced overall Jewish deaths by estimates of hundreds of thousands of people.

After viewing the America and the Holocaust Exhibit each of the two groups did a side tour of the Eishishok Tower of Photos Exhibit which is part of the permanent exhibit at the Museum. After viewing the America and the Holocaust Exhibit each of the two groups did a side tour of the Eishishok Tower of Photos Exhibit which is part of the permanent exhibit at the Museum. Because Ken Juris’ parents were both born and raised in Eishishok. he gave us a several minute overview about the Tower of photos exhibit, details about Eishishok life, and pointed out photos of his parents and several aunts and uncles whose photos are part of the exhibit. Of the 3,500 Jews that lived in Eishishok approximately 35 survived. Ken’s parents were among them.

Upon completion of the USHMM tour the Men’s Club group had lunch at the USDA Agriculture building directly across the street from the Museum.

Continuing a tradition, the Men’s Club held a held a picnic at Cabin John Regional Park. More than 40 members enjoyed camaraderie and hot dogs, hamburgers, grilled corn on the cob, watermelon, and all the fixings.

Once again Dave Gross secured the venue, Mike Baker was the major-domo, Mike and Eddie Chidakel arranged the logistics, and Stan Ginsberg managed the finances. Peter Jonas Garry Feldman and Ken Juris joined in to get things set up. Dave Fenster “organized” the grill squad of Neil Shulman, Marty Frank, Burt Bacharach, Gary Katz and Gary (where’s the beef?) Feldman. They prepared a feast of hamburgers, hot dogs, and fresh corn.

Chuck Brownstein and Jay Doniger shucked a pile of corn and sliced more watermelon than could be consumed. On the side were coleslaw, potato salad, chips, pickles, and other fixings, very carefully arranged by Mike and Ken, with the supervision of Isaac Bokman.

Sports and trivia director Sheldon Lehner, with expert assistance of Wayne Martin, and Corey Dreyfuss conducted the entertainment. Batting ringers Alvin Lieberman and Mike Baker hit whiffleball home runs. Bean bags were tossed. Sports and music trivia were contested, and heroic splashes happened in the balloon toss. Everyone had a great time.

On May 10, twenty would be spies from the Bender JCC Men’s Club journeyed to Fort Meade to visit the National Cryptologic Museum which is part of the NSA. We were led by former NSA IT engineer Steve Groff. The museum was recently renovated, and he made it really come alive.

First, we were shown cryptologic cylinders dating back to the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. Then we viewed Enigma machines that the Germans used to code and decode messages during World War II. We even saw the machine used by Hitler. Steve demonstrated how the Enigma machines worked. We saw a book of code keys that were distributed to the German units so they would know how to set up the Enigma machine for a given day.

We were then shown how the allies broke the Enigma code. They used a machine called the “Bombe” originally designed by Alan Turing. Enigma was a polyalphabetic substitution cipher. The Bombe could quickly help the code breakers to determine the key for a given day’s code. We were also shown the Japanese version of the Enigma that the allies were also able to break.

Docent Groff, then showed us machines developed by the NSA to protect the transmission of American secret messages. First NSA built its own version of Enigma which had six coding disks making it almost impossible to break our cyphers. Then he showed us versions of the world’s first Cray supercomputers. We learned that the blinking lights on these computers were only there so that they would look cool. Finally, we saw an early version of a satellite phone which made it nearly impossible for an enemy to intercept and steal our messages. After digesting as many facts as we could we transferred to Mission BBQ in Laurel and digested as much food as we could. The trip went off without a hitch and was enjoyed by all.

Twenty-five Men’s Club members and guests toured the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Our knowledgeable guide, Maria, took us all over the beautiful building, inside and out, and gave us extensive information regarding the history and construction of the Center. We had to dodge numerous school buses to get in, because the National Symphony was hosting 4^th graders from Fairfax public schools. In the main Kennedy Center Building, we visited several theaters, the Halls of States and nations, and the outside Terrace. Also, during the tour, we had to take refuge in the Israeli Lounge to avoid mixing with hundreds of nine-year-olds. However, Maria took the opportunity to emphasize the Jewish connection with the development of the Kennedy Center.

Besides the many performance venues, we got to see a recently acquired sculpture of JFK generously donated by the philanthropist David Rubenstein and to take advantage of perfect weather to admire the wonderful views of DC from the Center’s terrace. We also visited the Reach, a new rehearsal, performance, education, and meeting venue adjacent to the Center made up of 3 buildings.

The tour was enjoyed by all, and we now will have a greater appreciation of the Kennedy Center when we attend its many music and theatrical productions.