Megillah, Summer 2005

Men's Club News

Some forty years ago a group of pioneering Jews found their way to eastern Prince George's County, Maryland, to a place then called Belair Estates by its developer (named after the former horse form on which it was located, which annexed itself to a tiny railroad community called Bowie, because the Post Office Department said it can't call itself "Belair Estates", seeing as how there is already a "Belair", Maryland).

This band of heroic Jews coalesced into a congregation named "The Jewish Congregation of Belair" (still our name, although we now call ourselves "Nevey Shalom - The Jewish Congregation of Belair" and most of the time just "Nevey Shalom"). For a while, the Jewish Congregation of Belair met in a little ranch house on Stonybrook Drive at Bendix Lane. Shortly thereafter, these intrepid Jews formed a Men's Club, and in January of 1966, that Men's Club affiliated with the (National) Federation of Jewish Men's Clubs.

The Men's Club of Nevey Shalom was one of the smallest of clubs in the Federation, and we had few members with significant contacts in the business community. Also, in the Federation's Torch Award program competitions, we were competing against clubs whose club budgets exceeded the total Nevey Shalom congregational budget.

Yet, our programs fared well in Torch Award competitions. Over the years, we won eleven Torch Awards: six gold (first place), four silver (second place), and 1 bronze (third place) in national competitions. We won in a variety of categories, e.g., Shabbat Programs, Youth Support and Activities, Publications, and Social Actions programming. Our circulating videotape library was so different that the Federation had to create a new category to give us a gold award. The "Best Single Program of the Year" category is exceptionally difficult because entries come from the entire spectrum of Men's Club programming, and some of the submitting clubs have virtually limitless resources in terms of manpower, money, contats, and professional assistance. Nontheless, we won three gold awards in this category.

Early on our members were young, active, and virile. They needed sports activities to keep them occupied and to turn off excess energy. They needed social interaction, and they needed to support congregational programs - both with personal activites and with money. And the club needed to raise money. So we had lots of sports activities (if you doubt the prowness of our members, check the trophy case in classroom 4), and we had social activities and supported the congregation as well. As our members matured (got older, less athletically inclined, and more sedate), our programs changed to meet the newer needs. Years of raffles provided entertainment, social interaction, and funds to buy equipment, to support youth and school activities, and to support congregational programming.

Of late, because the needs of Men's Club membership have continued to evolve, the Men's Club has devoted much of its attention to behind-the-scenes support of congregational activities, e.g., Adult Education programs, with a few direct programs, such as concerts by Lox 'n Vodka and by Eyal Bor, Becky Gordon, and Bruce Casteel.

The future is now and we are continuing to bring to the Nevey Shalom congregational community important events that would not likely be available in Bowie without our efforts. For example:

• By the time you read this, either you will have experienced on June 19, 2005, Bernie Dean's The Rothschilds or, regretfully, you will have missed that opportunity.
• The High Holy Days will soon be upon us, and come the evening of September 24, 2005, the Men's Club will sponsor - at no cost to attendees - a Selichot concert of music appropriate to the High Holy Days season by Eyal Bor, Becky Gordon, and Bruce Casteel.
• And, while we cannot yet give final details, we expect to bring Robyn Helzner back to Nevey Shalom in the Spring of 2006.

~Seymour Alloy