Jewish Family Night at the Nets

While the Nets aren't exactly having a banner year, you'll want to be at the IZOD Center on Wednesday, March 24. The team is hosting Jewish Family Night, organized in part by the Northern New Jersey Region of Jewish Men's Clubs.

The Nets will be hosting the Sacramento Kings, featuring forward Omri Casspi (bottom right), the first Israeli-born player in the NBA. Other Jewish and Israeli-themed spectacles are in the works, like Israeli dancing, a possibly halftime show by Matisyahu, Jewish celebrity appearances from the world of sports and entertainment - and don't forget the kosher hot dog stands! An all-star basketball game between the Northern NNJR District and Southern NNJR District will take place after the game on the IZOD Center court.

The cost of tickets for Nets-Kings is $36 for lower level seats, $18 for second tier. A significant portion of every ticket sale will fund Masorti Olam programs in Israel. All fans that attend through this program will receive a free Nets t-shirt commemorating the evening.

The event is being chaired by Adam Shandler, CAI Men's Club President. For more info, contact him at adshandler@gmail.com.

General Men's Club Meeting: February 9th

In spite of a speaking engagement cancellation for February 9th, the Men's Club will still hold it's general monthly meeting on this date, 8 pm, in the CAI conference rooms.

On the agenda:

-Recap of World Wide Wrap event.

-Purim Festival assignments.

-Jewish Family Night at the Nets.

-March Madness Guy's Night Out.

-Yom Hashoah Candle Packing Night (pictured.)

-NNJR Retreat.

Contact Adam Shandler at adshandler@gmail.com for more info. All new members and their ideas are welcome.

CAI Defeats JCC-Whippany; Snaps 13-game Losing Streak

The Agudath Israel Men's Club Basketball team got a huge monkey off its back on January 28, defeating the JCC-Whippany team, 51-44. The win snaps a 5-game losing streak on the season and a 13-game losing streak dating back to last year's campaign.

In the win, David Kerner (pictured) poured in 15 points in arguably his best game in a CAI uniform. He also added 10 boards and 4 blocks. Steve Eitman netted 20, including 4 key free throws down the stretch.

"It was vintage CAI basketball, the kind that won us the championships in '07 and '08," said team general manager Adam Shandler. "Work the ball around for good shots, clock control, low turnovers. It didn't hurt that Kerner was relentless on the boards."

CAI played sound, disciplined ball with minimal turnovers and only had one five-minute dry spell on offense. Defensively, the team held JCC-W to three points in the final four minutes.

Agudath Israel is back on the court on Monday night, 7 pm, for a rematch with JCC-West Orange. CAI fell to JCC-WO four weeks ago by two points, after clawing back from a 16-0 deficit.

CAI Men's Club Salutes IDF Medical Forces for Aid in Haiti

The Agudath Israel Men's Club would like to pay tribute to the Israeli Defense Forces Medical Team for its efforts in earthquake-stricken Haiti. Their speed, technology and quality of care should serve as a model for the rest of the world in disaster relief efforts. They flew for 16 hours and got their mobile hospital campus set up in eight. Forty doctors, 24 nurses and 10 tons of equipment. Pretty impressive.

There are many video clips on the web illustrating the sophisticated set-up and compassionate care being provided to the Haitian people. We recommend visiting Youtube.com and simply typing in "Haiti Israel" into the search queue to find some awe-inspiring clips of the work the IDF is doing in this Caribbean country.

The Israeli Defense Forces - truly serving the Tikkun Olam mission to its global neighbors.

B'nai Shalom's 3-pointers Drown CAI, 68-40

The CAI hoops team battled a hot-shooting B'nai Shalom squad for 25 minutes. It was the 25 minutes after that that posed a problem. Not seeing an outside jumper they didn't like CBS nailed trifecta after trifecta to extend a five point lead into a 28 point victory. Agudath Israel didn't do itself any favors, scoring only two points in the last six-and-a-half minutes.

Steve Eitman (pictured) carried Agudath with 14 points. Richie Dicker had 10 and Greg Adelsberg poured in 8. CAI was without center David Kerner during the January 18th contest due to a sore wrist.

The Agudath Israel Men's Club basketball team is next in action on Thursday, January 28 when it faces the JCC-Whippany team. Game time is 7 pm.

David Schenker Talk, for Feb 9, Cancelled

Due to some important work obligations, David Schenker's return visit to the CAI, scheduled for February 9, will be cancelled. David, who serves a Director of Arab Politics at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, spoke last March at Agudath Israel. His insights on Iranian nuclear development and the Syria-Lebanon relationship were met with great interest. We apologize for any inconvenience this cancellation causes our congregation. The Men's Club will be working on getting David back to CAI at a future date.

The Men's Club will likely be holding a general meeting on February 9th. Refer to future CAI communications for confirmation.

CAI Men's Club Blood Drive a Success

The January 10 CAI Men's Club Blood Drive was a tremendous success thanks to the efforts of program chair, Gary Kabler, the volunteers from both Men's Club and Sisterhood and the hard-working crew of the Blood Center of NJ. And what's a blood drive without donors? By 11 am over 30 people had come to donate blood. There was even a wait - a good problem to have as the winter months tend to pose the greatest blood shortage.

Gary, pictured, and his wife Evvie brought in a great breakfast spread for the donors and volunteers and Evvie is without peer when it comes to high-quality bagel and vegetable slicing and plating.

If you missed today's Blood Drive, don't worry. The Blood Center of NJ is always looking for donors. To set up an appointment call 973-676-4700, x132. The Blood Center website also has a wealth of information: http://www.bloodnj.org/

In the image below, donor and Men's Club member Mike Chiaet has a delightful conversation with a NJ Blood Center volunteer.

CAI Loses Heartbreaker to Temple Emanu-El, 43-40

CAI Hoops got all the breaks for 48 minutes of their contest with Temple Emanuel on Monday, January 4. Alas, some final minute turnovers and an inability to score in the last two minutes led to a 43-40 loss and 0-4 record on the season. Richie Dicker (right) poured in 16 points in the loss including three 3-pointers while David Kerner kept up his consistency with 10 points.

CAI Hoops has a bye week the week of January 11th but will next take on B'nai Shalom on the 18th at 8:15 pm.