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.

Men of the Year 2009

The CAI Men's Club has selected it's 2009 Man of the Year, to be honored at the NNJR MOY Dinner at the Crystal Plaza in Livingston on Wednesday, November 11. Larry Dodyk, recent past co-president receives the well-deserved honor this year. Alongside Scott Kopen, Larry led the Men's Club during the synagogue's renovation years. His efforts sustained favorite programs of the past and introduced new events. In addition to his presence in the conference room, he is also a force on the basketball court, serving as power forward on the CAI Men's Club Basketball team. At left, Larry is preparing one of the carnival games for the 2009 Purim Festival.

Also being recognized this year is Harvey Hershkowitz, a past Men's Club president who now serves as Vice President of the NNJR of Jewish Men's Clubs. He is the NNJR Man of the Year for 2009. Harvey's representation on the NNJR board does us proud and his continued participation in many CAI committees is a great inspiration to the shul's many lay leaders. Harvey is pictured, second from right, with NNJR board members, delivering a check to the Worldwide Masorti Movement.

An added feature to the Man of the Year Dinner is the Youth of the Year Award. The club has selected Austin Mahler for this inaugural honor. Austin's mitzvah project of organizing the Agudath Israel library has made the room a better place for learning and meditation. Austin can also be counted on for helping us raise the sukkah every year. An Eagle Scout-to-be, Austin is a senior at Newark Academy in Livingston.

Please help us recognize all three of this outstanding gentlemen by attending the Man of the Year Dinner on November 11th and taking out an ad in the event's ad journal. Please contact Adam Shandler at adam@adshandler.com for more info and pricing.

Men's Club Votes on New Logo, Slogan

The CAI Men's Club has voted on a new logo, pictured, at left. The logo fonts and torch were designed by club president Adam Shandler but reformatted by a committee of Men's Club veterans.

"The font is Neuropol, a new design featured in MS Word 2007," said Shandler. "The torch represents the numerous NNJR Torch Awards for Excellence in Programming that we've won throughout the years." The Men's Club has also rolled out a new slogan for the 2009-2010 programming year. "Excellence in Friendship."

"The slogan best captures what we're all about - being a nationally recognized Men's Club that focuses on brotherhood," Shandler added. Last year's slogan was "A National Award Winning Club".

The CAI Men's Club kicks off its 2009-10 programming calendar this Tuesday night, September 15, at 8 pm when it hosts speaker Yotam Zach. Yotam is this year's Metrowest Youth Emissary from Israel and a former IDF Intelligence Officer. The Men's Club is sponsoring this event in partnership with the CAI Israel Program Committee. For more info, email mensclubcai@gmail.com

Men's Club Meeting - Tuesday, September 8, 8 pm

The next general meeting of the CAI Men's Club will take place on Tuesday night, September 8th at 8 pm. We will meet in the CAI conference rooms.

On the agenda:

*Finalizing details for the Sept. 15 speaking event with Yotam Zach

*Voting on CAI Men's Club logo

*Selecting a Man of the Year and Youth of the Year for the NNJR MOY Dinner in November

*Sukkah Building Update

*Scotch in the Sukkah Planning Update

Contact club president Adam Shandler if you'd like more info: adshandler@gmail.com or mensclubcai@gmail.com

CAI Men's Club Wins FJMC Torch Award

The Agudath Israel Men's Club continues to receive recognition at the international level. At the Federation of Jewish Men's Clubs (FJMC) Convention, held in Philadelphia on July 4th weekend, CAI took home a Torch Award for excellence in individual programming. "An Evening with David Schenker of the Washington Institute" was recognized for being a strong program in the Israel Awareness category. Marty Schenker, Vice President of CAI Men's Club, organized this event - one of the best attended in our programming calendar last year. David Schenker (pictured) will be invited back to speak to our community in early 2010.

The Torch Award for the Schenker lecture complements a FJMC Quality Club Award that our Men's Club won for overall excellence in 2008-09. The Quality Club Award was bestowed upon CAI at the NNJR Presidents Dinner on June 17th in North Brunswick. This marks the the third straight year that the CAI Men's Club has taken home a Quality Club Award.

Congratulations to Mary Schenker and all of our members for an outstanding year of service, dedication and hard work. Let's do it again in 2009-10!

Go Neutral Program Meeting February 2nd

The Agudath Israel Men's Club is proud to host a Northern New Jersey Region of Men's Clubs meeting on February 2nd, 7:45 pm.

Our guest speaker will be Rabbi Eric Lankin of the Jewish National Fund. Rabbi Lankin will speak about the Go Neutral program which helps fund environmental projects in Israel. After all the dark news about Israel the past month, the NNJR is proud to team up with the JNF to discuss some positive things we can do for the state of Israel this year.

We encourage all Agudath Israel members to attend. A deli dinner will be served at 7 pm for $12. The meeting itself is free of charge. Please contact Harvey Hershkowitz for more info: HSHINC@aol.com