Article from Connections Newsletter.

We started the men’s group at Etz in 2008 to have fun, build our friendships, and help out at Etz Chayim. We try to meet monthly, and vary our activities so that over the year there is something for almost anyone.

Our first meeting was a discussion of “From Gospel to Torah” where we had a very personal conversation tracing the journey of some of our congregants to Judaism. From time to time, we have focused discussions on topics on our minds: “How to Parent our Parents,” “Following Your Passions” (which led to an amazing beer tasting), “Bar/t Mitzvah: What Have We Learned” and “The Israeli-Arab Conflict.” We’ve learned a lot from each other, and made some good friends.

Some of us like to get outside and we’ve done several bike rides into the western hills, hiked in Wunderlich Park in Woodside, Windy Hill in Portola Valley, and the Stanford Dish, and even had a session with a personal trainer right in the Etz Chayim backyard. For an upcoming event, we need some good shooters and ball handlers for our first intramural basketball game later in the year!

We like to go out to have fun. For a movie night, we went to see The Reader at the Shoreline theaters after a great dinner at the Tied House. We saw Woody Allen’s classic movie Manhattan at my home. We even snuck out one afternoon to the Tech Museum to see the touring Star Trek Exhibit.

As a young congregation, we felt that we were too young to sit around playing cards (some of us remember their grandfathers playing pinochle late into the night). But we finally gave into this honored tradition and have started the occasional card game right at Etz Chayim. Anyone interested in playing poker or pinochle would fit in great.

We do things for more than just the fun of it. Last spring, one of our members ran the March Madness Basketball fundraiser to help the religious school, and each year we’ve been helping put up and take down the Sukkah.

Many of us are active in different activities and committees at Etz Chayim. Every one in our group has different reasons for participating and gets something different out of it. I really appreciate the friendships I’ve made and the connections I feel wherever I might see other members of the men’s group.

Contact the office and we’ll get you on our email list.

Peter Levin, Men’s Chair