Menschwork’s Brother Keeper Newsletter, January 18, 2023

What’s in the January 2023 Brother Keeper newsletter?

1. Meet the JMR32 Co-chairs and planning team,

2. Reb Shawn Zevit Sings His Beautiful Song, Come Into My Garden,

3. Mensch Group Spends a Weekend Together,

4. JMR Founder’s Reflections,

5. Menschwork’s 2023 Wisdom Council,

6. Report from Menschwork’s Chair,

7. Mark Dwortzan Shares His Reflections About the Meaning of Brother Keeping, and

8. Menschwork’s First Golf Outing.

Report From Menschwork’s Board Chair:

            As we head into 2023, let me first introduce the Menschwork Wisdom Council (your Board of Directors).

            First, I’d like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the tremendous contributions of Harold Belkowitz who has stepped down from the Council after serving for 5 years, including as Treasurer. Harold rarely missed an opportunity to volunteer to take on a task that needed doing to benefit the operation of our organization, and has been particularly dedicated to investing in building systems and tools that will help us for many years to come. Thank you Harold for everything that you have done and continue to do for Menschwork.

            For much of the past year, a large part of the time and energy of the Wisdom Council was taken up by issues around supporting JMR. This has been a theme of the past 3 years where each year we have had to re-envision the underlying structure for JMR, primarily due to Covid but also this year resulting from our move to Pearlstone.

            Another big focus in recent months has been to support Marc Jacobs and his team in launching the new MenschGroups program to expand the opportunities for men to participate in online sharing and bonding brotherhood groups. This formalizes our earlier experiments to take the “mishpacha group” experience which we know and love from JMR and extend it beyond the retreat weekend into the fullness of men’s lives throughout the year.

            This structure is now in place for 2023 so we can support existing groups and start new ones. This MenschGroups initiative offers one of the best opportunities to develop a core Menschwork resource outside of JMR which has the potential to reach larger numbers of Jewish men and touch their lives in important ways.

            We all experienced the power of what Menschwork does to touch men’s lives at JMR31 in November 2022. The strength of our community has been built on the commitment and hard work of those of us who are now leading Menschwork, as well as the dedication of our brothers who built a strong foundation before us. The Wisdom Council’s mission is maintaining and strengthening the loving container which holds our Menschwork community together and to find ways to renew the manifestation of this power in the world of Jewish men.

            I look forward to connecting with many of you throughout 2023.

Much love,

Simon Olsberg, Wisdom Council Chair

Editor’s Note: Menschwork has embarked on an effort to reach out to our email list with more regular communications about our activities, volunteer opportunities, Wisdom Council operations and the ways in which JMR attendees have been getting together.

Read the entire January 2023 Brother Keeper newsletter.