Federation of Jewish Men S Clubs

2001-2003 Torch Award Entry

Best Adult Education Program

Temple Beth Shalom Livingston, NJ Table of Contents

1. Official Cover Sheet ………………………………………………………….. page 3

2. Program Narrative ……………………………………………………………..page 5

Addendum A. Planning Checklist ………………………………………………………… Official Cover Sheet Federation of Jewish Men’s Clubs Torch Award Program 2001-2003 Official Cover Sheet

Category: Best Adult Education Program Project Title: Jewish Jeopardy

(1) Full Club Name: Men’s Club Temple Beth Shalom

(2) Club Address: 193 E. Mt. Pleasant Avenue Livingston, NJ 07039

(3) # of Members: 300 (4) Club Number: 941 (5) Region: Northern New Jersey

(6) Contact Person: Howard Reba Phone: (973) 533-7133 Address: 10 Boynton Drive E-mail: [email protected] Livingston, NJ 07039 7) Description of Entry: Why Was the Project Initiated: To offer an entertaining program that was participative and educational

Project Description On consecutive Sunday mornings following minyon and breakfast, teams of congregants went head to head in a Jeopardy contest to show off their knowledge of Jewish culture, history, practices, and language. A Men’s Club committee created questions and the Vice President of Programming served as master of ceremonies. Will a representative be available for the Convention Program Fair? Yes: X No: ___ If yes, name of representative: Peter Gotlieb, Stan Schnitzer

Prior Submission Statement: The undersigned attests to the fact that the Torch Award entry attached to this Official Cover Sheet has NOT been an award entry in prior Torch Awards competitions sponsored by the Federation of Jewish Men’s Clubs, and is NOT substantially the same as a previous winning entry. Club President: Carl Landsman Date: April 25, 2003 Signature: electronic submission Program Narrative MEN’S CLUB TEMPLE BETH SHALOM

BEST ADULT EDUCATION PROGRAM TORCH AWARD PROGRAM 2001-2003

Project Title

Jewish Jeopardy

Project Initiation

Temple Beth Shalom Men’s Club (TBSMC) gathered together its board over the summer of 2001 for its annual program planning session. A desire was expressed to develop a program that would be new, educational, and contemporary. It had to be something that had a high potential to reach new participants. Mitch Berkey, our new VP of Programming conceived the idea of Jewish Jeopardy.

Project Content

The content is pretty straight forward – run a program following the format of the popular

TV show Jeopardy. Congregants are invited to compete either individually or in teams of 2 or 3 people. Preliminary rounds are held on one Sunday; followed by semi-finals and finals on the next weekend.

Project Resources

First, we needed questions. A committee of TBSMC members got together, drew upon their collective knowledge, and leveraged several reference books including The Jewish Book of

Why, which is the TBSMC gift to Bar and Bat Mitzvahs. We formulated questions in the categories of Israel, Holidays and History, Aleph Bet, Real Names, and Jewish Sports Stars.

Sample questions are included in appendix B. Second, facilities and logistics had to be arranged. Dates were chosen, and a room at the temple was secured. The decision was made to keep the event low-tech to achieve an old- fashioned charm often missing from today’s advanced programs. Evidence of the simple scoreboard, bells, and answer board is included in appendix C.

Lastly, contestants were needed. Publicity began to run in the temple newsletters 6 weeks in advance of the event. This was supplemented by emails to the congregation, pulpit announcements, and flyers handed out at the Hebrew school.

Project Future

For 2 years running, TBSMC has run a successful Jewish Jeopardy program and the plan is to continue this on an annual basis. Next year, in addition to having individual teams sign up to play, we are going to add additional preliminary rounds and ask for teams from Sisterhood, the

PTA, USY, Hebrew school, and the Ritual Committee. Addenda A. Planning Checklist MEN’S CLUB TEMPLE BETH SHALOM JEWISH JEOPARDY CHECKLIST

____ 1. Book event in Temple calendar and confirm site availability (event is usually held in late October and/or early November – check for conflict with any school holidays)

____ 1. Form Committee and select program Chair (will be under the supervision of the V.P. for Programming)

August

____1. Hold Committee meeting and identify who will handle site logistics, food, program content and publicity

September

____1. Have Committee Chair follow up on program content ____2. Prepare and submit article for October Bulletin ____3. Have Committee Chair follow up with USY and Religious School to encourage participation

October

____1. Prepare and submit article(s) for October newsletters to encourage participation ____2. Send out an e-mail notification to encourage participation and attendance ____3. Have program announcement placed in Rabbi’s bima book ____4. Have Committee Chair follow up on program content and confirm with contestants on participation ____5. Have Site Coordinator follow up with Temple staff re: logistics (table set up, etc.) ____6. Have Food Coordinator place order ____7. Take pictures at the event (assuming event is late October)

November

____1. See October for steps to take if program is in November ____2. Prepare and submit article for November newsletter on the results of the contest ____3. Send thank you notes ____4. Pay bills and reimbursements ____5. Have a post-event assessment Committee conversation and prepare a report listing all essential information, and what worked and what didn’t, to prepare for next year’s event