JULIE WIENER
StaffWriter
I
n the beginning, there was poet
Robert Bly's movement, which
exhorted men to get in touch
with nature and spirituality.
Then there was Louis Farrakhan's
Million Man March, which urged
black men to assume greater
responsibility for their actions.
And last fall, Promise
Keepers — a conservative
Christian organization that
calls for men to be faithful
husbands — brought 850,000
men to a rally in Washington,
D.C.
In case they were feeling
excluded from all this male
bonding, Jewish men now
have their own opportunity
to get together and explore
just what it means to be a
man.
Rabbi Seymour
Rosenbloom, a former spiri-
tual leader of Detroit's Adat
Shalom, and a speaker on
gendet issues, is coordinating
The First Jewish Men's
Gathering, a weekend retreat
slated for February 7-8 in
suburban Philadelphia. The
Conservative Movement's
Federation of Jewish Men's
Clubs is endorsing the gath-
ering.
According to its brochure,
the gathering will offer Jewish
men the opportunity —
among other things — to
, 'experience the fellowship of
being together with other
Jewish men, share your expectations
of 'manhood' and the reality we are
experiencing today, and gain access to
Jewish song, wisdom and ritual which
will help you achieve the ability to be
a blessing and bless others."
Rabbi Charles Simon, executive
director of the Federation of Men's
Clubs sees the men's gathering as a
new way of reaching out to Jewish
men, particularly those who may be
attracted to secular men's movements.
He believes synagogues need to pro-
vide more opportunities for men to
explore the issues of concern to them,
within a Jewish context.
"Although there is a whole secular
men's movement out there, the fact
remains that I don't think a real Jewish
response is going and sitting in a sweat
lodge," said Simon. "It's in the study
of Torah."
Male Bondi
Jewish-Styl
are fully able to participate, a lot of
men are going to the sidelines and
leaving the field to women," said
Rosenbloom. "Now that we have
achieved virtual egalitarianism [in lib-
eral streams of Judaism], the chal-
lenge is to find ways to continue to
build on the involvement of women,
but at the same time to help men
find their place."
Rosenbloom said the
retreat will integrate Jewish
texts and modern psycholo-
gy. "I've tried to develop a
Jewish idiom for expressing
these issues," he said, adding
that he incorporates biblical
stories in discussions.
However, much of the
retreat — which Rosenbloom
is co-leading with psy-
chotherapist and Baptist min-
ister Gerald Evans — will not
specifically address Jewish
issues.
One Jewish feminist is
somewhat ambivalent about
the men's gathering.
"I have an uneasy feeling
about what happens when
men get together in an exclu-
sive way. It's not the same as
an underprivileged group
meeting in an exclusive way,"
said Susan Weidman
Schneider, editor of the
Jewish feminist magazine
Lilith.
At a national gathering next month,
Jewish men will explore
their gender roles.
Advocates of gender equality,
Rosenbloom and Simon stress that
the February gathering is a far cry
from Promise Keepers, which many
feminists have criticized for its right-
wing political agenda and patriarchal
values.
"I think that this is in part a
response to some of the same things
Promise Keepers responds to," said
Rosenbloom. "We all are trying to fig-
ure out what the proper role for men
is in our society ... But while Promise
Keepers seems to address everything as
if it's all a matter of adhering to rules,
we're trying to address the whole issue
of what is the role of men in society
today."
Just as all American men must
adjust to the increased empowerment
of women in society at large, Jewish
men must also adjust to the growing
role of women in the synagogue, adds
Rosenbloom.
"One of the things my colleagues
and I have observed is that as women
"But I also have as a Jew
a sense that whatever brings
people back to Judaism in a
thoughtful way is of interest.
We tend to think of Judaism
as very male-oriented and
welcoming of men, but it's also very
performance oriented ... men haven't
always had the freedom women have
to come up and say they don't
know."
Rosenbloom, who is 53 and the
spiritual leader of Congregation Adath
Jeshurun in suburban Philadelphia,
anticipates that most of the retreat's
participants will be from the East
Coast and in their 30s, 40s and 50s.
Attendance at the retreat will be limit-
ed to 200, but so far there is plenty of
room. No one from Detroit has signed
up yet. ❑
The Jewish Men's Gathering is in
Chester Springs, Pennsylvania,
and will begin at 7 p.m. on
February 7. Cost is $145. Call
(215) 635-6611 for further
information.
1/16
1998
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