The Offical® History of The International Kiddush Club
The PreambleThere have been kiddush clubs in shuls
for as long as there have been shuls. Making a "l'chaim"
after davening is one of the unique aspects of
Judaism; our belief that the mundane parts of life can be
elevated to a higher status through prayer is one of the
central parts of our faith.
We
eat, sleep, drink, etc. with a blessing. The blessing makes
the action holy, not just through making it, but also
through the reflection one gets from pausing before the act
to stop and make the blessing. We think about what we are
going to do and we have the intention to perform the act
after a religious moment. We bring holiness to these acts
through the blessing, through the thought and through our
commitment.
Judaism has no prohibition on alcoholic beverages, in fact,
one of our most important and sacred acts is to consecrate
shabbat and holidays with the kiddush (blessing)
over wine. If proper wine is not available, any kosher
alcohol or juice may be substituted. It's not about the
drink, it's about the kiddush.
It's also customary to refrain from eating before the
morning prayers each day. On the 6 days that work is
normally permitted, the Shacarit (morning) service
takes less than an hour. In my shul, if the cantor
is davening, it can sometimes be done in 32 minutes
including Torah reading. (We read 3 short portions
on Monday & Thursday mornings) On Shabbat and
holidays, we have an extra service, Musaf, which
takes place after a longer Torah reading and the Haftorah, a
selection from the prophets which is read each week. For
more information about the weekly Haftorah, sign
up for The
Unraveller, an e-newsletter from the FJMC.
It's not unusual for the entire service to take between 2 or
3 hours from "opening baruch" to the big finish.
Kiddush clubs (sometimes called "Key" clubs) meet any time
after Shacarit, after the Torah reading,
before the Haftorah, after the Haftorah,
before the sermon, after the sermon. There is no fixed time,
just custom in each shul. A quick l'chaim, a
little shmaltz herring on a TamTam, maybe some
smoked fish or more. Then back to the service and Musaf,
refreshed, well fed and ready.
The First Part of the Story
In July of 2001, the FJMC held it's first weekend convention
in Toronto, Canada. Previously the conventions had taken
place in Catskill and Poconos resorts and went from Sunday
to Thursday. The 2001 convention began on Wednesday and
ended on Sunday, so, for the first time Shabbat was
part of the convention.
During one of the "pre-convention" meetings with the hotel,
the convention chairman, Tom Sudow (6) and FJMC president
Len Gimble spent Shabbat morning at the Beth Emeth
Bais Yehuda Synagogue where I was Brotherhood president at
the time. After Lenny got his aliyah, the BEBY Kiddush Club
Supreme Leader, Barney "Zelig" Barenholtz Z'L, invited us
down to the Kiddush Club for some libation, etc. Tom had
some experience with kiddush clubs in Cleveland where he
lives, but Lenny had no idea of what was going to happen. We
sat down at a table and our drinks were poured. Scotch all
round, and in the "BEBY standard" 8 oz cup. There was
herring and smoked carp on the table, and Tom and Lenny were
very happy campers. Then the cholent arrived. It was
like the the doors to the Olam Habah had opened. Tom
looked at Lenny and said (or it might have been Lenny
looking at Tom, we had had a good bit of our l'chaim
by then) "we've got to have this at the convention."
Fast forward to May of 2001, and I was the first "local
coordinator" for the FJMC, arranging for all the incidentals
and requirements of the convention. Remembering the request
for a kiddush club, I sent out an e-mail asking for
donations of liquid refreshment and other items for the Shabbat
at the hotel. The response was incredible! We had immediate
donations of about 10 bottles and Barney Barenholtz gave us
a case (4 gallons!) of herring and 2 cases (24 boxes) of Tam
Tams. Tom Sudow had the herring in his room the night
before, bringing new meaning to "sleeping with the fishies."
Sussman and I joined Tom for some of the shomer duty, and we
were joined by our good friend Johnny Walker.
After the border crossing incident, we gathered at the back
of the room during the Torah reading and quietly
made our l'chaims, had a shtickle of herring
and went on to pelt the incoming FJMC president with candy
to celebrate his bar mitzvah. Everyone enjoyed the event and
it immediately became an instant tradition.
Well almost everyone. In some bizarre rule of the universe,
if 99% of the population is enjoying something, 1% shall
find it an offense and seek to shut it down. Don't ask why,
it's the 614th commandment. They complained.
The Troubles
The next convention was planned for Ft. Lauderdale, Florida,
in July of 2003. During one of the site visits to the hotel,
Bernie Cohen Z"L, our Convention Operations Manager, asked
the hotel staff to make sure that a table would be set up on
Saturday morning in the same room as we were to hold
services for the kiddush club to meet at. The hotel staff
inquired as to the meaning of kiddush club, and when told it
involved alcohol, they just about had kittens. Florida it
would seem has very strict liquor laws (like only being able
to serve alcohol while wearing a bikini and every drink must
have a little umbrella), and one of those laws is that you
cannot pour your own drinks in a licensed facility (the
hotel), but they must SELL you the liquor and POUR it for
you. Bernie and Tom just about had kittens on their own at
that point. Tom called, upset because Bernie had mentioned
the arrangements to the hotel (don't ask, don't tell?) and
he was worried we couldn't do the kiddush club. I calmed him
down and told him we would work it out, just find out how
much money they wanted.
The Solution
Barry Goodman, the border incident guy, and I were talking
about what we could do. We had formed a group of 5 guys who
were taking care of the kiddush club at the convention by
this point; Barry and I, Larry Weiderhorn, Allan Sussman and
Allan Gottesman. Tom had to keep "under the radar", since he
was Convention Chairman and we were still a bit "outlaw." We
came up with the idea of selling tickets before Shabbat
for the drinks. (Jewish law prohibits the use of money on Shabbat)
The hotel wanted $85 for a bottle of blended scotch and $75
for Canadian so we quickly figured out that if we sold $10
tickets, we could easily cover the costs and even do some
fundraising. Every Jewish organization likes fundraising.
Barry is a printer, I am a graphic artist so we quickly put
together a card system that we could use. You bought a card
that entitled you to a drink and then the bartender would
give you a replacement card that announced that you were a
member of the "International Kiddush Club" for the next 2
years. And since Barry was going to be printing cards, I did
some artwork for "calling cards" for the five members. And
to make it fun, we just used numbers. 1 of 5ths, 2 of 5ths,
etc. So we advertised that we were selling the tickets and
went to the convention. We ended up using the numbers as our
nicknames on our convention badges to drive folks crazy. Not
sure if that worked, but there were some pretty crazy people
there!
Wednesday morning we break out the cards. I got "1", Barry
got "2", Larry got "3" Sussman got "4" and Gottesman got
"5". When we sold you a ticket, we gave you one of our
cards. Soon the collector instinct took over and people want
the whole set of 5. It was totally wonderful silliness.
People were stalking the corridors looking for the numbers
they needed to make up their set. It got to the point that
the FJMC Executive installation was interrupted by Larry
Allen, one of our past-presidents, who stopped the
proceedings looking for "2 of Fifths" because that was the
one he was missing. We had a party in Tom's room on Friday
night for the "select few" (those who knew where Tom's room
was) and we ended up with a couple of bottles "under the
table" on Saturday morning. That's how we made some of the
money!
On Shabbat morning, the hotel bartender arrives,
puts up his little table and starts to convert cards to
drinks. Works out wonderfully. On Saturday night, we
subtracted the hotel charge from our collection and found
that we had turned a "profit" of $1100 which we gave to
Rabbi Charles Simon, the FJMC Executive Director for a pet
project of his, buying tefillin for Latin American Masorti
congregations that could not afford to buy them for
themselves. Another tradition is born.
We Continue
We raised the price to $36.00 for the 2005 convention, also
in Florida. We sold just as many "memberships" and raised
even more money. We did give a shot glass and a lapel pin
too, which we have continued to do at each FJMC convention.
We also started to have a Kiddush Club Oneg Shabbat on
Friday night, where the famous "Chinese Vacuum Cleaner" 
speech
was made by Allan Gottesman. We gave Tom Sudow (6) his
number in recognition of all his help and support of the
IKC.
We travelled to Chicago for 2007 and since I was the
Convention Program Chairman, I got to plan the schedule. We
raised the price to $39.27 (Gottesman and I are Maple Leafs
fans and our favourite player was the Big M, Frank
Mahovolich, #27). We gave a new shot glass, a pin, a card
and an airline sized bottle of Irish whiskey. Friday night
we were joined by Chazzanim Alberto Mizrachi, Steven Stoehr
and David Propis, all of whom were totally ready on Shabbat
morning. That's something we stress; IKC members are always
first in the room for services. We don't want the 1% back!
Numbers 7 (Mike Mills), 8 (Bob Braitman), 9 (Jeff Schulman)
and 10 (Joe Swerdlow) were announced.
In 2009, we had over 160 members in Philadelphia over the
July 4th weekend. This time we priced the membership at
$39.99 (Gretzky) and gave the shot glass, the pin, a small
bottle of vodka, a card and a nylon bag to hold it all. I
was the Convention Chairman this time and got to pick all
the good rooms. We held the IKC meeting on the 33rd floor of
the Loew's hotel and had a fantastic view of the fireworks
on 3 sides. Our incoming FJMC president, Mark Berlin is
originally from Louisville, Kentucky and has family in the
bourbon business. They sent him 6 cases of their finest as a
congratulatory gift and he graciously shared them with us.
We gave out numbers 11 (Norm Kurtz), 12 (Eric Weis) and 13
(Dave Kravetz) along with names to Rabbi Simon (Rabbiov),
Burt Fischman (CaptainRuachov), Steve Davidoff (Coachov) and
Jerry Agrest (Eyesov). The names all end in "ov" because we
now have official hockey jerseys, all with the number 5 on
them and the names on the back become the wearer's number.
Mine reads "ONEOV 5" or 1 of 5. Shirts and numbers are now
available to the membership, check the menu to the left for
the link.
2011
California was extremely successful. We raised over $7000 in
2011, with a great meeting at the convention. Since we meet
now on Friday night after the end of all the programs, our
programming has been pretty much tell a few stories and have
a few l'chaims and then on to bed. But we added a few new
things this time.
This convention had a program fair, an FJMC event where
clubs, regions and others display and promote events and
programs that they have been doing over the past 2 years.
The International Kiddush Club was asked to participate, and
we accepted, using the time and space to talk to those few
who do not know of us. We also used the time to sell
memberships and shirts to those who do.
We needed to acknowledge the contributions of those who had
joined and asked our member from Simi Valley, Colin Pulan,
to search and find an object of great importance, a large
gong (not what you are thinking!)
We set up our table, we gathered and compiled all of our
bags and gifts and set up the gong. And each time a
membership was sold, or a shirt delivered, GONG!
We sold a ton of memberships, and GONGED hundreds of times.
Poor Mike Greenberg, who's booth was next to ours. GONG.
Eventually we took pity on Mike, and put the GONG away. It
was almost time for mincha anyways, and Mike needed time to
recover.
Mincha, Kabbalat Shabbat and Ma'ariv were great with our
friendly neighbourhood chazzanim, Alberto, Steve, Joanna and
Judy giving us a great way to begin Shabbat. Dinner and some
other stuff happened, and then it was time.
A couple of our members had lost family members and strictly
speaking as mourners, they are not supposed to attend large
gatherings during their year. There are a few exceptions,
and one is the attendance at study and a siyum on the
conclusion of a chapter of Talmud. So if we completed a
chapter, everyone there would be able to join in the siyum,
and nobody would be excluded from the event.
Masechet Magillah was being studied by the first minyan
group at Beth David B'nai Israel Beth Am in Toronto and,
planners that we are, the last few lines were all that were
left to study. And if you complete the end of the chapter,
you get credit for the whole chapter. Copies were made and
brought to the patio for our 11:30 pm event, and before a
drop was poured, out came the copies and the last few lines
were read and explained. We all said kadish d'rabban
and made our l'chaims.
As it happens, we didn't tell our rabbi about our plans.
Along with some special guests who had never been to our
event, he walked out the door onto the patio as 40 people
were chanting the kadish.
He picked up on our plans right away, and denied prior
knowledge when asked and explained that we often do things
like this, surprising even him.
We continued to discuss Torah, Talmud and the origins of
scotch whisky well into the night. And since most of us were
still on Eastern or Central time, it was a very late night.
But we were all there for the opening baruch at shacarit,
and some of us even helped make a special hashkama (early)
minyan with the mashgiach who was saying kadish. Promises of
a nice kiddush will get people to shul early, and there 10
of us were, at 7:30 am! It was pretty good, because we got
to visit all the other services at the convention and didn't
feel guilty about moving around. Might consider doing it
again, next convention.
2012
In 2012, the FJMC had a trip to South America which included a visit to the shul in Iquitos, Peru, a town that has no road access to the outside world. Rabbi Simon and the group brought mezuzot and tefillin to the Jews there, something that many had never dreamed of owning.
2013 was another great convention with over 200 people joining the club and gathering until way, way too late. But they ALL made it to services, as they always do. We had another great group of chazzanim with us and as you can see from the YouTube videos that are scattered around this site, we all had a great time, again!
2015 was be an incredible
convention for a number of reasons. First, we were going back
to our "source" in Florida, where the IKC was really formed.
Second, Allan Gottesman, #5 of Fifths, will be installed as
the President of the FJMC. Pretty incredible, huh?
But it gets better, because Stan Greenspan has been
nominated as the 1st Vice President of the FJMC and the plan
is for him to become the FJMC President after Allan, at the
convention in 2017.
We're looking forward to making some wonderful things happen
to the FJMC, bringing our "brand" of Judaism to a whole lot
more people. We'll do that at the World Zionist Congress in
2015, and we'll set the stage to have it get better in the
years to come. The IKC will be a part of it, and we're
working with a couple of future presidents to keep things
moving.
You can see the 2019 logo at the top of the page, and it may
give you some hints of the kinds of fun stuff that will
happen.
Not the Conclusion
We have continued to raise funds for the Tefillin Fund,
which now buys mezuzot too, and the total given to the
Tefillin Fund has exceeded $40,000. The only alcohol we use
IKC funds for is for the convention, all other meetings or
events are hosted out of the goodness of those bringing the
drinks. And the 1% I mentioned before? They like us now.
They have seen the ruach we bring to the
organization and they have all become members!
We've had a great time doing all this and we look forward to
the continuation of this tradition well into the future.
