‘Man Seders’ Flow With Steak and Scotch
Next week, Darren Findling will observe the start of Passover by sitting with his wife and children for a Seder, the Jewish traditional holiday meal that calls for drinking four cups of wine, eating matzo, and telling the story of the Israelites’ slavery in Egypt and liberation from bondage. A few days before that, the Detroit-area lawyer is attending a very different kind of Seder, where he plans to down some Scotch, eat grilled steak, and chill out with the guys.
Only with the guys.
Rabbi Simcha Tolwin, who is spearheading the affair in Oak Park, Mich., calls it a hard-core evening for men only. “It is steak and Scotch, no dessert, no girlie drinks,” says the Orthodox rabbi who runs Aish Detroit, a nondenominational Jewish learning center. A flier for the event refers to it as “The Man’s Seder” and shows an image of a red Ferrari with wheels made out of matzo, the crisp unleavened bread that many Jews eat during the holiday, when bread is forbidden.
The goal is simple: to teach men about the Passover Seder, including how to run one, and engage them more in the Jewish faith. The ritual meal at the beginning of Passover involves chants, readings and blessings along with an ample dinner. Men historically led the Seder, which still holds true in some wings of Judaism. But some men aren’t sure what to do, rabbis say.
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Rabbis behind these guys-only events, which have spread to cities including Cleveland, Atlanta, Houston, Potomac, Md., and East Brunswick, N.J., say they help attract Jewish men who have dropped out of synagogues and other forms of Jewish life. To some, the effort seems a little retro. “It feels like ‘Mad Men,’ ” says Rabbi Robert Barr, referring to the television show about 1960s advertising executives. Rabbi Barr leads Beth Adam, a liberal independent congregation in Cincinnati that doesn’t hold a male-only Seder.
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Rabbi Judith Beiner, a Reform chaplain in Atlanta, sees nothing sexist in male-only evenings. Rabbi Beiner, who was ordained 22 years ago when women rabbis were still the exception, said she enjoys being in women-only groups sometimes and thinks men should have the same chance.
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The organizers of these “Guy” Seders have tended to be Orthodox rabbis, though some Reform congregations have also held male-only Seders using a special men’s Haggada, the book that contains the chants and prayers that accompany the Seder meal. The rabbis say that while they themselves are Orthodox, the men who attend range from observant to secular and unaffiliated.
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A spokesman for the Orthodox Union, the organization of Modern Orthodox synagogues, said it supported efforts to reach out to Jewish men, but stressed that Orthodox men have remained engaged with their synagogues and communal affairs.
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http://www.wsj.com/articles/man-seders-flow-with-steak-and-scotch-1427320586
= new reply since forum marked as read
Actually i dont drink or eat red meat, anymore. But it makes a nice image. 
