Image by MENTSCHEN.ORG

By Debra Nussbaum Cohen April 14, 2010

It used to be that women, to paraphrase Virginia Woolf, needed to have a room of their own, to carve space out of a male-dominated world in which to find and share their own voices. Today, it seems, men need a room, as well. So the Conservative movement’s Federation of Jewish Men’s Clubs has started a Web magazine, Mentschen.org, to provide those with a Y chromosome a safe place to explore important issues in their lives.

Image by MENTSCHEN.ORG

Mentschen is an outgrowth of the FJMC program called “Hearing Men’s Voices,” a dialogue group that began in 1997 and was, according to Mentschen co-editor Dr. Robert Braitman, itself a response to what was then a new men’s movement. He said the response to the men-only dialogue opportunities has been enthusiastic.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

“I figured we’d sit around the table and nobody would say anything, but it was amazing. Men were willing to talk at length and in detail about issues of being sons and fathers, about health and the place of work in our lives, and about our spiritual lives in a very, very personal way,” Braitman said.

The volunteer-run Mentschen webzine includes interviews with interesting Jewish men; brief articles about issues relating to Israel, observance and men’s roles, and a blog. Braitman, a 60-year-old pediatrician in Norwood, Mass., said that along with being a forum for men to meet virtually, it’s a vehicle for outreach to younger men. According to Braitman, FJMC has about 20,000 members in 250 synagogue-based men’s clubs, the average age being in the 50s. “We want to reach out to men who aren’t coming to men’s clubs” he said.

The dialogue groups, and now Mentschen, “bring men into Jewish life who wouldn’t necessarily be involved ritually, men who enjoy the conversations and camaraderie,” Braitman said.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$90 $180

$360

Other amount