WAM (Ways & Means/Activities/Membership) was tasked this year with bringing people back together, especially into our building, for as many different events and activities as possible. Here’s how we did that:

  • Movie Night on the Patio
  • Dueling Pianos Extravaganza
  • Themed Shabbat Dinner Series (we served over 700 meals!)
  • Membership Appreciation Day/Open House
  • PJ Library Events
  • CBT Hikes
  • CBT Bike Rides
  • Trivia Nights
  • Purim Pub Crawl
  • Wheels for Meals on Wheels
  • Vineyard/Winery Excursion
  • Walking Tour of Jewish Philadelphia
  • Oneg Shabbat Dessert & Israel Wine Tasting
  • Speakers from MAKOM
  • Family Fun Day
  • Sourland Distillery Tour
  • FilmShul Series
  • Mitzvah Day
  • CBT Fitness Challenge

Stay Tuned for an Amazing 2023-2024!

As always, we’d love to hear your suggestions for new and interesting events and of course, always welcome volunteers to help us make all these great programs happen! Just email .

Social Action Year in Review

Laura Waksman

Social Action initiated our Chaverim socialization program in February, in collaboration with JFS. It is a 10 time a year program from 10-2 on a Tuesday for our members ages 60 plus at CBT. JFS provides lunch from an area kosher restaurant from 12-1 through a state grant, and Social Action provides entertainment or a thought provoking presentation, mostly with a Jewish theme, from 1-2. We have had a saxophonist play New Orleans style jazz, a talk about Jewish comedy in the Catskills, Federation”s Israel engagement director Dan Rozett presented on the Israel War of Independence, Rabbi Wolkoff told three captivating tales about G-d from Israel, Sweden and Georgia, and June’s talk will be about Jewish Genealogy. There is no charge, but an $8 donation is suggested. Chaverim happens with the tremendous help of Julio, Shelly Talmud, and Shelly Wistreich.

Mitzvah Day on June 11th had a wonderful turnout of 48 volunteers from age 6 to 80-something coming together in the service of others. We counted our tzedakah from CBT and JNF boxes, cleaned the Religious School pre school room, wrote cards to Ukrainian Jewish children rescued and brought to Romania, cooked 8 trays of baked ziti and packed almost 100 snack bags for Elijah’s Promise, weeded and watered the Interfaith Rise refugee organization’s Farm plot at Rutgers Organic Farm and packed 24 backpacks with school supplies for them, decorated and packed more than 50 grocery totes for JFS’s Food Pantry, and collected media for the Wilf Campus for Jewish living, as well as purses and eyeglasses for other nonprofits.

Mitzvah Day could not have happened without Craig Cohen, Dot Cohen, Cheryl Crick, Carol Eisenberg, Renee Levin, Shelly Talmud and Steve Talmud.

Thank you to Terry and Slyvia Shore Katz, MArgie Atwater, and Marina Finkelberg for delivering many of those items to their recipients.

We continue to write cards to residents at Complete Care at Park Place in Monmouth Junction.

We initiated a year round collection of items for JFS’ Kosher Food Pantry, and collected tzedakah at the Megillah Reading for donation to the Jewish Social Services Committee of New Brunswick. Huge thank yous to Carol Eisenberg and Jay Scheuer who regularly check the donation trunk outside the office and deliver food to JFS.

Thank you so much to Lesley, who is always available to lend an ear, give an opinion, and keep me on track.