The Zooming 39ers

by Laura Breen Galante

It’s exactly 1:00 p.m. on Monday, and members of The Roth Family JCC’s 39ers club are greeting each other with big smiles, waves, and enthusiastic hellos. It feels like any other upbeat, weekly meeting of the 39ers, except this gathering has a COVID-era twist. Though most of the club’s members are well past retirement age, they are embracing the latest technology to gather the way so many of us do these days – on Zoom.

“Hello, Dora! You look good!”

“Is my mic on?”

“Oh, Barbara, we can’t see you!”

Named for Jack Benny’s famous joke that he always remained age 39, the 39ers is a group of senior JCC members who meet weekly for social and interactive programs. 

Harriet Weiss, who ran the JCC’s senior programs for more than 20 years, says that during its heyday, the 39ers would attract nearly 100 members who met frequently to play cards and socialize together at the JCC. In recent days, the group’s numbers have dwindled to just more than a dozen, but the camaraderie remains strong.

Last January, Avivit Erlichman took over the role of cultural arts director for the JCC and was asked to check in on the seniors.

“When I joined, I was asked to just make sure they were okay – they weren’t really part of my job,” Avivit recalls.

But Avivit took kindly to the 39ers and felt the program had so much potential.

“She is so capable,” says Harriet of Avivit. “The senior department is my love, and I was so happy to give it to her. After so many years, we finally found somebody who loves them like I did.”

Before COVID-19 forced the JCC to curb many of its in-person activities, Avivit kicked off some new programming by hosting a hamantaschen baking event. Using her expertise as a pastry chef, she provided pre-made dough, small rolling pins, and filling, and she helped members who needed extra assistance.

“They did the circle, the filling, they loved it,” Avivit recalls.

“She has such a way with them,” says Harriet, “and they love her.”

“I really feel like they are all my grandparents,” says Avivit, who was concerned for their welfare when the shutdown occurred. “I wanted to do what we could to make sure the seniors were fine.”

So, Avivit tried a conference call. Looking back on the call, she can only laugh.

“It was awful,” chuckles Avivit. “When I finally got a few of them on the phone, they couldn’t hear. They were all saying, ‘What? What?’ and I had to hang up.”

But Avivit didn’t give up.

“I really was worrying about them,” she says. “The isolation was hard for us all, and especially for those who are by themselves, isolated, or in an assisted-living facility.”

So when the JCC began reopening in May, Avivit decided to try a 39ers meeting on Zoom.

“Everyone said, ‘You are crazy! If the phone didn’t work, how are you going to do that?’” Avivit remembers, but she was determined to make it happen.

To set some of the members up on Zoom, Avivit donned a mask and visited their homes in person. Other members called Avivit for help when a grandson or niece or nephew was visiting, and she talked them through it over the phone.

“We started slowly,” Avivit says, “We had two or three, five, seven, nine...”

Soon, the entire group of 16 39ers was online, and the first official Zoom meeting was scheduled.

Many might roll our eyes at another Zoom call for work or school, but for these intrepid 39ers, the call is often the social event of the week.

“The moment they were on the Zoom, they had their lipstick on, they were dressing up,” grins Avivit. “It was beautiful and heartwarming.”

Since that first Zoom conference, Avivit has scheduled interesting and engaging programs every Monday. She works her magic with a very limited budget to host such programs as Laughter Yoga, a presentation about innovation in Israel, chair fitness, a talk about how to be less OYful and more joyful, a visit from a local judge, theater presentations, and a visit from a spiritual healer (which sparked some very intellectual debate, says Avivit).

The 39ers have also enjoyed live tours of Jerusalem City, Masada, and other locations by an Israeli tour guide. There are also monthly author chats and a 39er member recently gave a presentation about Yiddish culture and singing. Ron Tal, a New York City actor who performed in the Yiddish version of Fiddler on the Roof  joined another recent call to serenade the 39ers in Yiddish, Arabic, Ladino, and English while engaging with the members.

“They were looking for intellectual conversations,” says Avivit. “This is important. You sit at home, your kids are far away, some of them have no partners or spouses. They are lonely at home.”

Two students who are visiting as part of the Shinshiniyot Israeli teen emissaries program through the Jewish Agency for Israeli have also helped Avivit engage the group. For Hanukkah, Avivit partnered with the girls to create gift baskets to accompany the call. They purchased candles, dreidels, gelt, and donuts and delivered baskets to each 39ers member. Avivit even shipped baskets to two members in New Jersey and Connecticut, snowbirds who couldn’t travel this past winter.

“The members opened the baskets during the call,” says Avivit. “They were so thrilled.”

“Avivit does everything from the heart,” says Harriet. “She doesn’t have to do this, and they love her for it.” 

The week following Hanukkah, Avivit and the Shinshiniyot girls fried latkes and delivered them with applesauce and sour cream.

“We got so many thank-you cards,” Avivit says. “It made them feel so special.”

Coordinating the 39ers Zoom calls is just part of the Jewish community’s mission to take care of the elderly, says Harriet.

“Our parents did so much for us,” she says, “and in the Jewish religion, it’s very important to take care of the parents.”

For Avivit, it’s a mitzvah.

“I don’t do it because I have to,” she says.

The Monday Zoom presentations have proven so successful, Avivit has since added another event, which she calls Schmooze on Zoom. Two of the 39ers, themselves, coordinate the additional social hour, which takes place every other Wednesday and sometimes includes trivia or bingo. Avivit sets up the call and then hands it over to the co-hosts.

“They have the power to mute – sometimes you have to mute!” she laughs.

“It’s really been a lifesaver,” says 39er Barbara Goldberg. “Since the pandemic started, it’s a way for us to reach out to one another and see people because most of us are locked in our houses or apartments.”

Dora Furst agrees. “You put on a little makeup. You feel like you’re really socializing. I mean, the past two days,  I’ve been wearing pajamas! I live for Mondays and every other Wednesday for my connection with people.”

Avivit says she represents the JCC for the 39ers, and this is her way to show the JCC community cares about them.

“During this time,” Avivit says, “we need to show how the community cares about its people.”