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28 November 2 • 2017 jn W hen Nison Sabin was nearing the end of his medical career 16 years ago, he found himself receiving the same advice from many of his patients, who were retired physicians themselves. "All your life you've been either going to school or working and now, all of a sud- den, you're retired and you've got all this spare time," Sabin said. "The advice that kept coming to me over and over again was people are going to call you and say would you like to do this, would you like to do that, and even if you think you're going to hate it, try it at least once. And that's what happened with the Discussion Group." The group that Sabin joined on a whim all those years ago is now 15 years old and has become an important fixture in his and many of his peers' lives. The Discussion Group, brainchild of retired attorney Jerry Gropman, began as a monthly gathering of a few friends as a way to stay socially and intellectually stimu- lated in their retirement. The men met in each other's living rooms to hear a speaker and then discuss the topic. After several years, Gropman moved to Florida and handed over his leadership role to Sabin. Since then, the group has grown via word-of-mouth into a club with more than 200 members (although usually 50-70 people attend any given meeting). And though the group began as a men's discus- sion group, several women are now on the email list and regularly attend meetings. Gone are the days of meeting in living rooms; the group now meets on the third Tuesday of every month between May and October in a room at the Jewish Family Service building. Although JFS allows the group to use the meeting room free of charge, each attendee — including Sabin and the month's speaker — makes a $5 donation to JFS at every meeting. According to JFS, the dona- tions generated by the Discussion Group go into a medical care fund to benefit Project Chessed Health and Wellness Program. The group has donated thousands of dollars over the years. MAYA GOLDMAN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS ABOVE: Irving Ginsberg of Farmington Hills discusses American covert operations. RIGHT: Morry Silverman of Bloomfield Hills and Leonard Zucker of West Bloomfield have a conversation. continued on page 30 PHOTOS BY JERRY ZOLYNSKY Discussion Group has been building community for 15 years. Getting Together jews d in the