Happy New Year

New Year here isn't as big a deal as in the US. No fireworks in the streets- that is saved for Chinese New Year, which my inner pyromaniac is looking forward to. There were a few special shows on TV, featuring singing, dancing and other performances. I was watching one of these TVs show at a restaurant. The performance was traditional Peking Opera. I think it's interesting to listen to Peking Opera for about one minute, but at lengths longer than that, it sounds like a cat being run over by a car. Apparently I'm not the only one who shares this sentiment, because as soon as Peking Opera came on TV, the restaurant owner scoffed and changed the channel.

But you know what is a big deal here? Christmas! There are Christmas decorations everywhere. Shopping malls have those giant, animatronic santas, Christmas trees and so on. I even saw a manger in a complex near the office building I work in. And everyone wants to wish me a merry Christmas. I guess there is no escaping Christmas, even in a country where most people are officially Atheists.

We had a great latke making party here. My mom had sent me a care package, and was thoughtful enough to include matzoh meal, an essential ingredient in my grandmother's latke recipe. I think it was a big success.

I have today and tomorrow off from work, as per the government's official holiday calendar. However, the government wants to make sure that I don't get lazy, so I only have three days off. Let's see, Thursday, Friday, Saturday- that's three. What about Sunday? Oh, I have to go into work on Sunday. Thanks for looking out for my work ethic, government. If I had four consecutive days off, I might lose The People's Work Ethic.

Sarah from MHSF -- My Community

One of the reasons I moved back to CA a little over two months ago was to re-ground myself within a true community of friends. I'd built some solid friendships in New York, but there was always something missing. I had friends, but my friends weren't all friends with each other. The something missing turned out to be those friends who knew you when you were 'yea' big', the ones who saw you through your dorky teenage years, and the ones who studied with you in college. I missed being surrounded by those who knew my history. I also missed having a true community instead of individual relationships.

Reconnecting with old friends has actually also enabled me to branch out and meet new ones. Its as if my old friends remind me of my true self, help me to feel comfortable in my own skin, and give me the courage to reach out to new faces and make a connection. Something magical seems to have happened this month; due mainly to my living and participating in Moishe House, I've had this merging of new and old friends and all of a sudden ''wham!" a full-on community of peers, almost all of whom are Jewish. (I guess that figures...) It's been great to see how my old friends have embraced my new friends, and vice versa. It's also been great to meet so many Jews in San Francisco. There is something easier about starting a new friendship when people at least share a somewhat similiar cultural and religious background. After the initial transition and adjustment to a new city, I can say that I now feel like I have found my place.

I was at a Channukah party this last weekend hosted by Birthright Israel NEXT and Bay Area Tribe with my new 'community' and danced and sang the night away to an amazing 80s cover band. Smiling and screaming the lyrics alongside me were my best friend from the first day I walked into the dorms of college 7 years ago, one of my Moishe House roommates, and a ton of other awesome new friends I've made through Moishe House in the past 2 months. It's amazing how quickly I've been made to feel at home. I couldn't be happier.

I'm so excited for the new year ahead and all the connections, fun, and adventures it will bring with friends both new and old. May 2009 be a great one!

~Sarah

MHSeattle, Joel: Chanukah, Gaza, and Adolescence

As we go about a cheerful Seattle Sunday making preparations for Moishe House Seattle's Last Night of Chanukah potluck and party, I can't help this sinking feeling over the news from Gaza. The death toll is sickening -- and what the Times doesn't mention is that most of the "Hamas personnel" killed were probably low-ranking policemen who signed up for jobs in an embargo-strangled Gaza economy, not Islamist idealogues (like many of their brothers and sons will now become) -- but besides that travesty, one less-noticed headlne really depresses me: In protest of Gaza attacks, Syria halts indirect talks with Israel. Not that this is any kind of surprise. Really, it must have been expected as a result of this Gaza campaign.

Say what you will about the negotiations with Syria. At least they had a long-term strategic purpose. They represented hope, however tenuous, for a transformed future. What is the long-term strategic purpose of bombing the hell out of Gaza? What are we to hope for? Regime change? Has regime change by force ever not backfired in the Middle East?

Obviously unending rocket fire in Sderot and Netivot is unacceptable. I spent much of this month on the phone with my girlfriend at her parents' house in Ashqelon, where sirens call them into bomb shelters in the dead of night and the hospital is now moving its operations underground. I am not sanguine about the rockets.

But there are adult and there are adolescent ways of responding to assault -- which is another way of saying maturity means knowing when and how to Be Patient.

When I was fourteen, I awoke to find a particularly juicy zit on my nose, front and center. I hated it, of course. Being in middle school is hard enough without an ugly red bullseye on your face. So I took the bastard between my thumbnails and squished and scraped it into a pussy, bloody little ruin. It looked worse that day, but I felt avenged and figured at least the infection was gone -- until the wound developed a new infection, Staphylococcus no less. No amount of repeat popping could kill that zit once it had staph in it, so I had to go to the doctor and take pills. Still I took aggresive revenge against it every morning, making the antibiotics' job more difficult and ultimately leaving a scar that I carry on my nose to this day.

Two morals, for two different situations: The first situation is one where natural forces, given time, stand a good chance of working things out. The average zit is no match for a healthy immune system, so leave it alone! The second situation is more serious, where it's so bad you can't just do nothing. The moral here is to pick your remedy carefully, and then let it run its course fully before throwing others after it. If I had just taken the antibiotics and ignored my nose in the meantime, I probably wouldn't have this scar. But giving a remedy time requires patience, and I was not patient. I was fourteen.

The chosen remedy in Gaza was, rightly or wrongly, isolation. It was having some effect. The Gazan economy was frozen, people were desperate, and Egypt was motivated to be somewhat cooperative, fearing a flood of refugees. The rockets hadn't stopped, but they had slowed. Would they have eventually stopped? Would mounting domestic frustration and bankruptcy have eventually toppled the Hamas government? We'll never know. Now Israeli bombers drop blood and chaos on the streets so every Gazan can see exactly who is to blame, and will rally behind Hamas without a second thought. All the volatile peace talks will evaporate completely and a new generation of anti-Israel ideologues and militants will be fortified by the 300 dead. Scars will be long-lasting.

I am not a rabbi any more than I am a foreign policy expert. I can only grasp military strategy in broad strokes, and likewise I think I'll leave analysis of the conflict through manifold Scriptural references to rabbis like Arthur Waskow (not to mention countless sermonizers politically opposite him). My Chanukah-Gaza drash is very simple: being Jewish is all about playing the long game.

After a rousing Chanukah singalong at our Shabbat table, a friend told me I was wrong, "Maoz Tzur" is not the Jewish holiday carol, it's the Jewish "Star-Spangled Banner": all about military might, plus it has that high middle section nobody can sing. But I still think if you just start low enough that high part is fine, and in context the Chanukah story is not mainly about fighting power, it's about staying power. Why else are we still singing about escaping Pharaoh, or Assyria or Rome for that matter? Is the "Maoz Tzur" takeaway that G-d made us really badass then so he'll make us really badass now? Or is it that history is kinder to those who genuinely believe in what they're doing, than to those who opt for political, or military, expedience?

I asked an Israeli friend who supports the Gaza bombardment, how will this stop attacks against Israeli civilians? She replied that bombing Gaza must stop the rockets, because diplomacy didn't. It's illogical, but the frustration could not have been better stated. Pursuing diplomacy in the Middle East is like watching paint dry -- with a legion of fire ants in your underwear. Who wouldn't want to drop bombs if he had them?

But the Jewish trump card never was, and never will be brute strength. It's persistence. So let's get back to playing the long game. I think we're better at it.

An end-of-year reflection

Margie has been away for the last six weeks. For those who don't know, Margie Klein founded Kavod House here in Boston about three years ago, and two + years ago we proudly became the Moishe/Kavod House.

So the question in mid-November was: with our founder away, would MH Boston slow down? Would we have problems keeping our programming running or engaging new leadership?

The answer has been an emphatic "no." Our December programming was as strong and lively as ever, highlighted by a huge exotic latke party bottom-lined by a number of our emerging membership corps. Our January looks to be just as exciting, with Shabbatot planned, our food justice campaign taking off, and the long-delayed painting of our prayer space taking place as a community event.

The key to all of this has been our leadership development efforts. By asking people to step up, they take ownership of our community. And when leaders step up, we can afford to say farewell to someone important -- even a Margie -- knowing that others are there to make sure things keep running smoothly.

It's an important lesson, and one I hope we build on in 2009.

MHSS - Zvi December Post

Hi Moishe World

Happy Channukah.

Yesterday a few MHSS community members joined up with other local Jews to serve Christmas lunch at the Third Baptist Church in DC. The atmosphere was full of love and kinship. There was an awesome piano player/soloist that sang some beautiful jazzed up version of carols and there was a young brother - sister duo that sange like to angels. It was very inspiring to see their freedom to sing in front of people that they do not know. Anyway, there was a lot to learn from organizing this experience. I waited waaaaaaaaaaay to late to get the plans grounded down of where we would all be volunteering. And you can never plan fully as I wanted to get us a gig going to the Hebrew Home senior village to put on a Channukah party (crazy idea right, volunteer with Jews on Christmas!! -- Why don't we do that !!) Well, the seniors had an oral virus and werre quarentined. That was sad to learn aobut, BUT I am planning something with the seniors in February. An intergenerational discussion about Jewish community.

Shabbat with witches! Yes, there are Jewitches in the world and they offer a pagan/Jewish blend. You might say they take Judaism back to its roots. I beleive that all religion has grown from the Earth, or grown from the relationship between the divine and the tangible world, so why not pay homage to mama earth. We had a creative Kabbalat Shabbat that was not pagan inspired. It was from the Jewish Renewal style of prayer: Chanting, interactive experiences, and acknowledging that we are (At least) holders of the divine spark. We followed up with a great meal! And then a ritual involving tarot cards and telling stories. 'Twas sweet.

Alright ! Peaceful bright light night and day.

building community and changing the food system: off to monterey for a conference on the day

so im off to the hazon food conference in monterey, ca on thursday (a jewish conference on christmas--brilliant except for folks who celebrate both!) to connect/learn/share about moishe house boston's food justice campaign in the context of the larger jewish food movement. crazy that there are 600 people passionate enough about this issue/challenge to make their way out to california, and im one of them.

as context, mh boston has recently embarked on our food justice campaign, a project aimed to educate/organize/build excitement about the importance of supporting local, sustainable agriculture given the negative consequences of conventional ag on the environment, but more pressingly on people (see info on agriprocessors and discussion about kashruth and jewish ethics). in particular, we'll be running a local farm/jewish community tu b'shevat seder as well as educational seminars at congregations around the greater boston area (and beyond?). we've joined together to watch king corn, and have built amazing community and connections on the way folks connect to and around food, justice work and jewish values/culture. weve started conversations with mh providence regarding sukkoth activities and would love buy-in/brainstorming with other houses about local food/food justice-related work youve been a part of.

a marvelous handful of folks from our community will be off to monterey this thursday for this 4-day, intensive and community-building conference in monterey. we plan to build excitement around our campaign, learn what other communities have done, build relationships, and have a great time. aliza wasserman, an organizer and community leader at mh boston, will be doing a seminar around the farm bill and work done around the country to organize for more equitable distribution of funds away from conventional subsidies. and we'll come back pumped for our campaign and to the scores of amazing people that want to work on building our jewish community via this project.

while ive only officially resided in mh boston for a bit over three months, its been incredible to see how a community group like ourselves can really do exciting and engaging work in a way that a c3 non-profit tends not to--and i find the root of that in the relationship being built, the deeper motivations around wanting to build a community together and the respect we all share with each other. a much different experience than my day job, where community building, relationship building and a sense of belonging is much more sparse. here here to community.

sounding off.

isnt the festive period lovely

Dear all,

I dont know what christmas time in all the MH countries is like, but wanted to share a little bit about what it is like here in old blighty.

Well it is actually pretty lovely. People have been in wind down mode for a week or two now, mixing work and pleasure a little bit more and generally enjoying life more. Random people wish you merry christmas (like the women I chatted to at the bus stop this morning) and the high street is all sparkly and and colourful.

Being a jew, means that we get a double helping. The festiveness of Christmas and the jollyness of chanukah. At Moishe House London we will be taking advantage by throwing a big chanukah bash and really letting our hair down.

All this festivity and fun makes me wonder whether we have the right balance between work and play here in the UK. We need more to celebrate and more excuses to have fun and be open to people. Maybe MHL can play this role for people by providing our community with as much opportunity to have fun as possible.

Here's to a happy, healthy and FUN year ahead for at MH.

Best

Gideon, MHL

Bagels, Bagels for everyone

This month’s event schedule has increased my monthly bagel consumption tenfold (approximately), which, for the record, is a-okay with me. The bagel extravaganza began with Jewga brunch. We cleared out our living room, washed the floor for the first time in about 5 months (who knew the wood’s stain was only MEDIUM dark???) and invited about 12 yoga loving folks in for a free yoga session led by one of our community members. Then came the bagels…and I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Adam’s perfectly prepared scrambled eggs. MMMMMM. The following Sunday we again opened our living room up, and again purchased an inordinate number of bagels, this time to accompany a class taught by Pardes Professor Yaffa Epstein. We laughed, we chevrutah-ed, we ate bagels, and emerged with a new take on our upcoming Hanukkah celebration. GREAT times in MHDC.

Love,

Rivka

Finals Cheer!

Ahhhhhh, finals are here! I just wrote a 20 page paper about the localization of immigration law enforcement and I'm gearing up for an 8 hour final tomorrow for my "Economic Analysis of Health Care Law" class. I think I deserve my upcoming vacation muchly...
I would also like to point out that it was approximately 30 degrees warmer today than yesterday. Craziness!!! I'm really uncomfortable with the fact that I can wear just a t-shirt in the winter and still feel hot...

Guess what? MHSS is making soil!! We had an awesome composting event led by a couple expert Jewish nature lovers, and we had yummy pumpkin cookies to boot, courtesy of our very own Lindsay. I've been eating leftover batter for the past few weeks - delish!!! I think taking out the composting is my new favorite chore!! Apparently all the decomposing going on can make the center of the compost pile is big enough to bake a potato. So watch out for MHSS latkes this year - who knows where they'll be coming from, mwahahaha...

Novemeber also saw MHSS hit the swing dancing floor, courtesy of our very own community member Jonathan Hunger. He even came in costume, fully equipped with suspenders. For everyone who missed out the first time, we're going out for round two this Saturday night. After that, it's winter break for me - Ecuador here I come!!! I'll be sure to have pictures for you all, if my family ever figures out this whole "technology" thing and learns how to upload pictures onto a computer. If not, you'll have to come visit to see them.
Until then,

Aaron

Love amongst the snowflakes

Greetings one and all.
Tis frosty here at MoHoLo Towers, but the peace and good will to all men keeps spreading outwards and upwards.
We proudly held our first 'Amazing Procrastination-Busting Volunteer Recruitment Night', allowing folks to come down and fill in all those fiddly forms that you send off for but never quite get around to sending back.
I'm hoping that over Christmas we might arrange some volunteering at homeless shelters with the JVN.
In the meantime I am looking forward to our new housemate joining us for two months if not two years. Hurrah, as we say here in Ol' Blighty.

Moishe House London-Cold and Christmassy!

Hello from Airstrip 1, or the outpost known as London. Its very cold here, and dark most of the day, which I often find productive, but can make one feel a little gloomy. There's lots of christmasness stuff around, on our recent house outing we discussed our feelings about it, while some of us try and avoid it as far as possible, others are happy to enjoy the secular, glitzier side. I'm in the latter camp, feeling that christmas as we know it was largely created by Jews and Charles Dickens. Besides, we can always play the irony card, which always solves everything.

I'm not so keen to latch on to channukah either, it's always seemed like a very minor festival, with some pretty dark zealotry at its core. However the Moishe House Channukah party will be utterly lovely, emphasising the camp, the cheesy and the downright ridiculous!

Happy Winterval!

Sunday at MHP

Sunday, Funday!!
Wake up. Go back to sleep. Wake up. Go to the bathroom. For the love of g-d Advil. Thank you.
Go downstairs. Water. TV.
Hungry, leftovers. Actually waking up. Whew.

That food was delicious, but it wont last me all day. Thankfully we are going to Latkapalooza today. Which should be great. Some of the best chef's in town (FYI - Philly is an excellent restaurant town) are going t be at the JCC doing their take on a Latke. Sounds delicious. After, people are coming over to our house for our own arts and crafts project; Gifts on the Cheap. I am tired of seeing these cute gifts sold for $30 that only cost about $4 to make. So we are taking back the holiday gift giving by making our own.

That is the day. Should be great. I am off for Latkas now.

Cheers,
Adam

PS - I wrote this entire post with a shoddy "O" button. How annoying.

בדרכי חזרה מחתונת הקרלינר

אלפי חסידים שחורים ורוקדים

על הטורבינות בגני התערוכה

הפתעתי צייר לילה

מכין קצת צבע ללחיים של בוקר

על קירות תל אביב

אסור לצלם את הרבה

Rebecca from MHP - It's the most wonderful time of the year

So, as my housemates would tell you, if you asked them, I love Christmas carols. From Nov. 1 until after the New Year, they're pretty much all I listen to. I suppose some people find the messages trite, the music annoying and the lack of diversity of theme trying, but I think they are hopeful, energizing and speak to a time when all things are rosy. As a matter of fact, we recently had some people over for a little cooking lesson on cold weather drinks and I finagled having the Holiday station on for most of the prepwork before the guests arrived.
Completely switching gears for now, I'd also like to mention the recent PLP SkillsSummit day I attended in NYC along with some other Moisheniks. This was a jam-packed day of networking, learning and meeting with other Jewish Young Professionals from around the East Coast. Although it was totally exhausting, it was also exhilarating to hear from people who've been involved with Jewish community for years and learn from their struggles and successes. Thank you to Moishe Foundation for making that experience a possibility for me!

MH-SAC Elishama's holiday fun

Yeah baby, I get three weeks off. Woohoo. Don't get me wrong, I love my job and my students are making tremendous progress (learning to add, subtract, multiply, and divide without the use of calculators can be rough), but it will be nice to have some time to relax. And that is just what I plan on doing. I will be spending a bit of time in the bay area, so East Bay and San Francisco houses if you guys want to kick it let me know. Happy Hannukah (I like the H and the end) to all.

-Elishama, MH-SAC

MH SAC -Jen is off to Vegas

hi all. hope your december is going well. personally, i am looking forward to Hanukkah and vacation time. last year, we smoked out our house making latkas at our Hanukkah party. our house smelled like grease for a very very long time after that event. this year, we are not hosting the party at our house - moving on to bigger places. woo-hoo. anyways, what's really on my mind is that i am finishing up my last rotation before a break. i have gone 6 months working my butt ff without any break - mostly working 6 days a week and sleeping at the hospital every now and then. but, i will finally be able to relax and not have to wake up at 5 am for the next 3 weeks! first thing on my agenda is las vegas. i am going to vegas this weekend. anyone want to come?

-Jen, MH SAC

MHDC - Steven "Eggs" Kleinman

Hello fellow Moishe heads.  Hope you all are as excited about my post as I am.  As some of you might know, me and my friend Tara (who coincidently was the person to get me this spot in this sweat house) recently had a breakfast item named after us at a local establishment.  Her nickname, T-bone, and my nickname, "eggs" was creatively combined to become T-bones and Eggs, a breakfast that as one might expect, contains a t-bone steak and eggs done how you like them.  I in particular like my T-bone eggs done over easy, but you might like yours done some other way. 

In other T-bone and Eggs related events, Tara "t-bone" came home with me to Philadelphia over the Thanksgiving holiday.  This was pretty rocking as she was perhaps the ideal house guest.  She learned how to play our family card game, she can sleep through my dad's unbelievable snoring, and she didn't mind meeting my friend brian, who exclaimed when incredibly intoxicated on Friday night, "Steven and I never have really liked each other".  It's totally true, as I tried for years to steal his girlfriend.  Whups.  That was a funny conversation too, the one where I apologized and he told me that it was okay because he knew I was too good of a guy to ever do anything about it.  Well let me be clear about one thing, "Eggs" has no level he won't sink to.  No Level.  

Other than at home things, I also found this (pay attention to the guitarists hair cut, i'm growing one of those right now):

In fantasy news you all will be happy to know that I am in my championship game.  I have a tough decision for this week as I have a wealth of great rbs.  I have to pick 3 out of these 5 players: Lendale White, Joseph Addai, Dominik Rhoads, Chris Johnson, and Deangelo Williams.  Obviously I am going to start Johnson and Williams but it is hard to decide between one of the other three.  One (White) is fat but is going against Houston and is getting 20 - 25 carries a game, one (Addai) was my first pick and is playing against Detroit, and one (Rhoads) is also going against Detroit and has gotten more runs than Addai.  Tough decision.  Currently I am leaning towards Addai because it would be worse to sit him and get points than play him and get nothing.  If anyone has input, I would be happy to hear it.  In other football news, the Eagles, long left for dead and who really looked like they quit on themselves, seems to be playing the best football in the NFL the last two weeks.  Exciting.

In a related note, another poet from Philly came to UMD today.  It is always nice to have an immediate ice breaker.  We talked about the Phillies, and food, and I told his friend about a great small museum (the rosenbach) that I absolutely love.  Best museum in Philly with some serious Jewish content.  Maurice Sendak art exhibit totally worth a good stretch of time.  And it smells like books in that place.  Wonderful smell of old books.  And the Rosenbachs were Jewish.  Nice folks.  Friends with powerful people.  

Tomorrow is also the last day of the first semester of my graduate school life.  My students turn their papers in on Friday, my poetry project is due friday, and my lit project is due next Thursday.  YIKES.  So I am going to get back to work.  

Enjoy the rocking!!!

MHSS Alan rides his bicycle

My main mode of transport is my bike, Earl. I ride to work almost every day, and often around the neighborhood and even downtown.

When the weather gets cooler I like to take a looooooooong bike adventure, preferably somewhere I haven't biked before. So this year I gathered some Moishe House friends and made a 20 mile trek along paved trails that follow the tributaries of the Anacostia River in MoCo & PG Counties here in suburban Maryland. It was quite a rush, a great and easy workout, and we barely even noticed the early freeze in the air because we were having so much fun. The bike journey ended at a great Israeli eatery in College Park where we rewarded ourselves.

I'm very appreciative that Moishe House gives me the opportunity to do what I love in a Jewish communal context that's open and welcoming and meet all sorts of new people doing so.

Happy Late Thanksgiving, and Happy Early Chanukah everyone!

See some pictures here: http://albums.phanfare.com/4808285/2128192_3285103

Social Services in SF

For the first event for the month of December our house volunteered, along with hundreds of other people from throughout the city, downtown at the Civic Center one afternoon. What happens at the Bill Graham Civic Center, five times a year, is a true miracle, albeit left me questioning if we are really doing enough.
5 times a year, dozens of private and public organizations offer their services, free of charge, to whoever walks through the doors. Social services such as DMV registration, job networking analysis, legal services, HIV testing, seamstresses repairing old clothes, and drop in center information is all readily available to all those who walk through the door. In addition there were hundreds of medical professionals, ranging from dentists to M.D.s, nurses, hospice workers, and even eye doctors were on site taking measurements of people's eyes and producing brand new glasses on the spot, all of this was free of charge. This was a great day for the homeless of San Francisco, a day they can relax, be taken care of, even get pampered with a free massage or a walk through the temporary library, choosing to take home some books with them.
All of this was great, and the tikkun olam and kavanah was exploding out of the building. However, what about the other 360 days of the year? I had so many questions about the system, and our continued lax treatment about the homeless situation here in San Francisco, curious to know if a day like this is going to do much in the long run. How sustainable is it do something on such a grand scale 5 times a year, without really getting at the root of the problem: a lack of education, high rates of drug addiction, apathetic attitude about holding down a job, and a homeless reality that has gotten no better in the past 10 years.
It always feel great to volunteer and help out those in need, but it left me feeling incomplete, wishing others, as well as myself did more to help people who are in tough times.

Danny in SF

Philly Phun-ness

Hi MoFam-

My apologies for a late November post. There's been so much going on in Philly I just haven't found the time to capture it!

Anyhoo, November was awesome at MHP. We enjoyed our weekly yoga practice yoga per usual (with a week's break for our Election Night Party - GOBAMA!!!) and our monthly Heymish potluck. But we also had the opportunity to lead services for the second time at an old age home, Sterling Glen, which was an unbelievably rewarding experience. The residents were deeply grateful for our time, and are now some of our strongest advocates for the Moishe House mission. Hopefully they'll steer some (great)grand kids our way.

Although it was this past week, and technically beyond the scope of the "November" post, I wanted to give a shout out to Elana from MH Buenos Aires who stayed with us during her evaluation of a potential MBA from Wharton. We had an awesome time together and it reinforced what makes Moishe House so special - that we are able to develop an international network of colleagues and friends, and have the comfort of a welcoming Jewish community no matter where we go.

signing off,
Shelby Faye

Thanksgiving Update

Thanksgiving was fantastic, got to see the fam a bit in SF. I am starting to worry about St. Louis and our events as it gets colder and colder here. I find that as it gets colder and colder, you have to work harder and harder to get someone to leave their house and come out and do things. I never had encompassed this challenge prior to this since I had always lived in "mostly" sunny places. I try not to even think about the snow coming, that will most likely turn people into hermits especially since St. Louis' infrastructure when it comes to removing snow is about as efficient and effective as the GOP fund raising process. As a side note to this, if anyone has a good snow event (between 1 - 2 feet of snow), please email or message me. Take care MH.

Elana, MH Chicago

Well,
Thanksgiving is over, so I'm finding it harder and harder to be thankful for this cold weather that has moved our way. Moishe House Chicago is moving indoors! It's amazing how our events must change according to season, now we get to look forward to more intimate gatherings in our heated home and outdoor outings that must factor in ice and snow.
But all is well. We are thriving as a community, with new people still showing up to many of our events and a great core group that I have really enjoyed spending time with on a regular basis. It is quite a wonderful feeling to break bread with new and old friends around a table, with the candle light around us and blistering cold wind outdoors... Hot soup and good conversation.
Ah, I guess there is still much to be thankful for.
I am hopeful that our last few weeks of 2008 will bring much joy and simcha to all the Moishe House communities.
-Elana

PLP Skills Summit

A whirlwind trip to New York provided Zucker and I the opportunity to meet some of the most influential Jewish minds in the areas of philanthropy and non-profit work, including Rhoda Weisman, who had some interesting things to say.

After nearly 36 hours in New York City, Zucker and I returned to St. Louis, drained from seeing so many friends, and trying to absorb as much of the energy and creativity as we could.

Waking up at 4 am on Saturday, we caught a 6 am flight to Chicago, then a direct to Laguardia. We were already exhausted from Shabbat dinner the night before, but running on adrenaline.

We got into the city and went our separate ways. After a whole day (and night) of seeing friends and family, Zucker and I found our way to Hebrew Union College, late, and nearly comatose with exhaustion.

And then it happened. I walked down stairs into a social hall filled with young Jews, and mentors. Was the immediate rush of energy I felt a result being surrounded by so much potential, or was it the sudden influx of attractive Jewish women now in the periphery of my bleary vision?

Either way, I knew that I had to muster what little attention span I had for those few hours I was able to spend at the Skills Summit.

As a bit of background, PLP, the Professional Leadership Project, hosts the SkillsSummit to develop young Jewish leadership along one of three tracks, fund raising, volunteering/membership, and community organizing.

Zucker and I joined the community organizing track along side Ira Forman, Executive Director of the National Jewish Democratic Council, as well as Scott Sherman, founder of the Transformative Action Institute.

Through novel exercises, case studies, and mentorship, we were able to connect with these amazing visionaries, as well with our peers, many of whom are just as incredible.

We had an incredibly quick and intense speed mentorship program, in which I had the opportunity to sit down with Rhoda Weiss and ask questions about the sustainability of much of what we are doing.

"Give away power as quickly as you can," she said. "It is the only way to continuously bring people into the fold and to ensure that you are able to step out of the spotlight."

Zuz and I were both deeply impressed by hew intellect and deliberate, point-by-point articulateness.

We were able to connect with Rebecca from Moishe House Philly, which brought several really interesting ideas to the surface, and which we hope to act on soon.

Perhaps even better, as soon as people heard that we were reppin STL, Jewish Geography kicked into overdrive, with people giving us the names of friends who were lonely in the Louie. That means we have our work cut out for us!

SkillSummit in NYC

I just got back last night from a whirlwind weekend in New York, capped off by Sunday's SkillSummit sponsored by the Professional Leaders Project. First off, whoa. 30 hours in New York is just not enough. Saturday was a great chance to catch up with old friends, including spending 3 hours wandering from 90th to 42nd with someone I had not spoken to since freshman year of college.

At the SkillSummit on Sunday, I got ot meet Rebecca from MH Philly and learn a lot from her about what their house has been doing and the challenges they have faced over the last 2 years. One important idea that came out of the conversation is to increase communication between houses. As a house that is just getting started, it would be great to know events that have worked for others, ways people have dealt with problems, etc. etc. We are going to work on a way to make this idea-sharing happen ASAP.

Also, I am looking forward to an exciting rest of the month here in STL. We have a Channukah celebration coming up on Friday, and we are hosting a Jewish band called Zeda's Beat Box at Cicero's (a great bar with over 50 beers on tap) the Friday after. Other than that, I am off on an East Coast roadtrip through North Carolina, DC and New York the week between Christmas and New Years. Man it will be good to get away. An early happy hanukkah to one and all!

Dave
MH STL

Sam - MH:CLE

Happy December to everyone, a little late, but whatever. Holidays are fast approaching, and with Thanksgiving right behind us, Christmas music has already started blasting from the speakers of stores and shops everywhere. I worked most of the Thanksgiving weekend and the restaurant I work at was very busy. I am just glad that this past week was slow (2-4 inches of snow Saturday night makes for a dead night on the cook line) because it will undoubtedly speed up again with colleges letting out for winter break in the coming week. So I can take solace in the fact that while there are 16 shopping days until Christmas, Hanukkah is only 2 weeks away, and our Moishe House Cleveland trip to the Matisyahu concert is but 6 days away. I am so excited.

MHSeattle, Joel: Come Out, Come Out

This month, I have a little rant/musings thing for you.

The lovers and the haters of the Jews have one thing in common: we believe passionately in conspiracy theories. Last night I went on a field trip to watch Milk with a lovely crowd from the Ravenna Kibbutz. Before going, I happened to learn two things through the Internet. The first is that Sean Penn is an agent of the Jewish Marxist-homosexulist conspiracy. The second is that the photojournalism world is in a froth over a woman named, Jewily enough, Jill Greenberg. By night's end, I had a conspiracy theory of my own.

First, Jill Greenberg. She was hired by The Atlantic to photograph John McCain for the magazine's October cover. She delivered and it went to press. The flap is over unflattering photos from the shoot that Greenberg posted independently to her web site, and an interview in which she described using lighting to make the Republican's eyes and skin look bad because -- well, because Jill Greenberg thinks John McCain is bad.

Right-wing pundits were predictably angry, but so was The Atlantic -- accusing Greenberg of no less than betrayal and derangement -- backed by a chorus of photojournalists all in fits over the shame this brings upon their profession.

This sounded nutty to me. I can see calling Greenberg's stunt sophomoric, or deceptive. (I would call it both.) But deranged?

It seems her "betrayal" -- as with Jewish photographers Arnold Newman and Annie Leibovitz before her -- is that Greenberg injected her personal life into her photography. She has been loudly anti-Republican for long enough that The Atlantic could have found out in five seconds on Google (or just by asking), before hiring her to photograph the Republican candidate for President. But evidently the expectation is that personal politics shouldn't matter to a photographer. Why, that would make photography subjective!

I think it's goofy that this is a big, shocking deal. So, it seems, does Jill Greenberg. We don't get it, I realized at the theater, because we are part of the same conspiracy. A conspiracy of identity politics, and of pride. The Jewish Coming-Out Conspiracy.

Which brings me to the movie. What impressed me most about Milk was how Gus Van Sant, no Jew, could direct a Mormon-written screenplay with a Catholic star and still hit all of the Jewish themes pretty much on the head. As the film tells it, Harvey Milk's story begins the moment he comes out -- of the closet, to California -- to embrace rather than conceal his difference (read: chosenness). It is campaign manager Anne Kronenberg who gives Milk's inner circle the model of coming out to loved ones. And it is with investment banker-publisher David B. Goodstein that Milk pursues a visibility-versus-assimilation debate as old as the Hellenists and the Maccabees.

Harvey Milk's message is that politics must be made personal. His killer, Irish-Catholic Dan White, is enraged that politics cannot be kept pure. White probably wouldn't have cared for Jill Greenberg's photography either.

One skeptical of conspiracy theories might ask, what does LGBT identity politics (Milk) or Leftist identity politics (Greenberg) really have to do with the Jews? I would ask why, from Moses to Marx to Milk, do the Jews pop out so many of the rabble-rousing iconoclasts who keep shoving identity into politics to start with?

My friend, and former MHSeattle resident Tamar's sister, Vancouver-based artist Miriam Libicki, who spoke at UW Hillel on Thursday, explores a related question in her comix-essay "Jewish Memoir Goes Pow! Zap! Oy!" published this month in The Jewish Graphic Novel from Rutgers University Press (with cover design featuring a Libicki watercolor). The essay seeks to explain why the genre of autobiographical comix is so dominated by Jewish stories and language, not to mention authors. Why, Libicki asks, have Jewish writers and artists been quicker than most to air publicly all the disturbing, titillating, inspiring stuff in their closets? (Think Philip Roth, Art Spiegelman.)

She posits an explanation, that Jewish culture is highly tolerant of imperfect heroes. Moses was aloof, Jacob was scheming, Abraham was deceptive, and Noah was a drunk. We (and G-d) love them anyway, so maybe a Harvey Pekar, or Milk, can put himself into public view, warts and all, and gain acceptance too.

I think we can take it even one step further: In Jewish culture, as in Jewish mythology, the only heroes we believe in are warty, imperfect ones. Christian culture idealizes a world with no more rough edges, and seeks transcendent heroes to match. Jewish culture idealizes a world where the rough edges just don't kill anyone, and maybe even are kind of awesome if you're in on the joke.

Any leader, then, who makes it safe to come out, strange rough edges and all, is the prototypical Jewish hero, and you can bet that his (or her) movement will be full of Jews in on the conspiracy. Why? Because it is the lot of every Jew to feel acutely strange. And it is the dream of everyone strange to one day come out, be strange, and thrive.

Happy Kislev. :)

MH Chicago, Caren M.

Last night we had a rockin Shabbat dinner- we have an abundance of food left over! It's gonna last us till next Shabbat. It's cold here and the days are short... winter is a comin and Moishe programs are starting to move indoors... I'm looking forward to our December programs with a BIG Hanukkah party already in the works. We have a reunion planned with our former Moishe resident Karen who left us in August... Holiday breaks are in sight and this means visiting friends and family. Always fun to have guests! Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the holiday season.

Reflections on Moishe House

Reflecting on the past year of being a Moishe House resident, I must say that Moishe House works in achieving it's goal. From the Shabbat dinners to my most favorite event "Up High with the Rabbi," I have seen many of our guests connect with Judaism in ways they have never imagined. This is why I am proud and blessed to be a part of this great organization.

Shabbat Shalom,
Joey Yadgar
Moishe House Great Neck

Moishe House in the Big D

Hello all Moisheniks of the world!! My name is Shana, and this is my first blog as my roommate, Sima, and I have just opened the first Moishe House in Dallas. There is a stir around the city as we are trying to promote Moishe House as a great place for Jewish people in their twenties to come hang out with new people and not feel obligated to do anything stricktly "Jewish". With that in mind, we are trying to get feedback from people in our community about what programs they would like us to plan.

Between our crazy schedules, Sima and I have tried to move in to our fab pad, work like crazy, keep up with old friends, and meet as many new ones as we can. We have already had a couple new people come to our events, so that is definitely a good sign. As Sima mentioned, we have rescheduled our housewarming party/opening of the Moishe House to combine with a Hanukkah party at the end of December. We have sent out our evite early in hopes that even more poeple can mark their calendars and get excited for it.

So far, I couldn't be more excited about my new adventure living in a Moishe House. I think it is such a wonderful and much needed idea. It is also quite impressive that when I mentioned it to my friends in other states, they tell me that they have heard of it before and have even gone to some events in cities such as Washington D.C. and Los Angeles.

In other exciting news, The Texas Jewish Post decided to write an article about the Moishe House in Dallas. We have already interviewed with them, so we are looking forward to the article. I am sure it will get passed around to all of you, and hopefully it will bring even more attention to our house in hopes that even more people can become a part of this amazing organization.

I guess that's all for now. Until next month....see ya'll later :)

~Shana Knubowitz

MH Cleveland goes punk rawk!!!!

ok so I know its a bit cliche to have the word rock, spelled rawk, but none the less cleveland moishe went punk rock, it was awesome. There was a little confusion in times and I know that my band had to play first but either way it was a hell of a good time. Knowing that moishe house cleveland people are well willing to go to a persons house they have never been too or know, and willing to mingle with all the punk rock kids home from college, luckily moishe house is going punk rock again, this time at a real venue in january with real tickets and a real stage and more room for MH cleveland to rock around. Other then that we at MHCLE are all doing well with our daily lives responsibilities, and we all look forward to what the next round of holidays bring.

take care Mates,
SHiah

Poppin the Moishe House Blog Cherry ;-) !!

Helloooo Hello! So this will be my very FiRsT Moishe House blog entry...actually, my very first anything blog entry... doubleee exciting ;-) ! So Shana and I have officially completed our very first month as the Dallas Moishe House ... With the new move into our fabbbulous new apartment, trying to finish up this semester at UTD, unpacking for 3 and 1/2 weeks, finishing furniture shopping, and working 24/7 like crazy..I can easily say that this has been the craziest, most hectic and stressful, jam packed month ever!! ... buttt..Ive truly enjoyed every day of it!!

So far, the news of the Moishe House "idea" has slowly been getting around town, and we are getting more and more responses/feedback to it every day! All of our events went well overall, with the exception of an uncontrollable/unfortunate mishap occuring with our pipes bursting and having to cancel/reschedule our house warming/ MH grand opening party at the end of the month... But! we ended up "fixing" the situation by planning to have a double celebration-chanukah/house warming party in the end of December, so we are looking forward to that! I know once this month is over and my schedule eases up a bit, we will be able to focus a lot more on MH and event planning!

Well..I guess thats really about it for November! Hopefully this month will go over well and we will finally be fully settled in and ready to roll!! ill keep y'all (<~~~ YAAA Texas Baby!) posted ;-)
Best wishes to everyone !!

Moishe Luv from Zvi in Silver Spring

Yo yo Moisheniks.

Life in Silver Spring is booming! I am just about to finish my last coursework semester before going on my dissertation journey!! My topic is meaning in life and I will be interviewing people about personal meaning and flushing out the more spiritual dimensions of meaning. I will probably be hitting some of you up for participant referrals.

Anyway ... sad that we will not be getting together in January, but such is life. GO OBAMA! Sorry Einstein from Hoboken. Don't move to Canada. Who will save us from the zombies.

We had a great shabbat, Sfardi style in November! We each made a great delicious sfardi dish. I made Mechshi, which is a Moroccan take on stuffed veggies. I made stuffed zucchini ... We also had other homemade traditional food, made veggie (!) like cubana (yeminite bread) lachmajin (sweet lentil pizza), and LOTS of Lindsay stew.

My job just changed. Now I work mostly in a day program with chronic mentally ill people. I love doing group work with them. I also will have more opportunity to work with staff as a wellness contact. When Moishe House gets back on $$ track, I will gladly love to work on burnout consultations for housemembers, helping MHnicks create a Holistic wellness plan for themselves ...

Take care for now.

Zvi

New to the MHSF scene!

Hi everyone,

First wanted to say hello to all the people out there in my new Moishe House community. I moved into the SF house in November and so... this is my first blog post. Anyway, here goes nothing:

As the leaves changed and the last memories of summer faded away, much more happened for me than just the usual shifting from tank tops to sweatshirts. After living in NYC for 3+ years, I had made the big decision to 'come home' and move back to CA. I spent October in preparation -- quitting my job, saying goodbye to friends, packing up. Lots of insecurities popped up as I stared into the face of a big, new, unknown. Would I like my job, would I be able to find a room near my friends, would I jump right back into friendships I had lazily let simmer over my years away?

While ruminating over all these questions, and others, things started to fall into place. Somehow, miraculously, I got connected to MHSF and ... they picked me! to be their newest (well, now actually technically not newest since Danny moved in a few days ago) roommate.

Of course I'll miss my tiny yet adorable railroad apartment in Brooklyn, and the 24 hour bodegas on every corner, but after just over a month here, I can truly say I'm sure I made the right decision. My new housemates are wonderful, have welcomed me with open arms, and have been patient with my millions of questions. I've met tons of new people through MHSF events this last month, and was even able to bring some friends to events and contribute a few new faces to the scene. I've unpacked and am acclimating to a house about 8x the size of my previous living space!! I'm loving San Francisco, and am so happy to be a part of such a wonderful group of people both in SF and in the larger international MH community.

Hope to meet many of you soon!
~Sarah

Thanksgiving

Potluck Thanksgiving in Beijing was great. We somehow managed to cram 30 people into our apartment, including our next door neighbors. We had originally invited them over just to defuse any irritation that they might have about there being 30 foreigners next door, but they actually took us up on it! I think that they enjoyed themselves. A mother and her young daughter brought over a bag of beer and vacuum sealed worms (for real), and an older couple brought over home made dumplings. The dumplings were a hit, but I don't know how many people sampled the worms. I know that I didn't. In case you're interested, photos are here.

Of course, Thanksgiving isn't a particularly Jewish holiday (Pilgrims, anyone?) but Jews celebrate it, and it's hard to find a place to celebrate Thanksgiving with your friends in Beijing. This was my first time hosting a Thanksgiving, and it was very rewarding to receive so many "thank you"s from people the next day.

Do you know what else is rewarding? A fridge full of leftovers. Yes.

Dave - MHSF - Thanks Moishe!

Cliche is cliche. And if there's anything that this time of year is good for, it's the cliche of thanks. Besides seeing how many times I can use cliche in this paragraph, I want to express my sincere thanks to everyone involved in my Moishe life this past year, as well as in years past. As much as I've put in the time to make Moishe work in SF, the people who have made those events fun and successful are too numerous to count, but not too numerous to appreciate.

Dave C- The man behind it all. Making things happen at the source. Schmoozer, doer, facilitator, planner, serious all-business(most of the time)-man. Thank you!

Summer- Supporting our every move, listening to all the complaints, on our side. Once our bridge to the Fo-Fo, now our bridge to the foundation version 2.0. Thank you!

The behind the scenes folks- I have never met most of you, but it's your dedication that helps put a roof over my head and a smile on my face. Thank you.

My roommates- The 7 of them over the past 2 1/2 years have put up with me more than they've had to, and made this experience great. Countless house meetings. Need I say more. Thank you!

The SF community- They show up, open, optimistic, and ready to roll strong each and every month. Makes me proud to be a Friscan. Thank you all!

Happy December!

MHSS Compost, Cookies & Cocoa

What an amazing sustainable & fulfilling day. Not only did we set up a compost which creates food from 'waste' and reduce the amount of 'waste' our house creates, but we filled our bellies with delicious spicy cocoa & cookies. Two community members spoke to us about the cycle of life & how composting provides Keva & Kavannah (structure & intention) to our life. It was rewarding to set up our outdoor compost with an excited group and then look at an indoor worm compost & learn about compost tea.
This event has now added something new to not only the members of the Moishe House Silver Spring, but also to our community. Now we put our compostable scraps into the compost, scraps from our every day dinner & also from our larger MH events. It is also an opportunity to introduce more people to composting and how it works. Who knows, maybe they will leave and set one up in their house. And this 'new' technique of reducing waste will spread to more people.

Oath

I solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of an attorney and counselor at law to the best of my knowledge and ability.

When I said that this afternoon I was definitely excited to have completed all the hurdles required to practice law in California, but it also made me wonder about other kinds of oaths that we make in our lives. Of course not all of them follow the formality of the one above, and most are not orally expressed in such a concise manner, but I think we all make oaths throughout our lives. Many of us have made somewhat of an oath to Moishe House by accepting discounted rent and a programming budget to create events and communities for others. I wonder what that oath would sound like if we had to put it in a couple sentences. When people ask what Moishe House is all about, or the goals of the organization, I find it hard to put them into words accurately expressing what I'm thinking. For me the understanding of Moishe House just comes with time, just like most things. I hope all of you have found your understanding of Moishe House, and if you haven't, that you stick with this until you have.

And come to San Francisco, and stay at our place. I'll show you a great time, I promise. - Ari

Gearing up for the Holidaze!

I don't know about you, but I've been hearing a helluva bunch of Christmas music recently and not too much int he way of festive Channukah cheer. I recently took a trip to Bed Bath and Beyond for a tie rack and saw the small section devoted to Channukiot and Dreidle paraphernalia. But, I digress, if this past November has taught me anything it is to look forward to what lies ahead - Crazy MHP Holiday madness!

November was pretty awesome, especially focusing on our election night party. What will be awesome-er is our lineup for December. My personal favorite is our upcoming Fondue evening. In keeping with our cheery yet social justice-y theme for this month, we are going to be festively dipping food in warmed chocolate and writing letters to those who won't hear from many over the holidays. I'm super excited for this yummy event.

Moreover, we are doing a canned food drive during the entire month so anyone coming to our events can bring nonperishables that we will donate before Christmas (let's face it - a majority of the country is Christian and will want it then). So, without further adoooooo - > HERE'S DECEMBER!

MHSeattle, Neal Schindler, 12/2/2008

December promises to be a month of exciting events at Moishe House Seattle. There'll be an ice-skating afternoon, a Russian evening, a night at "Spicebox" (a regular local belly-dancing event), and a Chanukah outing to a burlesque show, plus a Shabbat in high MH Seattle style. In my life, Jewish doings abound; I'm working on a freelance piece for Jew-ish.com on the afterlife, I saw "Milk" (one of the year's best films, in my opinion) last night with a bunch of friends, and I'll be turning my attention soon to choosing December's selection for Israeli movie night. (I think it's between "The Band's Visit" and "Bonjour, Monsieur Shlomi" -- I want something heartwarming after last month's "Late Marriage," which is a bit of a downer).

Though I haven't managed to nail down a day job yet, I've had some encouraging advances in the process, like applying for a writing position at PCC that I'd actually want to do, and gearing up for an informational interview on Friday at the HIV Vaccine Trials Network. Where the various job sites left me in a state of mild despair before, now I'm thinking that persistent effort, and a decent bit of networking, could actually pay off eventually -- and a job would bring a sense of balance to my life that I could really use.

Moishe/Kavod Website

Moishe House Boston has had our own website up for a couple of months, and I thought I'd take this opportunity to share it with the rest of the Moishe House community. Check it out at http://moishehouseboston.org/. Working with a member of our community who does web design, and accessing our savings budget, we were able to get this bad boy up and running, and we're pretty proud of it.

As you can see on the site, we've also instituted a local membership program, and we're going to have our first membership meeting in early 2009, where contributing community members will have the opportunity to elect a local board and help determine the campaigns we'll work on and the programming we'll take on over the course of the year.

If any other Moishe Houses are interested either in emulating our website or in learning about our membership model, please don't hesitate to reach out!

Giving Thanks

Shalom and welcome to the Internet. In the real world we have had some nice events in Hobo-town and had some giving thanks as well. In fact this last Saturday night people came over to smoke hookah in the land named by the Lenape Indians “Hopoghan Hackingh”, land of the tobacco pipe, which became bastardized as Hoboken as the theory goes). We have also started reaching out to two local rabbi's and I'm thinking of getting my street smicha recognized by the Rabbanite of Hudson county. You see like Malcolm X my Yeshiva was the street.

All joking aside this time of year makes me reflect on my life and where we have come as a nation. Its been a while since I really believed we were welcomed by the Native Americans but the fact that we took the land does not affect the current meaning of the secular chag. Soon it will be Hanukkah and we will celebrated the miracle of lights but honestly I do not see the point of it. My problem isn't with candles or with oil but rather with the message of revanchism. The Maccabees seem to me to be extremists who killed their fellows Jews in their fight against Hellenistic assimilation. While they were rightfully protesting the corruption of the temple and desired a return to what they believed were more moral, pure, and Jewish times they themselves were corrupt. The very first thing they when taking power was taking the kingship and the office of the high priest, the chief political and religion authorities, which is specifically prohibited in the Torah. More over with in two generations of Maccabeen rule was just as corrupt and Hellenised as those they had overthrown. So what is the message of Hanukkah - fight modernity? Do not support change? Keep things the same at all cost? Even if it means violating those same values?

I celebrate it but I just don't get it.

happy thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a good thanksgiving!  Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday purely because thanksgiving food is my favorite, especially the stuffing.  The only downside to Thanksgiving is that it means the semester is coming to an end which means I have tons of papers and lesson plans to write and final exams to study for.

November has been a busy month here at moishe house hoboken with our shabbat dinners, lunches, hookah night, and jewish movie night.  We've recently been in contact with the local Rabbi's here and we're going to do some events with them which I'm excited about.  We also have a ski trip coming up during Hanukah which I'm super excited about, it's going to be my first time skiing!

MH London - Joel - December

When we started this house a little over a year ago we wanted to be a place not only for our closest friends and the community we ourselves could envision, but also for the community (Jewish and otherwise) around us. We wanted to link groups up, bringing together people who might otherwise never meet. We wanted to support and improve the community in London; not just add to the competition.

One event we've started up recently, which is an example of the way this has materialised for us, is the 'Hang Out at the House' series we've been doing with the JCC. The JCC is itself a relatively new thing in London and they still don't have a full-time venue, preferring for the moment to hold events in different places around the city. Well the JCC approached us and asked if we'd like to host a monthly space for Darfuri refugees and asylum seekers, alongside our more frequent Moishe Houseniks.

We jumped at the chance. I won't go into great detail about the situation in Darfur. Many of you will have read stuff already, and if you haven't, I couldn't do it justice... best to see somewhere like http://www.savedarfur.org/pages/background/ instead.

Suffice to say these young people, who end up in the UK having fled their genocide-ravaged home, also face a very hard time in London, which can be challenging even for someone who's lived here their whole life and is comparitively priveleged. The idea of the event is to spread a little of the kind of atmosphere and community we create at this house, to put it to good use beyond the borders of the Jewish community.

So far we've had three great evenings. We've done a different thing each time - first time just relaxing and getting to know each other, and sharing stories and experiences; second time cooking (and of course eating) traditional Darfuri food; and just last week combining the event with one of our gorgeous, tried and trusted open mic nights.

There have generally been more Jews than Darfuris at these events - the Darfuris live in all corners of London, placed there by immigration, so it's sometimes difficult to travel - but we're very pleased with how they're going. To be honest, the events feel in some ways like many of others: warm, welcoming, creative and happy.

So we plan to continue shape-shifting London community, Jewish and beyond.

To Be Thankful

Moishe House collective,

Just wanted to shout out everyone in every house that makes things happen.

While the federated world is doing backflips trying to figure out how to engage us, we are out here doing the engaging, building the network, connecting with good people.

I'm very grateful for the opportunity that MH has provided me to build, from the ground up, a young Jewish community.

It isn't every day that you can help yourself out financially by doing the things you really want to be doing. For that, I'm thankful.

It also isn't every day that you are able to build solid connections, relationships, and learn a thing or two. PLP is helping to push me in that directions, so props to them.

I hope that everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving, and I'm looking forward to a bit of Latke palooze here in STL.