Moishe House PVD: dreaming out loud

The goal of the Providence Moishe House is to build and maintain the young adult Jewish community in Providence, and to act as ambassadors of Judaism for the local young adult community in general. Within this overarching goal, Nathaniel and I have recently elaborated two sub-goals: 1) to expand our programming more into Jewish and Tikkun Olam events, and 2) to grow our community, which currently includes primarily students and alumni of Brown University. With regards to #1, we'd like to take advantage of Moishe's new Rabbi in Residence, Rabbi Scott Perlo, to better educate ourselves and our community about Judaism, and take advantage of our community to more actively contribute to the broader Providence community. Our programming for the month of October manifests our commitment to this goal: we're building a sukkah and celebrating Sukkot at a local organic farm, at which we'll teach participants about the holiday of Sukkot and the importance of sustainable food systems, and support the mission of the farm. We're also hosting a singing shabbatluck chez Moishe, i.e. with the explicit intention of teaching and singing songs, and we’ll be sending out song sheets in advance. With regards to #2, we'd like to grow our community beyond its current scope. This involves reaching out to other local pillars of the Jewish community, including Gesher City RI, the young adult social committees of the local synagogues, and the Jewish Federation of Rhode Island. As a starting point, we've already gotten our October events posted to the Jewish Federation’s calendar. By next year, we'd Love to see more of our community members able to explain the meanings of Jewish rituals and traditions to new guests, and hear much louder singing at our Shabbats! We'd also Love to see a more diverse Jewish community – both geographically, beyond Providence, and demographically, e.g. including more folks in their late 20's and early 30's. We hope that these trends continue for the next 3 and 5 years, and ultimately support our overarching goal of local Jewish community organizing and ambassadorship.