Hoboken House Goals

Every Moishe house is a unique adventure in building Jewish community. Creating a community in Hoboken where there is limited Jewish life, a large population of young Jews, but the city (New York, c'mon is there really any other?) with its all encompassing and in your face Jewish options it has been an interesting and rewarding adventure. From out of the proverbial desert a uniquely welcoming community has been born. Whether it's our Shabbat dinners, our intellectual/spiritual salons, our partying ability, or one of our tikkun olam events, we have made something special. The question now is where do we want to go.

In one year:

The year is 2010. The world is still in economic turmoil. Hoboken is still overrun by yuppies. Moishe House Hoboken has evolved from an community center/apartment in a house with events programed by residents to a movement of Jews in town with a Community Leadership Board. Included in the Community Leadership Board are the resident but programing ideas come from non-residents and residents alike. Most programs still happen on site but once a month Shabbat dinners are at a community members house (the other Shabbusim are still held in the house), and salons, poker nights, and movie nights are held every other time in a community members abode. We have developed local partnerships with regional Jewish foundations and organizations to reach new people. Whether its local organizations or building stakeholdership in the Hoboken Moishe Community, its all about the synergy.


In the year 2012:

One in three Moishe House Hoboken residents believes the world will end in 2012. So if perchance it does not, 2012 will be a very different year for Moishe House Hoboken. There will be atleast one new resident, as I, Joshua Einstein, will hopefully have moved out. Worry not I will still be involved. Regardless, 2012 will see Moishe House Hoboken in an actual house. Atleast half of Moishe House Hoboken programs will happen in community members apartments or other locations. Still sometimes programs will call for a bigger space and living in an apartment and hence minus a yard, in some ways limited Moishe House Hoboken's activities. No super large BBQs, no Moishe community Sukkah, etc... Not that these were crucial but living in an actual house will enable the Moishe House Hoboken of 2012 to really expand the size of their programs.

Moishe House Hoboken 2012 will have not only a Community Leadership Board but will have a Board of Governors. Its not that this Board of Governors will be mega-millions (though it wouldn't hurt if there was atleast one) but as our local partnerships have developed it is only right to bring on local partners, Moishe House Hoboken alumni, and a few members of the community board for some sage guidance.

Penultimately, with my influence diminishing Moishe House Hoboken will by 2012, finally have a sports team with T-shirts. Programing wise, we will have Shabbat dinners every Friday night - 3 dinners will be in community members homes and mega-dinner in the Moishe house. By 2012 the salon genre of events will have spawned a speakers club that will feature up and coming intellectuals to come, speak, share wisdom, and challenge the community.


2014:

In 2014 the Republicans will sweep the midterm House elections. Barack Obama will be in the middle of his second term and I will be 32 years old. Moishe House Hoboken, will continue to be a place of diverse and yet harmonious viewpoints. A place where everyone no matter how eclectic or mainstream, eccentric or normal, traditional or rebellious can and do get along. Moishe House Hoboken in 2014 will be an engine of social change. Its community will be involved in the future equivalents of the movement for ethical Kashrut, defining and redefining Jewish identity, tenant rights (a big issue in a city of 40,000 renters), etc.... I am certain I will be personally against some of the issues the Moishe House Hoboken Community of 2014 chooses to march on, but I most certainly will be proud to have been involved in creating a community of young Jews that care. The Moishe House Hoboken of 2014 will have taken the salons of the past, the speakers club, as well as the plethora of other intellectually challenging programing and given birth to a think tank. The think tank, as well as the other programing, in the Moishe House Hoboken Community will continue to attract young Jewish adults from all over New Jersey and New York as well as begin to delve deeper into issues facing the Jewish people. Moreover, by 2014 the Moishe House Hoboken Community will have begun expanding its programing into the Wall Street/downtown New York area (where more and more people are moving and which there is no community programing) and into neighboring Jersey city, specifically Jersey City Heights and the Newport neighborhoods. The Moishe House Hoboken Community will do what Moishe Houses do best and bring Jewish life to Jews in nearby but new areas. Enabling Jewish leaders in their 20's and 30's to define being Jewish on their terms and to create the community that they want.