Boston House Blog

Moishe/Kavod.

Our vision:
At the Moishe/Kavod House, we seek to treat all with honor, recognizing the unique talents each person has to share. Through this kavod, young people are empowered to strengthen both the Jewish community and local social activism.

Blog abstract: Moishe/Kavod seeks to build on our model of empowering young adults to take ownership of their Judaism by continuing to develop the leadership of our community members, and by providing those leaders an institutional voice into the larger Jewish community

Blog:
At its most basic level, Moishe/Kavod House is a stop-gap.  A place where young adult Jews who are too young and financially insecure to join traditionally structured Jewish communities through synagogue can go to engage with Jewish community.  Yet, our community strives to be much more than that.  Moishe/Kavod is not just a place where young adults go to engage with Judaism until they move on to more traditional venues, it is a place where they take ownership in creating their own vision of Jewish community.  In providing an opportunity for young adults to shape their own Jewish community, Moishe/Kavod also seeks to be a channel though which young adults can take ownership in the larger Jewish community.  Our vision is to be an institution that develops young Jews as leaders and fosters their voice in shaping the larger Jewish community. By providing an institution where young adults have ownership

      The role of being a voice for our community members into the larger Jewish community may seem like an unusual role for a Moishe House, yet it is also one of the most traditional roles of an institutionalized Jewish community.  Bound together by the values of their religious tradition, many synagogues act as a venue for Jews to express and act upon those values.  In the U.S. Jewish community, it is common for synagogues and temples to associate with larger denominations or movements, and for the national bodies of these movements to pass resolutions and issue statements on behalf of the community they represent.   Most Jewish institutions also belong to a local Jewish Community Relations Council, using their membership to make sure their voices are heard at the council, which in turn seeks to represent the Jewish community as a whole. Furthermore, many synagogues have community committees that take stands on issues such as genocide, the Middle East, poverty issues etc, and act together towards Tikkun Olam. These committees are one way institutionalized Jewish communities take a stand on issues they care about, live out their Jewish values and express those beliefs to the larger community.

      The problem, of course, is that because Jewish young adults don't tend to join these institutions, we don't get a voice into the larger conversation.  National bodies and local JCRCs speak on behalf of the Jewish community as a whole, including young adults as part of their constituency.  Yet we as young adults, with our passion for creating positive change, have very little voice into what is said on our behalf. Clearly young adults are not likely to join synagogues just so that our voice can be heard in an institutionalized community, but this absence is notable.  While of course young adults are not a different species from our older peers, and are not always in in disagreement with our larger community, studies suggest that Jewish young adults have differing opinions on issues such as gay marriage, the environment, Israel, inter-marriage, etc. (See the Bronfman report, "Israel in the Age of Eminem," by Frank Luntz, or Steven .)  Young adults need to engage with the larger community on these topics if we are going to be future leaders in the community.   Like all Jews, we want to be part of a Jewish community that acts on our values.  If this is going to happen, we need to be a part of expressing and shaping those values.

        The Moishe/Kavod House hopes to help young adults Jews foster their vision for the Jewish community both through being an institution that can speak and act collectively on our values, and by developing the leadership of the individuals in our community.  Rather than four housemates designing programming that the rest of the community consumes, we encourage and empower community members to design their own programming.  The housemates foster relationships with young adults Jews in Boston, getting to know what they want out of their community, and giving them the resources they need to achieve this themselves.  By developing young adults as leaders, we help them act on their vision for the Jewish community and shape the community's future.

    The next step is to help these developing leaders have a seat at the table with the larger community.  We would like to see Moishe Houses become established as permanent institutions in our local cities, and accepted as a member of our local JCRCs.  We envision a Jewish community where people look to Moishe Houses to hear the voice of young Jews as leaders.