AlakaZAM!

Dear Moishe World,

We here in STL have been trying our best to make things happen in the young Jewish community. Sometimes it feels like everyone wants to see us succeed, sometimes we feel like rebels.

We originally moved into the house so that we'd be big enough to house more people for dinners, now we are running out of place settings again and trying to figure out what to do.

We've made friends with the owners of local bars (we pretty much keep them in business), become connected with artists, musicians, politicians, and hosts of others, and the question to some extent is...where do we go from here?

How do we move MH STL forward so that it really becomes bigger than us?

In terms of funding, succession planning, etc.

Also, how do we tell people that they should probably help us clean up? We try to be green by using our plates and glasses, instead of disposables, but it definitely creates more of a mess.

We (Ross) instituted a no shoes rule to help keep our floors clean, which I think has helped.

An interesting phenomenon is that we are seeing a fair number of young Jews starting to consider our neighborhood (or nearby neighborhoods) to live in. Was it all Moishe House, or does cheap rent come into play at some point?

To read more about what is happening in STL, be sure to tune into theSt.LouJew

St. Louis is on the Map

Shalom, Salaam, Salut, MH world.

I figured it was about time to wade in and give a little detail about what a Moishe House in the Mid-West is all about.

There are a couple unique issues that my coreligionists in larger metropolitan areas tend not to contend with, simply put, there aren't that many Jewish young adults in St. Louis.

Second, the vast majority of the JYAs here in STL are students at Washington University (guilty). They are transient, and often come from those larger metropolitan areas. Meaning, they see St. Louis as backwards, conservative, and boring. This is St. Louis' fault for not doing better PR. To that effect we created (separate from MHSTL) The St Lou Jew in order to create the content to reach out to the JYA demographic.

On the MHSTL proper front, we have been throwing together as many Shabbat dinners as possible, combining the ancient Israelite tactic of networking with the evolutionary strategy of eating to create some pretty fantastic nights.

Add a few nights at the Missouri Botanical Gardens to catch some jazz (with no open container law), a free show or three at the outdoor theater known as the MUNY, and we have had a pretty solid month!

More as it develops, Yalla!