Hey everyone out there in moishe land. I have been traveling the United States for most of the month of Feb. I have seen hillbillies, cows, gators, eating contests, skateboarders and more. I have been spreading the word of Moishe across the land. Nate our fearless worrior has been planning and taking care of things at the LA moishe crib. A big warm pat on the back for that guy. Dave has been here the whole time taking in the sights and sounds that this lovely country has to offer. We will be back soon and can't wait to continue the fun in the sunny town known as Moishe House LA.
Selfishly Yours,
Lee Levin
Friday, March 2, 2007
Thursday, March 1, 2007
Make My Funk the M-Funk
A great February moment in our house was the first Moishe House Boston Jam. We had a little funk, a little jazz, a little Shlomo, a little Jimi, a little Britney, a little Eye of the Tiger, and some original poetry.
We had a Moishe House moment when Jonathan, a holy man who just recently has become part of our community, read a poem by a friend of his who lives in the new Hoboken house. Jonathan explained that his friend from Moishe House Hoboken told him about the Moishe House network, and that is how he found us. So thank you, Moishe House Hoboken, for the poetry and for Jonathan.
We had a Moishe House moment when Jonathan, a holy man who just recently has become part of our community, read a poem by a friend of his who lives in the new Hoboken house. Jonathan explained that his friend from Moishe House Hoboken told him about the Moishe House network, and that is how he found us. So thank you, Moishe House Hoboken, for the poetry and for Jonathan.
transitions galore
The coming of spring in Seattle is sorta like the coming of Meshiach. We even had the plague of barad (hail) rain down on us yesterday.
Both come with their fair share of growing pangs. My pang came Monday as I (finally) resigned from my job, effective March 15. Of course, my (over-reactive) boss had different plans for me. On Tuesday, I found out that Wednesday (yesterday) would be my last day.
I felt blacklisted.
After an emotional last 72 hours, I find myself blissfully unemployed, Purim-prepping (our Moishe Purim-palooza will be extravagent and awesome on Saturday night), and a bit in shock with...time off.
The plan is the relish the time off, get my mintranet things due in on time, and learn guitar. Oh, and pray more. I appreciate my relationship with the divine, but I have been super tuned out since taking this job...mostly because if I took notice of the beauty of the world, I would be sad at how I could not enjoy it. Ah, but that too did pass, and I finally woke us...just in time for spring, my 28 birthday, and planning for how to become engaged with my sweetie with true kavana.
Hope other Moishe-niks are enjoying this season of transition!
Both come with their fair share of growing pangs. My pang came Monday as I (finally) resigned from my job, effective March 15. Of course, my (over-reactive) boss had different plans for me. On Tuesday, I found out that Wednesday (yesterday) would be my last day.
I felt blacklisted.
After an emotional last 72 hours, I find myself blissfully unemployed, Purim-prepping (our Moishe Purim-palooza will be extravagent and awesome on Saturday night), and a bit in shock with...time off.
The plan is the relish the time off, get my mintranet things due in on time, and learn guitar. Oh, and pray more. I appreciate my relationship with the divine, but I have been super tuned out since taking this job...mostly because if I took notice of the beauty of the world, I would be sad at how I could not enjoy it. Ah, but that too did pass, and I finally woke us...just in time for spring, my 28 birthday, and planning for how to become engaged with my sweetie with true kavana.
Hope other Moishe-niks are enjoying this season of transition!
Life on the road
So I'm not sure if all the Moisheniks know but Lee and I are working on the road filming a skateboard lifestyle dvd as well as web content. (quick plug......www.andaleposse.com) A big shoutout to our Moishe House roommate Nate Dogg for keeping the Los Angeles House alive while away. Anyways, our tour so far has taken us across the southern part of the country from Florida to Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Texas. It really hasn't been so much fun and games....more like work, eat, travel, and sleep but we're still enjoying the experienes along the way.
One characteristic of this part of the country that I've noticed the most is how much Christianity is part of the landscape. In each town we traveled past it seemed there were more and more churches, many of which seemed to be the cleanest structures in the town especially in poorer neighborhoods. It really got me thinking about how important religion is to people in this part of the country and how immersed it is in the people's decisions. It appeared that many of the problems in life that everybody has were trying to be answered by the church. For example, "Marriage Problems? Ask Jesus for Help" or "Questioning Homosexuality? Change is Possible; Discover Jesus". As a reform Jew, I had never felt so out of place spiritually. I don't think I ever felt attacked on my own thoughts and beliefs but more shocked that another religion was influential unto the thought process of it's followers. It's odd looking at a billboard expecting to see an ad for the next McDonalds and seeing a religious ideology instead.
I'm starting to realize that feeling so religiously out of place is the true spirit of what the Moishe House is; a place where you can truly feel welcome with other Jews. Being from Los Angeles, a place with a high Jewish population, I never feel out of place or estranged from my heritage. However, being in such a highly religiously idealized part of the country has opened my eyes to how small a percentage of the world Jews really are.....which I believe is 1/3 of 1%. The Moishe Houses in Montevideo, Nigeria, and South Africa must be extremely important to Jews in the area as an outlet to recognizing other Jews in the area.
So thats my thought from the road........hope all are doing well in the MH!!!!!!!
~Dave MHLA
One characteristic of this part of the country that I've noticed the most is how much Christianity is part of the landscape. In each town we traveled past it seemed there were more and more churches, many of which seemed to be the cleanest structures in the town especially in poorer neighborhoods. It really got me thinking about how important religion is to people in this part of the country and how immersed it is in the people's decisions. It appeared that many of the problems in life that everybody has were trying to be answered by the church. For example, "Marriage Problems? Ask Jesus for Help" or "Questioning Homosexuality? Change is Possible; Discover Jesus". As a reform Jew, I had never felt so out of place spiritually. I don't think I ever felt attacked on my own thoughts and beliefs but more shocked that another religion was influential unto the thought process of it's followers. It's odd looking at a billboard expecting to see an ad for the next McDonalds and seeing a religious ideology instead.
I'm starting to realize that feeling so religiously out of place is the true spirit of what the Moishe House is; a place where you can truly feel welcome with other Jews. Being from Los Angeles, a place with a high Jewish population, I never feel out of place or estranged from my heritage. However, being in such a highly religiously idealized part of the country has opened my eyes to how small a percentage of the world Jews really are.....which I believe is 1/3 of 1%. The Moishe Houses in Montevideo, Nigeria, and South Africa must be extremely important to Jews in the area as an outlet to recognizing other Jews in the area.
So thats my thought from the road........hope all are doing well in the MH!!!!!!!
~Dave MHLA
Boston Rocks the Labor Seder
Hi all.
Just wanted to report an awesome development in the house. Thanks to Ben and his leadership on our social justice team, we are helping to coordinate the city-wide labor seder. Usually the Jewish Labor Committee does it, but this year they are planning a big fundraiser and don’t have time. So our house, with our collection of young people, are putting on a major Jewish community event.
Last week, about 10 of us got together for our second planning meeting. We split up roles in terms of outreach, logistics, funding, and programming, and our crew is set up make it all happen in a period of three weeks. We are bringing together labor staff and workers, Jewish community members, rabbis and rabbinical students, Christian and Muslim religious leaders, youth groupers.
At the Seder itself, we plan to have Hebrew college students and Moishe House folks we’ve recruited pair up with JLC board members as table co-leaders, who will facilitate the Seder at each table. We’ll also have some group wide moments. For example, at each of the four cups of wine, a local worker will talk about his/her campaign, and we hope to get kids to do a creative version of the 4 questions, worker justice style.
Anyway, I am just really excited about the thought and effort being put in to this event. Five of our new leaders are really taking leadership, and several of our veterans are not only leading, but also helping to teach others how to lead. I feel like this is not only going to be a great event and develop new leaders, but also put us on the map as a real social justice force in the city.
Go team!
A Funny Life...
Its a funny life I lead. By day I work in an organization dedicated to kiruv or traditional jewish outreach where I am not preciesly the archetype and by night I'm a crazy moishe house wanna be moses attempting to lead the way in community building. I guess the difference is at work their is a certain amount of dogma involved and home with moishe house its what we want it to be. Anyhow, this was a good month, we had people over for a taste testing event, shabat, and many other events. We also planned next month, I got Xbox 360, and we had a terrefic house meeting where we really laid out our long term goals. I think I may have managed to scare some people when I told them I want to go hunting and that I own a rifle, so I guess I can scratch my dream of a moishe house hunting event but I think the moishe house vision is starting to gain traction and honestly they didnt seem scared just surprised. I wonder how they will feel when Perry, my friendly pet ferret moves in (he has been living at my parents do to a fight we had). Its a small world, especially if your Jewish - last sunday a girl who looks just like someone I knew from a few years ago came over for our event. I didnt want to be rude and interupt her while she was schmoozing, some siblings get annoiyed when they feel people only like them because of their brother/sisters, so I waited till she was leaving and I asked her if she had a sister. The answer was affirmative and it was my friend. Even funnier it turns out she has the same landlord as we do. Einstein out. (NJ)
Hard Work!
One thing I realized this month is that getting the house up and running is a lot of hard work; the good thing is, it can be very rewarding. Last week I found myself at a community potluck Shabat dinner, at someone else’s house. Normally I would eat as much of the best food as I can and maybe trade a few words with the people standing next to it. But being the official representative of the Moishe House, and also the guy who made The Big Salad put me in a whole new role, as well as in a spotlight, albeit a small one. As I found out, having a vision, a role, and being excited about it, can certainly turn a few heads. And also it’s a great excuse to approach random people who maybe older than me, or seem unapproachable, or may be there just for the food. For a while I felt a little like a politician running for office, shaking hands, smiling, and sharing my vision of tomorrow. But soon I realized that I was doing much more than that. I heard incredible, fascinating stories, learned a few things about San Juan architecture, the stock market, and the Medicaid deficit... Talking to a new person for a few minutes can be like discovering a new universe - everyone's life is really, really complicated and very interesting if you ask the right questions. So, bottom line, I had a great time and I met a ton of people that night; the only downfall, I still have to pick up the salad bowl.
Eugene Grudnikoff
MH Jersey
Eugene Grudnikoff
MH Jersey
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