It has definitely been an interesting beginning to a New Year! As September closed, we experienced heavy, record-breaking rainfall in our Windy City. On my way to the Moishe House retreat in D.C, I found myself stuck on the runway for four hours surrounded by a lake of rainwater. It was not a happy way to start my weekend, but I am thankful that was my only inconvenience! Needless to say, my plane never left the runway and I was forced to return home 8 hours later in the pouring rain, through flooded streets and subway tunnels.
It was nice to hear that the retreat was successful and a positive experience, unaffected by the drastic downpours that hurled Chicago into mini-panic mode. It makes me wonder what this new year has forecasted...
Shana Tovah to all,
Elana in Chicago
Friday, October 3, 2008
High Holiday Reflection - What matters most?
Echoing Ben's post, I too have been taking the high holidays as a time to reflect on my life, my commitments, what matters most. At Rommemu in NYC, where I attended amazing Rosh Hashanah services, Rabbi David Ingber encouraged us to understand the Malchuyot (Kingship) section of the service not only in the traditional sense of affirming that God is king. Instead (or in addition), he asked us to think what we hoped would be king in our lives. What is royally, ultimately important? What really matters?
As an activist, Moishe House community builder, and rabbinical student, I often feel caught between the twin goals of building local relationships and Jewish community on the one hand, and working for broad based social justice on the other. This Rosh Hashanah, when thinking about what matters most and how I want to be in the world, I tried to think if there were any way to understand the work I'm doing, and that we are doing collectively at Moishe House Boston, that could articulate it as one thing - one thing that matters most.
I'm still working on it, but so far, what I came up with is that I want to be a weaver of chesed, lovingkindness/caring. I want to build loving connections with people in my community, so that everyone who comes to Moishe House knows they are an important part of our web of relationships. But I hope to experience and help others experience a sense of loving connection with people beyond our community, in Boston's low income neighborhoods like Dorchester and Roxbury, across the globe with kids working in sweatshops making our stuff, with Israelis and with Palestinians, with people whose opinions or methods we can't stand, with the earth. In feeling that loving connection, I want us to remember our responsibility for everyone in our holy web, and then work for justice less out of anger, more out of chesed, of caring.
As Dr. Martin Luther King said so wisely, "We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. I cannot be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you cannot be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be.”
As an activist, Moishe House community builder, and rabbinical student, I often feel caught between the twin goals of building local relationships and Jewish community on the one hand, and working for broad based social justice on the other. This Rosh Hashanah, when thinking about what matters most and how I want to be in the world, I tried to think if there were any way to understand the work I'm doing, and that we are doing collectively at Moishe House Boston, that could articulate it as one thing - one thing that matters most.
I'm still working on it, but so far, what I came up with is that I want to be a weaver of chesed, lovingkindness/caring. I want to build loving connections with people in my community, so that everyone who comes to Moishe House knows they are an important part of our web of relationships. But I hope to experience and help others experience a sense of loving connection with people beyond our community, in Boston's low income neighborhoods like Dorchester and Roxbury, across the globe with kids working in sweatshops making our stuff, with Israelis and with Palestinians, with people whose opinions or methods we can't stand, with the earth. In feeling that loving connection, I want us to remember our responsibility for everyone in our holy web, and then work for justice less out of anger, more out of chesed, of caring.
As Dr. Martin Luther King said so wisely, "We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. I cannot be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you cannot be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be.”
Thursday, October 2, 2008
The Wonders of Unemployment (Ben Simrin)
A strange thing happened to me this fall. For the first time in my life I have no idea what my year is going to look like. In May 2007, I graduated from the University of Southern California. The past year I spent juggling multiple part-time jobs. However, this year my travel plans fell through and I was left with a large amount of free time. So what have done to fill this void of structured activities. Two words....October baseball.
As the weather starts to turn "worse," Major League Baseball playoffs start gearing up. Despite the fact that my beloved San Francisco Giants are not in this year's playoffs, I have watched every pitch of the 2008 MLB playoffs. Some say baseball is "boring." To those naysayers I say come watch a baseball game with me at the Lake Merritt/Oakland/East Bay Moishe House and by the end of the game you will come to appreciate America's Pastime.
As the weather starts to turn "worse," Major League Baseball playoffs start gearing up. Despite the fact that my beloved San Francisco Giants are not in this year's playoffs, I have watched every pitch of the 2008 MLB playoffs. Some say baseball is "boring." To those naysayers I say come watch a baseball game with me at the Lake Merritt/Oakland/East Bay Moishe House and by the end of the game you will come to appreciate America's Pastime.
MHSeattle, Tamar Libicki, 10/02/2008
We just got done hosting two very large (for us) Rosh hashana dinners. Both nights (four dinners) were all quite lovely. The first night I went over to our friend Olga's house, where I made some food related wishes for the new year. To give you an example of them: "may there be peas on earth" and "may all who are single get dates, all who are in a relationship set a date for their wedding, and all who are married find out the due date for their baby." While I was very serious about the first wish, the second was a bit of a joke, refering to our shared Jewish culture which puts Childbearing inside of wedlock as a very big priority. (For women in the days of yore it was in fact probably the biggest priority). Of course it is always nice to have a family. Which I am glad to have in my moishe house roommates Joel, Masha, and Neal. And extended in all the good folks that come by to hang out at our house. I am continue to be glad to have so many merry people gathering at my house to share experiences and edify each other.
I don't recomend Las Vegas
I just got back from spending FIVE, yes, FIVE days and FOUR nights in the bright lighted city of Las Vegas. My friend Jamie had a sweet gig where she could stay in a suite at the MGM Grand Signature for free and invited three other friends and myself.
The hotel was awesome! Beautiful! The room was on the 32nd floor with a view of the strip, free bottled water everywhere, 2 bathrooms, and a jacuzzi bathtub. Luxury at its best. And just a short, inside walk to the MGM which is fully equip with a HUGE casino, restaurants, live lions, a sports book, you name it.
All sounds nice. And parts of it were. Laying by the pool was nice. Although it was REALLY hot, 95 degrees, and I only made it through an hour each day. Going to see a comedy show, also fun. The Grand buffet, always fun, lots of options. But what is this city really doing there? What is the point? It's the most decadent wasteful place and it's in the middle of the dessert. I watched so many people dissolve hundreds of dollars at the blackjack and poker tables. And I guess that is fun for some, but not me. and I didn't even lose any money.
Las Vegas is weird because it's the only city in the world where the main attractions are the hotels. My housemate Ben, who also came on the trip, spent an entire day without going outside--and that's not that weird there. In fact, you could spend the entire vacation at the MGM and get the full Vegas experience. How weird is that? And if you don't want to spend a ton of money there isn't much to do. Which is why five days and 4 nights is FAR to long to spend there.
If you want to gamble I think Tahoe sounds better, at least there are alternate activities and better weather.
The hotel was awesome! Beautiful! The room was on the 32nd floor with a view of the strip, free bottled water everywhere, 2 bathrooms, and a jacuzzi bathtub. Luxury at its best. And just a short, inside walk to the MGM which is fully equip with a HUGE casino, restaurants, live lions, a sports book, you name it.
All sounds nice. And parts of it were. Laying by the pool was nice. Although it was REALLY hot, 95 degrees, and I only made it through an hour each day. Going to see a comedy show, also fun. The Grand buffet, always fun, lots of options. But what is this city really doing there? What is the point? It's the most decadent wasteful place and it's in the middle of the dessert. I watched so many people dissolve hundreds of dollars at the blackjack and poker tables. And I guess that is fun for some, but not me. and I didn't even lose any money.
Las Vegas is weird because it's the only city in the world where the main attractions are the hotels. My housemate Ben, who also came on the trip, spent an entire day without going outside--and that's not that weird there. In fact, you could spend the entire vacation at the MGM and get the full Vegas experience. How weird is that? And if you don't want to spend a ton of money there isn't much to do. Which is why five days and 4 nights is FAR to long to spend there.
If you want to gamble I think Tahoe sounds better, at least there are alternate activities and better weather.
MHSeattle, Neal Schindler, 10/2/2008
Whew! The Rosh Hashanah rush was very fun and very wearying. I started a part-time temp job on Monday, and even though I'm sure most of you out there get up early every morning, rising at 7:30 a.m. to catch an 8:11 bus to start at 9 was a shock to the system for a few days there. (Now that I'm more used to it, I'm very grateful that my internal clock has been realigned to conform to, you know, employed people time.) Anyway, helping to host a Sunday night re-screening of the presidential debate and then co-hosting two RH dinners in a row (after last week's Wednesday potluck and Thursday movie night, yet!) left me needing some R&R.
Happily, I'm back to functional mode, and tonight I'm off to a VP debate-watching party being hosted by friends of friends of the Kibbutz. And Friday night's Shabbat dinner should be a smaller-than-usual, relatively quiet affair, which suits me fine. After all, October brings Sukkot -- days of gathering materials, multiple potlucks in the sukkah, and so on. I love the familial vibe of the house, but it's also reminding me that family means obligations. However fun those are, they have to be fit in around whatever else is going on in one's life. Mine is still pretty un-busy, which makes me wonder how things will be when I eventually land another full-time job. I'm also feeling a little guilty about not helping on RH prep as much as the other house members, but I guess the new job is a somewhat decent excuse. And I think communication in the house is open enough that if somebody thought I was slacking, they'd let me know. (I also worry all the time that I'm a big slacker, so often it's mostly my worries that are the problem, not the objective situation.)
P.S. Organizing the Nextbook salon about Jews and sex is continuing apace. Today I put together Elana's and my submission for the readings packet and deliver it to our co-coordinator, Jacob Fine, at Hillel.
Happily, I'm back to functional mode, and tonight I'm off to a VP debate-watching party being hosted by friends of friends of the Kibbutz. And Friday night's Shabbat dinner should be a smaller-than-usual, relatively quiet affair, which suits me fine. After all, October brings Sukkot -- days of gathering materials, multiple potlucks in the sukkah, and so on. I love the familial vibe of the house, but it's also reminding me that family means obligations. However fun those are, they have to be fit in around whatever else is going on in one's life. Mine is still pretty un-busy, which makes me wonder how things will be when I eventually land another full-time job. I'm also feeling a little guilty about not helping on RH prep as much as the other house members, but I guess the new job is a somewhat decent excuse. And I think communication in the house is open enough that if somebody thought I was slacking, they'd let me know. (I also worry all the time that I'm a big slacker, so often it's mostly my worries that are the problem, not the objective situation.)
P.S. Organizing the Nextbook salon about Jews and sex is continuing apace. Today I put together Elana's and my submission for the readings packet and deliver it to our co-coordinator, Jacob Fine, at Hillel.
High holiday reflecting
So I know that right now we're supposed to be in a time of personal reflection -- examining the things about ourselves and the relationships we hold dear that we want to change in the coming year. And at the moment I do find myself doing a great deal of that -- and I really value that this time of year is special for the Jewish people in this way.
But recently, I've also been spending a lot of time thinking about our Moishe/Kavod House, and how we have changed over the past several years, and must continue to change if we are going to thrive and be sustainable over the long-term.
We've built something wonderful and meaningful here in Boston, but without some organizational changes -- formal leadership structures, grassroots funding, better administrative systems -- we won't last. Maybe we will carry on until the current generation of leaders moves on, but what will remain at that point is unclear.
So while I know that we won't solve these problems overnight, nor will the housemates be able to do it on our own, I'm excited to work with our leadership team this year to figure these problems out. I believe that if we can maintain our organic feel while building formal structures to support our community, we will have achieved something special, and long-lasting.
But recently, I've also been spending a lot of time thinking about our Moishe/Kavod House, and how we have changed over the past several years, and must continue to change if we are going to thrive and be sustainable over the long-term.
We've built something wonderful and meaningful here in Boston, but without some organizational changes -- formal leadership structures, grassroots funding, better administrative systems -- we won't last. Maybe we will carry on until the current generation of leaders moves on, but what will remain at that point is unclear.
So while I know that we won't solve these problems overnight, nor will the housemates be able to do it on our own, I'm excited to work with our leadership team this year to figure these problems out. I believe that if we can maintain our organic feel while building formal structures to support our community, we will have achieved something special, and long-lasting.
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