Hi everybody,we are the Moishe House Buenos Aires.
We are a happy moishe house and it was hard to think of a problem or issue that was relevant to put in the blog.
The only time that we remember to have a confrontation or an issue was some months ago when we where doing a party on our house and a jewish young member called R (we keep his name for security reassons) drank too much and started to bother some girls.This girls complained with us because they were not having a good time because of R state of drunkness. We didn´t want him to go away at first,so politely we asked him to behave properly.Ten minutes later he started to bother again,and we decided to ask him to go (it was the first time we asked somebody to go from our Home).He didn´t want it,so we asked to a close friend of him to take him to his home.And when this friend wanted to take him out, R started to throw up,really disgusting (you can imagine).Finally we took him out and his friend left R in his home and came back to the party (because it was an awesome party!!).
One day After R called us asking for sorry,we talked by phone about what happened and nowadays he is one of the moishe members who almost always come to our events.
Beautiful life to
Friday, September 4, 2009
Moishe House Philadelphia Blog
A great way the Moishe House Philadelphia has worked to ease house dynamics are the questionnaires we put out to each of the new members of the house as they come in. We have found that filling out a simple survey of about 30 questions each, and then going over the surveys all together, has really helped start everyone off on a cohesive foot within the house. The questionnaires are broken down into two sets - one about normal house/living items - such as what staples would you always like in the fridge/pantry, when do you go to sleep, do you shower in the morning or the evening - and one about Moishe House related items - how many events should each person be in charge of, what do you do when an event doesn’t go as planned, how often should we have “house” meetings, etc. With each new iteration of the members of the house, we redo these surveys and give each member an opportunity to voice his/her opinion on how the house and the Moishe House activities should be run. Then we have discussions and come to new conclusions about the inner-workings of the house that everyone is comfortable with. We have found that with many strong personalities living under one roof working toward a common goal, these questionnaires really help to get everyone excited and at ease with the unique situation in which we find ourselves.
Our vision issues
There are six of us living in a house, we share everything in public spaces and organise at least seven events a month – there are going to be issues! It is surprising there are not more. By meeting frequently (short weekly meetings and longer ones each month) we ensure that no issues gets out of hand and that everything is dealt with.
Aside from the day to day running of our house there is, however, an underlying issue behind everything that we are doing: we each have different answers to the question of why we are doing it.
The aims of MoHoLo can be either of the following options for each of the residents: to challenge British Jewish institutions and their definitions of who is a Jew or to supplement synagogue life; to forge a distinct approach to Judaism by bringing together ideas from different Jewish traditions or to provide a space for all Jews to feel comfortable in each of their own approaches to Jewish life; to create a stable, continuous institution in MoHoLo or to spend a few years inspiring other London Jews to run their own grass roots Jewish events like a ripple on effect; to provide a space for events for the local community or only for the Jewish community.
Often smaller disagreements can be seen to reflect on one of these underlying issues of our whole purpose. The tension between these different positions was not clear until February when we ran a “blue sky thinking” session, taking a step back from our logistical weekly and monthly meetings in a special and strictly non-tachles meeting. There each of us spelt out her/his idea of what the house is all about. We did this again a few months later after Brett and Lianna had joined the house. The more it was discussed the clearer any tensions became and the easier it has become to create a shared vision. Ultimately it is clear that the tensions are a healthy part of what we are doing, with each of us bringing something different to the MoHoLo project. Bringing these differences into the open by continuing to have these separate “visioning” meetings is really important, ensuring that we all understand where each other is coming from.
Recently, realising that only half the house residents are Moishe House London founders, we have begun thinking about how the vision of the founders can be preserved for future house members to take forward. This might involve bringing these underlying and creative tensions even further into the light.
Aside from the day to day running of our house there is, however, an underlying issue behind everything that we are doing: we each have different answers to the question of why we are doing it.
The aims of MoHoLo can be either of the following options for each of the residents: to challenge British Jewish institutions and their definitions of who is a Jew or to supplement synagogue life; to forge a distinct approach to Judaism by bringing together ideas from different Jewish traditions or to provide a space for all Jews to feel comfortable in each of their own approaches to Jewish life; to create a stable, continuous institution in MoHoLo or to spend a few years inspiring other London Jews to run their own grass roots Jewish events like a ripple on effect; to provide a space for events for the local community or only for the Jewish community.
Often smaller disagreements can be seen to reflect on one of these underlying issues of our whole purpose. The tension between these different positions was not clear until February when we ran a “blue sky thinking” session, taking a step back from our logistical weekly and monthly meetings in a special and strictly non-tachles meeting. There each of us spelt out her/his idea of what the house is all about. We did this again a few months later after Brett and Lianna had joined the house. The more it was discussed the clearer any tensions became and the easier it has become to create a shared vision. Ultimately it is clear that the tensions are a healthy part of what we are doing, with each of us bringing something different to the MoHoLo project. Bringing these differences into the open by continuing to have these separate “visioning” meetings is really important, ensuring that we all understand where each other is coming from.
Recently, realising that only half the house residents are Moishe House London founders, we have begun thinking about how the vision of the founders can be preserved for future house members to take forward. This might involve bringing these underlying and creative tensions even further into the light.
Johannesburg Moishe Blog
Hello All
It has been a really good month for Moishe House JHB. It did start off a bit late but we produced the magic after about 10 days in.
We began a brilliant initiative this month; teaming up with Equal Education (a Non-Profit Organization) in collecting names for a petition they are doing. They are going to take the names to the South African Government and put pressure on them to increase the number of libraries in the country. We felt that we were not doing enough Tikkun Olam programmes or events and decided to go out there and find a cause or organization that we liked and join them in a project of theirs. Daniel Linde was very instrumental in doing this. It is a 'strength' of his as he has created many contacts within in the NGO world in South Africa. Unfortunately the events didn't attract as many people as we hoped but that is fine. We have realized that joining up with other organizations is a brilliant technique in fulfilling our Tikkun Olam goals and we will be doing more events like this.
Every month we try to have two house meetings; one of which will become the house supper for the month. We try do one near the begining of the month, in the first week, and then another one on about the 20th. This enables us to plan ahead and set goals for the month and to also check on our progress during the month. At these meeting we discuss eachother's involvement and work and also divide up things for the next little bit.
Daniel Barnett, being the most organized one, will monitor receipts and ensure that everything is in order. And then between Daniel Linde and myself we ensure the calender, the events and the photos are up and in order. This is probably the only time that issues or tensions arises as sometimes things are not done as timeously as we hope and we do argue about responsibilities. But within a few minutes thigns are back on track and we just recreate the responsibilities if neccessary.
Otherwise August was a really great month. We had lots of events with lots of people. It was also a very diverse month in terms of the kinds of events we ran. But we have set a benchmark now and things will only carrying on like this.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Challenges and Changes in Moishe House-Boston
Moishe House Boston has had a somewhat tumultuous couple of weeks. We have been in a state of transition. Three housemates left, and, after an extensive selection process, three wonderful new housemates were set to move in this past week. All was going well until we found out, last Tuesday, that one of the new housemate's placement for her social work internship fell through because her supervisor had to go on early maternity leave. She and her school tried valiantly to find her another Boston placement but were unable, so she unfortunately had to move to Portland, ME and could no longer move in the house.
The Moishe House housemates, and the housemate selection team, were at a loss! Who could replace this spot at such short notice? With such a vibrant community, the thought of having fewer than 4 housemates seemed daunting, but at the same time, the options seemed really limited. That's where I come in. I have been an active member of the Moishe House Boston community for the last 3-4 years, and had even, at one point, seriously considered moving into the house. I knew all the other housemates, as well as many members of the community, and had assumed some leadership roles in the past. And, it turns out, I was looking for a place to live and was about to sign a lease, when one of the housemates called me, after consulting with the other housemates and housemate selection team, and asked me about whether I would fill in the role. The decision had to made, and quickly.
From my perspective, it is a testament to the thoughtfulness and open communication of the other housemates that I was able to make a decision--and with enthusiasm-- decided to move into the house. They each reached out to me, and gave me a place to voice my concerns. Each asked me to talk through my considerations with them and explicitly articulated that, though I would be joining so last minute, that my thoughts, ideas, needs, etc would be honored with the same weight as theirs. Moreover, the three housemates have designed an impressive housemate retreat for this weekend that will be a time to talk explicitly about division of responsibilities, expectations, needs, boundaries between personal and public space, and any other lingering concerns. Carving out this time is so helpful in making me feel that I can be on the same page and fully integrating into the house.
So, the lesson learned from this mini-crisis: the power of communication cannot be underestimated. I am excited for us to continue to create an open environment where all of us can continue to voice our needs, delights, and dilemmas.....
I am so thrilled to be a part of this community,
Michelle
The Moishe House housemates, and the housemate selection team, were at a loss! Who could replace this spot at such short notice? With such a vibrant community, the thought of having fewer than 4 housemates seemed daunting, but at the same time, the options seemed really limited. That's where I come in. I have been an active member of the Moishe House Boston community for the last 3-4 years, and had even, at one point, seriously considered moving into the house. I knew all the other housemates, as well as many members of the community, and had assumed some leadership roles in the past. And, it turns out, I was looking for a place to live and was about to sign a lease, when one of the housemates called me, after consulting with the other housemates and housemate selection team, and asked me about whether I would fill in the role. The decision had to made, and quickly.
From my perspective, it is a testament to the thoughtfulness and open communication of the other housemates that I was able to make a decision--and with enthusiasm-- decided to move into the house. They each reached out to me, and gave me a place to voice my concerns. Each asked me to talk through my considerations with them and explicitly articulated that, though I would be joining so last minute, that my thoughts, ideas, needs, etc would be honored with the same weight as theirs. Moreover, the three housemates have designed an impressive housemate retreat for this weekend that will be a time to talk explicitly about division of responsibilities, expectations, needs, boundaries between personal and public space, and any other lingering concerns. Carving out this time is so helpful in making me feel that I can be on the same page and fully integrating into the house.
So, the lesson learned from this mini-crisis: the power of communication cannot be underestimated. I am excited for us to continue to create an open environment where all of us can continue to voice our needs, delights, and dilemmas.....
I am so thrilled to be a part of this community,
Michelle
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Moishe House check one-two, one-two
In Moishe House PVD, sometimes our human resources get stretched thin - since there are only two residents. In most houses, not all residents are required to attend all events. However, when you've only got two residents, it's a courtesy to attend all events. This requires very careful event scheduling. To date, we have resolved this issue by working to coordinate our schedules very precisely.
The same issue emerges when events occur -- if one person has a very busy, hectic, or otherwise overwhelming day/week/month, it is incumbent upon the sole remaining resident to make up for the loss of support. With this second dynamic, it is critical that each member of our house communicates upfront with gratitude and appreciation each time the other resident compensates with extra work. So far, we have been very aware of each instance of load-shifting and it has not resulted in the accumulation of house tension.
The same issue emerges when events occur -- if one person has a very busy, hectic, or otherwise overwhelming day/week/month, it is incumbent upon the sole remaining resident to make up for the loss of support. With this second dynamic, it is critical that each member of our house communicates upfront with gratitude and appreciation each time the other resident compensates with extra work. So far, we have been very aware of each instance of load-shifting and it has not resulted in the accumulation of house tension.
Issue?
I am not really sure did we ever had a big problem, or lets say house issue. Of course I can say that we learned many lessons. But all of them in my opinion were lessons that you need to learned when you are living with three other people. Cleaning,shopping and of course communication between us is the hardest work. I think for me and my sister Zosia everything is a little bit easier because we are excellent in co-opperation. But from the other hand it can be blessing in disguise because we need to learn how to work with other housemates.
For me the biggest dilemma constantly is how to attract people. What I consider as our defeat is the fact that in the beginning we started to invite people personally and then we got a little bit lazy so we switch into facebook event mode. I don't think it works in Poland. Because here people like to be invited and informed about programs personally, otherwise they don't feel like come. I think that is the part of our very idiosyncratic jewish-polish psyche. So before all events we need to call and warmly ask them to attend our events.
Another thing is the number of people that we want to attend our events, sometimes we want only 8-10 people for discussion and then (because of our house great fame I suppose ) our small discussion is evolving into 30 guest party in the middle of working week.
So this is the question: Is everytime big amount of guest is good for our house? I think that we cannot find answer to that question now. What is the most important thing that our moishe house is developing himself everyday. That thing I called fame is something amazing because it works constantly beside of our work. It's something that we deserved after all those full of events moths.
For me the biggest dilemma constantly is how to attract people. What I consider as our defeat is the fact that in the beginning we started to invite people personally and then we got a little bit lazy so we switch into facebook event mode. I don't think it works in Poland. Because here people like to be invited and informed about programs personally, otherwise they don't feel like come. I think that is the part of our very idiosyncratic jewish-polish psyche. So before all events we need to call and warmly ask them to attend our events.
Another thing is the number of people that we want to attend our events, sometimes we want only 8-10 people for discussion and then (because of our house great fame I suppose ) our small discussion is evolving into 30 guest party in the middle of working week.
So this is the question: Is everytime big amount of guest is good for our house? I think that we cannot find answer to that question now. What is the most important thing that our moishe house is developing himself everyday. That thing I called fame is something amazing because it works constantly beside of our work. It's something that we deserved after all those full of events moths.
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