Newcomers at MHDC

With five of us in the house it is often hard to tell who is truly a newcomer and who may be a friend of just one or two of us. There is however often one glaring characteristic of newcomers at Moishe House events; they always arrive on time. The newcomer can be found awkwardly standing in the kitchen as us roommates frantically work to whip up extra food or burn ourselves taking last minute items out of the oven. The newcomer brings things like dessert and stay late to clean because they don’t know any better. The newcomer always asks how they can help. They certainly have traits not embodied by most of our constituents.

Once a newcomer has been determined as such, protocol is pretty standard. We make conversation, show them around the house, introduce them to our friends and people we think they may get along with. I think we are all very good at welcoming everyone with a smile and a hello so this is applied to newcomers and old standards alike.

Certainly it is easier if a newcomer comes to a smaller program like a writing workshop or happy hour rather than larger program. If they come to one of these small programs, it is easier to have one-on-one conversations, incorporate them in the fold of MHDC and make sure that they have a great experience. At larger programs like Shabbat, it is crucial that newcomers find other people besides the residents to chat with. Because we are running around, cooking, refilling toilet paper and answering the door, our craziness can appear to be aloofness or disinterest which is not the case at all.

I think most of us have the wherewithal to pair up a new person with a friendly MH regular who will introduce them around and show them the ropes of the house. We understand that walking into a house with people piled in every room can be overwhelming but we try to make sure to make every single person feel welcome each time they enter our house.

Newbies

Moishe House Providence boasts a very small, tight-knit community. However, occasionally new emerge all the time. When we do find out about newcomers to the community, we reach out to them in a simple manner. Rather than making an upfront pitch about our 3-4 programs every month, we make Moishe House seem inviting and personal. We feel that if we present new people with an unending string of programs, their interest may be diluted and they can think "Oh, Moishe will always be there, I'll go eventually." We will tell them about the next upcoming one or two programs. Once they have arrived at their first program, we welcome them with open arms. The priority is to make sure they have a good time, interact with people and experience the program. Most of our community members are so friendly, that we don't have to do anything more than make an introduction and allow Moishe to work its magic. Towards the end of a program, one of us will explain why we are hosting the event. At this point we explain the concept of Moishe House and tell them about the broader picture. If they are excited about participating (which almost everyone is), we'll get their full name and email and make sure their signed up on our lists to hear about future events.

Newcomers: "Here's where the bathrooms are!"

It's always hard, not knowing anyone at the party. At MH Oakland we try to make each person feel at home in our house. Frequently, we get attendees who have heard of MH through a friend, or found our Facebook page, or just searched "Bay Area Jewish events" and got us! Most of the time, those people come solo. It's tough getting those people to open up, and feel at home on the first "date". Apprehension is expected. Firstly, when new people come to our events, we all introduce ourselves. We introduce the new person to someone that's a regular to the house. And we show them where the bathrooms are, and where they can get a drink of water if need be. I feel so much more comfortable in a new place if I'm given a little tour, so at MH we show them around,and brag about our bumper pool table. We try to show a little more attention to newcomers than regular attendees who feel secure already.

What a year!

Wonderful turns of events aren't always easy to notice. It's only after some time that you can fully appreciate how good has a certain decision been for you. I think that one year is a period of time after which you can see what has changed and what hasn't. And what a year has it been!
Exactly one year ago (not counting ca. two weeks of acclimatization) we opened our Moishe House. Since then we had our ups and downs but we organized almost a hundred events, almost all of them successful and all of them were received. During this year we managed to build vibrant community consisting not only of our Friends or our friends' friends but reaching much further through the use of facebook and other means. We start the year 2010 with much less fear than the last year knowing that we will have no problem with organizing even better and bigger events than last year. But events is not the only thing we care about. Any our guest will tell you without a doubt that our MH is also his MH. Usually at least every other day we have friends over even if there is no event in the calendar.
This has also been a great year for me personally. The Moishe House experience has taught me a lot and i don't think it will stop yet. Hopefully I will be able to share this feeling.
Happy new year 2010 to all You out there!

Happy New year

This was my first year in Moishe house and during that period my life changed a lot. First of all before I was living with my mother so it was the first year for me to live on my own.
Now I'm in Russia visiting my boyfriend who is here on a student exchange program. I meet quite a lot of Jewish young people here in Moscow and Sankt Petersburg it looks like there is a Moishe house needed ;).
It is really cold here, around -15 C degres. I hope after being here polish winter will be easier to bear at list. I have seen a lot of cool museums but what's odd to me foreigners pay around 4 times more for tickets than Russians . I really recommend coming to Sankt Petersburg but rather in summer :)

Newcomers!

Newcomers are very important for a moishe house. Because new people are very important in a living community. People come and go its a natural process in every community i guess. And we want people to come and to stay , its not surprising is it ? :)
We do not have any special policy of "dealing" with our newcomers. I think its just important to make them feel comfortable at our events. We are introducing people to each other and we are trying to make nice family atmosphere so people seem to acclimatize quite well.
Good think for keeping in touch a specially with people which are not our close friend is a moishe facebook group. We invite new people to our facebook group i and they get all the news about upcoming activities. One more important thing is diversity of events. When events are educational like lectures or moves more new people are showing up so making such events is a good way of reaching new people and keeping them.

Learner becomes the Master...

I've been on a big Star Wars kick lately hence the Obi-Wan/Darth Vader para-phrase reference. And seeing as Star Wars can be referenced to everything in real life, I will cross the threshold into the Moishe universe. A few months ago I was "the new guy" to the Moishe family. Since May, even though I'm under a year old in Moishe-years, I have seen my community turn to me as a leader. Not only have my friends and family learned about Moishe House, but community and state leaders have included me in discussions, brainstorming sessions, etc. Friends from college have asked me how to be more involved in the Jewish community in St. Louis even though they are from here and I am a transplant. I love being needed in this capacity and I love that Moishe House can provide the solution. It has helped me find my identity in St. Louis and since the D.C. retreat I have felt my role in the national Moishe movement increase. I have helped to house Sir Cygielman, met Ron and Pam Rubin (the generous providers for MH STL), and made friends across the country aware of Moishe House and its role in each city's community. In February, I will be contributing in a discussion with some of St. Louis's Jewish elite regarding community impact and participation. In May and June I was asking questions like "how does this work?" "what happens with this?" "why do we do this" in regards to Moishe House. Now I am not only answering those questions in St. Louis, but also across the country with my personal network and after the D.C. retreat, answering many other questions for other Moishe Houses. The retreat opened my eyes to the network I didn't realize I was a part of. I can't wait for my next visit to Chicago to attend a Shabbat dinner with the Chicago house and its residents after we bonded over that never-ending cab ride to Dulles. As the young Luke Skywalker was thrown into the fight against the Empire, barely able to turn on a lightsaber, and rose to be a Jedi Master, I feel like I've dove into the Moishe network head first and have risen to be a leader among my peers and community. I just need a lightsaber. And a cool ship preferably with a large co-pilot who speaks in growls and roars.
Happy New Year!
Jordan