change & progress in dc.

Rapid change is afoot at Moishe House DC! As the newly-coronated senior resident, I wish Steven and Rivka all the best in their post-Moishe endeavors, as I and the remaining housefolk eagerly await two new housemates, who are sure to alter the tone and personality of our house—a jarring, albeit healthy and reinvigorating permutation. And, though it’s quite hard for me to believe, I’m nearing my second anniversary as a resident of the Moishe House in Washington, DC.

It’s been an exceptional experience thus far, which has allowed me not only to grow in numerous personal capacities, but has afforded me a laboratory in which to experiment and contribute to the creation of an unparalleled, vibrant young Jewish community in Washington, DC. After approximately four years of existence, the unique impact of MHDC is widely-recognized, and we’ve done well differentiating ourselves from the many, many institutional Jewish community offerings in the District. In fact, the level of notoriety which we’ve attained is now proving to be a new challenge; we're determining how to retain the essence that has characterized MHDC since its inception and set us apart—fresh, alternative and eminently comfortable—while we simultaneously embrace new partnerships with organizations and friends who wish to see us grow and prosper, effectively bringing us above the radar we once intentionally hid below. I look forward to helping MHDC navigate these new waters. Year three, here I come…

Home for the Holidays at Moishe House Chicago

September. It was a month full of new beginnings. 5771 -- the new year. 722 -- our new street address.

It was a busy month too. We desperately tried to unpack our boxes, or at least hide them in closets and corners, before the marathon of Jewish holidays began. We kicked the month off with Shabbat Shuvah, and followed it with a program on the Jewish Art of Reconciliation with our guest Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb. For Rosh Hashanah, our friend, Jake Adler, led a discussion on Tashlich and self-transformation. Yom Kippur found us hosting nearly 30 people for a break-fast meal.

We didn't stop with the high holidays. Next was Sukkot. We partnered with The Gan Project to build a sukkah from found objects. I raided my parents' garage, others searched in alleys. In the end, we had a beautiful, unique, sacred space right here in the middle of Chicago. Then, many people joined us for a Shabbat dinner in our sukkah. To top the month off, we retreated to Black Oaks Center where we slept in a yurt and spent 24 hours off the grid. There was no electricity or running water. While the goal had been to camp for Sukkot and volunteer our services on a farm harvesting vegetables, this experience made me, at least, much more aware of, and grateful for, all the amenities I have living in the city. (And the yurt provided welcome protection from the droplets that rained down all night.) Without heat and electricity, I was reminded of how vulnerable we are to the elements, perhaps a glimpse of the Israelites' experience in the desert. Most of all, the trip provided a break from our daily habits. We also had a song circle to sing the Havdalah prayers and other Jewish and American tunes we knew.

One other program we had was a planning meeting for a discussion series we're hosting to explore privilege and oppression in the Jewish community. I was unable to attend because of a work obligation that night, but as I approached our house on the sidewalk, I passed several friends on the sidewalk; I knew they were coming from our house. And when I came in the door, I was greeted by the smell of good home cooking, sounds of laughter, and many familiar faces. Our walls were covered with butcher paper filled from edge to edge with notes from the planning meeting. Another friend, Julia, stayed after the dinner session to work with me on planning our Sukkot camping trip. It finally felt as though we hit our groove.

I know anyone can get a list of our events by looking at our calendar, but I summarized them here because I felt incredibly proud of the programs we created in September. Inspired by our friends in Boston, we've been trying to implement more of an organizing model for programming. We are meeting one on one with our community members and bringing them into the process of designing and executing programs. And while it's much more energy intensive and overwhelming (especially when you have 3 major Jewish holidays all in one month), it is much more rewarding. For me, it was also an opportunity to explore holidays in a new way. I've never had my own sukkah, let alone built one from found objects (a practice in line with my values). It was special to be able to break bread in it and sleep in it too. This month, we saw a big increase in the number of new people attending too, a sign that we're doing something right. September reminded me of the privilege it is to live in Moishe House and to have the opportunity to help build a vibrant, young, meaningful Jewish community. I'm excited to continue forward with the momentum we built last month.

Happenings in MH Great Neck

As the holiday season just ended we had many opportunities to throw some amazing events. We have been hosted events from singles dating events, to Jewish learning classes and our famous "Haflot" (From the Arabic word "hafla" meaning party) Additionally, we make an effort to team up with other local organizations to help market our name to a plethora of people that we otherwise would not have been able to reach. Among the recent ones outstanding were the succah building event. We managed to get a van and go to Home Depot and build an entire succah from scratch. Considering no member of our home or community has done such in the past it was as much a learning process as it was a fun one. You'd think with over 10 people participating someone would have had some experience? But still we managed to successfully build a kosher 8x12 ft succah and hosted meals there as well as after party munch fests. Now the only task remaining is to take it down...

October at MoHoLo: Happy Birthday to you!

Hello MoHoLo lovers everywhere

Happy Birthday to you!

"What?" you say "But it isn't my birthday!"

"Ah ha!" we say, "but it is the birthday of the House".

Yes, we have reached our THIRD birthday!  

And of course, the House is formed not simply by bricks, mortar and residents:

We five work full-time in our own jobs, and run the House in our spare time, so we couldn't possibly have got here without you.  So Happy Birthday to you!

Increasingly we are seeing you step forwards to use the House to actualise ideas that you have for your lives, your neighbourhood and the Jewish world you want to make for yourselves, instead of waiting for someone else to make them happen.  There's also a tangible difference in your relationship with the House, in the love, care and creativity you put into it.

Keep going. 

And be brave.

You may as well: This is the place to push the boundaries of what community can be and do.

Get in touch.  

And if you are interested in living with us, remember we have a rolling application process, so email us back and we will send you the magical three questions!  

Be the change you wish to see in the World. 

Or in Willesden Green for starters.

And did we mention you can get your tickets for our birthday party here?

Here's the rest of October's events.

See you in our dreams,

RRR, Aviad, Brett, Joel and Alli (Tali is in Colombia!)

P.S. Thanks to Jess Lenza, who took care of the house during in the Summer, along with new resident Alli!

Firstly, congratulations to Michael Leventhal for co-ordinating the awe-inspiring GefilteFest today, raising over  £2000 for Bet Shean Foodbank and Leket, as well as supporting local women's collective Spice Caravan who fed us delicious food all day long. 

Saturday, October 9

MoHoLo 3rd Year Anniversary Party! Where: MoHoLo, Willesden Green - if you don't know, get to know...  When: Saturday, October 9 from 8:00 pm to late

Happy Birthday to us. This October Moishe House London will be celebrating its 3rd massive year!!
We've come a long way baby. From our opening party in Chatsworth Road, October '07 - immortalised by Sara Cox, who broadcast news of our Drum and Bass saxophone antics to her nationwide listeners on Radio1 - to the epic Moishe Fest of July '09; from Lag B'Omer bonfires to the amazing Grassroots services that took place here this Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur...
The memories are too many to list, so celebrate with us in our now much loved home.
For the first time, we'll have FILTHY KICKS playing live for us - fusing Eastern European folk with Drum and Bass, Hip Hop and Breaks and all live and direct! We'll have a fat sound system and you know the club space is great. The event is ticketed at £10, raising money to pay off the remaining costs of damages to our old place. We will supply a little bit of food and drink, but we still ask you to come with some of your own to consume and share (veggie food only please). If MoHoLo has been good to you at any point in the last three years, bring something that reminds you of the good times. As always, our space is your space, with room for you to contribute to the creativity. Get in touch with Joel, Brett, Alli or Aviad if you'd like to help lift this one high above your average house party - it's what we do here!

Monday, October 11

Jelly: Casual Co-working at MoHoLo Where: Moishe House London When: Monday, October 11 from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm

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WHAT IS JELLY?
Jelly is a casual working event, particular useful for the freelance amongst us. It's taken place in over a hundred cities where people have come together (in a person's home, a coffee shop, or an office) to work for the day. We provide chairs and sofas, wireless internet, and interesting people to talk to, collaborate with, and bounce ideas off of.
You bring a laptop (or whatever you need to get your work done) and a friendly disposition.
Show up when you wish, but do let us know that you are planning to come so we can estimate numbers.
8am stretching and porridge for the wholesome amongst you! 
Any time between 9am-4pm for everyone else. 
Bring vegetarian things and curious teas to share if you wish. 
WiFi available, but please only for work that won't block the connection for everyone else. If possible, please bring your own music too, so that the bandwidth isn't taken up with lots of streaming activities! 
Contact us for address and any other details.

Saturday, October 16

Storytelling Melaveh Malkah with Sheikh Ghassan Mana'sra & Chana Yaffe Where: MoHoLo When: Saturday, October 16 from 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm

Sheikh Ghassan Manasra is a Palestinian Sufi Sheikh from Nazareth, a spiritual teacher, author, and scholar of Islamic writers.
Cana Jaffe is a Jewish storyteller and singer who lives in Jerusalem and performs internationally. She is the coordinator of Middle East Activities for Spirit of Peace and the founder of Stories4Peace. 
Together they are touring the UK during October, sharing their cultural traditions of storytelling, together with other participatory arts, to bring multifaith and cultural groups together around the important themes of peace and reconciliation.
We request a £5 donation which will go towards the work of Jerusalem Peacemakers and the Spirit of Peace.
For those who are joining us before the end of Shabbat (the Jewish Sabbath), a donation in advance or afterward would be greatly appreciated.
ABOUT SPIRIT OF PEACE
Spirit of Peace is working alongside others to rise to the above challenge, in the field of peace building and social cohesion. Its purpose is to foster greater peace and equality, the main thrust of the work being in The UK, and also in The Middle East (through partnership with Jerusalem Peacemakers).
www.spiritofpeace.co.uk
www.jerusalempeacemakers.org

Tuesday, October 19

Laughter Yoga with Adam Oliver Where: Moishe House London When: Tuesday, October 19 from 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm

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"What soap is to the body, laughter is to the soul"  Yiddish proverb
Laughter Yoga is a unique technique which enables "Laughter for no reason". You don't even need a sense of humour, funny jokes or comedy programmes - just a willingness to laugh. It combines laughter exercises with Yogic breathing to increase the amount of oxygen in your body whilst being playful, resulting in you feeling more healthy, energised and alive. 
The session will run for just over an hour, ending with a laughter meditation and will be run by Adam Oliver.
SUGGESTED DONATION: £5 (please contact us if you feel you are unable to make a financial donation but would like to come. Do not be embarrassed!)
ABOUT ADAM:
Adam has spent the last 10 years exploring ways of opening people up to their inner-selves, through performance, play and ritual. He has worked with some of the greatest theatrical practitioners of the age studying rogue, clown and fool. He currently lives in London on a boat where he works as a performer, comedian and workshop leader. He is fond of hats.

...and book now for this!

Sunday, December 5

Mental Health First Aid (Part 1 of 3) Where: Moishe House London When: Sunday, December 5 from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm :

COST: EARLY BIRD PRICE: book by 14th Nov and pay £55, full price:

Did you know that 1 in 4 people will have at least one mental health problem at some point in their lives? 
Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training will strengthen the support that you offer to an affected friend, family member, colleague or person in your community. It will enable you to recognise the signs and symptoms of those affected by mental health problems and offer initial help and guidance towards appropriate professional services.

This 12-hour national training programme is endorsed by the Department of Health and National Mental Health Development Unit, and is delivered by accredited MHFA trainers Claire Nacamuli, from JAMI (Jewish 
mental health charity) and Katrin Eichhorn.
Delegates will receive a certificate and manual upon completion of course.
TO GAIN A PLACE ON THE COURSE AND TO QUALIFY AT THE END YOU MUST BE ABLE TO ATTEND ALL THREE SESSIONS
Sunday 5th December 10am-5pm,  Tuesday 8th December 7pm-10pm & Thursday 10th December 7pm-10pm.

COST: EARLY BIRD PRICE: book by 14th Nov and pay £55, full price: £75

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT: 

claire.nacamuli@jamiuk.org

MHP Personal Blog - Rebecca Karp - Doing More with More

This summer, I had the opportunity to attend two amazing conferences. Along with 119 other Jewish innovators from around the globe, I was selected to participate in ROI, held in Tel Aviv, at the beginning of July. In addition, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the Israeli government invited me to attend the North American alumni seminar of the Conference on Emerging Jewish Leaders, held in Chicago, just this past weekend. I was honored to have been chosen and invited – but would not have been able to attend either without the generosity of the Moishe House scholarship grants for professional development.

ROI stands for Return on Investment, a business term that has been re-appropriated by Lynn Schusterman for the Jewish world. The idea is that there are great young minds in Jewish innovation and there are many instances in which they could be nurtured in a more productive manner. This 4-day conference combines concrete skill-building sessions with networking and pitch workshops with socializing and the amazing atmosphere of Tel Aviv, culminating in a buzz about the future of the global Jewish community that cannot be found anywhere else. Representing Moishe House at ROI, I was able to interact with many diverse communities around the world and build friendships that will further the work we are doing here in Philadelphia and hopefully in all of the houses. We now have connections to artists, musicians, web designers, journalists and others around the globe who would love to collaborate with us. I also learned concrete skills relating to grant writing and pitching stories for various social media outlets that are directly applicable to my work both within Moishe House and in my professional role at AJC.

The alumni seminar this past weekend was an amazing opportunity to hear from experts from Israel, the Chicago area and nationally recognized organizations on the importance of Israel advocacy, concrete strategies for carrying out that advocacy and innovative ways in which to do so. We had presentations on Israel as a strategic asset to the United States, what the Ministry is doing to re-brand Israel through various forms of social media and what the Conference of Presidents sees as the future of the Jewish community (hint: it’s us and the kind of work every Moishe-r is doing!). Further, I was able to reconnect with some of the participants from the 10-day seminar I participated in last year and build new relationships with others from around the country. I was proud to talk up Moishe House and get people excited about it in whatever city they were from. While this trip had much more to do with my professional career as Assistant Director at AJC, the speakers I heard and takeaways I gleaned will also serve me well in Moishe House.

On a micro-level, the Moishe House grant that allowed me to travel to Israel and Chicago is in direct correlation to what ROI is all about – Moishe House literally invested in me so that I would be given the space to invest back into the Moishe House community and the larger Jewish community in which we live.

competing agendas

Yesterday, I was asked to speak at a press conference announcing a new petition denouncing bigotry against Muslims. I hesitated, because the press conference was going to be held during working hours, which would mean I would have to leave my office for an hour. The complicating factor was that the place I work, the Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action (JALSA), was one of the groups organizing the petition, but I was being asked to speak about the petition in the context of my connection to the Workmen's Circle, a Jewish progressive group in Boston where I am a member. Leaders at the Workmen's Circle, I suspect, knew that my presence at the conference would be seen as showing the support of young Jews, and that I would publicly be associated with Moishe Kavod House, but they were hoping I would highlight my membership and connection to Workmen's Circle. Since I work at JALSA as an administrative assistant, not as an advocate or political assistant or organizer, I don't think it occurred to anyone to associate me with JALSA's political work. But since the press conference was being held during work hours, I felt uncomfortable asking for the time from my JALSA work unless it was going to be in JALSA's self interest, and I was doing the work on behalf of JALSA. But of course, peope arleady knew JALSA supported the petition, the petition organizers wanted me there representing Workmen's Circle, or at least, the young folks at Moishe Kavod House.

All this brings me to an issue I constantly struggle with at Moishe Kavod House, how to juggle multiple agendas. Many institutions are excited to partner with Moishe Kavod becuase they see it as a chance to get young folks involved with their institution. We see our role as connecting young Jews to the larger Jewish community, so we are also excited about these partnerships, but they are often complicated. If Moishe Kavod co-sponsors an event with a local synagogue, young folks come, but they get more excited about returning to Moishe Kavod than they do to returning to the local synagogue. JALSA shares the values of Moishe Kavod and looks for opportunities for me to connect the two organizations, but since my role at Moishe Kavod is much more public than my role at JALSA, when I work on event or talk about an issue, whatever role I am playing is more likely to be associated with Moishe Kavod than JALSA. Furthermore, if I organize an event that is being co-sponsored by JALSA and Moishe Kavod, I have to meet the expectations both of what my boss at JALSA wants and what the community at Moishe Kavod wants. That puts me in a very hard position, especially since Sheila pays my salary, but the folks at Mose Kavod are my friends, plus, they pay my rent.

Moishe Kavod has been very successful in getting young adults Jews excited about Judaism, but sometimes it feels like other organizations want to reap the rewards of finally having young adult jews excited, and hope to partner with us and absorb young adult Jews into their institutions. We are excited to connect young adult Jews into other institutions, but we have to recognize that there is a reason young adult Jews are finding a home in our community not the previously established ones. We do things differently, we are peer led, we are open to all forms of Jewish identity, we are social, and we are justice oriented. How to support other Jewish institutions that have less success recruiting young Jews and want to benefit off our model without incorporating some of the elements of our model into their own is confusing to me. Its something I am always wrestling with.

A Year? Wow!

I started Moishe about a year ago, and I feel like I have learned so much, it’s almost impossible to process it all. I have made a ton of new friends, discovered so much more of Chicago, and reconnected with and explored my Judaism. It has been an awesome, difficult, and breathtaking last year. And I am really excited to continue it all again!

I graduated from college a year ago, and I knew I was coming back to Chicago. Even though it’s my hometown, I was definitely nervous. Trying to bridge the gap between old and new friends felt a little overwhelming – old friends who hadn’t been in my life for years and new friends who I had yet to meet. Moishe House turned out to be the perfect solution to what I was facing. I was able to make Moishe House my home base and build (or rebuild) my relationships from there. I felt so safe in the space my roommates and I created, and I met tons of great community members, so my friendships just fell in place. I was able to bring my old friends from high school and my new friends from work into the community as well. One of my favorite things to see is all the people I care about most getting along and spending time together.

Being from Chicago, I have certainly seen my fair share of the city. But in a huge place like this, with a million things to do, you never feel like you’ve seen enough. Or you feel like you’ve seen everything and forget how much is out there. With Moishe House, I am constantly exploring new places and introducing newcomers to my favorite spots. Other people told me that they have returned home after college and felt like they didn’t belong. I, on the other hand, am rediscovering how much there is going on in this amazing city of mine.

I also wanted Moishe House as a chance to open myself up to reevaluating my identity as a Jew. I was never raised particularly religiously, and I didn’t get involved with Jewish activities on campus. However, when I graduated, I wanted to start exploring again. This year, I have gone to services, studied texts, learned about new holidays and met so many different kinds of Jews. Everyday I learn a new Hebrew word, and every month I learn a new tradition. A whole world has been opened up to me, and I can’t wait to see what else I learn this year.

I am thrilled that I get the chance to live here another year, so I can keep making friends, seeing new parts of the city, and finding out more about who I am as a Jew.