Moishe House Blog

Monday, February 7, 2011

New Pad, New song

Moishe House Life
(To The beat of “Baby got Back”-Sir Mix a Lot)

Oh my gosh, Shmuli, look at this email
It is so cool. It looks like
one of those Jewish Youth groups
But, you know, it’s for peeps our age though?
It is- and for both guys and gals
A social place but no big commute, ‘kay?
I mean, Rockville, is just so close
I can’t believe we don’t have to pay, it’s sweet
Moishe House is its name son
Eze Ma-gniv (translates to thats awesome)

I like Moishe House and I can not lie
You other lantsman can’t deny
That when you’re in need of a shabbos meal , challah o’ wine
And no minyan to be found
You get bummed, wanna hang out with Jews
But you’ve heard of a place called Moishe House
So you check their calendar
Tonight is Open Shabbos
Oh baby, I wanna schmooze it up
And sing some zmirot
My homeboys are going too
Ladies gonna check out this nice boy Jew
Ooh, while I’m dav’ning
You say you wanna help lead benching?
Well okay,okay
I’m turning into a Moishe House groupie
I’ve seen them plannin
To hell with demandin
They know bro
Whats going like a hookah night
I’m tired of bars n things
Saying goyish girls are the thing
Take the average Fri night and we compare
It’s gotta have a Jewish air
So fellas! (Yeah!) Fellas (Yeah!)
Tell em’ go Moishe House (yalla!) Moishe House (Yalla!)
Join the listserve bloke, become
Moishe House folk!

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Moishe House Montgomery County- a new identity and a new location. In our gorgeous new home we are doing great things. Some a bit unconventional- things like lumberjack parties and Yiddish shabboses, oh and even house love-imagine that. And a single kosher kitchen that is friendly for meat eaters like myself as well as the vegetarians in our community.

This weekend we hosted a wonderful open house event, advertised in all of our normal ways but also with adorable postcards hung all over town. The event was a real treat and a great way to show the neighbors who we are and what we do. In this new space, we have seen some familiar faces, some new faces and even some faces in need of a place to crash during the blizzard. People have even had a chance to come back to Moshe house who haven't been here in a while.

I did learn a very imprtant lesson in the move though- and this should be taken very seriously- unpack your bozes within a few weeks. The reason? My closet started to smell a bit funny and I discovered after some coaxing to go in there- that I had a communal kitchen box in my closet. And Challah- unlike matzah which can last for decades and still taste like cardboard- does not look, feel or smell the same after two weeks. Don't worry though, I threw it out and the closet smells wonderful now.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Moishe House Baltimore is heating up the winter

If someone had asked me 7 months ago to guess what I would be doing now I’m not sure what I would have said. I do know that I never would have thought I would be living in the new Baltimore Moishe House, building what I consider an ideal Jewish community. Since starting the house in August, we have held dozens of great programs, made lasting memories, and met so many new friends. Moishe House has truly become an integral part of the Baltimore Jewish community and it has been so interesting to be a part of this from the beginning.

In the past few months we have had some incredible programs that have really showcased what Moishe House "Bawlmor" is all about. Some of my favorites have been: our latkes and vodkas event, complete with a full latke bar with every possible topping and friends brought different types of vodkas for everyone to taste, and our January Shabbat dinner where over half of the attendees were new faces. Another interesting event we had recently was a town hall style meeting facilitated by a professional from our local Federation where we discussed the recent results from the Jewish community study and talked about how Moishe House can best serve the community.

This month I am really excited about some of our upcoming events. We are holding a poker night fundraiser next week and later in the month we are going to bake challah for the first time ever (any recipes or helpful tips greatly appreciated!). We are also going to be holding a PINK breast cancer awareness Shabbat in March, which is in honor of Women’s History Month.

With allthis going on it’s easy to see how 6 months have flown by so quickly. I’m so excited for everything coming our way in Baltimore and to see how Moishe House will continue to grow.

Signing off from Charm City,

Andi Waghelstein

Moishe House SF - Dan's Blog

Shabbat Shalom Moish-uginahs!

This is my first Moishe House blog so please be gentle. I have been a part of the Moishe House community for about 2 years now. I was at the tender age of 26 and had been trying to rediscover my Jewish identity. I tried going to services at Temple Emanu-el, danced at Second Saturdays @ the Cellar, attended Mission Minyan and tried other Jewish activities that I found online. However I didn't feel any of these places fit with my unique style of Jewish living or lifestyle. I am a social person by nature and appreciate good conversation with friends and discussing my beliefs or questions with those around me.

In my first year of living in San Francisco I found myself working as a Communications Director at a Non-profit and co-managing a Funk Accordion band called Sex with No Hands...a mix of Kelzmer, Funk and 80's Rock! Half of the band is Jewish (a mix of orthodox and conservative dudes who know how to observe in style!) and introduced me to the Jewish community of San Francisco and to their traditions of holding Seders and Shabbats in their homes. While in New York on the East Coast leg of their 2008 tour I met one of my best friends...Sarah Curtain (and now current roommate) who went to school with two members of the band. Sarah eventually moved out to San Francisco and joined the Moishe House later that Fall. I started attending Shabbats, musical performances, movies and other fun activities that I really enjoyed and I finally felt that I was a part of a larger Jewish Community!

Fast forward a year and a half later...I was getting ready to moved out of the Sunset and was looking for a new place. Three of the current roommates at Moishe House were moving out and had asked me if I wanted to take a spot. It took me all of a week to make up my mind, but I gladly took the offer and have been at the Moishe House SF ever since!

I've had a chance to meet a ton of new people, create some great events and collaborate with some fantastic organizations. Over the months I have been able to bring in friends to play music (The Coo Coo Birds, Moishe House Gypsy Jazz Band and Lautaro D'Amato), made some amazing foods (German Food Themed Shabbat, Hummus Making, Indian Food Shabbat and many Vegan Dishes) and we are starting a Comic Book Club and Rotating Art Gallery which I am super excited to do!

The future is looking bright and I am excited to do so much more! Keep an eye out for our upcoming events:

Friday - February 11 - Pink Pot Luck Shabbat - Breast Cancer Awareness and Valentines Day Shabbat

Saturday - February 12 - Moishe House Wine Tasting

Sunday - February 20 - Food Bank Volunteering!

Tuesday - February 22 - Madhouse Rhythm the comedy of Joshua Walters

Thursday - February 24 - Moishe House Movie Night - Jewish Directors Series

Sunday - February 27 - Moishe House Art Show and Concert

Friday, February 4, 2011

Moishe House San Diego – Jonathan’s Blog

Shabbat Shalom Moishekateers!

While there may be 33 states that are incapacitated by all this snow and cold weather, we in San Diego (and southern California) cannot complain! Our San Diego community has been growing at an amazing rate! We recently hosted a Shabbat dinner for over 60 people and a spectacular Tu B’Shvat Seder for over 60 people as well. I cannot express how magical it is to witness such a wonderful event, to see so many young Jews interacting, laughing, and getting to know each other and their community.

I am so excited for the future of this community; when we sit down to plan our events it is hard to decide which ones to do. I notice that there are so many wonderful opportunities for us [the community] to take advantage of, whether it be the San Diego Jewish Film Festival, local rabbis, or local volunteer opportunities. I think that when faced with planning events for the Moishe House, we must consider which events will impact the most people in a positive way. Meaning what can we do that not only strengthens our community by getting more people involved for good causes but also to physically and socially effect the community for the better!

Hope you all have a wonderful and peaceful Shabbat!

-Jonathan

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

MoHoLO MONTHLY EMAIL FEBRUARY - THe JoYs oF (nEarLy) Spring!

Hello Moishe Massive!

So, as the sap rises and we move through the winter dreaming of daffodils and leaves we bring you through the last of the winter months with some great events for your mind, body and soul.

Tomorrow, February 3

Nick Hennessey: Tales from the Kalevala
Where:	MoHoLo, Willesden Green (contact us for full address)
When:	Tomorrow from 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm
To celebrate National Storytelling Week 2011, we are proud to be supported by much loved London storytelling night 'Storynights at Torriano' in presenting our first Storynight at MoHoLo! For this inaugural event, we are delighted to be joined by one of the finest storytellers in the country. Despite possessing all other kinds of magical powers, storytellers cannot feed themselves on words alone, so we recommend a £6 donation for t...his event. You'll be asked to remove your shoes, so feel free to bring slippers, and, if in a decadent mood, perhaps a smoking jacket too. The Kalevala is a cornerstone of Finnish national identity. It is epic mythology comprised of stories up to 5,000 years old. Stories of creation, the birth of song, the origin of fire, all unfolding in an ancient world rich in spirits of forest, sea and sky. Brought up near Alderly Edge in Cheshire, Nick Hennessey came first to instrumental music before discovering his singing voice through folk song and this led him to storytelling. Inspired by the model of the Celtic bards, he now combines these elements, accompanying himself on harp and whistle to deliver powerful, passionate performances of story and song. In 1999 he began work on performances of the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala, and in 2000 became World Champion of Kalevala Runolaulu (Epic-Singing) at the annual Finno-Ugric Festival in Espoo, Finland. "A fine voice, pure and unforced. His fluid style and engaging presence is a winning combination…a compelling demonstration of storytelling's many faces." The Times "He brings that rare combination of artistic adventure and absolute accessibility. He's a magical performer who inspires his listeners with a sense of recaptured wonder." The Word, London Literature Festival

Sunday, February 13

Sing-a-long Yentl!
Where:	Moishe House London (contact us if you need the address)
When:	Sunday, February 13 from 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm
Love Yentl? Love singing? Then come along to Sing-a-Long Yentl! Dress up in "yiddishe" or "shtetl" garb, and come at 7pm for a prompt 7:30 showing of Yentl. We will provide song sheet for you!

Tuesday, February 15

Book Discussion- "Yiddish Polishmen's Union"
	Moishe House London (message for the address)
	Tuesday, February 15 from 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm
After November's rousing success with a book discussion, we've decided to have another one-- and by popular demand Michael Chabon's book "The Yiddish Policemen's Union." So come at 7pm, there will be a salad and some little nibbles, and we'll start the book discussion at 7:30pm. The book can be found on Amazon (I got mine for £3!) or at your library, and we also have a copy here if you need to borrow (first come first serve on that one)

Thursday, February 17

Dancing in the Dark
Where:	Moishe House London, Willesden Green
When:	Thursday, February 17 from 7:30 pm to 10:00 pm
Nothing to do with Bjork films or Bruce Springstein... Dance as if no one is watching! An evening of blindfolded sensory movement and body awareness. After the extraordinary success of dining in the dark we're taking it to the next level. Helpers will be on hand to keep participants safe and facilitate the experience, which will encompass play, dance, movement, interactive jamming and work with objects. 10 PARTICIPANTS MAX - WE NEED YOU TO CONFIRM YOUR ATTENDANCE BY EMAIL: thelondonhouse@gmail.com Concept inspired by Axolotl (http://www.bodyresearch.org/axolotl/index.shtml) and the wonderful Stephanie Gerson

So, there you have it Moishe's. Please come and enjoy the experiences, they are nothing without you.

It is with much exhaustion and dread that we say Au Revoir to Brett who is going to be away on a World Tour with Gabby Young until April. BUT, it is with smiles and joy that we are able to welcome Laura Wolfisz to the house for that whole time. Laura has been coming to MoHoLo for a number of years and we are excited about the colour, art, music and ideas that she will be bringing to the house.

Much Love from all residents

XAlli, Aviad, Brett, Joel, Laura and Rachel

Friday, January 7, 2011

Sex Ed! Judaism! Young Adults!

Greetings from Boston! We have had an exciting Autumn full of wonderful events, powerful social justice and lots of new guests and members of our community!

Here in the Boston Moishe House our community is organized into a series of programmatic and structural teams - We have a Shabbat and holidays team, a membership team and a housing justice team, just to name a few. This Fall our teams had great events, made a difference in the local community and gained many new members. And even though I was always taught that it is wrong to pick favorites, today I'd like to share the work and goals of one of our most exciting and dynamic teams - the Sex Ed team.

Our Sex Ed team was created at the end of last Spring out of a series of Sex Ed classes taught by community member and sexuality educator, Mimi Arbeit. (For more information on the history of sexual education and a chance to bask in her unbelievable awesomeness, check out her blog). Mimi's vision was to carve out a space at the Boston Moishe House where young adults can come together to learn about sex, sexuality and gender and create meaningful dialogue. Mimi's passion and vision was an amazing success with over 40 participants throughout the 14 session course. Harnessing the energy of the class, Mimi began building a team of people and with the help of housemate Margie Klein applied for and won a grant to create sex ed curriculum for young adults in the Boston Jewish community. (Again - check out Mimi's blog... she tells it better than I do! :) )

Currently the Sex Ed team has about 18 active members and our goal is to create five different curricular modules that we can bring to different Jewish young adult groups in the Spring. In preparation for our workshops we successfully trained 18 new sex ed facilitators and we have organized ourselves into five curricular groups - Sexual Orientation, Gender Diversity, Sexual Ethics and Judaism, Communication and Relationships and Boundaries and Consent. Each group has two to three members and they are working to create several different activities and lesson plans per curricular area. Once our lesson planning is complete, we will take our curriculum on the road, tailoring our sessions to fit the needs of each community we are visiting.

This is exciting for so many reasons! First - we are receiving very positive responses from local communities. It is clear that sexuality education should not end after high school -- Young adults want to talk about sex and sexuality in their communities but often do not have safe spaces to do so. This is also giving Moishe House members the chance to learn about sex, sexuality (etc) and have meaningful dialogue in our community. Also, it is amazing to have these conversations in a Jewish context and give others the chance to engage with Jewish text in a meaningful way - We believe that Judaism touches all aspects of our lives, including sexuality, and we should not separate our lives into "secular" and "religious." We are bringing our whole selves to our community - it is important to understand these issues in a Jewish lens, and where this is difficult, it is important to challenge ourselves to struggle with our tradition.

Lastly, what we are accomplishing is a radical and exciting approach to lesson planning and curriculum building. As an educator, I usually plan and teach my lessons on my own. I do what works for me, what I think is best but this is perhaps limiting. Instead of having one or even a handful of people deciding what works best, we have approximately 18 people writing, editing, and making decisions. This kind of democracy is rare in curriculum development and I think will lead to unbelievably creativity and possibility.

As of now we are still building all five areas of our curriculum and we are looking forward to workshopping them in our Moishe house community and bringing them to our partner communities this Spring! I'll keep you posted :)

Thursday, January 6, 2011

January at MoHoLo!

Hello beautiful Moishies!

Hope you had a wonderful and exciting 2010 and have started off 2011 with smiles and love!

So much going on in January! Wandering Jews are invading our House! Tu B'Shvat Seder! Willesden Green's Wassail (still needing and would love volunteers to help out on the day, please contact us/Rachel-- including preparation work, helping out the artists, and making food!)! Storytellers galore! And so much more!

Please also remember the survey we emailed out to you earlier today-- http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GGBBPF5-- if you gained anything from MoHoLo in the last three years, please share it.

So without further ado...

14 January

Wandering Jews at MohoLo!
Where:	MoHoLo (email Alli for the address)
When:	14 January from 19:00 to 22:00
	Please make sure you bring a vegetarian (or vegan!) item of food to share with the group, and the theme for this week is "travels", so bring a story that inspired you to travel, inspired you on a travel, or tales of a far away place you can only dream of....

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17 January