This was a fast month. The theme of a lot of our events this month seemed to be things happening in Chicago that maybe you would be interested in but would never actually get around to going. I was really happy that Moishe House was able to be the impetus for people to try new things, go to different types of events, etc. Part of this might have just been us getting out of the house as much as possible in these last few days of summer, but I think it can be a great service to provide to our communities.
A few other things. The east coast retreat was great. It was very short, but I still feel like I got a lot out of it. Part of what is so encouraging about these retreats for me is that even though we all have very different communities, versions of religion, types of events, houses, etc. when we come together I realize that a lot of us are not only dealing with a lot of the same logistical issues, but also a lot of the same ideological issues.
One last thing. We have a few righteous indignation events coming up. I'm really excited about these. More on that next month I guess.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Ilana Schuman-Stoler MH Chicago!
Yay moishe house. I am so glad that we are part of this community. After going to the retreat I realized how wonderful this community really is. I am so grateful for the work that is done at the Moishe House office and with CLI and I am so excited to see what happens next. With everything that is going on in this world (in this country!) it is nice to know that the Moishe House is on the brink of NEW. It is progressive without being overbearing and it is really good for so many people! The retreat and our subsequent planning have really inspired me and I am very excited to continue with it! Especially with the election, it will be really fun to be able to talk about all these things with the other members of our house and community! So much to come!!! See you next time!
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
MHSeattle, Neal Schindler, 9/24/2008
Food is a big part of the Moishe House Seattle experience, and I've found that four weeks among people -- and not just people, mind you, but Jewish people -- who like to cook has inspired me to do more inventive and exciting cooking than I've done in many, many years. Tonight my friend Elana came over and we made a dessert whose recipe we'd gotten from Rabbi Jacob Fine (of UW Hillel and Jconnect) and his wife, Julie. It was Mexican mocha pudding with pumpkin cream, something I'll surely make again in time for Halloween, if not before.
Being in a kitchen that's well stocked, and working with a pantry that has a lot of basic ingredients already in it (haven't had such a thing at my disposal for, again, many years), is thrilling. I've been eating too much lately, moving steadily toward the dreaded "Freshman Fifteen" that Masha warned me about, but hopefully I'll be able to straighten myself out fairly soon and eat in greater moderation. It is nice, however, to eat so well and to witness such passion for food and cooking on a daily basis. And I'm so, so grateful to live in a house where I can wander upstairs hungry around lunchtime and find that Tamar has made beans and rice, quinoa tabouli, and hummus for everyone to enjoy. I'm one lucky Jew.
Being in a kitchen that's well stocked, and working with a pantry that has a lot of basic ingredients already in it (haven't had such a thing at my disposal for, again, many years), is thrilling. I've been eating too much lately, moving steadily toward the dreaded "Freshman Fifteen" that Masha warned me about, but hopefully I'll be able to straighten myself out fairly soon and eat in greater moderation. It is nice, however, to eat so well and to witness such passion for food and cooking on a daily basis. And I'm so, so grateful to live in a house where I can wander upstairs hungry around lunchtime and find that Tamar has made beans and rice, quinoa tabouli, and hummus for everyone to enjoy. I'm one lucky Jew.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Movin' in
First, let me say how fantastic is was to meet everyone in DC.
I may have missed my flight back to STL, but you can't win em all.
I really enjoyed connecting, rapping, and engaging with everyone, and its always nice to know that I'm not alone in the struggle.
As an update into MHSTL, we signed a lease on a gangster house in a really interesting part of St. Louis.
Half our block are young, upwardly mobile gentrifiers, while the other half are lower middle class families.
We already identified the bar at the corner as an ideal place to open a line of credit.
Mostly, though, we are really excited for this Shabbat. We are inaugurating our place, and hope to finally seat everyone comfortably.
Things move fast, and we hope for some sustainable growth as we move forward.
I may have missed my flight back to STL, but you can't win em all.
I really enjoyed connecting, rapping, and engaging with everyone, and its always nice to know that I'm not alone in the struggle.
As an update into MHSTL, we signed a lease on a gangster house in a really interesting part of St. Louis.
Half our block are young, upwardly mobile gentrifiers, while the other half are lower middle class families.
We already identified the bar at the corner as an ideal place to open a line of credit.
Mostly, though, we are really excited for this Shabbat. We are inaugurating our place, and hope to finally seat everyone comfortably.
Things move fast, and we hope for some sustainable growth as we move forward.
The joy of moving house
Dear Moishe Housers,
MH London is moving house this weekend, after we took the decision to leave our current (great) house because our landlord has been treating us badly. On the plus side, our new house is really great, has just as much entertaining space and has a lot of character.
I am not a good mover, a feeling a little bit anxious about the whole thing. We have created so much from this house, that it feels scary to think we now have to do it somewhere else. This house is so familiar to people, ut we now need to introduce somewhere new to people.
But when I have my rational head on I realise everything will be alright. Our community is really about the people, and we are moving as a house and our wider community with follow us. We can seize the new move as an opportunity for taking advantage of new good aspects of our new house and keep things fresh.
So dont worry all. MH London is on the up and the move will not change things. After all, the Jerwish people have moved many times and evolve, so why cant we.
Heres to a great month ahead for all Moishe Houses.
Best
Gideon
MH London is moving house this weekend, after we took the decision to leave our current (great) house because our landlord has been treating us badly. On the plus side, our new house is really great, has just as much entertaining space and has a lot of character.
I am not a good mover, a feeling a little bit anxious about the whole thing. We have created so much from this house, that it feels scary to think we now have to do it somewhere else. This house is so familiar to people, ut we now need to introduce somewhere new to people.
But when I have my rational head on I realise everything will be alright. Our community is really about the people, and we are moving as a house and our wider community with follow us. We can seize the new move as an opportunity for taking advantage of new good aspects of our new house and keep things fresh.
So dont worry all. MH London is on the up and the move will not change things. After all, the Jerwish people have moved many times and evolve, so why cant we.
Heres to a great month ahead for all Moishe Houses.
Best
Gideon
Monday, September 22, 2008
Moishe House London - Joel - August/September
OK some biggies to cover here.
First of all Burning Man. My fifth time at That Thing In The Desert and it was awesome. Our camp, Sukkot Shalom, lovingly organized by the guys from MH Providence, was a great place to be, and our enormous Shabbat Potluck truly brought a taste of Moishe House to Burning Man. Other than that, I painted myself head to toe in green body paint and did a bunch of other things I won't even start to describe. But, as always, the thing about Burning Man, in the end, is not the sensationalist spectacle or the crazy activities, but the people, the generosity, the learning, the transformation, the sense of coming home and the Playa's way of giving me exactly what I need, exactly when I need it.
Next up - I handed in my masters dissertation, about which I'm very pleased. Interactive theatre and its effect on the interactions of its audience. You can read it here. And yes, it's also about Burning Man. Managed to get it in without much fuss.
And well, what's going on now... The not so little matter of our moving out of our current abode and into a new house a few streets away. MH London shall have a new home. And it's luverly. In order to afford our lovely new home we've taken on a sixth resident in the house, although she won't be a full MH London resident (if that makes any sense). But she is Californian and she's lovely too. (Her name's Amanda and the link came about via an old regular at MH Silver Spring.)
So there's lots of packing to do and pretty much an event every night this week. Now, back to my packing.
First of all Burning Man. My fifth time at That Thing In The Desert and it was awesome. Our camp, Sukkot Shalom, lovingly organized by the guys from MH Providence, was a great place to be, and our enormous Shabbat Potluck truly brought a taste of Moishe House to Burning Man. Other than that, I painted myself head to toe in green body paint and did a bunch of other things I won't even start to describe. But, as always, the thing about Burning Man, in the end, is not the sensationalist spectacle or the crazy activities, but the people, the generosity, the learning, the transformation, the sense of coming home and the Playa's way of giving me exactly what I need, exactly when I need it.
Next up - I handed in my masters dissertation, about which I'm very pleased. Interactive theatre and its effect on the interactions of its audience. You can read it here. And yes, it's also about Burning Man. Managed to get it in without much fuss.
And well, what's going on now... The not so little matter of our moving out of our current abode and into a new house a few streets away. MH London shall have a new home. And it's luverly. In order to afford our lovely new home we've taken on a sixth resident in the house, although she won't be a full MH London resident (if that makes any sense). But she is Californian and she's lovely too. (Her name's Amanda and the link came about via an old regular at MH Silver Spring.)
So there's lots of packing to do and pretty much an event every night this week. Now, back to my packing.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
MHSeattle, Neal Schindler, 9/18/2008
Life at the house is good. I made wasabi ice cream today, with help from Masha, and one other person liked it enough to have seconds. We've had a bunch of events lately -- last week saw a Tuesday potluck, a Thursday coffeehouse, and Shabbat dinner -- and I find that eating the right amount is becoming hard. So much good food so often, in such a comfortable social setting; I'm afraid I'll regain the "freshman fifteen" my housemates have warned me about. On the other hand, what would a tight-knit Jewish community be without lots and lots of food?
I'm kind of amazed sometimes that within the space of just a few months I've become part of this vibrant, fun community full of smart, entertaining, kind people. I'm blogging late at night, so I should probably save further, more grandiose thoughts for later, but I wanted to say that more than three weeks after moving in, I'm still really glad I did. And I think it had to be this way -- I had to spend six and a half years in Seattle before I could comfortably move toward my Jewish identity in such an overt, meaningful way.
Quick update on the Israeli film series: The first film will now be "Sweet Mud," since "The Galilee Eskimos" is still on the festival circuit and therefore tough to get ahold of. October's film will be the widely praised (and Sukkot-appropriate) "Ushpizin," and in November we might screen "Bonjour Monsieur Shlomi," which Masha really likes. There's a particular projector I've got my eye on for the house, but we'll have to see whether it makes sense to buy one new. For September, we'll borrow one from Mo Fine, a community member who's also a filmmaker in her own right.
Tomorrow I have lunch with Leyna Krow from Jew-ish.com, the site I'm currently blogging for, and meet in the evening with members of the committee in charge of reviving Seattle's Nextbook literary salons. The first one in the 2008-09 series, scheduled for Oct. 23, is about sex, and I'm reading Neurotica to prepare for it. I like how the components of my newfound Jewish life -- Moishe House, Jew-ish.com, Nextbook -- overlap naturally and freely. And I like that I'm blogging more, even if the fact that our Wi-Fi is strongest at night means I'm often doing it after 1 a.m.
I'm kind of amazed sometimes that within the space of just a few months I've become part of this vibrant, fun community full of smart, entertaining, kind people. I'm blogging late at night, so I should probably save further, more grandiose thoughts for later, but I wanted to say that more than three weeks after moving in, I'm still really glad I did. And I think it had to be this way -- I had to spend six and a half years in Seattle before I could comfortably move toward my Jewish identity in such an overt, meaningful way.
Quick update on the Israeli film series: The first film will now be "Sweet Mud," since "The Galilee Eskimos" is still on the festival circuit and therefore tough to get ahold of. October's film will be the widely praised (and Sukkot-appropriate) "Ushpizin," and in November we might screen "Bonjour Monsieur Shlomi," which Masha really likes. There's a particular projector I've got my eye on for the house, but we'll have to see whether it makes sense to buy one new. For September, we'll borrow one from Mo Fine, a community member who's also a filmmaker in her own right.
Tomorrow I have lunch with Leyna Krow from Jew-ish.com, the site I'm currently blogging for, and meet in the evening with members of the committee in charge of reviving Seattle's Nextbook literary salons. The first one in the 2008-09 series, scheduled for Oct. 23, is about sex, and I'm reading Neurotica to prepare for it. I like how the components of my newfound Jewish life -- Moishe House, Jew-ish.com, Nextbook -- overlap naturally and freely. And I like that I'm blogging more, even if the fact that our Wi-Fi is strongest at night means I'm often doing it after 1 a.m.
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