Moishe Nola - Success!!

Successful events should seek to establish solidarity and community
between individuals over various fault lines. These fault lines might
include community, religion, politics, and culture. The best events
engage with these interest areas and have a clearly stated goal or
purpose. Guests at Moishe House events should feel challenged and
comfortable enough to engage with these topics creatively. An example
of an event that satisfied these criterion would be the review of the
New Orleans Master Plan. Individuals were encouraged to rely on their
own specialized and professional knowledge in reviewing the Master
Plan and sketching out a list of steps to its implementation.
Individuals were inspired by their own connection to the city of New
Orleans and were given a comfortable space for free discussion and
self-expression. As each individual had a vested interest in the
rebuilding of the city of New Orleans itself, the event was
self-driven. Members of the Moishe House simply tapped into the
interests of its community of guests and structured a discussion. As
most of the guests at this event were relatively new to the city of
New Orleans, this was also an opportunity to build solidarity with
life-long residents of the city.

In addition, successful events should take time out from the monotony
of the work-week by targeting the individual's needs for relaxation,
socializing, and the spiritual. For example, one particularly
successful event focused on a study of Torah in the context of the
economic crisis. House guests discussed the role and importance of
Torah study in a chaotic world. Considering this period of social and
spiritual malaise caused by an uncertain economy, the Moishe House
served as a free space of study and conversation.



- Esther