BLOG PROMPT:"Lesson Learned" - Please describe an instant where your house has had an issue (e.g. trouble with events, house dynamics, logisitics etc.) and discuss how the house resolved the issue, and what was learned.
At Moishe House Great Neck everybody we tended to split up the duties of the house. This was great because each one of us was able to contribute in our way; for example, whenever we had a Shabbat Dinner, one person would handle marketing the event, while another would handle programming, another would handle shopping, the last one would handle cooking. But, we then ran into issues of communication about some of the upcoming events. We therefore decided to make a point of having house meetings where we would be able to plan events together and allowing us to make sure that we were all on the same page. Since making this change we found that our events have been a lot stronger.
Wishing all of you a Happy New Year and a Gmar Chatima Tova,
Moishe House Great Neck
Monday, September 7, 2009
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Brian from MHPhiladelphia muses about Argentines
Hi all,
Well it's certainly been a while since I last posted, what with going traveling, beginning a new job, and settling back into ye ole Moishe House routine. I thought I would come back into the world of blogging by just sharing some thoughts on one of the fun things about living in a Moishe House - the freeloading Jew syndrome.
As part of an international network of Jewish program houses there are a few things that come with the territory, I'm sure we are all aware. That one thing I'm talking about right now is how we help Jews around the world freeload and mooch in order to foster this strange feeling known as Jewish community spirit. Recently we here at MHPhiladelphia had two Argentinian girls stay with us as they were traveling through the Northeast corridor. They were very sweet, kind, and gentle ladies who were eager to please (they bought us nice wallets!). It was a pleasure to have them here and be able to show them around a little bit.
For those of you who this has not happened to yet, I'm sorry, because it is a great way of meeting people from around the world. We in Philly are lucky enough to have hosted 3 or 4 (I can't remember) sets of Argentines in our house! Even the illustrious Elana Rosenbaum of MH Buenos Aires fame herself came to stay with us for a while. It is truly a pleasure to meet people from other countries/cultures/etc and chat with them about my city, their city, and more.
I hope you all out there get to do this sometime soon if you haven't already. Heck, while you are gearing up, let me know if I can crash on your couch!
Brian Cohen
Moishe House Philly
Well it's certainly been a while since I last posted, what with going traveling, beginning a new job, and settling back into ye ole Moishe House routine. I thought I would come back into the world of blogging by just sharing some thoughts on one of the fun things about living in a Moishe House - the freeloading Jew syndrome.
As part of an international network of Jewish program houses there are a few things that come with the territory, I'm sure we are all aware. That one thing I'm talking about right now is how we help Jews around the world freeload and mooch in order to foster this strange feeling known as Jewish community spirit. Recently we here at MHPhiladelphia had two Argentinian girls stay with us as they were traveling through the Northeast corridor. They were very sweet, kind, and gentle ladies who were eager to please (they bought us nice wallets!). It was a pleasure to have them here and be able to show them around a little bit.
For those of you who this has not happened to yet, I'm sorry, because it is a great way of meeting people from around the world. We in Philly are lucky enough to have hosted 3 or 4 (I can't remember) sets of Argentines in our house! Even the illustrious Elana Rosenbaum of MH Buenos Aires fame herself came to stay with us for a while. It is truly a pleasure to meet people from other countries/cultures/etc and chat with them about my city, their city, and more.
I hope you all out there get to do this sometime soon if you haven't already. Heck, while you are gearing up, let me know if I can crash on your couch!
Brian Cohen
Moishe House Philly
Saturday, September 5, 2009
MHSeattle, 9/5/09: Lesson Learned
Lesson Learned - Please describe an instance where your house has had an issue (e.g. trouble with events, house dynamics, logistics etc.) and discuss how the house resolved the issue, and what was learned.
An issue we've struggled with since the beginning of the year is keeping the fourth room of our house filled. Rebecca, who moved in just before spring, and Nicole Guidry, who arrived at the start of summer, both ended up leaving the house, and we didn't want the turnover to happen a third time.
While both Rebecca and Nicole were and are bright, energetic people with great ideas and a lot to offer a project such as Moishe House Seattle, we may not have done enough to determine how good of a fit they'd be with our house. Rebecca was very busy with her job at a local nonprofit, about which she was passionate, and rightly so. She found herself having to balance the demands of her challenging work life with the not insignificant demands of a committed romantic relationship. A person only has so much energy, and at the end of the day, while Rebecca always contributed what she could to our programming, living here was beginning to burn her out. Nicole, also a busy person and also committed to a relationship, was similarly at a place in her life where she might be better as an event attendee than as a resident-organizer.
Zara, like the other residents of that fourth room, has a lot going on in her life, but she seems to be at a place, emotionally and otherwise, where living at Moishe House Seattle makes sense. Though Masha, Steven, and I don't have crystal balls, we think the third time will be the charm. Zara is excited to join MHS the way we were when we first applied and were accepted, and she seems very committed to finding the right balance in her life between non-Moishe personal activities and Moishe programming and community-building. Her recent return from Israel also makes her an excellent resource on matters Israeli, which our house had to some extent in Steven but obviously has even more of now.
All in all, the lesson learned was to take a little more time in choosing a new resident-organizer, and to really think about whether the person we choose is likely to be in it for at least the semi-long haul. And we think Zara is going to be an excellent fit.
An issue we've struggled with since the beginning of the year is keeping the fourth room of our house filled. Rebecca, who moved in just before spring, and Nicole Guidry, who arrived at the start of summer, both ended up leaving the house, and we didn't want the turnover to happen a third time.
While both Rebecca and Nicole were and are bright, energetic people with great ideas and a lot to offer a project such as Moishe House Seattle, we may not have done enough to determine how good of a fit they'd be with our house. Rebecca was very busy with her job at a local nonprofit, about which she was passionate, and rightly so. She found herself having to balance the demands of her challenging work life with the not insignificant demands of a committed romantic relationship. A person only has so much energy, and at the end of the day, while Rebecca always contributed what she could to our programming, living here was beginning to burn her out. Nicole, also a busy person and also committed to a relationship, was similarly at a place in her life where she might be better as an event attendee than as a resident-organizer.
Zara, like the other residents of that fourth room, has a lot going on in her life, but she seems to be at a place, emotionally and otherwise, where living at Moishe House Seattle makes sense. Though Masha, Steven, and I don't have crystal balls, we think the third time will be the charm. Zara is excited to join MHS the way we were when we first applied and were accepted, and she seems very committed to finding the right balance in her life between non-Moishe personal activities and Moishe programming and community-building. Her recent return from Israel also makes her an excellent resource on matters Israeli, which our house had to some extent in Steven but obviously has even more of now.
All in all, the lesson learned was to take a little more time in choosing a new resident-organizer, and to really think about whether the person we choose is likely to be in it for at least the semi-long haul. And we think Zara is going to be an excellent fit.
Friday, September 4, 2009
MH Beijing: Lesson Learned
Blog prompt:
Please describe an instance where your house has had an issue (e.g. trouble with events, house dynamics, logisitics etc.) and discuss how the house resolved the issue, and what was learned.
As one of the few outposts of Jewish community in Beijing, at Moishe House Beijing's inception we announced our presence to the two local minyanim, one lay-led egalitarian and the other being Chabad. It has always been our challenge how much we want to integrate ourselves with these more established community hubs. We had one learning event with a young Chabad rabbi in his 20s about kashrut, which went well, and he and his family even attended some of our other activities as participants.
The second time we invited him to lead a study session, though, we allowed him to pick the topic- love and sex. We quickly observed that his point of view was not reflective of our own, and his manner of engaging it was at times offensive to most of our participants. We then had to talk out the issue together- should we continue to invite him on the grounds of pluralism, or do we disagree enough with some of his points and his speaking style that we do not want him back?
We continue to dialogue with him about Moishe House events, and take each instance on its own merits. However, we decided not to invite him to lead any more events because, although we support pluralism, we also have a vision of the safe space we want to create in our home that befits the makeup of our Beijing Jewish community.
Please describe an instance where your house has had an issue (e.g. trouble with events, house dynamics, logisitics etc.) and discuss how the house resolved the issue, and what was learned.
As one of the few outposts of Jewish community in Beijing, at Moishe House Beijing's inception we announced our presence to the two local minyanim, one lay-led egalitarian and the other being Chabad. It has always been our challenge how much we want to integrate ourselves with these more established community hubs. We had one learning event with a young Chabad rabbi in his 20s about kashrut, which went well, and he and his family even attended some of our other activities as participants.
The second time we invited him to lead a study session, though, we allowed him to pick the topic- love and sex. We quickly observed that his point of view was not reflective of our own, and his manner of engaging it was at times offensive to most of our participants. We then had to talk out the issue together- should we continue to invite him on the grounds of pluralism, or do we disagree enough with some of his points and his speaking style that we do not want him back?
We continue to dialogue with him about Moishe House events, and take each instance on its own merits. However, we decided not to invite him to lead any more events because, although we support pluralism, we also have a vision of the safe space we want to create in our home that befits the makeup of our Beijing Jewish community.
Hoboken August Blog
BLOG PROMPT:
"Lesson Learned" - Please describe an instant where your house has had an issue (e.g. trouble with events, house dynamics, logistics etc.) and discuss how the house resolved the issue, and what was learned.
A few months back we had a spiritual salon planned with the rabbinical intern from synagogue in Hoboken. The rabbinical intern was going to lead the discussion and many community members were looking forward to this event. The day of the event the rabbinical intern was sick and we were not informed until a few hours before the event. The community members were not only excited for this event but had also rearranged their schedules to be able to come. We didn't feel that it was fair to cancel the event at the last minute, but it was too late for us to prepare a new discussion from scratch. With only a few hours to spare we decided to have an Israeli night. We bought hummus, pita, made falafel, and watched The Zohan. Everyone who came was very understanding of our changing the event and they all had a great time. Both my roommates and myself had to come together at the last minute to create a new event, when we could have just as easily canceled the event altogether (but we didn't want to let down our community members). We didn't let the stress get the best of us and we were able to come together as a house and create a successful event, even if it was at the last minute.
"Lesson Learned" - Please describe an instant where your house has had an issue (e.g. trouble with events, house dynamics, logistics etc.) and discuss how the house resolved the issue, and what was learned.
A few months back we had a spiritual salon planned with the rabbinical intern from synagogue in Hoboken. The rabbinical intern was going to lead the discussion and many community members were looking forward to this event. The day of the event the rabbinical intern was sick and we were not informed until a few hours before the event. The community members were not only excited for this event but had also rearranged their schedules to be able to come. We didn't feel that it was fair to cancel the event at the last minute, but it was too late for us to prepare a new discussion from scratch. With only a few hours to spare we decided to have an Israeli night. We bought hummus, pita, made falafel, and watched The Zohan. Everyone who came was very understanding of our changing the event and they all had a great time. Both my roommates and myself had to come together at the last minute to create a new event, when we could have just as easily canceled the event altogether (but we didn't want to let down our community members). We didn't let the stress get the best of us and we were able to come together as a house and create a successful event, even if it was at the last minute.
Stl MH Aug Blog Prompt
BLOG PROMPT:
"Lesson Learned" - Please describe an instant where your house has had an issue (e.g. trouble with events, house dynamics, logistics etc.) and discuss how the house resolved the issue, and what was learned.
We seem to go through different themes with events, we either have way way way too much help or way way way too little help. We never hit the median. Shabbat Dinners are our stand in event so we end up having lots of clean up and preparation to make sure everyone gets fed, our attendance ranges from about 20 - 30, sometimes over. We have events where people will start to clear their own plates and even wipe down our tables and then we have events where people seem to leave anything and everything. In the past what we have tried to do is make distinct times where things occur. As in there is a distinct time in which we cook everything, then we eat, then there is a clean up time after that we encourage everyone to help with. We try and kind of guilt people into doing it saying that they are at Moishe House but it is also our house, and after everyone leaves we have to clean up whatever is left only to have to do it again next week. Its our version of the Never-ending Story except no flying dogs, rock monsters, and princesses. In the end, though we have some clean up work to do after every event, we just try to make sure to share it between all of us and sometimes if someone in particular made a mess last night, we ask them specifically to come over and clean it. On a higher level, we try and let everyone know that even though our house may feel like a college party some nights, it is still our house and should be kept clean. We are also trying to have more events outside of our house either at other venues, other houses, or just even outside our house where we can just hose everything down to clean it off. All these items together have definitely helped keep our place much cleaner and each of out of each other's hair about how dirty our house is sometimes.
"Lesson Learned" - Please describe an instant where your house has had an issue (e.g. trouble with events, house dynamics, logistics etc.) and discuss how the house resolved the issue, and what was learned.
We seem to go through different themes with events, we either have way way way too much help or way way way too little help. We never hit the median. Shabbat Dinners are our stand in event so we end up having lots of clean up and preparation to make sure everyone gets fed, our attendance ranges from about 20 - 30, sometimes over. We have events where people will start to clear their own plates and even wipe down our tables and then we have events where people seem to leave anything and everything. In the past what we have tried to do is make distinct times where things occur. As in there is a distinct time in which we cook everything, then we eat, then there is a clean up time after that we encourage everyone to help with. We try and kind of guilt people into doing it saying that they are at Moishe House but it is also our house, and after everyone leaves we have to clean up whatever is left only to have to do it again next week. Its our version of the Never-ending Story except no flying dogs, rock monsters, and princesses. In the end, though we have some clean up work to do after every event, we just try to make sure to share it between all of us and sometimes if someone in particular made a mess last night, we ask them specifically to come over and clean it. On a higher level, we try and let everyone know that even though our house may feel like a college party some nights, it is still our house and should be kept clean. We are also trying to have more events outside of our house either at other venues, other houses, or just even outside our house where we can just hose everything down to clean it off. All these items together have definitely helped keep our place much cleaner and each of out of each other's hair about how dirty our house is sometimes.
Issues and Opportunities with Moishe House OC
Hello everyone from sunny Orange County!
We now have been a Moishe House for a little more than two months, and it has been a great experience so far with lots of programs, fun, challenges, and even a few mistakes!
An issue we have run into recently has been a decline in our house meetings, and just overall communication between us as residents in general. When we first began running Moishe House Orange County, we were meeting once a week to check- in, evaluate past programs, house operations, plan for successful future programs, and just talk with each other in general.
Over the past month though, these meetings just sort of stopped happening. We could blame it on a number of things, (vacations, travel schedules, work, and/or being too laid back), but the bottom line is that these meetings just stopped happening. This resulted in a few bumps for past and upcoming programs and just hurt our overall communication as a House. We were then forced to scramble quickly and creatively to make ensure that some programs that we wanted to make happen actually happen. The decline in house meetings and overall communication unfortunately hurt our house dynamics and our goal of building Jewish community in Orange County.
This issue is something we are very aware of now and working hard to correct and remedy it. We are meeting next week (after we get back from our Labor Day Weekend vacations) to get back on track and reestablish a strong system of communication in our House between us residents, and begin meeting once a week to ensure we continue building community and having fun as a House! Although inner- House communication was an issue during August, we are channeling it in a positive way. This issue has created a wonderful opportunity for us to strengthen our communication, work as a more cohesive House and team, manage our time better, set weekly meetings, and stay organized and on track!
Have a meaningful, reflective month during these Days of Awe and we cannot wait to update you on our House and community in October!
L'shalom,
The Moishe House Orange County Team
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