Our vision is the same as Moishe house vision: create a ideal communal space for young Jewish professional to meet, create, exchange, share, etc.
Our objective for this upcoming year.
• Host more Shabbaton away, more guest speakers, weekly Hebrew classes, Krav Maga classes, Jewish art workshop and Jewish cooking workshop
• building a Jewish library composed of German, English, Hebrew and Russian Jewish books.
• Creating a website. The website will help us to get more young people to find out about the Moishe House and its activites, promote events and show the whole world how Vienna young Jewish community is cool and active.
In the next 3 years we hope to establish a stronger connection with Jewish communities in countries around Austria. (hopefully using the Moishe house network).
In the next 5 years, having a impact on the Young Jewish community at a European level.
Have a great year!
Shana tova, hag Sameah!!
Eytan, Daniel and Michael from our Moishe Sukkat
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
MHSS House Goals
We're approaching the second-and-a-half anniversary of the founding of Moishe House Silver Spring Maryland, and our community has already grown and changed in many ways. Our most popular regular program, our Open Shabbat Dinners, routinely pull 25-30 attendees, MHSS spin-off groups like the Mussar collective have taken on a life of their own, and we regularly join with other Jewish organizations from around suburban Maryland and the DC metro area for high-impact events. Our living room has been host to not only our own movie nights, shofar blowing lessons, open mics, and holiday observances, but to meetings of Jews United For Justice, an area social activism organization, and to Segulah, a neighborhood Shabbat-morning minyan.
The social geography and human universe we work in keeps changing: friends and community members move away from town, some move into the house, some bring their friends, some drift away from the community. We try to keep up-to-date on what the needs in our area are and what programming MHSS community members and potential community members want. As MHSS residents come and go, and as we get more integrated into the Jewish institutional fabric of the Silver Spring region, we've got both the challenge of retaining our current base while appealing to new populations, and the opportunity to have many more people involved.
One year from now we want to be on everyone's minds around here. Even more synagogues and institutions will see us the way our neighborhood ones do now - as a medium for reaching out to the younger area Jews, and as a creative resource that can work on community-wide programming. We will have a unified and clear presence on the internet, as well as advertisements in local Jewish and alternative media.
Three years from now we want to have moved to a better location, even closer to downtown Silver Spring and its transit links. We see more interested community members taking a lead on programming, appealing to social groups and interest groups we didn't imagine. We know that already, many folks around town know that MHSS is a spot run by their peers which is welcoming and fun and open to their ideas and passions. In three years we'd like that knowledge to be universal, and develop an active community that can take things to even bigger heights.
In five years some of the original MHSS Moisheketeers will be almost 35 years old! We can't imagine who will be MHSS residents then or what other developments the Maryland, District, and Virginia communities might see. The Purple Line might even have started construction! But if we continue doing what we're doing, and make sure that those who succeed us stick to our vision of making homey, eclectic, comfortable, Jewish, and free-form community their priority, well, the possibilities are endless. And as long as MHSS is doing all the multifaceted programming what the people want, and bringing young Jews like us (and not like us) together, we'll know we did all right.
The social geography and human universe we work in keeps changing: friends and community members move away from town, some move into the house, some bring their friends, some drift away from the community. We try to keep up-to-date on what the needs in our area are and what programming MHSS community members and potential community members want. As MHSS residents come and go, and as we get more integrated into the Jewish institutional fabric of the Silver Spring region, we've got both the challenge of retaining our current base while appealing to new populations, and the opportunity to have many more people involved.
One year from now we want to be on everyone's minds around here. Even more synagogues and institutions will see us the way our neighborhood ones do now - as a medium for reaching out to the younger area Jews, and as a creative resource that can work on community-wide programming. We will have a unified and clear presence on the internet, as well as advertisements in local Jewish and alternative media.
Three years from now we want to have moved to a better location, even closer to downtown Silver Spring and its transit links. We see more interested community members taking a lead on programming, appealing to social groups and interest groups we didn't imagine. We know that already, many folks around town know that MHSS is a spot run by their peers which is welcoming and fun and open to their ideas and passions. In three years we'd like that knowledge to be universal, and develop an active community that can take things to even bigger heights.
In five years some of the original MHSS Moisheketeers will be almost 35 years old! We can't imagine who will be MHSS residents then or what other developments the Maryland, District, and Virginia communities might see. The Purple Line might even have started construction! But if we continue doing what we're doing, and make sure that those who succeed us stick to our vision of making homey, eclectic, comfortable, Jewish, and free-form community their priority, well, the possibilities are endless. And as long as MHSS is doing all the multifaceted programming what the people want, and bringing young Jews like us (and not like us) together, we'll know we did all right.
Shiah Personal BLog
Quartly blog post. Going back to the house blog and my plans. I have been too busy with school to really deal with moishe house. I am not done with school and have 2 more years to go. I took time off to try to figure some things out and when i was on my off time i agreed to Moishe House. I am now back at school full time and working 32 hours a week. My time is normally being taken up by homework or other personal activities. Life is stressful and i can only see it getting more.
MH CLE HOUSE BLOG
Future, where can we see our house in the coming months, year(s). From The conversations I have had with atleast one of my roomates, and he also speaks for another one of the roomates. Moishe House Cleveland will in most part be non existent. Unless we start recruiting people. I know that I will be in no way doing Moishe House next year as i am looking to finish school, and move on with my life. Sam and Naima from my understanding are looking to start grad school and finish their bachelor degrees. Thus leaving Ty, whom I am unsure of what his plans are......... So thus, Moishe House Cleveland will be filled with brand new people or be a defunct house...
Visions for the Future
Visions are diverse things, and at Moishe House London, we have a range of views on what the future might hold. Much of what I'm writing here represents my personal view, though there are links to the other Moholo niks.
Something I think we all share is the desire for Moishe House London to be a force for change. We want to make the Jewish Community, as well as London and the UK, better, more open, more creative, with richer community and stronger connections. Our ambitions stretch far beyond the 'Jewish young adult community' in fact we do not see ourselves as being just for Jewish young adults, rather existing for people of all ages, whether Jewish or not. We don't want Moishe House London to be seen as something you do in between university and getting married.
In terms of the next five years, a desire of mine is for the house to have more local organization and so not be quite so reliant on the Moishe House Foundation and on the other sources of funding we have. We are at the first stage of this process, selecting a group of our most regular attendees to be on a kind of board ( I like to call it a Sanhedrin) to help us maintain our values and go forward. This is (possibly) a first step towards having a membership, like the model of Kavod House/Moishe House Boston which we admire.
For me, whilst the financial support of the Moishe House foundation has been absolutely invaluable, and we never could have done it without them, in the long term, Jewish life needs to be sustainable, and not reliant on wealthy donors. This is a process that will radically transform Jewish life, and arguably it has already begun, in the growth of independent minyanim that do not rely on paid professionals in order to function. So in the long term (and this may take rather more than 5 years)I would hope that we could be funded by our local membership, becuase the house provides a service that they valued. From Chabad to Hillel, the showering of free gifts on young adults in the vain hope that they will stay in the fold, is somewhat infantilising and certainly not the foundation for sustainable Jewish life. Moishe House, however, uses funding much more creatively, building strong communities across the world that can eventually become self sufficient.
Something I think we all share is the desire for Moishe House London to be a force for change. We want to make the Jewish Community, as well as London and the UK, better, more open, more creative, with richer community and stronger connections. Our ambitions stretch far beyond the 'Jewish young adult community' in fact we do not see ourselves as being just for Jewish young adults, rather existing for people of all ages, whether Jewish or not. We don't want Moishe House London to be seen as something you do in between university and getting married.
In terms of the next five years, a desire of mine is for the house to have more local organization and so not be quite so reliant on the Moishe House Foundation and on the other sources of funding we have. We are at the first stage of this process, selecting a group of our most regular attendees to be on a kind of board ( I like to call it a Sanhedrin) to help us maintain our values and go forward. This is (possibly) a first step towards having a membership, like the model of Kavod House/Moishe House Boston which we admire.
For me, whilst the financial support of the Moishe House foundation has been absolutely invaluable, and we never could have done it without them, in the long term, Jewish life needs to be sustainable, and not reliant on wealthy donors. This is a process that will radically transform Jewish life, and arguably it has already begun, in the growth of independent minyanim that do not rely on paid professionals in order to function. So in the long term (and this may take rather more than 5 years)I would hope that we could be funded by our local membership, becuase the house provides a service that they valued. From Chabad to Hillel, the showering of free gifts on young adults in the vain hope that they will stay in the fold, is somewhat infantilising and certainly not the foundation for sustainable Jewish life. Moishe House, however, uses funding much more creatively, building strong communities across the world that can eventually become self sufficient.
Sukkot at MoisheNola
MoisheNola's 2nd Annual Sukkot. This past Friday night we were joined for a potluck dinner in our backyard Sukkah. The group included a regular cast of characters and a visit from a few family members in from Boston and Philadelphia.
Next Year join us for the celebration, or better yet start looking ahead to Mardi Gras. This year it is conveniently held on a Tuesday, allowing for a weekend of buildup and celebration!!
Monday, October 5, 2009
The Birds Eye View of You
Richard Bach once said “Look in a mirror and one thing's sure; what we see is not who we are." I panicked the first time I read that because it made me feel like I might have been wearing a costume my entire life, and I still feel that way sometimes (ironically I feel more like myself when I wear a costume on Purim and Halloween). The antidote to a quote like this is quickly revealed when you live with five other dynamic people who view your soul from a birds eye view. There are elements of your behavior that are revealed way more clearly than a mirror ever could, especially if there is a request for you to alter your behavior, speech, or rain dance routine. This is not a bad thing, because you too can act like a bird, so it's kind of cool that everyone is on the same playing field, or playing sky in this case. Constructive criticism is like a paper cut, it only hurts if you concentrate on the pain rather than on cleaning the cut up. Where the mirror allows you to use palliatives to change yourself be it makeup, avocados, or even a clean shirt, the birds eye view as absorbed from your family is more real than that stench that infiltrates your nostrils on the 405 just before you enter the City of Carson. Does this mean you have to change who you are, absolutely not, but creating a community with other multi-cell organisms always requires the flexibility of your soul. So, break your mirror, or have someone else do it and call them in seven years, do some Yoga, and be nice when it's your turn to observe from the sky. Because not even the 1986 Mets could fly forever, and neither can we.
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