MHSF Jan House Blog

Maybe it’s the residual lingering new-year-smell of January, but I still feel like it’s the season for making fresh plans and starting new projects. It’s in that spirit that MHSF has 8 events each month, which gives us the room to bring in one or two new events each month while still keeping the crowd favorites on the monthly rotation. I think it's awesome that there are certain events that we try to keep on the schedule every month: Shabbat dinners, poker nights and team games are a great way to maintain a community presence. They are always fun and always popular - people look forward to these events every month and always note them on their calendar. But the beauty of having 8 events every month (beyond having a jam-packed social schedule) is that there is still a lot of room to try new things every month and know that in doing so you aren’t going to be leaving anyone out, just gaining more.

One of MHSF’s greatest assets is its location; this city has provides a limitless venue of new places to go, people to meet and adventures to have. I think one of the things that we want to do more of in the future is take advantage of all the city has to offer, be it trips to local museums and concerts, or taking a more active / regular role in local philanthropy. We’ve already planned a few events to this effect, but really getting physically out in the city, participating in local events is not only a lot of fun, but a really awesome way to foster a unique local identity for any Moishe House.

Later this month we are going to be having a Torah Talk at the house which will be led by a local community member. More than just being interested in what our local scholar has to say, I love that MHSF can be a venue for someone in our community to share what he/she is passionate about in an open and (hopefully) receptive environment. We are already putting together an event next month that will use our house as a venue for other local musicians and performers to share their talents with the community. More than just bringing new people into our MHSF environment, we can also be a conduit through which members of our community can share their talent and passion with others.

Ultimately, what I think brings people to MHSF events for the first time, and keeps them coming later, is that every month we have something new to offer while making sure the oldies are still goodies.

January House Blog - MH Buenos Aires

MHBA

It’s the summer holidays here in the southern hemisphere and when we all get back to the House from various parts of the world we’re going to have a big fat brainstorm of what events we are going to programme to better fulfil our aims. In anticipation of what we’re going to discuss in terms of what’s missing in our programming, it’s mainly going to be social action and maybe Jewish learning too. For a while we’ve been talking about wanting and needing to get ourselves more into social action. There is no shortage of opportunities to help others out in Buenos Aires, with giving money, resources and time. We have had successful fundraising parties and time-giving events, but they’ve been one-offs and we need something more regular which would be much more beneficial for both sides. Watch this space to see what we come up with!

In terms of Jewish learning, we think that more people would come if food was involved. So inviting a speaker over Friday night dinner or a mid-week / Sunday dinner and discussion would be a more appealing and appetizing way of learning. We tried this out with an Israel-focussed evening where we watched the Alan Dershowitz film ‘The Case for Israel’, discussed our thoughts and had dinner. The success of this event has spurred us into thinking of hosting a series of events of this sort – watching educational films, discussing and munching. It’s a light and enjoyable way of learning. Only problem is finding films that at least have Spanish subtitles… any ideas of how to get hold of such things?? Help would be much appreciated. Gracias!

Moishe House OC: Social Justice, Smores, and Sing-Alongs

Being the newest member to the Moishe House OC, I get to write the Monthly blog.

The other night our house had a wonderful evening with Rabbi Scott exploring the ways Moishe House can integrate tzedakah into our events. Helping the world, social action, giving back; I think the ideas are admirable, but at times the words can feel tiresome and well-worn. Oy Vay!

Does it have to be a chore to lend a hand? We need to ask ourselves what our responsibility is to give back to the members of the community: especially when many of us are so fortunate to have such a range of opportunities available to us.

Sometimes social justice and responsibility can take the form of a clothing swap, bring your old clothes to the house, trade, barter, bargain, find a pair of jeans you always wanted; take whatever is left over, donate it! Food for thought, small cover charges for big events: bring a non-perishable item of food get a price break. These are two simple ideas that we have tossed around that allow us to incorporate Jewish philosophy into our programming.

What brought most of my house mates to Moishe House is summer camp. I remember being a counselor at Temple Beth Sholom’s Day Camp, and a youth retreat leader for a synagogue in Palo Alto. The corner stone of camp was the fire-side sing along. I found comfort about huddling around a fire, the sky above ablaze with an unidentifiable mist of constellations, munching smores, playing songs, and singing along together. We realized that many of our events have already descended into 1am sing along jam sessions; so we came up with a summer camp night, with grilling, smores, guitars, drums, and of course singing.

Our house is lucky enough to be close to the beach. Havdalah on the sand is a great way to bring everyone together and say ‘adios’ to Shabbat, or an excuse to spend a day at the beach and run the party to the evening and have a cookout. In the same vein of the outdoors, our house loves to get physical. We are trying out tennis days, road rides, mountain bike rides, surfing classes/beach days; Rae the founding member of Moishe House OC, does triathlons, and I bet there are members of the community that would love do a MHOC Sprint Tri.

Getting creative is the best part of living here, anybody can organize a great party; but the challenge is taking it to the next level, bringing a level of self-awareness and world awareness along with the chips and dip. Since we aren’t going at this alone, tell me what ideas you have for cool, socially aware, programming.

January House Blog - MH Budapest

New directions in the life of MoHoBp

First of all, we need to move! As soon as the weather gets better, we finally have to start to do sporty programs. As the first step of the spring cleaning we will invite our friends to come and take the recyclable rubbish to the selective containers. Then we may make our kitchen kasher. Besides, we could make our living room/synagogue, in the frame of a creative workshop, warmer and friendlier.

And in that moment we could finally start to visit the European Moishe Houses, as well as we could invite them here to build the spirit of the international Moishenik-feeling. What the outdoor programming concerns, we plan to make excursions, either by bike or by foot. We already thought about buying a table-tennis table which would just fit in the living room. Moreover, one of our active members, who are a gypsy-dance dancer, may teach us the basic steps.

And last, but not least, spring will touch our soul and Purim will reform us from inside. Not only our body, but also our mind needs some training. Therefore we are planning to organize a Parasha study group where week by week everybody comments the actual Torah portion from his personal point of view, which will be followed by a discussion.

Moishe House London - new programming ideas

Every so often the housemates of MoHoLo get together for what we like to call 'blue skies thinking' sessions (to borrow a term from the world of management consultancy) in which we let our imaginations run freely and talk about nothing practical. We share our visions of where the house is going and what we'd like to see in it, and generally we find ourselves coming away from the evening inspired.

This month, when we had our first blue skies thinking session for some time, we found a theme emerging about programming. There's too much of it! Every month we easily meet our 7 event requirement and often far surpass it. Partly this is because of all our partnerships with local community groups and the regular programming that is in our calendar long before the month begins. For example, we have a Bet Midrash ('House of Learning') every two weeks, a monthly event for Jews and Darfuris (in partnership with the JCC) and a monthly silent meditation session (led by a friend of a friend, who approached us). This month we also have a four week creative writing course facilitated by a friend and regular visitor. So when you add it all up, that's 7 events already and we haven't even had a chance to add anything new or do any exciting 'one-offs'.

The challenge for us is to remain inspired and enjoy the full possibilities of MoHoLo, when our schedule is so laden with programming. At the blue skies thinking we entertained the idea of scrapping ALL existing programming and starting from scratch, with whatever wonderful ideas came to mind. We restated a principle we'd mentioned before: that unless at least one house mate is excited by and in love with a particular programme, it shouldn't be taking place.

Clearly we're not going to sever all our communal partnerships and cease all regular programmes, but we are going to try to make space. The programmes that have worked the best in the past have been those that fire the imagination, for which at least one resident put in a lot of thought and planning. Examples have been:

- Moishe Fest (200 people for a full day of bands, performances and art)

- Moishe Art House (an art exhibition of young local Jewish artists)

- The Open Talmud Project (a four day intensive learning retreat)

- Wassailing (reviving an ancient British folk ritual to revive togetherness and cohesion in our neighbourhood)

- Open Space Technology (a radically open way of holding multiple simultaneous discussions)

There are things I'd love to do in the house, given more time and space. For example, I'd love to do a series of Open Space Technology 'salons' that allow us and our community to look at different aspects of one area each session (the series might run 'body', 'spirit', 'mind'). I would love to create and direct a play which uses each room in the house, bringing the space to life through an intricately woven narrative. Or a night featuring different pieces of performance art in different spaces in the house. I've thought of a four day intensive davening retreat, improving the quality of service leadership in our wider Jewish community. And I've been inspired by other houses' programming ideas, like the 'Dancers in the Dark' pitch black dancing session run by MH Providence.

We keep a rolling list of event ideas on Google docs, and so far we've picked off a few. God willing we'll make the space in the house schedule and our own lives to create many more innovative events at Moishe House London.

Hoboken January Blog

Take some time to examine your house's programming. Is there any type of programming you want to be doing that you aren't? Get creative and imagine an exciting way to incorporate new programming into your house's monthly agenda, using the blog as your brainstorming arena.

After the moishe house regional retreat we came back rejuvinated and energized and the juices flowing. Immediately following the retreat we sent out a survey, through survey monkey, to our community members asking what kinds of programming they would like to see happen and if any of them have certain skills or talents to share or to lead an event. It's important to get feedback from the community to ensure that when we plan new programs it interests them, and not only us the residents.

We wanted our community members to take a more active role in moishe house and for a few months we had been discussing having a planning committee that included both residents and active community members. After talking about it for quite some time we finally decided to implement a planning committee at the beginning of the new year. The planning committee consists of three people, one who has been coming to events since Hoboken opened up three years ago, one who has been coming for a year and half, and another who has been coming for the past 6 months. We have only met twice but each meeting has lasted for about two hours with lots of successful brainstorming. With their help we have our calendar planned through the middle of May. We have a wide array of programming planned, from social action to spiritual salons to shabbat dinners to Jewish learning. The planning committee has been a great addition and a wonderful time to brainstorm not only programming ideas but to share our vision for the future of Moishe House Hoboken and the direction we would like to see it go in.

We are hoping to increase our partnerships with other organizations and so far we are off to a good start. After being asked by Birthright NEXt over the summer to host shabbat dinners we have done so once a month, we are teaming up with Jersey Tribe, a local volunteer organization for young Jewish adults throughout New Jersey, The Jewish Council for Public Affairs, and hopefully Reboot. Partnerships are a great way to spread the word about Moishe House and strengthening and growing the organization. We are also looking to increase the ways to bring intellectual conversations to the house. In the past we have held spiritual salons which have been led by either one of us, a local rabbi, or the rabbinic intern, about once every other month. An idea we picked up from the retreat was to have a discussion series and to have the series take place in a shortish amount of time (a new discussion every week or every other week) rather than having discussions that don't pertain to each other only once every couple of months. We have decided to start with a smaller discussion series (about 3 or 4 discussions in the series) to begin and the discussions will be held every other week. We are eager to see how this works out and are hoping to eventually hold a discussion series with ten meetings. I am excited about the future of Moishe House Hoboken and can't wait to see how the new programming and implementations work out.

Shira

MH Hoboken

Cleveland House (can i get a what, what?!)

So, we as a house have been taking time to examining our event and programming structure for the last month and a half.

First of all, three of our four residents are artists or at least creatively inclined (both performance art and visual) we have a number of community members who are also artists (they must be attracted to us for some strange reason). At first we thought that a good way to further engage these people in the Moishe House community was to go to arts events such as: artsy movies, gallery openings, art walks, performance art showings, plays, concerts, etc. Although we found the coolest events in-town and bought tickets to Matisyahu, got back stage passes to meet and talk with him a well as having Kosha Dillz come back and chill with some of us after the show, we still only had low to moderate turnout for these events. In December we as a house decided that we need to take a more hands on approach to reach these artists. In January we held a wine and painting social, which was a huge success. All the attendees are demanding to know when the next one will be and many of the people invited who couldn't make it are begging for similar event in the future (save the date: 2/19 at 8:30pm). The next one will be more collaborative working on big banners to both decorate the house and use for events that we are co-sponsoring at outside locations. We will also be hosting monthly capoeira event open to the Jewish Community. In the next few months I would also like to start hosting open mic nights, beat poetry performances and slams, concerts in the back yard (weather permitting), gallery showings of the works of our local 20 something Jewish artists, and a gallery showing of all the art made at the wine and painting social.

Second we are committing to having a social action event every month. This month we are volunteering with the Cleveland Food Bank. We think that it is important to continue doing this event if we have a low turnout. Often organizations have a prominent political stance and because of this, many people in our target demographic will not attend events when the co-sponsoring or hosting organization's political stance does not line up with their own political views. Beginning this month we will always have a place to drop off canned food and clothing donations in our basement which we will distribute to local charities. I feel that in this way MH can always keep contributing to the larger Cleveland community. We are also considering keeping a food pantry in our house that anyone attending an event can anonymously contribute to or take from.

Further, I would like to make a shout out to the Russian Moishe House Chicago. I've been checking out your events on Facebook and they look awesome!!! I'm stealing your beer/wine tasting event idea and what's the deal with the mock Bar Mitzvah event? How exactly does that work?

In addition, we are working on sneaking in Jewish programing into other events because we don't have great attendance for just Torah study alone.

Lastly, looking back on past events, I have come to realize that we have co-sponsored or have hosted events partially sponsored by another organization, such as Plant Kingdom Bakery (thanks for providing us with great vegan baked goods!!), with out tapping into that organization and try to get their members involved in Moishe House, or not advertising that the event was co-sponsored. This will not be something over looked in the future.

Peace,

Naima

MH Cleveland