Inter-house Collaboration - In what capacity does your Moishe House collaborate with other Houses? What are your ideas for new ways to collaborate with other Moishe Houses? How will this benefit your community? Feel free to think outside the box on this one and envision ways to utilize our global network.
We basically don't do much collaboration currently. However, after going to the regional retreat, we have a great relationship with the Seattle House. Recently, Steven from the Seattle House came down here for a weekend and we all went to Chabad for a Shabbat dinner together, and spent long hours catching up! This was really fun. I notice too that talking to Steve is especially refreshing because the experience of being a Moishe House resident is pretty unique. Yet, when we connect with other residents, we instantly relate to each others' experience of constantly running events, cleaning up after people, lol, etc.
I think the cultural similarity and relative proximity of Portland to Seattle presents an opportunity to collaborate. Seattle has a slightly bigger observant community than Portland, which is interesting to us as a shomer mitzvot house.
I think it would be fun to do a Shabbaton in Seattle and spend time with the Seattle Kollel (a sister branch of the Portland Kollel, who we collaborate often with), and go get Kosher Indian food...yum!
We could also go to a Seattle Mariners game, or do other fun Seattle attractions. Both a day trip and a Shabbaton could be interesting.
In terms of other houses, I think we try to just build our relationships with them. We try to use each other as resources, remembering each others' special skills.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Becca Cigan/Portland/Individual Blog
I would like to share a special moment for me, in which I also learned something!
This last week, as you probably know, has been Passover. Passover has always been a very special holiday for me. From the seder to the time with family to the eating restrictions to the great stories, there is a natural emphasis put on this holiday that is different from other holidays. Even as a child, I felt important, observing this holiday with my family and friends. It gives us the important opportunity to remember our past and keep telling the story.
I'm pretty sure this has been my best Passover ever, for many reasons. The observant nature of Portland Moishe House pushes me to observe and understand holidays in a deeper way. Over Pesach, there are 4 halachik days of rest outside of Israel, and I never knew it, but Conservative and Orthodox halacha say that a Jew is commanded to take those 4 days off from "work" as it is defined for Shabbat. So I figure since I have Conservative and Orthodox rabbis, I should do that. Refraining from work for us at Moishe House is not different from the way it was at my Rama-style Conservative Jewish summer sports camp. We tape our lights, no blow dryers or straighteners on in the girls cabins, lol, etc. And it's definitely a meaningful experience. This Pesach it has pushed me closer to my community members, neighbors--even my roommates! We've been spending more time at home together and it's great!!
So, keeping a shomer mitzvot house has it's definite advantages. It's not always easy, but like I said, it's increased the meaningfulness of my experience of the holiday.
The specific story I'd like to share is from our Shabbat dinner last Friday night. We had the meal catered by the local Kosher deli, and it was completely Kosher for Pesach. We invited 12 or so friends in the community who usually have us over for holiday meals and some of our regular attendees, and it was really nice. Unlike other events I've led at the Moishe House, this one was truly initiated in the spirit of being an active Jew in my community. It wasn't for an event quota, it was to find a way to eat during the holiday--and invite my friends over too!!!
This moment taught me several things. As Moishe House, we serve an important role of leadership in our communities. Not only do we serve young adults who are Jewish, we connect those Jewish young adults to the larger Jewish community. We connect those young Jewish adults to a history and tradition of the Jewish people. Once in a while comes an event that is so effortless, and you wonder why, and you realize it's because it's something you'd do anyway, even if you didn't have an event quota to meet or even if you didn't live in the Moishe House.
Moishe House gives us important tools and resources to integrate our natural social and Jewish lives with our peers in an inviting and inclusive way.
It's a relationship that keeps building on itself. I've been in the Moishe House for a year, and my religious and social life has changed so much in a positive way, that inviting people over for a Shabbat dinner is just natural. Observing Passover with my roommates is just natural. And the people who come over to our house and experience this with us, they really truly benefit from it. They learn something, they leave smiling, and they know they can come to us with questions or special requests.
So, more than ever, this event taught me the very important role Moishe House serves in our community. So I hope to continue to grow in responsibility and knowledge to serve those needs in our community.
This last week, as you probably know, has been Passover. Passover has always been a very special holiday for me. From the seder to the time with family to the eating restrictions to the great stories, there is a natural emphasis put on this holiday that is different from other holidays. Even as a child, I felt important, observing this holiday with my family and friends. It gives us the important opportunity to remember our past and keep telling the story.
I'm pretty sure this has been my best Passover ever, for many reasons. The observant nature of Portland Moishe House pushes me to observe and understand holidays in a deeper way. Over Pesach, there are 4 halachik days of rest outside of Israel, and I never knew it, but Conservative and Orthodox halacha say that a Jew is commanded to take those 4 days off from "work" as it is defined for Shabbat. So I figure since I have Conservative and Orthodox rabbis, I should do that. Refraining from work for us at Moishe House is not different from the way it was at my Rama-style Conservative Jewish summer sports camp. We tape our lights, no blow dryers or straighteners on in the girls cabins, lol, etc. And it's definitely a meaningful experience. This Pesach it has pushed me closer to my community members, neighbors--even my roommates! We've been spending more time at home together and it's great!!
So, keeping a shomer mitzvot house has it's definite advantages. It's not always easy, but like I said, it's increased the meaningfulness of my experience of the holiday.
The specific story I'd like to share is from our Shabbat dinner last Friday night. We had the meal catered by the local Kosher deli, and it was completely Kosher for Pesach. We invited 12 or so friends in the community who usually have us over for holiday meals and some of our regular attendees, and it was really nice. Unlike other events I've led at the Moishe House, this one was truly initiated in the spirit of being an active Jew in my community. It wasn't for an event quota, it was to find a way to eat during the holiday--and invite my friends over too!!!
This moment taught me several things. As Moishe House, we serve an important role of leadership in our communities. Not only do we serve young adults who are Jewish, we connect those Jewish young adults to the larger Jewish community. We connect those young Jewish adults to a history and tradition of the Jewish people. Once in a while comes an event that is so effortless, and you wonder why, and you realize it's because it's something you'd do anyway, even if you didn't have an event quota to meet or even if you didn't live in the Moishe House.
Moishe House gives us important tools and resources to integrate our natural social and Jewish lives with our peers in an inviting and inclusive way.
It's a relationship that keeps building on itself. I've been in the Moishe House for a year, and my religious and social life has changed so much in a positive way, that inviting people over for a Shabbat dinner is just natural. Observing Passover with my roommates is just natural. And the people who come over to our house and experience this with us, they really truly benefit from it. They learn something, they leave smiling, and they know they can come to us with questions or special requests.
So, more than ever, this event taught me the very important role Moishe House serves in our community. So I hope to continue to grow in responsibility and knowledge to serve those needs in our community.
MoHoDen Passover
Hi all! We've had an exiting few weeks at MoHo Denver. After we dropped the ball on Purim (yes, we missed it) we ran full force into Passover. We hosted a Kosher for Passover Shabbat dinner on Friday and I believe it was one of our most successful events yet. We had a great crowd, delicious food from the local Kosher deli and stayed up well past midnight talking and laughing with one another. It was great to have friends rush over after work, some had to leave as soon as they ate, some returned after they left and others stayed all night. We had a first-timer who made a comment to me that this was the perfect, relaxed environment that she was looking for to start her weekend on a good note.
We also hosted a Bracket competition with money going to the new Ramah in the Rockies. It has been a great competition and we raised a bit of money for a good cause - always a good thing! People loved it and it definitely made the games more exciting to watch.
We have lots of plans for the next few months and hope that we continue to find new people who have been in hibernation throughout the winter. Chag Sameach!
We also hosted a Bracket competition with money going to the new Ramah in the Rockies. It has been a great competition and we raised a bit of money for a good cause - always a good thing! People loved it and it definitely made the games more exciting to watch.
We have lots of plans for the next few months and hope that we continue to find new people who have been in hibernation throughout the winter. Chag Sameach!
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Josh from MohoDen
Grt time of yr here. Weather is getting really nice and will be starting the bbqing and frisbee out in wash park again soon.
Seders were really great. Checked out the Denver University Hillel seder and then another with Elliot at our friend Amir's house. Amir is from Honduras and lived with both Elliot and I on American-Israeli high school kibbutz program back when we were all 16. Good times. We also hosted a kosher for passover shabbat dinner yesterday w much of our community hanging out late into the evening.
Right now - just enjoying life, keeping pretty busy, and lookin fwd to summer. For summer, our residents have diff opportunities and life changes coming up, so we'll all be looking for input at retreat for how to sustain our house here. Hope to learn from other houses on how they adapt.
Seders were really great. Checked out the Denver University Hillel seder and then another with Elliot at our friend Amir's house. Amir is from Honduras and lived with both Elliot and I on American-Israeli high school kibbutz program back when we were all 16. Good times. We also hosted a kosher for passover shabbat dinner yesterday w much of our community hanging out late into the evening.
Right now - just enjoying life, keeping pretty busy, and lookin fwd to summer. For summer, our residents have diff opportunities and life changes coming up, so we'll all be looking for input at retreat for how to sustain our house here. Hope to learn from other houses on how they adapt.
House Blog MH Chicago
At the Chicago Moishe house we had a really great time collaborating with other Moishe Houses at the Regional retreat in November. As we are a Moishe House with all new members in the fall, this was the first time that we were able to see how our house fit into the larger national, and even international scope of the Moishe House Program. This was very inspiring to our members and also extremely beneficial for expanding our house and incororpating the ideas and suggestions of Moishe House Veterans or "old pros." At the retreat we were able to trade ideas and even brainstorm different methods to reach out to our different communities. Since the retreat we have been able to collaborate via the Moishe Wiki database which stores different programs that have been put on for various occasions by different Moishe Houses. This provides a way for us to collaborate and also is a platform for us to correspond with different houses when we have questions about an event that another house has already put on. Having a video conference brainstorm to generate ideas about program ideas surrounding certain big holidays or events tight be another way for us to collaborate like we are able to do on the retreats. Moishe House Chicago definitely returned from the last large collaboration (on the Nov Retreat) excited and energized about our programing. This speaks to the large benefit we see in collaborating with other houses!
Friday, April 2, 2010
Labor Seder Excitement (Rivka's personal blog)
This month has been quite a whirlwind - in partnership with AJWS and the DC Cornell Jewish alumni group we hosted a global hunger shabbat and the last couple weeks have been totally dominated by Passover prep and celebrations...
As it turns out, the next week will also be dominated by Passover activities. I'm helping to write the haggadah for the DC Labor Seder (our house is also sponsoring the Seder), will be on April 11th. Advantages to having a seder post-Pesach - you can eat chametz! Disadvantages - some people have lost the Pesach spirit. But I'm hoping that won't be the case at this year's Labor Seder, because we'll be focusing on an incredibly important topic - the social safety net. It's been really interesting to rewrite a the Passover haggadah with an eye towards the safety net. Turns out it's not much of a stretch. At this year's Labor Seder, instead of thinking about the 4 children we'll think about 4 different relationships to and perspectives on the safety net. Instead of saying dayeinu we will say lo dayeinu, because it won't be enough until we commit to caring for all human beings who need a hand. We will think about the ten plagues that can be alleviated and solved by the presence of a strong safety net.
And we'll get to eat cookies while doing it! What could be better?
As it turns out, the next week will also be dominated by Passover activities. I'm helping to write the haggadah for the DC Labor Seder (our house is also sponsoring the Seder), will be on April 11th. Advantages to having a seder post-Pesach - you can eat chametz! Disadvantages - some people have lost the Pesach spirit. But I'm hoping that won't be the case at this year's Labor Seder, because we'll be focusing on an incredibly important topic - the social safety net. It's been really interesting to rewrite a the Passover haggadah with an eye towards the safety net. Turns out it's not much of a stretch. At this year's Labor Seder, instead of thinking about the 4 children we'll think about 4 different relationships to and perspectives on the safety net. Instead of saying dayeinu we will say lo dayeinu, because it won't be enough until we commit to caring for all human beings who need a hand. We will think about the ten plagues that can be alleviated and solved by the presence of a strong safety net.
And we'll get to eat cookies while doing it! What could be better?
MHPhilly - Interhouse Collaboration
Moishe Houses along the east coast are close enough that, when desired, we can easily host programs together and plan trips of many kinds. In our past the two major programs that stand out are the Moishe Camping Trip planned in Fall 2008 and the Tele-Shabbat in Fall 2009. Both programs were relatively successful with communication and collaboration being achieved pretty well. The Tele-Shabbat ran into a few technical barriers but the Camping Trip was quite fun - we brought residents and constituents from three houses (Silver Spring, Hoboken, and Philly) together for a weekend in French Creek State Park. We hiked, had a bonfire, and enjoyed each other's company.
The comparison between the Tele-Shabbat and Camping Trip is definitely something to consider for future collaborations. While the Tele-Shabbat had some gaps because we were all dealing with our own event while simultaneously connecting to others, the Camping Trip was a large group effort. Once we were all together it was simple task of just informing everyone of the plans we had made ahead of time. If anything changed, we could easily improvise on the spot because we were physically near each other. This is important to consider in any event planning - how to fix problems that arise. In contrast, the Tele-Shabbat was more difficult because of the distances and technological gaps.
In our brief experience we have found that weekend trips can be really fun together. The time we spend just relaxing and talking spawns new ideas all the time. That being said, it would be interesting to work on community service projects together across the country or even to create a product of some artistic/creative work that each house contributes to. A concept like that was discussed at the Regional Retreat but it got difficult to maintain focus and work on it.
Inter-house collaboration is something that our constituents don't get to see a lot of but might benefit them a lot. Many people in our community move every few years and the knowledge of other houses might help them make decisions that would maintain Jewish community for them. Hopefully more programs like these can happen in the future to spread the word of Moishe across the globe!
The comparison between the Tele-Shabbat and Camping Trip is definitely something to consider for future collaborations. While the Tele-Shabbat had some gaps because we were all dealing with our own event while simultaneously connecting to others, the Camping Trip was a large group effort. Once we were all together it was simple task of just informing everyone of the plans we had made ahead of time. If anything changed, we could easily improvise on the spot because we were physically near each other. This is important to consider in any event planning - how to fix problems that arise. In contrast, the Tele-Shabbat was more difficult because of the distances and technological gaps.
In our brief experience we have found that weekend trips can be really fun together. The time we spend just relaxing and talking spawns new ideas all the time. That being said, it would be interesting to work on community service projects together across the country or even to create a product of some artistic/creative work that each house contributes to. A concept like that was discussed at the Regional Retreat but it got difficult to maintain focus and work on it.
Inter-house collaboration is something that our constituents don't get to see a lot of but might benefit them a lot. Many people in our community move every few years and the knowledge of other houses might help them make decisions that would maintain Jewish community for them. Hopefully more programs like these can happen in the future to spread the word of Moishe across the globe!
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