Moishe House Boston: Kavod Jewish Social Justice House

Housing Justice Update

aliza.wasserman — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 05:49:06 +0000

Join the new Housing Justice Legislative Action team on Wednesday March 3rd for:

Boston DSA, UFE and Dollars & Sense Forum:

What to Do About Housing Foreclosures?

Speakers:

Grace Ross – Former Green Party gubernatorial candidate, now challenging Gov. Patrick in the Democratic Party Primary. Currently staffer for the Massachusetts Alliance Against Predatory Lending (MAAPL), and author of the
forthcoming book, Main Street Smarts: who got us into this economic mess and how we get through it…
Melonie Griffiths – Tenant and Economy Project Organizer for City Life-Vida Urbana, the Jamaica Plain-based social justice organization which has been organizing community members to resist evictions and save their homes.
Senator Sonia Chang-Diaz (D-Boston) – Co-sponsor SB1609, of one of the MAAPL-supported bills, which would protect tenants from eviction in fore-closed properties.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010, 7:00 P.M.
Encuentro 5, 33 Harrison Ave., Boston
For directions to 33 Harrison 5th floor, visit www.encuentro5.org

We are facing a crisis of housing foreclosures in Massachusetts. In November of ‘09 alone, there were 76% more foreclosures than in the same month a year ago. This wave of foreclosures is decimating whole communities, leaving buildings empty and people without homes.

Big banks get bailed out, but our government has done little to help working people tricked into bad loans, who are now losing their homes to foreclosure. Is this fair?

Our forum will look at the way the greedy and unethical actions of the big financial institutions help caused the global economic crisis, of which the foreclosure crisis is only a part. We will learn about efforts to pass legislation to help people facing foreclosure, as well as the way people are organizing in their communities to help themselves. And we will learn what
we can do to help!

Free and open to the public.

Time to Renew Your Membership (or JOIN)

aliza.wasserman — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 15:18:25 +0000

Did you become a member of the Moishe Kavod House last year and are wondering whether its time to renew?

Haven’t joined yet but want to know how?

Membership is a key way for us each to claim our stake in our community and to ensure that Moishe/Kavod House reflects democracy and transparency. For those who joined last fall/winter, the deadline for membership renewal will be March 7, 2010 – our 2nd annual membership meeting. The meeting will be 4-6pm followed by dinner. For those who joined late in the year (for example, in preparation for the June retreat), you have already paid for half the year, so your dues for March 7 will be $25 (or $18 for low income/student). Annual dues are $50 or $36 for low-income/student members.

To renew, write out a check to Moishe Kavod House and mail to:
165 Winthrop Rd. Apt B
Brookline, MA 02445
c/o Alix Zamansky

OR pay online through PayPal, link found at http://www.kavodhouse.com/resources/membership.

To join for the first time, you must also complete the membership form, found via the same address.

Contact our Membership Chair, Lauren Jacobson, for more information or with any questions at laurenrjacobson@gmail.com. Thanks!

Reminder to Vote in Tuesday’s Special Senate Election

aliza.wasserman — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 04:08:24 +0000

Reminder to VOTE in Tuesday’s Special Senate Election
to fill Edward Kennedy’s seat in the US Senate
if you are registered in MA.

This will be a very close election. Candidates are Martha Coakley (D), Scott Brown (R), and Joseph Kennedy (Liberterian).
Click (a href=”http://www.wheredoivotema.com>here to find your polling place.

Information about Haiti Relief

aliza.wasserman — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 04:02:53 +0000

As many of our friends, neighbors and co-workers cope with the tragedy in Haiti, and they and the people of Haiti are in our thoughts and prayers, here is some information about how to help from our friends at Co-operative Metropolitan Ministries:
In these days, our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Haiti and with our Haitian-American neighbors and CMM member congregations who have been affected by the devastating earthquake that hit Port-Au-Prince Tuesday. As you know, the quake caused massive damage to the city’s buildings and infrastructure, and untold numbers of people have been injured. The death toll is expected to be in the thousands.

If you would like to donate, please consider giving to one of the organizations listed below.

If you are looking for news of friends and family in Haiti – you can contact the International Red Cross – they have set up a database with news on individuals in Haiti – you can find the information on their website: www.redcross.org.

Massachusetts is in the process of mobilizing relief efforts. If you have emergency training, and would like to volunteer, please call 211, and the State officials will collect your information.

The City of Boston has opened a center for those in need of counseling or assistance – please see the fact sheet from the City of Boston, listed below, or online at www.cityofboston.org:

Last night Wednesday night 1/13, there was an emergency community meeting at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. If you are looking to volunteer, congregations, communities, and campuses are invited to furnish volunteers to support Hatian American families affected by the earthquake in Haiti.

The Boston Referral and Support Center will operate from 9 AM to 9 PM on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The Referral and Support Center is located at the SEIU Local 1199 Bayside Office Center, 150 Mt. Vernon Street, Dorchester (next to the JFK stop on the Red line). They can use assistance in numerous ways (i.e. greeters, interpreters, grief counseling support, etc.,) during the center hours. Clergy, chaplains, and pastoral caregivers welcome. If possible email Ms. George-Marie Jasmin , to let her know the date, times you are available and how you would like to assist.

We will also be organizing volunteers, donations, and other support for our beloved Haitian and Haitian American neighbors, including member congregation New Covenant Church of Cambridge, located in Waltham. There will be a community meeting this Sunday at New Covenant Church, located at 527 Main St. in Waltham, at 6:00. New Covenant has a significant Haitian American population and was founded by Rev. Thomas and Esther Saint-Louis. Please come to see how you might offer your support.

We are in conversation with leaders in the Haitian-American community here in Boston to determine how best to support them in this time of need. As we have more information, we will share it with you, by enews and on our website, www.coopmet.org.

In the meantime, we ask you to pray for our sisters and brothers in Haiti and here in Boston, and please consider making a donation to one of the groups listed below.

Wishing you peace,

Alexander Levering Kern
Executive Director
Cooperative Metropolitan Ministries
474 Centre St.
Newton, MA 02458
akern@coopmet.org 617-455-5323

Local and Faith Based Organizations at work in Haiti

- Partners In Health – www.pih.org. PIH is already established in Haiti and has begun providing emergency health services

- International Red Cross: http://www.redcross.org/ or donate $10 to be charged to your cell phone bill by texting “HAITI” to “90999.”

- Catholic Relief Services: www.csr.org

- American Jewish Committee (IsraAID) – www.ajc.org/haitifund. The AJC has established a Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund to support IsraAID -100% of your donation goes directly to help relief efforts in Haiti. IsraAID has already dispatched a 12 person team to the region.

- Church World Service- You can donate to CWS’s emergency relief fund at www.churchworldservice.org.

CITY OF BOSTON MASSACHUSETTS
OFFICE OF THE MAYOR
THOMAS M. MENINO

Do you need help locating family members in Haiti?
The State Department Operations Center has set up the following number for individuals seeking information about family members living in Haiti: 1-888-407-4747. Press zero (0) to speak to a customer service representative.
The White House is also directing people to www.whitehouse.gov for general information about the earthquake and relief efforts in Haiti.

Are you looking for a way to help?
The immediate need is for money that can be used by an established relief organization to best aid victims of the devastating earthquake. Visit www.interaction.org to get a list of credible responding organizations for international emergencies. Reputable organizations include:
- Partners in Health: www.pih.org
- International Red Cross: http://www.redcross.org/ or donate $10 to be charged to your cell phone bill by texting “HAITI” to “90999.”
- Catholic Relief Services: www.csr.org
- Mayor Thomas M. Menino has also established a Haitian Family Relief Fund at Bank of America where residents can make donations to support relief efforts for families in Boston who are affected by the earthquake. Donations can be made by via the Fund for Boston Neighborhoods at Bank of American branches or Boston City Hall.

Do you need additional assistance?
Mayor Thomas M. Menino, along with local elected officials, SEIU Local 1199, area hospitals and health centers, city departments, and community organizations will open a Referral and Support Center at the 1199 SEIU Bayside Office Center located at 150 Mt. Vernon St., Dorchester (next to the JFK redline station). The Center will operate from 9 AM until 9 PM, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and will offer phone lines and computer access to help in locating family and friends in Haiti. Translators will be available along with counseling support and assistance linking to needed services.

Tips for taking care of yourself and your family during these difficult times
● Support each other. Parents and caregivers should take time to talk together and find ways to meet each other’s needs.
● Monitor adult conversations. Be aware of what adults are saying about the earthquake or the damage. Children listen to adults’ conversations and may misinterpret what they hear, becoming unnecessarily frightened.
● Limit media exposure. Protect your child from too many images and descriptions of the earthquake, including those on television, on the Internet, on radio, and in the newspaper.
● Reassure children that they are safe.
● Take care of yourself physically. Eat healthily, get enough sleep, drink plenty of water, and get proper medical care.

Moishe/Kavod Recognized as a LGBT welcoming Havurah

anniedfox — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 00:18:47 +0000

The Institute for Judaism and Sexual Orientation (IJSO) at Hebrew Union College –JIR (www.huc.edu/ijso) has listed listed Moishe/Kavod House on their site as a LGBT welcoming congregation or havurah which can be located on a Google map.

The IJSO has a resources including lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender inclusion guides, major Jewish denominational resolutions on LGBT issues, news, organizational listings and more. On the Jeff Herman Virtual Resource Center tab of the website, there are hundreds of resources about marriage, parenting, coming out, liturgy, and halacha.

Its mission is to achieve the complete inclusion and welcoming of LGBT Jews in communities and congregations. Based at Hebrew Union College-JIR, they maintain the largest online resource center on the intersection of Judaism, sexual orientation and gender identity. (www.huc.edu/ijso)

Dec 10th: Hearing on Immigrant Workers’ Rights

aliza.wasserman — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 03:19:23 +0000

Join Our Partner: New England Jewish Labor Committee for:

Workers’ Rights are Human Rights
International Human Rights Day
Hearing on Immigrant Workers’ Rights

December 10th, 2009 | 3PM
St. Paul’s Cathedral | 138 Tremont St, Boston MA

Hear testimony by immigrant workers, and workers’ rights experts, on workplace issues and challenges including:

Rabbi Barbara Penzner, Temple Hillel B’nai Torah
Rev. Peter Morales, President, Unitarian Universalist Association
Joshua Rubenstein, Northeast Director, Amnesty International USA
Horace Small, Executive Director, Union Minority Neighborhoods
Bishop Peter D. Weaver, New England Conference of United Methodist Church

For more information contact (617) 227-0888 or email BostonJLC@aol.com

Sponsoring Organizations: Amnesty International USA, Cooperative Metropolitan Ministries, Irish Immigration Center, MIRA Coalition, Mass Interfaith Worker Justice, Massachusetts Jobs with Justice, MassNOW, New England Jewish Labor Committee, SEIU 509, SEIU Local 615, UE District 2, UNITE HERE New England Joint Board

anniedfox — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 01:25:08 +0000

Former Community Member Miriam Farber Blogs about being Part of a Group of Women Praying at the Kotel

As you may have heard, last week a woman was arrested for trying to pray with a tallis and read Torah at the Western Wall, perhaps Jerusalem’s most holy site. Here is one woman’s thoughtful account of the experience. Women at the Wall – we at Moishe Kavod House are rooting for you!”

8th grade: On my first trip to Israel, with my grandparents’ synagogue, we visited the Kotel on Shabbat. I started to write a note to stick in between the stones, and a security guard came over and told me to stop writing.

11th grade: When I was in Israel for a semester in high school on EIE (Eisendrath International Exchange), we went to the Kotel for our first Shabbat in Israel. I wore a kippah, even though my classmates and teacher told me it wasn’t a good idea. I looked through the bookshelves in the women’s section for a prayerbook that was “mine,” and another woman handed me an Artscroll siddur.

On subsequent trips to the Kotel – the Western Wall, the remains of the 2nd Temple closest to its holiest spot, the Holy of Holies – I felt bored, squished, frustrated, and unspiritual (for an example, read my post after being at the Kotel in September.) For years I had heard of the prayer group Women of the Wall, a women’s group that prays on the women’s side of the Kotel every Rosh Hodesh (the beginning of the Hebrew month). They have a long and contentious history, with Supreme Court battles, discrimination, and harassment, but I was excited to finally have the opportunity to join them in prayer and pray at the Kotel in a way that felt authentic to who am I as a Jew.

This past Wednesday, Rosh Hodesh Kislev, I woke up early and shared cabs with some other students from Pardes to the Kotel, where we joined with Women of the Wall and a group of women from Congregation B’nai Jeshurun in NYC. My friends and fellow students Lauren and Evelyn led services. For the first time ever, I wore a tallit at the Kotel. I was scared; I had heard many stories about rocks, heckling from men and women who were offended by what they saw as a desecration of their holy site, even physical assaults, but I felt safe surrounded by this community of women. Singing Hallel, songs of praise, out loud at the Kotel was incredibly powerful. One line in particular resonated with me: לא המתים יהללו יה, ולא כל ירדי דומה, ואנחנו נברך יה מעתה ועד עולם. הללויה The dead will not praise Yah, nor can those who go down into silence. But WE shall praise Yah, now and forever. Halleluyah! (Psalm 115: 17-18) I felt like I was really, genuinely praying at the Kotel, for the first time in a very long time.

At this point in the service, the group (according to the veteran members) is usually receiving taunts, yells, thrown rocks, and anger from those at the Kotel who believe that this type of prayer – women praying together, out loud, with tallitot and kippot – is a desecration to Judaism and the holiness of the Kotel. But except for one woman who motioned “shh!” as she left the women’s section, there had been no reaction from the others around us. The group decided to read Torah at the Kotel, instead of relocating elsewhere like they usually do.

We rolled the Torah to the reading for Rosh Hodesh, and then rolled it back up and started the Torah service, led by a young Israeli medical student, Nofrat Frenkel. At this point, the commotion started. Men came over and asked Nofrat why she was wearing a tallit, and demanded that she put the Torah away and that we leave. To which Nofrat responded, “Because it’s a mitzvah, where is yours?” The police came over and started to lead Nofrat away, still holding the sefer Torah and wearing her tallit. The image of a uniformed police officer pulling away a person wearing a tallit and holding a Torah was awful, and reminded me of stories of the Former Soviet Union, of Jews arrested for practicing their religion publicly. Anat Hoffman, the chair of Women of the Wall and the executive director of the Israel Religious Action Center, called for all of us women, about 40, to follow the Torah wherever it went.

Nofrat and Anat standing up to the men who insisted we leave the Kotel

And so we followed Nofrat and the Torah, to a police station next to the Kotel. We stood outside where she was detained and sang. Dozens of women, young and old, Israeli, American, British, Reform, Conservative, Orthodox…We sang eitz hayyim hi la’machazikim bah (it is a tree of life to those who hold fast to it), pitchu li sha’arei tzedek avovam ode yah, zeh hasha’ar l’Adonai tzadikot yavo’u bo (open for me the gates of righteousness and I will enter to praise God, this is the gate of God, the righteous will enter in it). We learned later that Nofrat could hear our singing.

Anat asked us to decide if we would stay and follow the Torah wherever it went that day. I had no question in my mind about whether or not I would miss class to stay. I was there, and not leaving. At some point that morning, I had become a part of this community, rather than just a visitor. We learned that Nofrat was no longer simply detained, but had been arrested, for wearing a tallit – the first time in Israel’s history this had happened. The police moved Nofrat to the police compound by Jaffa Gate, and we followed. It was incredible to watch Anat throughout all of this, keeping the group together while simultaneously mobilizing a media response and finding a criminal lawyer.

The group of Pardes students, both while we were waiting and singing, and in the hours that followed, talked about whether we were using prayer as a means to achieve a political end. Yes, I was absolutely there to pray, to pray with a community of women in a place that Judaism has attached a great deal of value to. But I was also there because I believe that the Kotel is holy to all Jews, not only the ultra-Orthodox who control it, and because I believe that all Jews should be able to pray there in a way that is authentic to them, and Women of the Wall is striving to bring that about. Saul Alinsky writes in Rules for Radicals that the real question is not “Does the End justify the Means?” but “Does this particular end justify this particular means?” Prayer is the tool, prayer is also the goal.

And then Nofrat came out…still wearing her tallit, still holding the sefer Torah. We sang more, joyfully now, and surrounded her. She is still facing criminal charges, and there are concerns that a criminal record will harm her future career prospects as a doctor.

Throughout the course of the morning and the hours that followed, I was scared, angry, nauseus, sad, proud, and pretty much every other emotion possible. But it was an incredibly powerful experience, with an amazing group of women. It felt so RIGHT to be there.

Newton TAB Covers Moishe/Kavod Jewish-Muslim Holiday Potluck

aliza.wasserman — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 03:57:51 +0000

Check out the Newton TAB’s coverage of the Eid Rosh Hashanah festivities at Workmen’s Circle in Brookline that Moishe/Kavod hosted jointly with WC and the Muslim American Society of Boston.

With the end of Ramadan coinciding with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, several Kavod members joined with other Jewish and Muslim young adults to organize a celebration of our joint faiths and cultures, with the aim of building relationships into the future.

The event was a great success, with nearly 100 people in attendance, a variety of tasty foods from different cultures and plans to continuing building bridges in the future. Human bingo and small discussions helped break the ice and foster conversations about the meaning of the holidays to individuals and communities.

Thanks to Sara Rosenblum, Michelle Sternthal and everyone else who was involved with organizing the event. Stay tuned for more from Kavod’s Jewish-Muslim working group.

Update: The Brookline TAB has picked up the same article. In addition, there is an article (#2 spot on the website) in the 9/24 Jewish Advocate about the event, which will be posted shortly.

The Mussar for Young Adults Practice Group is Now Recruiting!

azamansk — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 00:01:00 +0000

Even if you missed the Mussar lecture, then you still have a chance to be part of the practice group. The Mussar practice group will meet biweekly over the course of 8 weeks and will provide the chance to engage in personal spiritual practice with a committed group of your peers. The group will be led by Rabbi David Jaffe, Dean at Gann Academy and an experienced Mussar teacher. In Mussar practice, we focus on elevating our Middot (Personality Traits) such as generosity, loving-kindness, patience, and gratitude. The goal of the practice is to use everyday life as spiritual growth. If you are interested in the practice group or have more questions, please email kirvainstitute@gmail.com. The dates of the group have not yet been set and will depend on the availability of the participants.

Moishe/Kavod Member in the News

aliza.wasserman — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 17:05:42 +0000

Congratulations to Moishe Kavod House member Riana Rebecca Good, who was featured on the cover of Thursday’s Boston Globe as a new teacher at the opening of the new Boston Teachers Union school in Jamaica Plain, where Riana teaches Spanish. L’chaim and good luck to the new students and teachers at the BTU school!