Moishe House Boston: Kavod Jewish Social Justice House

This May, Cultivate a Leader

agunning — Wed, 16 May 2012 01:23:40 +0000

Greetings Moishe Kavodniks,

This week’s parsha or torah portion, Behar-Bechukotai describes the sabbatical and jubilee years in which it is commanded that all work on the land cease and in the case of the Jubilee year, all slaves be set free and all lands returned to their ancestral owners. It is on account of this parsha that the Hebrew month of Iyar, which we are now in, is said to be a month set aside for spiritual healing. However, we covered all this in the first e-mail of this month. This week, instead of focusing on rest, we would like to spur you to action.

The month of May, especially in colder climates such as ours is a month when farmers and gardeners alike are still planting new seeds and beginning to cultivate their plots. However, plants are not the only things in our community that needs cultivating. In Jewish liturgy, we are reminded daily in the V’ahavta to “teach [these words] diligently unto your children”. This is a reminder that a just, caring, and strong community, is the one that works hard to develop its youngest members. Just as seeds when planted need careful cultivation and care to grow into tall healthy plants, so do human beings need early opportunities to learn and excercise leadership to become active, informed, and engaged citizens. One of Moishe Kavod House’s missions has always been to engage young adults in civic action and cultivate the next generation of community leaders. Tomorrow we have a chance to do just that by supporting some emerging leaders who, as strange as it may seem, are even younger than ourselves.

Youth of Massachusetts Organized for a Reformed Economy, a coalition of urban and suburban youth (including those from several suburban synagogues) will be holding their spring legislative action tomorrow. They will be bringing lawmakers from in and around Boston to speak with the young people and families that they represent. They will be holding them accountable for making Massachusetts and Boston a safe and healthy place for young people to grow and learn. More information on this actions can be found below in the Community Allies section of this e-mail. We would personally like to urge you to turn out tomorrow to the Cathedral of St. Paul and show your support for Boston’s next generation of community leaders by joining them in raising your voice to call of safer neighborhoods, stronger schools, cleaner air, and better healthcare.

Some of us will be there and we hope you can join us. In the mean time we wish you a happy May filled with much cultivating. Until next week…

In Peace,

Aaron, Annie, Helen, and Tslil

Applications Due Soon! - Just a reminder to any and all would-be board members and housemates for next year. Applications for board elections and open resident organizer positions are due May 18th! If you want to be part of of next year’s community leadership team, don’t miss the deadline. Questions e-mail Riana Good at Riana@kavodhouse.com

Featured Events

Mental Health Coming Out Panel and Brunch

n honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, the MKH GBIO Team will be holding a “Coming Out Panel” and discussion. Several community members will share their experiences with different mental health issues. Join us in opening up a space to talk about our personal struggles with our own mental health and the struggles of those close to us. Brunch will be served! Contact Alix at azamansk@gmail.com. Sunday, May 20th 11am-1pm at MKH

Canvassing with City Life/Vida Urbana and Housing Justice Team

Newcomers encouraged! All are welcome to doorknock to inform homeowners and tenants of their rights as their dwellings are foreclosed upon and help them organize to fight unfair foreclosures and evictions. We will start with a brief training, and newer volunteers will be paired with a seasoned volunteer or tenant who has become a leader in the Bank Tenants Union to protect their own homes. Contact darya.mattes@gmail.com for RSVP and/or questions. Sunday May 20th, 2:00 – 4:30 pm.

Rosh Chodesh/New Moon Gathering – Sivan

Rosh Chodesh Sivan, led by Ilana Streit. We will explore the seven sfirot (attributes) of the counting of the omer (the seven weeks between Passover seders and the holiday of Shavuot). It will be a time of reflection, singing, and sound healing. This group meeting is open to all genders. May 23rd, 6:30-8:00pm at MKH.

Brookline Community Tikkun Leil Shavuot

Moishe Kavod House is co-sponosring this Brookline-wide celebration of the festival of Shavuot. Join your friends and neighbors for an all-night educational and cultural experience at the 4th Annual Brookline Community Tikkun Leil Shavuot! We again offer a variety of traditional and innovative programming. Come for one hour, or stay up all-night! Learn from world-renowned educators and neighborhood favorites. Study traditional and contemporary texts. Experience meditation. Try new wines at our kosher tasting. Bake bread and break bread with friends. At Congregation Kehillath Israel, 9 pm Saturday May 26th to 4 am Sunday May 27th.

Tikkun on Tap – May: Stories and Social Justice

Join us for the May installment of Moishe Kavod House’s monthly social justice bar night where young, social justice-minded Jews can mingle, reflect, laugh, be creative, make connections and find out more about on going projects in our community.This month we look at stories as a tool for pursuing justice. Stories define who we are. They tell us where we come from. They are the foundation of our relationships. In short, stories have power. At this month’s Tikkun on Tap, we are joined by writer, podcaster, and radio producer Ari Daniel Shapiro (contributor to WGBH’s The World and NPR’s Radiolab), who’s insights will help us consider how (radio and audio) stories have been used to create positive social change in the world, and how we can do the same.Wednesday, May 30th, 7-9 pm, Lir Pub (903 Boylston St, Boston), $3 suggested donation.

Community Retreat

The time has come for the annual MKH Community Retreat! This year the retreat will be from June 1st – 3rd at Friendly Crossways in Harvard, MA. We encourage all those connected to the community, or with interest in becoming involved in the community to attend! The annual community retreat is a great opportunity to get out of the city and participate in bonding, visioning, nature, reflecting, bonfire-ing, and celebrating all weekend long. It is a great way to relax with old friends, make new ones, and get to know the community a bit better for a compact taste of what we are like all year long! If you would like to register click here to access our registration page. Register now and receive an early bird discount. If you have any questions about the retreat, please contact Adina, our Membership Chair at adina@kavodhouse.com.

Community Allies Announcements

YMORE – Spring Action – Tomorrow!

Last chance to support the young people of YMORE (Youth of Massachusetts Organizing for a Reformed Economy)! THIS WEDNESDAY, 6:15-7:15PM at St. Paul’s Cathedral (138 Tremont Street – across from Park Street Station downtown!) Join youth from across the region as they act on their legislators and town officials to win the important things they need, including employment and healthier air. You’ve never seen youth act more powerfully for themselves (we guarantee it – if we’re wrong, we’ll refund your admission!) Admission free, food provided, you will leave with warmer hearts and more hope than you thought possible – don’t be late, we will start promptly! Questions? Call Chris Messinger (617)-276-5873

The Young and The Restless: Where are America’s Young Jews?

The Young and Restless: Where are Young American Jews? will tackle how the passion for Jewish life and for Israel that characterized prior generations gets transmitted to this new generation or has too much already changed. Panelists include Peter Beinart, John Ruskay ,Rabbi Avi Weiss and Rabbi Margie Klein of Congregation Sha’arei Shalom (Ashland, MA), The discussion will be moderated by Leonard Fein, an author and essayist whose columns have appeared in The New York Times, The New Republic, and The Nation. Cost is $15. Students and seniors: $12. For tickets, contact 617-965-5226, boxoffice@jccgb.orgor visit www.bostonjcc.org/artsevents. Thursday, May 24 at 7:30pm at the Leventhal-Sidman Jewish Community Center in Newton.

Mishkan Tefila’s Tikkun L’el Shavuot

Mark your calendars for Congregation Mishkan Tefila’s Tikkun L’el Shavuot event on Saturday, May 26th at 9:30 PM. The evening will include text study, yoga and meditation, led by Rabbi Gordon, Dr. Wolok and certified yoga instructor Becca Heyman.

To Till and To Tend: Jewish Food and Farming Summer Intensive Course

Do you want to spend a week exploring Jewishness and organic farming in Boston this summer? The Jewish Farm School and Hebrew College are partnering to offer you a weeklong, intensive course exploring the intersection of Judaism, agriculture and contemporary food justice. This week of experiential learning will help you increase your skill-based knowledge of sustainable agricultural techniques while you engage in meaningful volunteer service work. You will have the opportunity to dialogue with activists, community leaders and business leaders and to study in the Hebrew College beit midrash (House of Study) where classic Jewish texts will enlighten your understanding of contemporary environmental and food justice issues. A team of expert instructors from Hebrew College and Jewish Farm School will be on hand to offer guided mentorship. Sunday, June 3-Sunday, June 10, 2012 To find out more about Fellowships available contact Rabbi Or Rose, 617-559-8636 To find out more about this program visit jewishfarmschool.org or hebrewcollege.edu.

This Shavuot, Challenge Yourself

agunning — Wed, 09 May 2012 01:55:07 +0000

Greetings Moishe Kavodniks,

The srping rains have visited themselves upon us with a vengeance as May has gotten off to a start. As gray and wet as it’s been that can only mean that as sure as May showers bring June flowers, Shavuot is right around the corner. This festival commemorates the gift of the Torah from God to the Jewish people at Mount Sinai. In the time of the first and second Temples this was one of three times during the year when the ancient Jewish inhabitants of the land of Israel were obliged to make pilgrimage to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices of wheat, grapes, pomegranates, dates, olives, figs, and barley to God at the Temple’s altar.

Today celebrating Shavuot does not require such an extensive shopping trip. It is in fact customary to celebrate the giving of the Torah by getting together and studying its words from sun down on the evening of Shavuot until the wee hours of the morning, in a festive atmosphere with friends, neighbors, and of course snacks. This holiday then serves not so much as an opportunity to acknowledge God but as a reminder that we are never finished learning what it means to be a Jew, that there is always new knowledge to be obtained and new ways to see old rituals and practices. This time of year then can serve as motivation to us to challenge ourselves to make an active effort to refresh and redefine our faith and find new ways to define and express our Jewish identity. This is a good time to do one Jewish thing that scares you.

If while doing that, you’d like a hand to hold and snacks to sustain you in your learning related challenges, Moishe Kavod is co-sponsoring a Brookline’s community wide Leyl Tikkun on May 26th when hundreds of people from the Jewish community here will descend upon Congregation Kehillath Israel to celebrate, experience community, and expand their Jewish horizons. If you’re interested, see our blurb below.

Until then we wish you happiness in your own pursuits of Jewish learning and may you find growth from the challenges you place before yourself.

In Peace,

Aaron, Annie, Helen, and Tslil

Featured Events

Occupy Sanhedrin – Field Trip to Rose Art Museum with Arts Team

Join Arts Team as they pay a visit to the Brandeis University’s Rose Art museam for a viewing of Sarah Zell Young’s exhibit “Occupy Sanhedrin”. This photography, sculpture, and installation exhibit explores issues of gender, justice, Judaism and the body and examines how religious justice historically is actually tucked into folds of the flesh. This trip will include a talk with the artist. Everyone and their mothers are welcome. For more informaiton check out the exhibit website. RSVP, questions, and carpooling: E-mail smberryart@gmai l.com. Sunday May 13, 2012, 3:30 – 6:00

Canvassing with City Life/Vida Urbana and Housing Justice Team

Brookline Community Tikkun Leil Shavuot

Tikkun on Tap – May: Stories and Social Justice

Community Retreat

Community Allies Announcements

Educators for Social Justice Conference

Registration is now open for the Second Annual Boston-area Educators for Social Justice Conference This conference is aimed at facilitating dialogue, sharing resources and building strategy among those interested in education for liberation. The Conference is produced by Teacher Activist Group (TAG) Boston and will be held at the Curley School in Jamaica Plain.Conference runs all Day on May 19^th.

Mishkan Tefila’s Tikkun L’el Shavuot

To Till and To Tend: Jewish Food and Farming Summer Intensive Course

Wishing You an Iyar of Healing

agunning — Wed, 02 May 2012 22:53:35 +0000

Greetings Moishe Kavodniks,

Last week we entered into the Hebrew month of Iyar. According to Jewish mystical tradition this is the month of natural healing. One interpretation of this meaning lies in the fact that Israel, from where our forerunners came, is in the height of its natural splendor during this month. The sun is brilliant, but not scorching as it is in late summer. The land at this time of year would have fully recovered from winter’s chill but still be green and lush from the winter rains and not yet baked brown and dusty by the dry summer months.

Another interpretation revolves around the fact that Iyar falls between the time it is believed that the ancient Israelites left Egypt (Passover) and when they received the Torah at Mount Sinai (Shavuot). The children of Israel, having just escaped slavery, found themselves with numerous injuries both old and new, scars from a life of hard labor under the lash of their Egyptian masters. It was during this time that it is said God healed the Israelites’ wounds so that they might be whole when they received the law at Mt. Sinai.

Regardless of the credulity with which you treat this story, Iyar in New England can certainly serve as a reminder to take time for healing knowing that there is always important work and a burden to be carried ahead. This month, take a few moments to feel the sunshine on your face or to catch the scent of lilacs, and let these manifestations of creation sustain you in whatever work it is that you do.

Perhaps just as importantly, make sure you take some time to replenish yourself in preparation for our Community retreat. It takes a lot of energy to take advantage of 3 days of fun, learning, worship, food, friends, and deep conversations around the future of our organization. Hope to see you there.

In Peace,

Aaron, Annie, Helen, and Tslil

*A Brief Note About Shabbat This Week – This week’s service leader, Sara Rosenblum, will be using of a guitar to lead prayer during Kabbalat Shabbat.

A Loss in Our Community – We express our deep condolences to Zeke Reich, whose father (Murry Reich) passed away last Monday, April 23rd. Zeke, and his wife Michelle Sternthal, have been active members of Moishe-Kavod for many years, and currently reside in DC. Murry was a vibrant presence at Zeke and Michelle’s wedding last year, and he will be profoundly missed. If you would like to be in touch with Zeke, you can reach him at:zekereich@gmail.com

Featured Events

Health Insurance Workshop – 5/6

Men Making Pizza – 5/6

CoFab Meeting – 5/6

Community Retreat 6/1-6/3

Coming Up in April and May

Shabbat – 5/4

Shabbat 5/16

Community Allies

Educators for Social Justice Conference – 5/19

Featured Events

Brunch and Learn: Health Insurance Workshop

Have you ever wondered how the heck your health insurance actually works? How to sign up if you don’t have a plan? What all that fine print actually means? Join the GBIO Team and Health Care For All’s Kate Bicego for brunch as we get answers to some of these key questions, and any others you might have. Questions, or to RSVP email: Liz at e.aeschli@gmail.com. Sunday, May 6th, 11:00 -1:00

Community Food Advisory Board Meeting

The Community Food Advisory Board is gathering for its 3rd meeting! We’ll be continuing our work on the Farm to Shul team’s campaign to outline an ethical food guide for our Moishe Kavod House community. If you have ever bought food for Moishe Kavod programs, we need your input! We want to develop guidelines that take everyone into account and make sense, so please come and share your experience – struggles, tips, and ideas. Contact Helenhelen@kavodhouse.com Sunday May 6th 5-7pm in JP (contact helen for address)

MKH Men’s Make Your Own Pizza Dinner and Discussion

Are you a man or male identified person looking for progressive, Jewish all male space? What a coincidence! So are we! The MKH Men’s Group is a group of men devoted to doing things together, serving our community, and exploring what it means to be a progressive Jewish man today! In May, we invite you to join us for a make your own pizza dinner and discussion on Sunday May 6th at 6 pm in how to create a men’s group that is not only tolerant but welcoming, accepting, and inclusive of diversity of all kinds and flavors. If you have questions or you’d like to RSVP, e-mail Aaron Gunning at aaron.gunning@gmail.com. Sunday May 6th, 6-8 pm

Community Retreat

Community Allies Announcements

Educators for Social Justice Conference

Mishkan Tefila’s Shavuot Leyl Tikkun

Mark your calendars for Congregation Mishkan Tefila’s Tikkun L’el Shavuot event on Saturday, May 26th at 9:30 PM. The evening will include text study, yoga and meditation, led by Rabbi Gordon, Dr. Wolok and certified yoga instructor Becca Heyman.

To Till and To Tend: Jewish Food and Farming Summer Intensive Course

Are You One of MKH’s Next Leaders?

agunning — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 00:47:20 +0000

Greetings Moishe Kavodniks,

The Hebrew month of Iyar begins this week which means that we are well into Leviticus in our Torah reading cycle. Leviticus is sadly not often great fodder for progressive politically tinged midrash (exegesis). It’s going to be a lot of laws about ritual purity governing everthing from how to make burnt offerings to what to do when you’re done menstruating, from now until June. For a Jewish blogger, its not a great time. Fortunately for you, there is important business in the here and now at hand.

As summer grows near, so does Moishe Kavod’s Community-Wide Retreat and that can mean only one thing. We are now on the look out for the next batch of MKH board members and resident organizers.

Run for Board! – As happens every June we will be electing a new board. Board members make decisions about the strategic direction of our organization as well as looking after 4 key aspects of our day to day operations. If you are passionate about communications, supporting our membership, development, or finance Moishe Kavod needs you to take up the mantle of leadership. If you think you have what it takes, click here to access our board application. If you would like to run for a board position, applications are due by May 18th. Elections will occur at our community retreat on June 3rd where candidates will be able to make brief speech outlining their candidacy. If you have questions about the board application process, please e-mail our president Riana Good at Riana@kavodhouse.com

Be a Resident Organizer! – This August we will bid a fond farewell to our housemates Annie Fox and Tslil Shtulsaft. We are thus looking for at least two (maybe more) bright, energetic, and committed individuals to take their place. As a resident organizer you are the glue that holds the Moishe Kavod House together. You organize teams, develop leaders, and help make strategic decisions about the organization. Resident Organizers live at the Moishe Kavod House and exchange 10-15 hours a week of work for heavily subsidized rent. If you think you have what it takes, click here to download the resident organizer application. Applications are due to Riana Good by May 18th. Interviews will follow shortly thereafter. If you have questions, please e-mail Riana at Riana@kavodhouse.com.

As always it is with great Kavod, great honor and respect that we turn to you, our membership and ask that you take up this mantle of leadership for our community. We hope that you honor us back by bringing your talents, abilities, and dedication to the work that we are all doing.

In Peace,

Aaron, Annie, Helen, and Tslil

Featured Events

Jubilee USA Network Event

Today, it is more critical than ever that we address the deeper causes of international poverty and work to create a system of just responsible finance, one that benefits the entire population, not just the few. Jubilee USA Network brings people together through active solidarity to turn these realities around. Join Jubilee USA Network and Jubilee Massachusetts at Moishe Kavod Monday, April 30th at 6:30pm as we bring you Hopewall Gumbo, a leading human rights, social and Economic justice activist and political analyst.

Rosh Chodesh/New Moon: Iyar

Join us for the New Moon of Iyar, the month of healing. We will use conversation, sound, movement, and visualization to look at how the Counting of the Omer helps people to do the inner work of refining character traits so the pure energies of the sephirot, the divine emanations, gain balance and shine through. Monday April 23rd, 7:00 – 8:30 pm. Please contact rianagood@gmail.com with questions or to RSVP.

Brunch and Learn: Health Insurance Workshop

CoFab Meeting

The Community Food Advisory Board is gathering for its 3rd meeting! We’ll be continuing our work on the Farm to Shul team’s campaign to outline an ethical food guide for our Moishe Kavod House community. If you have ever bought food for Moishe Kavod programs, we need your input! We want to develop guidelines that take everyone into account and make sense, so please come and share your experience – struggles, tips, and ideas. contact helen@kavodhouse.com Sunday May 6th 5-7pm at MKH (location might move to JP – stay tuned)

MKH Men’s Make Your Own Pizza Dinner and Discussion

Community Retreat

The time has come for the annual MKH Community Retreat! This year the retreat will be from June 1st – 3rd at Friendly Crossways in Harvard, MA. Registration will open shortly and close by Wed, May 30th at 12pm. We encourage all those connected to the community, or with interest in becoming involved in the community to attend! The annual community retreat is a great opportunity to get out of the city and participate in bonding, visioning, nature, reflecting, bonfire-ing, and celebrating all weekend long. It is a great way to relax with old friends, make new ones, and get to know the community a bit better for a compact taste of what we are like all year long! Final information on fees, deadlines, and registration will be available within the next few days when our on-line registration goes live. In the mean time, if you have any questions about the retreat, please contact Adina, our Membership Chair at adina@kavodhouse.com. Hope to see you there!

Community Allies Announcements

JOIN for Justice National Conference

Want some excellent training in community organizing and Jewish learning? As a member of the Young Jewish Leadership Council, Moishe Kavod House has access to scholarship funds to help send leaders to the Jewish Organizing Initiative and Network for Justice’s (JOIN for Justice) Community Organizing summit. This amazing summit, to be held in NYC April 29th and 30th will provide excellent training in community organizing for Jewish leaders, similar to the JOI training many Moishe Kavod leaders have gone through. Email annie@kavodhouse.com if you are interested in applying for funds for the conference.

As We Come Marching

An all-ages interactive concert to celebrate the Bread & Roses centennial and worker and immigrant rights. Join the Boston Workmen’s Circle Center for Jewish Culture and Social Justice as we march to the beat of drumming, picket lines and protest songs! Tickets: $15 in advance, $18 at the door, $5 limited income, children under 18 free of charge. www.circleboston.org. Sunday, April 29th, 4:00-5:30pm at Workmen’s Circle.

Educators for Social Justice Conference

Attention MKH Foodies

agunning — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 17:59:58 +0000

Greetings Moishe Kavodniks,

As you all have noticed spring has sprung and despite late March’s sudden frost, green shoots and flowers are peeking out from the ground and from tree tops. As these little bits of nature make themselves known we are reminded in ways that we perhaps were not during the cold greeneryless days of winter that we are inextricably tied to the earth and its natural systems. If you are like us at the house then, it is at this time of year that you turn your thoughts to environmental sustainability and the Jewish imperative to act as responsible stewards of nature.

In that vein, Aliza Wasserman has shared with us all something about a fantastic opportunity to envision a greener future for yourself and our community…

“We hope you are enjoying the new freedom of eating all kinds of food, “on all other nights” now that Pesach is over. You might be finding yourself thinking more about the food you are putting in your body, thinking about your choices of what to consume and not consume, and how that relates to communities of which you are a part. We invite you to get involved in Moishe Kavod’s ways of discussing these questions for our community by getting involved in the Community Food Advisory Board (CoFAB) or Farm to Shul at any time of the year.

But coming up next week, there is an unparalleled opportunity to learn, create, dream, take action and eat with Jews from throughout the area at the 1st annual Boston Jewish Food Conference: Sowing the Seeds of Sustainability. The brainchild of MKH and Farm to Shul member Hannah Levine and community ally Leora Mallach, the conference has grown from an idea for networking to a unique opportunity to explore many of the issues that come up around food in our communities: cuisine, agriculture, labor, business, health, access, history, and spirituality. The conference is next Sunday April 22nd, 12:00-8:00pm. Several of the workshops will be led by MKH members (one featuring Farm to Shul’s current campaign) and MKH was one of the first co-sponsoring partners to help make the conference happen. See our blurb in the next section of this e-mail for information on times, speakers, and registration.”

I hope we can see many of you there this weekend.

Greenly yours,

Aaron, Annie, Helen, and Tslil

April’s Tikkun on Tap: Youth Organizing and the Story of YMOREFeatured Events

Join us for the April installment of Moishe Kavod House’s monthly social justice bar night where young, social justice-minded Jews can mingle, reflect, laugh, be creative, make connections, and find out more about on-going projects in our community. Today, teens are often cast in the media and other public forums as lazy, self, absorbed, and apathetic. YMORE not only dispels these rumours, it crushes and buries them. YMORE is a coalition of youth organizations that has built a broad alliance of urban and suburban teens, who connect across race and class lines and run effective campaigns to keep youth jobs programs funded and reduce toxic diesel emissions. Join us and hear their story! This month our event will be held at the Moishe Kavod House where you can break the Passover yeast fast with free pizza and other snacks as well as free beer! We look forward to seeing you there! Wednesday, April 18th, 7-9 pm, $3 suggested donation.

Boston Jewish Food Conference: Sowing the Seeds of Sustainability

Join the Greater Boston Jewish community for an in-depth exploration of cuisine, agriculture, labor, business, health, access, history, and spirituality. Participate in a range of hands-on activities, Jewish textual reflections, and contemporary food justice sessions. Shop at the Shuk (marketplace) with educational resources, local vendors of Judaica crafts, sustainable food goodies and community partners. See here for detailed workshop descriptions and confirmed educators. Tickets: $36 adults; $18 for those under 18; includes a locally sourced Kosher vegetarian dinner. Hosted by Hebrew College, 160 Herrick Road, Newton Centre, MA 02459. Co-sponsored by Ganei Beantown: Beantown Jewish Gardens and Hebrew College. For more information: Leora Mallach leora@beantownjewishgardens.org. Sunday April 22nd, 12:00-8:00pm

Jubilee USA Network Event

Rosh Chodesh/New Moon: Iyar

Moishe House International Service Learning Retreat in DC

Announcing the first ever Moishe House Jewish Service Learning Retreat. It will take place June 29th – July 1st, outside of Washington, D.C.. Participants will come away confident in leading their communities in meaningful service for social change. Read below for more details. To reserve your spot, email Sarah Lesser at sarah@moishehouse.org. Space is limited to 20 participants, so don’t delay!

Community Allies Announcements

Havdalah and Dancing with Keshet

Join us as we send off Shabbat with an intimate havdalah service led by Keshet members. Stick around after the service for snacks, schmoozing, and Israeli Folk Dancing (beginner-friendly!) as we usher in the new week. Co-sponsored by Congregation Eitz Chayim. Saturday April 21st, 7pm at Congregation Eitz Chayim, 136 Magazine Street, Cambridge. Don’t forget to register by April 18th.

JOIN for Justice National Conference

As We Come Marching

Educators for Social Justice Conference

Happy Pesach!

agunning — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 19:29:59 +0000

Greetings Moishe Kavodniks,

Happy Pesach to one and all! We imagine that you’ve all probably had busy weekends as this past Friday marked the beginning of Pesach, so we’ll take it easy on you with the midrash this week. We’d just like say to those you who came out to our community seder this past Saturday, thank you so much for coming and it was an honor and a blessing to celebrate our liberation and to envision a better world to come with all of you. We’d like to wish all of you who didn’t join us a very joyous Passover as well. It will be a quiet week this week, but we hope to see many of you next week. Shabbat returns from a lengthy hiatus on the 20th and the Sex Ed Team will be piloting its final workshop on Sexual communication this Sunday.

Lastly if you would like to break Pesach with us, April’s Tikkun on Tap will be happening next Wednesday at the house and will featurefree beer, pizza, and other yeast laden goodies to satify your chametz starved starch tooth. It will also feature the stories of some amazing young people who are changing the face of Boston and fighting to keep youth jobs a funded for thousands of economically disadvantaged Massachussetts teens.

Until next week,

Chag Sameach v’Kasher (Have a Happy and Ritually Pure Holiday) ,

Aaron, Annie, Helen, and Tslil

Featured Events

Justice for Farmworkers: Coalition of Imokalee Workers Action at Stop and Shop Headquarters

The Coalition of Imokalee Worker’s Fair Food Program establishes a stringent, worker-designed code of conduct in the fields and requires retailers to pay one more penny per pound for the tomatoes they buy to go directly to the workers who picked them.Royal Ahold USA (parent company of Stop & Shop and Giant) has refused to join this partnership, instead continuing to leverage their high-volume purchasing power to demand the ever-lower prices that result in farmworker exploitation. Their recalcitrance provides a market for continued abuse.Please join farmworkers and Fair Food allies in calling on Stop and Shop to join the Fair Food Program! Turn out to picket Stop and Shop Headquarters in Quincy, MA. Thursday, April 12 at 12 noon

Tea Time Discussion: Consent and Sexual Communication

Do you give your enthusiastic consent to an afternoon of activities and discussion about sexual communication? Join us for this interactive, playful exploration of what consent is and what impact it can have on our relationships and our sexual interactions. We’ll sort through some of the language we use to talk about sex, we’ll discuss the ways in which power and privilege affect the process of giving and getting consent, and we’ll actually get to try it out in a few ways. It’s our last young adult sex ed workshop of the year, so we hope you’ll check it out! Sunday, April 15, 2:30-4:30pm.

April’s Tikkun on Tap: Youth Organizing and the Story of YMORE

Boston Jewish Food Conference: Sowing the Seeds of Sustainability

Jubilee USA Network Event

Moishe House International Service Learning Retreat in DC

Community Allies Announcements

Crossing to Freedom: Ending Slavery in Florida’s Tomato Fields

As we celebrate the 7th night of Passover, when tradition holds that the Israelites crossed through the Red Sea on their way to freedom, we will gather to hear from members of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), as they recount their own struggle to end slavery right here in America. Along with other Boston area congregations, we will celebrate the CIW’s victories and learn more about what we can do to bring better working conditions and fair wages to those who pick our tomatoes.Thursday evening, April 12, 7:00-8:30pm at Temple Beth Elohim in Wellesley, 10 Bethel Road

Havdalah and Dancing with Keshet

JOIN for Justice National Conference

As We Come Marching

An all ages interactive concert to celebrate the Bread & Roses centennial and worker and immigrant rights. Join the Boston Workmen’s Circle Center for Jewish Culture and Social Justice as we march to the beat of drumming, picket lines and protest songs! Tickets: $15 in advance, $18 at the door, $5 limited income, children under 18 free of charge. www.circleboston.org. Sunday, April 29th, 4:00-5:30pm at Workmen’s Circle.

Educators for Social Justice Conference

Building Our Mishkan Together

agunning — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 00:17:05 +0000

Greetings Moishe Kavodniks,

First of all, it was really spectacular to see so many of you turn out for the Workmen’s Circle’s Gragger! radical Purim party this past Saturday night. We hope you enjoyed re-claiming the Festival of Lots for social and economic justice as much as we did. With Purim behind us, we have a lull of about three weeks in the Jewish calendar before Passover begins. Before we begin to think about that most widely celebrated of all Jewish festivals, this week’s parsha or Torah portion bares some consideration.

This week we read from the Torah portion, Vayakel-Pekudei. These passages depict the building of the Mishkan or Tabernacle, the tent of worship where the ark of the covenant was housed while the Israelites wandered the desert. What is striking about this process of building the beautiful and impressive place of worship is that every Israelite pitches in. Everyone brings something to contribute, whether it be gold, cloth, dye, wool, animal skins or precious stones. Just as strikingly, all contributions are honored by being included in the construction. This has reminded us at the house, not surprisingly, of you all. Each of you brings something special to contribute to the Mishkan, the holy place, that we’ve built right here in Washington Square, Brookline. Whether you bring jewish scholoarship, a beautiful singing voice, knowledge of worship, community organizing skills, commitment to a particular issue, artistic expertise, or a connection to some one or something powerful, each of you makes our tabernacle to justice and spirituality possible.

I would urge you all to keep this in mind as you each prepare your own Passover celebrations. Valuable contributions can come from anywhere and anyone. Be prepared to accept the offerings of your community as you put together your seders and your pesach will be all the more beautiful for it.

We look forward to continuing to build this holy place with you.

In Peace,

Aaron, Annie, Helen, and Tslil

Featured Events

GBIO Affordable Healthcare Action!

Moishe Kavod’s GBIO Team joins the wider Greater Boston Interfaith Organization for an important action: Meet with Attorney General Martha Coakley to help make health care affordable to all by passing strong legislation that is under consideration in the MA House and Senate. Critical decisions will be made in the coming months. Will powerful teaching hospitals continue to be reimbursed at significantly higher rates despite no better outcomes? Will the state’s safety net health care institutions such as the neighborhood health centers, BMC, Cambridge Health Alliance not be reimbursed for the higher cost of providing care of the most vulnerable of our citizens? These are some of the crucial issues that the bills will answer, and then provide a working model for the rest of the country. We need everyone to come who can possibly make it! Contact Alix azamansk@gmail.com Tuesday March 13th 7-9 pm at Roxbury Presbyterian Church 328 Warren St., Roxbury

Tea Time Discussion – Sexual Violence: Power and Control in Relationships

What is abuse? The Sex Ed Team invites you to join us to discuss this important and challenging topic. Together, we will explore the diverse messages about sexual violence and partner abuse sent by Judaism, mainstream society, and our local communities. We will examine the power dynamics at play in situations that may be sexually, physically, and/or emotionally abusive. Facilitators and participants will work together to build and maintain a safe space in which we can all learn and grow throughout the workshop. Come talk with us over tea on Sunday, March 25, 2:30-4:30pm.

Canvassing With Housing Justice Team and CLVU

Newcomers encouraged! All are welcome to doorknock to inform homeowners and tenants of their rights as their dwellings are foreclosed upon and help them organize to fight unfair foreclosures and evictions. We will start with a brief training, and newer volunteers will be paired with a seasoned volunteer or tenant who has become a leader in the Bank Tenants Union to protect their own homes. Sunday March 25th, 2-4:30 pm. Contact darya.mattes@gmail.com for RSVP and/or questions.

Tikkun on Tap Retuns!

Tikkun on Tap returns from its winter hibernation! Join us Tuesday, March 27th from 7-9 pm at The Globe Bar and Cafe in Back Bay for the return of Moishe Kavod House’s monthly social justice bar night where young, social justice-minded Jews, who want to mingle, reflect, laugh, be creative, make connections and find out more about on going projects in our community.This month we feature Moish Kavod House’s Greater Boston Interfaith Organization Team and their work fighting for better health care for all Massachussettites. They’ll be running an interactive session on health and health care in our community–what we don’t talk about, what we don’t know, and how we can be healthy with less money–from our pockets and from the state budget. Contact azamansk@gmail.com for more info

Community Allies Announcements

Don’t miss out on JWA’s Institute for Educators!

The Jewish Women’s Archive has extended the application deadline for this summer’s Institute for Educators until Thursday, March 15, 2012. Held July 22-26, 2012, in Waltham, MA, the Institute is an all-expenses-paid professional development program that will help you enrich your teaching with the stories of American Jewish lives, past and present.

Keshet Cabaret!

Put on your finest and join us for an evening of music, comedy, theatrical performance, and a fabulous auction to benefit Keshet’s work for the full equality and inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Jews in Jewish life. Get your tickets now! March 17th, 8-11 pm at The Westin Copley Place10 Huntington Avenue, Boston

“The Washington Haggadah” at Harvard Worship and Study Minyan

The Washington Haggadah, a 15th century illustrated Haggadah from Germany, now in the Library of Congress, is the greatest Haggadah in America. Its scribe and illustrator Joel ben Simeon, was one of the greatest of all medieval Jewish scribes and artists.With colorful slide illustrations, David Stern, Professor of Classical Hebrew Literature at the University of Pennsylvania and a visiting scholar at Harvard, presents the fascinating story of how this haggadah came into existence and then traveled from Germany to America.

Harvard Hillel’s Smith Hall March 20th at 7:30pm. Presentation includes refreshments.

Educators for Social Justice Conference

Remarks By Jeremy Burton, President of the JCRC of Greater Boston, at MKH’s Celebration

agunning — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 02:17:33 +0000

Remarks to Moishe Kavod Celebration 2/25/12

Jeremy Burton

I’m so honored that the members of Moishe Kavod asked me to be

here tonight. It’s a privilege for me, because my coming to know and

appreciate Moishe Kavod came as part of my own journey as a Jewish

activist that brought me to Boston.

Some of you know that:

- I was raised in a traditional Orthodox home and spent 3 years

in rabbinical seminaries

- And yet in my 20’s I grew increasingly disconnected from

organized Jewish life

- I was disenfranchised and disheartened by what organizations

were offering

- I stopped going to synagogue

- I was experiencing a Jewish community that didn’t work in

partnership with other communities, didn’t pursue justice, and

that wasn’t making the space to be inclusive of me as I was

coming out, and for the increasing diversity of my generation

In the late 90’s a group of my friends decided to take responsibility for

our own Jewish journey.

As part of that journey, 10 years ago we created an independent

minyan in New York. Our entirely volunteer led community is

committed to inclusion, to celebrating life and rituals, and also to lifting

up and interpreting anew the Jewish values we were raised with and

which are important to us.

And through my own volunteer leadership in my community, I came to

meet Margie Klein and early leaders of the then Kavod house, in spaces

where we were able to learn together, support each other, and dream

about the future of the global Jewish community.

So it’s a thrill to be here years later to celebrate Moishe Kavod and your

role in what is now our shared community of greater Boston.

I will share a bit of history guides my own thinking:

There was a time when the Jewish community was at a precipice.

Our people were confronting profound new challenges:

- We had to re-evaluate our identity as separate from and also as part

of a larger society

- We had division and conflict amongst us

- We were dealing with the fall of long valued institutions and ways of

organizing our community

And in this moment – a moment that took decades, even centuries to

unfold – a group of young people stepped forward and said “we must

change so that we can thrive.”

“we must hold true to what we treasure –in values and practices –

while embracing new ways and reimagining our actions for a new era”

“we must not reject the old, but rather make it fresh again, by studying

and renewing the core truths of our Jewish people and celebrating

them in our rituals and daily lives.”

“we must find new ways to do Jewish together if we are to flourish as a

people in a changing world”

Those young people were the first rabbis.

And in the first centuries of Christianity, in the first years after the fall

of the temple, they reimagined Judaism and created something new:

rooted in our past, taking us into our future.

That’s what we’ve done time and time again for two thousand years.

Whether it was the Hasidic masters of eastern Europe lifting up

spirituality, music, dance, a finding joy in a connection with the natural

world as they went into the forests

Or the 19th century young professionals in east coast cities who

wanted a modern and United Synagogue movement for a new nation

and a new world… creating the Jewish Theological Seminary and the

Conservative movement.

Or the generation just before mine that embraced civil rights as a

Jewish cause, created the student struggle for Soviet Jewry, and

invented the havura.

We have always and we must always reinvent ourselves so that we

continue to be a vibrant Jewish community – familiar and different in

the same breathe; keeping our tradition and our civilization relevant to

us and to the broader society we live in.

This is what Moishe Kavod does so well.

This is what we as the greater Boston Jewish community values.

And this is what inspired me to move here and be a part of this

community.

+++++++++

Just a few examples…

- We believe in the vital leadership of volunteers who want to learn, to

grow, and to act from a sense of purpose in the world.

Moishe Kavod House’s leadership development model helps create a

next generation of Jewish leaders who feel a stake and ownership in

the community- not just consuming programs but acting and engaging…

as leaders who will contribute to the community for decades to come.

- We believe in a community that works together on issues of

common concern and confronting the challenges of our time, all while

strengthening all of our organizations

Moishe Kavods’ Farm to Shul program partners with local synagogues.

They designed a workshop on food justice that was utilized by

congregations and Hebrew schools, and then partnered with these

groups to host educational Tu B’shvat seders, joint rallies, to start CSA

sites, and build support for an ethical purchasing campaign.

Moishe Kavod’s Sex-Ed team designed a curriculum on human sexuality

and Judaism that they hope to share with our larger Jewish community.

- We believe in partnering with other communities to advance social

justice and caring for all who live in our Commonwealth.

Despite being a small community with no staff, Moishe Kavod regularly

turns out strong participation in Greater Boston Interfaith Organization

actions, and was one of the top congregations to move bank accounts

in the recent “Move Your Money Campaign.”

And their housing justice campaign has been working together with

City Life/Vida Urbana to help tenants at risk of losing their homes, and

building support for anti-foreclosure legislation.

The Moishe Kavod community has strengthened the greater Boston

community, both Jewish and broadly,

and in the years to come there is just endless possibility as Moishe

Kavod continues to shape and be an integral part of our shared vision

of what our community is… and does.

++++++++++++++++

We live in challenging times:

Like so often before, we face questions of identity – how we belong and

how we understand our own place as individuals and as a community.

We face hard fought internal debates and those who would divide us

from each other and all of us from others.

We face questions about how we act as Jews and as a community in a

changing world.

We face a world that is challenged by poverty, inequality, phobias,

where the promise of America is not yet complete for all who live here.

And the people of Moishe Kavod are doing the only thing we can ask of

them, the only thing we have demanded in every era from ourselves:

To embrace the challenge & take responsibility for our own Jewish

journey and for our community:

•

To step up and not back

To understand and not ignore

To unite as a community rather than divide as individuals

To embrace thousands of years of tradition and make it relevant

for our future

• To dream and not despair

The only things that limit Moishe Kavod and all of us are our

imagination and our commitment.

++++++++++++++++++

So lets take this moment to recognize the volunteers whose

imagination make Moishe Kavod House a success.

“Who here has volunteered at Moishe Kavod House in the past

year? Let’s give these young leaders stepping up to create the next

generation of Jewish community a round of applause.”

- pause –

“Who here volunteered to work on this Celebration – and hasn’t this

evening been just wonderful – and how awesome it is that it’s entirely

volunteer planned.”

- pause -

Lets invite the Moishe/Kavod board members to be recognized

Jill Lofchie, Finance Chair

Nina Robinson, Development Chair

Adina Koch, Membership Chair

Helen Bennet, Resident Organizer

Annie Fox, Resident Organizer

Aaron Gunning. Resident Organizer

Tslil Shtulsaft, Resident organizer

Riana Good, President

and of course Margie Klein for founding the house and continuing as

Communications Chair

Finally.. the best way to appreciate what Moishe Kavod does is by

participating in one of their actions or just taking the time to get to

know them better,

I want to close by asking all of us in the room to participate in and to

support this work.

Share and review of the commitment card

before you leave tonight, please make a commitment: to support this

important work and this amazing community… with your time, your

interest, and of course your financial support.

Thank you again & let’s celebrate.

Remarks to Moishe Kavod Celebration 2/25/12Jeremy Burton
I’m so honored that the members of Moishe Kavod asked me to behere tonight. It’s a privilege for me, because my coming to know andappreciate Moishe Kavod came as part of my own journey as a Jewishactivist that brought me to Boston.
Some of you know that:- I was raised in a traditional Orthodox home and spent 3 yearsin rabbinical seminaries- And yet in my 20’s I grew increasingly disconnected fromorganized Jewish life- I was disenfranchised and disheartened by what organizationswere offering- I stopped going to synagogue- I was experiencing a Jewish community that didn’t work inpartnership with other communities, didn’t pursue justice, andthat wasn’t making the space to be inclusive of me as I wascoming out, and for the increasing diversity of my generation
In the late 90’s a group of my friends decided to take responsibility forour own Jewish journey.
As part of that journey, 10 years ago we created an independentminyan in New York. Our entirely volunteer led community iscommitted to inclusion, to celebrating life and rituals, and also to liftingup and interpreting anew the Jewish values we were raised with andwhich are important to us.
And through my own volunteer leadership in my community, I came tomeet Margie Klein and early leaders of the then Kavod house, in spaceswhere we were able to learn together, support each other, and dream
1
about the future of the global Jewish community.
So it’s a thrill to be here years later to celebrate Moishe Kavod and yourrole in what is now our shared community of greater Boston.
I will share a bit of history guides my own thinking:
There was a time when the Jewish community was at a precipice.
Our people were confronting profound new challenges:
- We had to re-evaluate our identity as separate from and also as partof a larger society- We had division and conflict amongst us- We were dealing with the fall of long valued institutions and ways oforganizing our community
And in this moment – a moment that took decades, even centuries tounfold – a group of young people stepped forward and said “we mustchange so that we can thrive.”
“we must hold true to what we treasure –in values and practices –while embracing new ways and reimagining our actions for a new era”
“we must not reject the old, but rather make it fresh again, by studyingand renewing the core truths of our Jewish people and celebratingthem in our rituals and daily lives.”
“we must find new ways to do Jewish together if we are to flourish as apeople in a changing world”
Those young people were the first rabbis.
2
And in the first centuries of Christianity, in the first years after the fallof the temple, they reimagined Judaism and created something new:rooted in our past, taking us into our future.
That’s what we’ve done time and time again for two thousand years.
Whether it was the Hasidic masters of eastern Europe lifting upspirituality, music, dance, a finding joy in a connection with the naturalworld as they went into the forests
Or the 19th century young professionals in east coast cities whowanted a modern and United Synagogue movement for a new nationand a new world… creating the Jewish Theological Seminary and theConservative movement.
Or the generation just before mine that embraced civil rights as aJewish cause, created the student struggle for Soviet Jewry, andinvented the havura.
We have always and we must always reinvent ourselves so that wecontinue to be a vibrant Jewish community – familiar and different inthe same breathe; keeping our tradition and our civilization relevant tous and to the broader society we live in.
This is what Moishe Kavod does so well.
This is what we as the greater Boston Jewish community values.
And this is what inspired me to move here and be a part of thiscommunity.
+++++++++
3
Just a few examples…
- We believe in the vital leadership of volunteers who want to learn, togrow, and to act from a sense of purpose in the world.
Moishe Kavod House’s leadership development model helps create anext generation of Jewish leaders who feel a stake and ownership inthe community- not just consuming programs but acting and engaging…as leaders who will contribute to the community for decades to come.
- We believe in a community that works together on issues ofcommon concern and confronting the challenges of our time, all whilestrengthening all of our organizations
Moishe Kavods’ Farm to Shul program partners with local synagogues.They designed a workshop on food justice that was utilized bycongregations and Hebrew schools, and then partnered with thesegroups to host educational Tu B’shvat seders, joint rallies, to start CSAsites, and build support for an ethical purchasing campaign.
Moishe Kavod’s Sex-Ed team designed a curriculum on human sexualityand Judaism that they hope to share with our larger Jewish community.
- We believe in partnering with other communities to advance socialjustice and caring for all who live in our Commonwealth.
Despite being a small community with no staff, Moishe Kavod regularlyturns out strong participation in Greater Boston Interfaith Organizationactions, and was one of the top congregations to move bank accountsin the recent “Move Your Money Campaign.”
And their housing justice campaign has been working together withCity Life/Vida Urbana to help tenants at risk of losing their homes, andbuilding support for anti-foreclosure legislation.
The Moishe Kavod community has strengthened the greater Bostoncommunity, both Jewish and broadly,
and in the years to come there is just endless possibility as Moishe
4
Kavod continues to shape and be an integral part of our shared visionof what our community is… and does.
++++++++++++++++
We live in challenging times:
Like so often before, we face questions of identity – how we belong andhow we understand our own place as individuals and as a community.
We face hard fought internal debates and those who would divide usfrom each other and all of us from others.
We face questions about how we act as Jews and as a community in achanging world.
We face a world that is challenged by poverty, inequality, phobias,where the promise of America is not yet complete for all who live here.
And the people of Moishe Kavod are doing the only thing we can ask ofthem, the only thing we have demanded in every era from ourselves:
To embrace the challenge & take responsibility for our own Jewishjourney and for our community:
••••
To step up and not backTo understand and not ignoreTo unite as a community rather than divide as individualsTo embrace thousands of years of tradition and make it relevantfor our future• To dream and not despairThe only things that limit Moishe Kavod and all of us are ourimagination and our commitment.
++++++++++++++++++
So lets take this moment to recognize the volunteers whoseimagination make Moishe Kavod House a success.
“Who here has volunteered at Moishe Kavod House in the past
5
year? Let’s give these young leaders stepping up to create the nextgeneration of Jewish community a round of applause.”
- pause –
“Who here volunteered to work on this Celebration – and hasn’t thisevening been just wonderful – and how awesome it is that it’s entirelyvolunteer planned.”
- pause -
Lets invite the Moishe/Kavod board members to be recognized
Jill Lofchie, Finance ChairNina Robinson, Development ChairAdina Koch, Membership ChairHelen Bennet, Resident OrganizerAnnie Fox, Resident OrganizerAaron Gunning. Resident OrganizerTslil Shtulsaft, Resident organizerRiana Good, President
and of course Margie Klein for founding the house and continuing asCommunications Chair
Finally.. the best way to appreciate what Moishe Kavod does is byparticipating in one of their actions or just taking the time to get toknow them better,
I want to close by asking all of us in the room to participate in and tosupport this work.
Share and review of the commitment card
6
before you leave tonight, please make a commitment: to support thisimportant work and this amazing community… with your time, yourinterest, and of course your financial support.
Thank you again & let’s celebrate.

Be Happy Kavodniks! It’s Adar!

agunning — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 22:42:07 +0000

Greetings Moishe Kavodniks,

Be happy! This week begins the hebrew month of Adar. Adar shares its etymology with the Hebrew word Adir (strength) and is associated with joy, rejoicing, and redemption. It is during this month that Jews the world over celebrate Purim, The Festival of Lots commemorating our redemption at the hands of God and queen Esther from the Persian tyrant Haman. It is a time to stand up and shout joyfully, “I am a Jew and I am still here!”

This month there will be ample opportunity to celebrate redemption and Jewishness with us. As usual we kick the month off with Rosh Chodesh or New Moon Gathering next week, which will be preceded by our community wide Celebration at which we hope to see all of you!

During the middle of this month we will celebrate Purim as we have in years past with the annual radical purim shpiel and party, Gragger!, co-sponsored with Workmen’s Circle and Keshet.

That’s quite a bit of celebrating, but it is the month the be joyful. If you are looking for your moral imperative this month, that is it. Find a reason to be happy and to share that cheer with others. Winter is drawing to a close, you are a Jew in a free country, and you are powerful beyond what you probably know. You are a unique and beautiful creature made in the image of God and you are a member of a warm and welcoming community devoted to the pursuit of justice. Need more reasons to celebrate? We’re always here to talk.

In Peace (And Happiness),

Aaron, Annie, Helen, and Tslil

Calling all Kavodniks! – The Celebration Needs You!

Ever wanted to be a bartender? Dreaming of gallery installation? Are you an expert chef? Volunteer at the Moishe Kavod Celebration! We’ll need cooks during the days leading up to the event, people to set up, volunteer during the event, and breakdown afterwards. To volunteer, get in touch with Lauren Wolinsky at l.wolin@gmail.com, to help cook email Helen Bennett at helen@kavodhouse.com

What does Power Mean to You?

Now its time for more in depth discussion about what goals we want to set for our community- how we’ll support teams and what we can accomplish together. Come discuss these goals in small groups on Sunday, March 4th at 5:15pm (after the SoJu CoCo Train the Trainers) or Sunday March 11th at 5pm in Somerville. Another meeting date in JP to be announced. RSVP and get address by emailing helen@kavodhouse.com

Featured Events

Cooking for the Celebration

The Farm to Shul Team is excited to use this community event as an opportunity to show our community what it looks like (and tastes like!) to cook and eat according to our food values. A delicious, seasonal and local menu has been planned, and we’re both excited to cook with you, and need your help to get it all done! Please RSVP to Helen helen@kavodhouse.com if you are free to help, either at any time between 7pm-10ish on Weds 2/22 or 7pm-10ish on Thurs 2/23 to cook (dropping in is fine!), or on the evening of the event (that’s the 25th) to help with set up and serving. Volunteer slots on the day-of are in half-hour chunks. Thank you!

Moishe Kavod House’s Celebration!

Join us February 25, 7pm-11pm for a night of dancing, sustainably sourced hors d’oeuvres from the Moishe Kavod House Farm to Shul team, and stories about our work together to build inclusive Jewish community and work for change in the Boston area.We’re proud to announce our first Moishe Kavod House Celebration and Fundraiser! As we move to a model where we are required to raise 100% of our operating budget locally or face being closed, we’re counting on the entire community to come out and support our collective efforts. And have fun too! To p urchase tickets click here.

Sex Ed Team Presents – Tea Time Discussion: Sexual Orientation and Desire

What is desire? In this workshop, we will seek to understand a diversity of sexual orientations through the lens of desire. Through words, stories, charts, and ancient texts, we will explore options for describing the patterns of our own desire. We will examine different elements of sexual orientation that can come together in complex ways, including and beyond the focus on the gender of attraction that forms the foundation for the “gay/straight/bi” categories we most often see. Come see something new! Please join us for lunch Sunday, February 26, 12-2pm, to add your voice and perspective to this exploration.

Canvassing with The Housing Justice Team

Rosh Chodesh/New Moon Gathering – Adar

“One who enters Adar increases in joy” is an adage connected Rosh Chodesh Adar. What does it mean to increase in joy? How can we increase joy in our lives? The joy of the month of Adar is more than just the partying and going crazy and turning things upside down on Purim. The joy of Adar is a different and deeper kind of joy. Join us to welcome in Adar together. contact newmoonkavod@gmail.com. Tuesday February 28th, 8-9 pm

Team Leaders Save the Date – Learn How to Run Better Trainings!

Join us at Train the Trainer and sharpen your skills as a trainer, teacher, and facilitator of knowledge and skill acquisition by learning how to adapt a diverse range of activities to multiple areas of content and learning needs. This SoJu CoCo meeting will be a 2 hour training, our next SoJu CoCo group discussion will happen at the membership retreat this spring. Sunday March 4th, 3:30-5:30 pm

Community Allies Announcements

Careers and Beers

Join us for an evening of speed networking at The Boston Synagogue. There’ll be free beer, snacks and schmoozing with young professionals. Wednesday, February 29, 2012 from 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM at The Boston Synagogue, 55 Martha Road Boston, MA 02114 .

Loving Kindness is an Open Fridge

agunning — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 01:48:06 +0000

Greetings Moishe Kavodniks,

This past Sunday we held our annual membership meeting where several dozen Moishe Kavod Members got to voice their choice over the strategic direction of our organization. This has gotten a fair amount of air time in this space lately, so we’d like to share something a little different with you all this week. The past ten days we’ve played host to a young jewish man who has just moved back to the United States after six years of living abroad, first in London and later for a longer stretch in Beijing and is still getting himself situated in his home country. In many ways he’s been something of a fly on the wall in our house during that time, so it occurred to one of us to ask him what his impression of our organization was so far.

In response, he compared us to some of our sister Moishe Houses overseas, notably in Beijing and spoke of being both struck by and grateful for our organization’s explicit commitment to social justice and to having a positive impact on the larger community around us. What stuck us most and left our heart cockles warned after that interview was not the extent to which he was impressed with our organizing or our accomplishments as a social justice organization, but this simple expression of gratitude. “Coming back to America after living in China for 6 years I could have been subject to a lot of culture shock. This move could have been really hard, but whether it was your open door, your open refrigerator, or the friends I’ve made here this month, you’ve really helped me feel at home in my own country again. I just love how I would come to one thing, meet someone there, get invited to another thing, meet some one new at that thing, and just keep going like that. You’ve built an amazingly open community and I feel very lucky to have found it.”

We tend to like to talk about fighting for tzedek or justice at this house. We try to push people to take on the struggle to build a more socially just world by taking on structural aspects of oppression and inequality. However it’s worth noting that in Judaism, acts of Chesed or loving kindness are considered equally as important. In other words an open heart is just as godly as a thirst for justice. To live a righteous life may mean taking a stand for what’s right but it may also mean welcoming a stranger into your home.

We acknowledge that not everyone can take a returning expatriate into their home, but we do hope that you can find other ways of practicing loving kindness, this week and in weeks to come.

In Peace,

Aaron, Annie, Helen, and Tslil

Calling all Kavodniks! – The Celebration Needs You!

Featured Events

A Day of Crafting

The arts team will be helping MKH prepare for its Celebration on February 25th by gathering ahead of time to make a community timeline with visual images and other snazzy things to highlight the creative, justice-minded energy of our community. All are welcome to join. Sunday, February 19th 4:30-8:30 pm

Moishe Kavod House’s Celebration!

Sex Ed Team Presents – Tea Time Discussion: Sexual Orientation and Desire

Rosh Chodesh/New Moon Gathering – Adar

Team Leaders Save the Date – Learn How to Run Better Trainings!

Community Allies Announcements

Keshet Shabbat Service & Catered Kosher Dinner

Friday Feb 24th – Join us at any time throughout the evening. Our services are egalitarian, participatory, and led by Keshet members. Leave the cooking to us — a catered Kosher dinner will be provided. This event is family-friendly and members of all ages are encouraged  to attend. A kosher dinner will be provided.Time: 6 pm — Services, 7 pm —Blessings over wine and challah, 7:15 pm — Dinner. Where: RSVP for address. RSVP: by February 20

Careers and Beers