Hi friends,
As always, see below for a full listing of upcoming events, and this week we particularly encourage you to join us at the upcoming Labor Seder on Thursday night…
In addition, our Transition Team continues to meet — check out their latest thinking on our home page, including updated thoughts on the breakdown of responsibilities between housemates and the new board we are hoping to elect in September.
And as always, check out our community members’ postings and some of the great events being hosted by a few of our community allies.
Warmly,
Ben, Aaron, Sarah and Margie
Mon Mar 30 & Sun Apr 5: Dance the Parsha!
Tue Mar 31: 4th Annual Cape Verdean-Jewish Passover Seder
Tue Mar 31: Knitting Circle with Muslim American Society (MAS) Boston
Tue Mar 31: Charles River Beit Midrash
Thu Apr 2: Labor Seder
Fri Apr 3: Shabbat Services & Potluck Dinner
Sun Apr 5: Newcomers in Massachusetts — Immigrant Workers in a Challenging Land
Sun Apr 5: Pitch the City — Turn Beantown into Greentown
Sun Apr 5: Tuning Up For the Spring #1 — Intro Bike Workshop
Wed Apr 8: Birkat Hachamah — Blessing of the Sun Event
Thu Apr 9: Moishe/Kavod Second Night Seder is On
Sun Apr 12: Tuning Up For the Spring #2 — Intro Bike Workshop
Interested in Organizing a GesherCity Salon?
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Mon, March 30th, 6:00pm – 7:30pm & Sun, April 5th, 1:30pm – 3:00pm at 14 Harvard Ave, Allston. Bus and T accessible; free parking too
Dance the Parsha!
Join Moishe/Kavod folks and other Boston dancers in the latest creative endeavor: “Dance the Parsha.” In this bi-weekly class, you’ll explore the intersection of Modern Dance and Judaism with Gabrielle Orcha, choreographer, dancer, teacher. Here’s what you’ll learn: proper and healthy body alignment; basic, codified dance vocabulary; kinesthetic, spacial, and body awareness; how to combine images (from the parsha) with movement; how to channel “kavanah” (intention) into dance; and choreography from an evening length dance that will premier in Boston and NYC. This class is for thinking dancers and dancing scholars — anyone who wants to unite dance with Judaism. Contact Gabrielle if interested: 781-632-0783 or orchadance@gmail.com. $10/class. Let’s Dance!
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Tue, March 31st, 6pm – 8pm, St. Patrick’s Church, 400 Dudley Street in Roxbury
4th Annual Cape Verdean-Jewish Passover Seder
Come join us as we celebrate the connections and shared history between the Cape Verdean and Jewish communities. The Jewish holiday of Passover recalls the Biblical story of the Jews’ deliverance out of slavery more than 3,000 years ago. It is a celebration of freedom. At this special Seder (dinner), the liberation stories and songs of both the Jews and Cape Verdeans will be shared as we explore the histories and cultures of both peoples.
Space is limited for this FREE event!
RSVP to capeverdeanjewishseder@gmail.com.
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Tue, March 31, 6pm – 8pm at Islamic Society of Boston Community Center (ISBCC) – Near Roxbury Crossing stop on Orange Line, 100 Malcolm X Boulevard, Roxbury, MA
Knitting Circle with Muslim American Society (MAS) Boston
Members of MAS Boston have invited Kavod House to join in their weekly knitting circle, titled “Stitch & Dhikr,” meaning “Stitch and Remembrance.” All genders and levels of experience welcome! Knit for someone you know, or donate your knitted item to Rosie’s Place, a Roxbury women’s shelter. Bring your own yarn and needles. Light refreshments will be served.
Kindly RSVP to Lauren Herman at lwherman@gmail.com or Jill Lofchie at jill_lofchie@yahoo.com if interested in attending.
(If you want a travel buddy, Lauren will be traveling from Cambridge/Somerville and Jill will be traveling from Brookline.)
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Tue, March 31st, 7:00pm – 8:30pm at Congregation Eitz Chayim, 134 Magazine St., Cambridge, MA
Charles River Beit Midrash: Guided Jewish Text Study
Join us for guided text study, including a 30-minute lesson, and then individualized study in pairs/Chevruta. Whether you are new to Jewish study or a veteran, this is a great opportunity to learn about Jewish tradition and thought, exercise your brain, and get to know great people. Learning and free, kosher dinner begin at 7pm.
Sponsored by Cambridge Minyan, Hebrew College, Moishe/Kavod House (through a generous grant from the Bronfman Youth Fellowships in Israel Alumni Fund), Washington Square Minyan, and Minyan Tehillah, and through a generous grant from the Young Adult Task Force of Combined Jewish Philanthropies, the Charles River Beit Midrash bridges communities from Brookline, Cambridge and beyond for serious text study dedicated to social justice issues in an open, non-denominational setting. For more information on learning and how to become involved, check out www.charlesriverlearning.org or email info@charlesriverlearning.org.
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Thursday, April 2nd, 5:30pm at SEIU Local 615 (26 West St. downtown)
Annual Labor Seder
Every year, Moishe/Kavod House helps put on the annual Labor Seder, which celebrates the Passover holiday and current workers’ struggles for justice here in Greater Boston, drawing parallels between the liberation of Jews from slavery in ancient Egypt and the issues that workers and labor organizations face today. It has become an event where organizers, Jewish community leaders, union representatives, workers, students, educators and clergy from all faiths meet and learn from one another in an effort to recommit ourselves to fighting for key social justice issues that affect working people, Jews and non-Jews alike.
Tickets are $20, and well worth it, but all are welcome regardless of ability to pay.
Please RSVP to benjaminghealey@gmail.com.
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Fri, April 3rd, 6:30pm (Services) and 8:00pm (Dinner)
Shabbat Services & Potluck Dinner
Join us for musical services, good veggie food, great people. This week’s prayer service, led by Alix Zamansky, will be songful and fairly traditional, and will include a guided meditation leading up to the Amidah, the silent prayer at the center of the service.
Assignments for this week – bring food according to your birthday:
• Date ending in 0, 1, 2: Salad or veggie side dish
• Date ending in 3, 4: Kosher wine
• Date ending in 5, 6: Dessert
• Date ending in 7, 8, 9: Veggie Main Dish (think grains, veggies, protein)
Please RSVP to moishehouseboston@gmail.com with when you will join us (services, dinner, both) and what you are bringing for dinner, or if you want to make something different than in the above system. And, if you want to be assigned to bring two or more loaves of challah, let us know, since that is a special job.
If you require hechsher kosher food or have other special food needs, please email margieklein1@gmail.com, and she will work to make sure there is enough food for you.
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Sun, April 5, 9:45am – 11:45am, Temple B’nai Brith, 201 Central Street, Somerville
Newcomers in Massachusetts: Immigrant Workers in a Challenging Land
The Social Action Committee of Temple B’nai Brith of Somerville
invites you to a timely brunch forum — Newcomers in Massachusetts: Immigrant Workers in a Challenging Land.
Ingrid Nava, Staff Attorney, Greater Boston Legal Services.
Angel Tito Meza, Community Organizer, Somerville Community Corporation.
Dave Borrus, Co-Chair, New England Jewish Labor Committee
Member, Pile Drivers and Divers Local 56.
The American story is that our country has been welcoming to immigrants and refugees from around the world who have been able to make new lives here for ourselves and our children. While our economy is largely reliant on the contribution and labor of newcomers, today’s new Americans face increasing hardship and discrimination in the workplace, education and health care. Recent workplace raids and deportations have resulted in families being split apart and have created an environment of fear and anxiety, leaving people vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.
Greater Boston Legal Services has been in the forefront of assisting immigrant workers, during the recent New Bedford workplace raids, and has won a recent court ruling in the Bianca case. Somerville Community Corporation organizes to dissolve barriers between people to develop affordable housing and improve our neighborhoods and quality of life here in Somerville. The Jewish Labor Committee has a long history of support for worker rights, including support for hotel workers, workers at Agriprocessors meat packing plant and most recently, workers at Commercial Cleaning Services.
Each Passover, we recall the challenges of being strangers in a strange land and our own history as a people viewed with suspicion and mistrust. Last year our temple board voted to join the “Welcoming Massachusetts” campaign and our School is connecting with the Welcome Project here in Somerville.
Please join us for a stimulating presentation and discussion about this important issue.
For further information please call Janet Gottler (781) 646-0937) or Ellen Stone (617) 776-2829.
For directions, call the Temple at (617) 625-0333 or visit www.templebnaibrith.org.
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Sun, April 5th, 2pm – 4pm, Hynes Convention Center
Pitch the City: Turn Beantown into Greentown
Jess Lerner, Kavod regular and local green entrepreneur, just made it to the top four finalists in Boston’s “Pitch the City: Turn Beantown into Greentown” contest with her idea for a green public awareness and action campaign! On Sunday, April 5, she’ll be on the main stage at Down 2 Earth, the Sustainable Living event, pitching her idea directly to the Mayor and a distinguished panel of judges. Her idea centers around the concept of an interactive green campaign that gets people all over Boston involved.
For this event, Jess needs your help! She needs volunteers to get up onstage that day and act out some of the green ideas she’s proposing. It will be easy, fun, and for a great cause! She would love for the Kavod community to be part of this project, so if you’d like to help by contributing your on stage charisma on April 5, or just want to learn more about the idea, get in touch with Jess at jess@greenontheinside.net. Vote for her idea and make comments at changents.com/jessl or on her blog, ingreenink.blogspot.com.
The event will be Sunday, April 5, at 2pm at the Hynes Convention Center. D2e, the sustainable living expo, will have tons of vendors and booths, including Jess’s booth for Green on the Inside. For more on d2e, go to www.d2eboston.com.
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Sun, April 5th, 4pm
Tuning Up For the Spring #1 — Intro Bike Workshop
Getting excited that the weather is warming up? That you can breathe some fresh(er) air and get back on your bike for commuting or recreational riding? Then come to the workshops “Tuning Up For the Spring.”
The objectives of these workshops are to help you learn how your bike works, how to tune-up your bike for the riding reason, and to support a community of bike riders and advocates. In the first workshop, we’ll discuss options for commuting and recreational riding, go over how bikes work, what a tune-up is and what you’ll need in order to do it. In the second workshop, we’ll walk through a tune-up and then you’ll get personal support during an open bike tune-up clinic. And we’ll talk shop and eat dinner, too (potluck style, BYOB).
The workshops are independent and you can come to the first, the second, or both however works best for you (none is not an option). We will be providing pumps and tools, and ask you to bring replacement parts for your tune-up as well as any bike tools you can share with others in the workshop.
You can RSVP for “Tuning Up For the Spring Workshops” to Aaron.Desatnik@gmail.com. Learn more about the workshop below. Feel free to call (preferred) or email me with questions about the workshops or bike mechanic questions.
WORKSHOP 1 (orientation and intro to bike tune-up)
Bring: Your bike, potluck dish
Outline:
-Why bike? Opportunities and challenges in bike commuting and recreation riding
-Physiology of your bike–how it works and what can go wrong
-What is a tune-up, diagnosing your bike and what you’ll need
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Wed, April 8th, 6am – 7am, Lars Anderson Park in Brookline
Birkat Hachamah — Blessing of the Sun Event
Every 28 years, the Jewish community celebrates the return of the sun to its original place in the heavens at the precise time and day of its creation. This celebration is called Birkat Hahammah – blessing of the sun.
Sponsored by Hillel B’nai Torah, Nehar Shalom and Dorshei Tzedek. For more information contact Hillel B’nai Torah at 617-323-0486.
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Thursday, April 9th
Moishe/Kavod Second Night Passover Seder
Unfortunately, the Moishe/Kavod House 2nd Annual Passover Seder is full. Please email azamansk@gmail.com if you want to get added to a list in case we have any spots open up.
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Sun, April 12th, 2:30pm
Tuning Up For the Spring #2 — Intro Bike Workshop
Getting excited that the weather is warming up? That you can breathe some fresh(er) air and get back on your bike for commuting or recreational riding? Then come to the workshops “Tuning Up For the Spring.”
The objectives of these workshops are to help you learn how your bike works, how to tune-up your bike for the riding reason, and to support a community of bike riders and advocates. In the first workshop, we’ll discuss options for commuting and recreational riding, go over how bikes work, what a tune-up is and what you’ll need in order to do it. In the second workshop, we’ll walk through a tune-up and then you’ll get personal support during an open bike tune-up clinic. And we’ll talk shop and eat dinner, too (potluck style, BYOB).
The workshops are independent and you can come to the first, the second, or both however works best for you (none is not an option). We will be providing pumps and tools, and ask you to bring replacement parts for your tune-up as well as any bike tools you can share with others in the workshop.
You can RSVP for “Tuning Up For the Spring Workshops” to Aaron.Desatnik@gmail.com. Learn more about the workshop below. Feel free to call (preferred) or email me with questions about the workshops or bike mechanic questions.
Bring: Your bike, bike tools (if you have any), rag for cleaning your bike and clothes you can get greasy, any parts to replace on your bike. Due to Pesach, please don’t bring any food to the house. We’ll provide some kosher for Pesach snacks at the workshop.
Outline:
-Review of tune-up tactics
-Walk through basic tune-up (chain, brakes, gears, sizing, tires, alignment)
-Open shop with bike mechanic(s) on hand
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Interested in Organizing a GesherCity Salon?
The Salon program is for young Jewish adults to come together and discuss their personal relationship to an issue in society. Each person brings their own perspective and also a willingness to listen to everyone else in the room; to hear them out and not judge them. Previous topics have included Interfaith relationships, Israel, pop culture, food, humor, religion, and more. To keep this program going, we need people who have the heart to listen to others, the curiosity to ask meaningful questions, and the desire to be part of the conversation. Please contact Jeremy Goldberg at GesherCity for more information: jmgoldberg@jccgb.org.