MOHO Philly

friday evening I ended up in the Moishe House in Philadelphia. People arrived after 7 and at 1.30 a.m. party was still going on. They finished all of the alcohol broght by the guests (wine) and the Moishe bar was opened, as well, as I heard. What a great idea! We never had that in Hungary -  just a small corner...

Four people live here Cody, super nice - and his dog, Chica; Lawrence, a teacher who is currently very much into girls - so yesterday Cody was correcting papers of his pupils....while he was going out in the night - + two Rebeccas - Karp, Moishe house co-founder, works at AJC, and Becca, very nice host, open and friendly- who works in the National Museum of American Jewish History.

Becca cooked pasta with tomato sauce Friday evening, but the menu was basically put together from the food that people brought to the party - at least half of the guests brought something to eat! On such occasions food is vegetarian, and served in plastic utensils - keeping laws of kashrut. The residents co-ordinate with the guests about what kind and how much food there is going to be brought to the event.

There was no Kabalath shabath davening, but there was a big "Pimp my food"-round - when everyone who brought some food could tell about what they brought, how they made it and who they are by the way.

This is the photo wall at the entrance. I have always been wanting one in Budapest, but never got the chance to do it. Its great!!

Moishe House Philly composts food and gets their vegetables through CSA. - Community Supported Agriculture. 

Guests have brought not only food but wine, too. We had Challah here already, from the challach-yoga session from Thursday.It is good to see that here challa is torn, too - and not cut by a knife - I think that is corny. A difference is though that kiddush wine is not passed around / and there were no small cups for wine.

People wash also, and the bracha is printed on a paper with exact instructions and explanations of how to ritually ash your hands according to Jewish tradition. I had a look at it, and realized that I did not know that we can hold our hands upwards - every day something new.

The Philliy MOHO team is very active, too. It was good to hear that they are co-operating with other Jewish young adult organizations here, and there is a meeting once a month where they coordinate their events. They say they reach out to ca. 100-200young adults monthly. People - guests were quite similar to Budapest Moushe House guests - Judaism s more evident here, though, people more involved in jewish stuff, have more background.And there is no Sirály - where people would go after Friday evening dinner. Kiddush was recited by Brian, ex-Moishe House Philly resident (by heart)

A funny custom here is that empty jars are used as glasses- I like it! A local minhag!

They made just one photo about the event and have asked people before if anyone has anything against it - let it be religious concerns or just general photo-phobia. This is interesting because the MOHO Philly residents are otherwise rather non-observant, actually. Was funny when one of them was seriously thinking about turning the music on at 11 p.m. ... in the end he did not do so. So in spite of the residents non-observant life style, they are kosher, eg.g - earlier just vegetarian and not meat and dairy. Of course here it is much more easier to get kosher food than in Hungary, but I still think it is impressive! There are ca. 100 thousand Jews in Philly- Food brought by the guests is served with plastic utensil - and thus there is no problem with cleaning up or kashrut really.

There is a Moishe House Fame of Hall, as well - funny! a photo with Will Smith hugging Cody. we can also see eX-Moishe resident Brian there, too who still has a key to the apartment! This is so nice, I wish I had one too :)! He actually live just two streets down, so he did not move too far to stay connected! Brian teaches math, and he is now trying to set up a record: he wants to visit to the most of the Moishe Houses - ever. I think he is at 8 right now. He will surely visit Budapest in the summer, too, but he will def. not go to Belorus, as the VISA is 400 USD - insane!

Every small detail is worked out here - leaving the house there is a sign where residents wanna make sure if you left your email in case you want to stay connected.

S, its a very cool house, and ist so interesting that it is similar to the Budapest house in so many ways. Of course Budapest is still the closest to my heart - but this was an awesome experience. Thank you, Philly, for having me over shabbath! Special thanks to Cody and Becca who were so caring and attentive!!