Today we’d like to introduce you to Havurat Shalom.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Havurat Shalom (which means “fellowship of peace”) began in 1968 as an intentional alternative Jewish community and rabbinical seminary. The founders envisaged a community that could combine study, communal Jewish practice and social action. Havurat Shalom is still a pioneering, egalitarian Jewish community (but no longer a seminary). We welcome people of all genders and sexualities, singles and families of all kinds (including interfaith families), people with and without disabilities, and people from different racial and ethnic backgrounds. Members of Havurat Shalom share a commitment to Judaism and Jewish community while having a variety of different kinds of Jewish education and observance.
Since our founding, we have been in the forefront of progressive Jewish activities and organizations. We housed a Salvadoran refugee in the 1980s, worked with the Jewish Deaf Community to write and host a Deaf/Hearing Passover Seder in the 1990s, and are strongly engaged in disability rights, feminism, LGBTQ inclusion and interfaith action to support immigrants and refugees in Somerville in this century.
Has it been a smooth road?
We are a community that makes decisions by consensus. Our commitment to consensus decision-making reflects our value of non-hierarchy and a belief that every member is equally important. It also means that it takes thought and negotiation to get anything done!
Next year is the Havurah’s 50th anniversary and we deal with changing demographics, evolving ideas of what’s important to the community, and making the best use of volunteers’ time and energy. Havurat Shalom is run nearly entirely by volunteer labor. With only about 10 hours/month of paid administrative help, finding enough volunteer hours in everyone’s busy lives can be a challenge.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
The focus of Havurat Shalom continues to be prayer, study and social action. Our services are entirely lay-led, there is no rabbi or cantor. We provide a supportive environment for those who want to increase their Jewish skills, such as learning to lead a service or to the chant from the Torah. We offer free services open to everyone nearly every Saturday of the year, occasional Friday evenings, and for all the Jewish holidays. See the calendar on our website for a full list of activities, http://www.thehav.org/. Our services tend to have a lot of enthusiastic singing and spirit and are unique in our use of egalitarian liturgy.
Feminism and a commitment to egalitarian liturgy is why Havurat Shalom is writing its own siddur (prayer book). In Hebrew, it’s very difficult to have gender-neutral language. In traditional prayer books, all the references to G-d are in the masculine, as are all the references to the community. In Siddur Birkat Shalom, half the references to G-d are in the feminine, such as “halleluyah” (praise male G-d) and “hallelnayah” (praise female G-d). Perhaps you didn’t know every time you’ve said “halleluyah,” you’ve been praising an exclusively male deity! Similarly, in Birkat Shalom, our prayer book, half the references to the community are in the feminine. Havurat Shalom may still be the only Jewish community that is tackling the problem of gendered language in the Hebrew to this extent.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
Next year, Havurat Shalom will hold a 50th-anniversary reunion. We anticipate many alumni and alumnae attending as well as the current membership. We plan to eat, pray and socialize together, discuss future activities, aging and to memorialize those we’ve lost.
Havurat Shalom has just created an endowment to help secure our financial future. We plan on kicking off fundraising for it this year.
There are many exciting opportunities to teach and learn about Judaism and help contribute to social action coming up. We are starting a new program of guest speakers during the Saturday service. We would like to increase our opportunities to sing together, to study together and to join with our neighbors in Somerville, MA to make our city a place that’s safe for all.
Contact Info:
- Address: 113 College Ave
Somerville MA 02144 - Website: http://www.thehav.org/
- Phone: 617-623-3376
- Email: info@thehav.org
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HavuratShalom/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/havnik/
Image Credit:
JEV
Joanne Shapiro
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