Shoresh kickoff gives taste of Greenfield-based communal learning
'We're really trying to hit all of the different ways in which Jews connect with their religion and their spirituality: the head, the heart, the body'
The first drips of a new coffee shop delivered more than a caffeine rush. As co-founders, supporters and community members happily danced to live klezmer music inside Shoresh, a sense of enthusiasm and optimism about the Greenfield-based venture was palpable.
“We are so excited for this coffee shop opening up,” Greenfield resident Erin Sussman told the Chronicle during Shoresh’s Aug. 12 kickoff. “I feel like Squirrel Hill has a lot of community spaces. We’re really excited to have one just down the street.”
“I do not live in Greenfield, but I do live within walking distance of six different coffee shops, and can personally testify to the role that they play in building community — that’s how I’ve met so many different people in my neighborhood of Garfield, just by going to the same coffee shop over and over again,” attendee Alexis Obernauer said.
Attended by about 45 people, “Taste of Shoresh” featured snacks, learning and music.
“This is just an opportunity for people to see what we’re building here at Shoresh,” co-founder Frances Lasday said.
Lasday and co-founder Rabbi Mark Asher Goodman hope that Shoresh becomes a gathering site and Jewish communal educational center in Greenfield.
“There are a lot of Jewish institutions where you go to do something, but there aren’t a lot of Seinfeldian — kind of talk about nothing, just go to meet up with a friend — spaces in the community,” Goodman said. “We want to offer that.”
Despite lacking kitchen equipment, seating and even coffee, Shoresh is already brewing up excitement. Classes covering Talmud, Chassidut and Hebrew language are currently offered inside the former bank.
Wednesday’s program enabled Shoresh-goers and potential patrons to sample representative educational offerings.
Positioned behind teller windows, Goodman taught a class on Shoresh’s etymology.
“When you come up with the name of an organization, you might ask the question, ‘Why did you pick that name?’ So, my class is just going to be on what the word ‘shoresh’ means and why I picked it,” he said. (“Shoresh” translates to “roots” in Hebrew.)
In a small room downstairs, Pittsburgh Jewish educator David Harris-Gershon examined the slogan “No justice, no peace,” and its connections to the weekly Torah reading, which includes the words, “Justice, justice shall you pursue.”
On the building’s main level, Cantor Julie Newman similarly referenced Parsha Shoftim and integrated its teachings while leading a yoga class.
The diversity of educational and spiritual opportunities is praiseworthy, Obernauer told the Chronicle. “I work in theological education at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and am supremely happy about new forms of spiritual community and adaptive and innovative ministry — in terms of how can we bring people together in new ways that tap ancient wisdom while meeting lifestyle preferences of contemporary audiences.”
“We’re really trying to hit all of the different ways in which Jews connect with their religion and their spirituality: the head, the heart, the body,” Goodman said.
Flooring and furniture will help the mission.
“We just submitted our stamped architectural plan to the city, and we’re starting to do the back-and-forth revisions,” Lasday told the Chronicle.
Once the city grants approval, the hope, she continued, is that renovations begin this fall.
Also underway are conversations with the Vaad Harabonim of Pittsburgh.
Lasday and Goodman said they’ve spoken with Rabbi Yitzi Genack of the local Vaad about ensuring that Shoresh is a certified-kosher establishment.
“It is going to take a little while to figure out between the equipment that we have, the building permit, the health department and the Vaad exactly what we’re going to be able to serve for the community, but we are going to be a kosher institution that this community will be proud of,” Goodman said.
“We’re hoping to be accessible to as much of the community as we can be,” Lasday said.
Creating such a space requires communal commitment, the co-founders explained.
During Wednesday’s event, the two announced the start of a $100,000 fundraising campaign. There’s a $50,000 match, Lasday said. “We’re hoping to raise the rest of the [$50,000] over the next week.”
“We’re trying to raise the money for this amazing community institution that will be something that Pittsburgh’s Jewish community will be proud of for the next 100 years,” Goodman said. The goal is that it should be “something that’s bright and vibrant and supplemental to the existing Jewish community.” PJC
Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
comments