Community
Perhaps you are just beginning to learn about Boston Workers Circle or want to get more involved, but have no idea where to start. We invite you to sit down with a community leader or staff person to learn more and get answers to all of your questions. Email Organizer Zohar Berman at zohar@circleboston.org to find a time to connect and discuss involvement options. Whether you are looking for particular programming, or hoping to get involved in our committees’ work, there is a niche for every person in our community.
Mutual Aid
Mutual Aid Team
The Mutual Aid Team organizes to support BWC members with community care. Any BWC member is eligible to receive non-emergency support from the team. The team currently organizes support through the following sub-teams:
- Welcome/Phone Check ins: Team members respond to requests for help and reach out to community members upon request to stay in touch with them and learn about any needs they may have.
- Meals: Team members match cooks to members needing meals during recovery, sickness, bereavement, or other difficult moments.
- Bereavement: Team members maintain resources related to bereavement, including shiva and memorial service preparation, and distribute shiva details to the community.
- Skill Share: Team members meet every 3rd Saturday for Stitch & Resist and host skill workshops.
The Mutual Aid Team also maintains BWC’s Mutual Aid Network, a listserv where current members can offer and request help from one another directly, and the News of the Mishpokhe, where community members can submit successes, milestones, and notices of illness or deaths to the community e-newsletter. Submit to News of the Mishpokhe here.
Current BWC members: to receive support, fill out our form, email mutualaid@circleboston.org, or leave a message with BWC Organizer Zohar Berman at 617-819-1620.
We’re always seeking new team members! To join the Mutual Aid Team or any of the sub-teams, email mutualaid@circleboston.org to get connected.
FAQs
- I’m a current BWC member needing support from the community. How can I request help?
- Community members can request support by filling out our form, emailing mutualaid@circleboston.org, or calling BWC Organizer Zohar Berman at 617-819-1620.
- Does the team provide emergency/urgent support or same-day support?
- The Mutual Aid Team is not intended to replace emergency services or urgent care. Welcome Team members typically need 2-3 days to reach out to requests for support, depending on the nature of the request. BWC members can post to the Mutual Aid Network if they want to self-organize a quicker response from fellow members.
- What do I do if I have a mutual aid need not covered by the current sub-teams?
- The team identified the above teams as our first priorities; as the team and community’s capacity grows, we hope to build further sub-teams. In the meantime, members can either post their requests to the Mutual Aid Network, or reach out to the Mutual Aid Team at mutualaid@circleboston.org to get support in strategizing how to potentially have their need met.
Other Mutual Aid Resources
Here is a member-sourced list of resources.
Here is our Secular Memorial Guide and our suggestions for What to do When Someone Dies.
Mutual Aid Calendar
Young Adult Community
Boston Worker's Circle Young Adult Community brings together BWC members in their 20’s and 30’s for educational and cultural programming, social justice organizing, ritual, and fun, informal social gatherings. Our community members span the full range of experiences: people who were raised in a Jewish community; those reconnecting with their Jewishness for the first time; Ashkenazi, Sefardi, and Mizrachi Jews; Jews by choice; LGBTQ Jews; disabled and neurodivergent Jews; secular, religious, and in-between Jews; and many more! We know many Jewish young adults often experience dissonance or rejection from establishment Jewish spaces, and we wholeheartedly welcome you to come as you are.
Some examples of our programming:
- Our yearly YA retreat in late summer/early fall
- Young adult shabeses
- Support with finding buddies to go to events and protests in the area
- Leadership development for young adults leading organizing and programming within the organization
The YA community’s most important project is planning BWC’s annual Purim celebration, Gragger, our Raucous & Radical Purim Party(opens in new tab). Anyone of any artistic level is welcome to take part, and there are plenty of roles for folks who aren’t artistically inclined at all. Planning for Gragger typically begins in October, with the first team meetings starting in November. For more information about the Gragger planning process, please visit the Gragger webpage here.(opens in new tab)
If you’re seeking aligned, leftist Jewish community like so many of our young adult members, BWC can offer you an intergenerational, social justice-loving Jewish community that welcomes you as your whole self. Young adults form an incredibly important part of our organization and our leadership, and we’re excited to support your journey as you join our 125+ year old organization. Join us at one of our upcoming events, or reach out to BWC’s Organizer Zohar Berman at zohar@circleboston.org(opens in new tab) to learn more.
Subscribe to BWC’s YA mailing list here.(opens in new tab)(opens in new tab)
Young Adult Calendar
Aging in Community
The Aging in Community Committee gathers the voices of BWC’s older members and works to create a community that can sustain and nourish us as we age. We provide opportunities for learning, support and activism.
All of our programs have moved online! If you're not already on our Aging in Community email list and would like to be added, email co-chairs at aic@circleboston.org and they can send you the link for the sessions. New to Zoom? Click here for a step-by-step how to use Zoom guide. Meetings are currently paused, but in the future, all sessions listed will be at 10:30am unless otherwise listed. We hope you will join us!
Aging in Community Calendar
For a full list of resources we offer, please visit the Archives & Resources page.
Previous Committee events have included:
What do We Do with our Bodies When We Die
Climate Change
Small Groups, with a focus on Legacy
Death & Dying Small Group Discussions
Housing/Living Arrangements as We Age
Caregiving
Are you providing care for others? Receiving care from others? How does this all feel? What are strategies to keep yourself and your caregivers/care receivers sane and as independent as possible.
Let’s Dismantle Ageism, facilitated by AIC member Kathy Dalton
What is ageism? How does it appear in our lives? What can each of us do to dismantle it? We’ll explore how ageism affects each one of us. We’ll do an exercise to help us see ageism in our lives. We will look at some of our own attitudes about aging and some of the messages we’ve heard all our lives from the media, the entertainment industry, and others to sell us an ageist agenda. We’ll take some steps, practice a response to ageist experiences, and identify what else we can do to be the change.
Book Discussion of Philip Roth's "Everyman"
Facilitated by Mike Felsen and Ava Cheloff, we hope you will join us having read the book first. We anticipate a lively conversation about this honored, andoversial titan of American literature.
Film and Discussion
A screening and discussion of the PBS documentary Grow Old Along with Me: The Poetry of Aging. In the film, artists, actors, writers and others reveal how aging can be a creative process that allows us to access our full humanity.
Aging with Wisdom
A book talk and slide show with author Olivia Ames Hoblitzelle. Her first book was the award winning Ten Thousand Joys and Ten Thousand Sorrows: A Couple's Journey Through Alzheimer's. In Aging with Wisdom, she "explores the ways readers can nourish their inner lives and spirit even as their bodies age and facilities diminish."
Housing Options As We Age
Panel presentation with Emily Saltz, geriatric care manager along with Boston Workmen Circle members Miriam Habib and Sandy Sachs who will share their journeys in making housing choices as they grew older. There will be opportunity for small group conversation following the panel. We encourage all those who are interested to join us whether or not you participated in the first session.
Identity, Meaning and Generativity
Who are we once we retire? Where do we find meaning in our lives? How do we continue to feel like we’re making a difference: for ourselves, our community, our world. Join with other BWC members to share experiences; examine our feelings; consider options and enjoy one another’s company.
Shabes Gatherings
Every Boston Workers Circle Shabes is an opportunity for members and friends to gather together, to relax and enjoy one another’s company, and to share the traditional Friday night blessings that acknowledge our gratitude for what community, candles, wine, and challah give us. The gatherings are also a chance to get to know some members of our community better. Learn more on our holiday page.