Miriam - Cafe - Bookstore - Stage
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Submitted by: Merissa Category: Ensuring the Jewish Future
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One part cafe, one part Jewish bookstore, and one part events venue, "Miriam" is one-stop Jewish shopping for the body, mind and spirit. The acts of reading, eating and being entertained feed off of one another. By simply being in the building you can't help but be funneled into pop-culture, high-end design, culinary delight and Judaism.
Think a dairy kosher eatery, as popular and cutting edge as places like Real Food Daily with recipes from Jewish kitchens around the world, a bookstore with international Jewish titles to match, a beit midrash for traditional-style text study, and a performance space to bring to life original cultural expressions of American and world Jewry.
Based on similarly conceived and successful venues such as Busboys and Poets in Washington, DC (BusboysandPoets.com); Body in Santa Fe, New Mexico (BodyofSantaFe.com); and the Galicia Jewish Museum in Krakow, Poland (GaliciaJewishMuseum.org) , Miriam will serve to unite diverse Jewish communities from West to East Los Angeles with the common thread of Jewish food, Jewish learning and Jewish culture.
Each of the examples named above furthers their respective target cause. Busboys and Poets, for example, according to their website, "is a restaurant, bookstore, fair trade market and gathering place where people can discuss issues of social justice and peace. [It] should enhance the community — allowing us to bring together a diverse clientele reflective of the surrounding neighborhoods." Miriam is the Jewish LA version of DC's Busboys and Poets.
It is your neighborhood coffee shop, your favorite concert venue, and your independent bookstore, all rolled into one. And in case your neighborhood wasn't kosher, we are taking care of that. This is international Jewish food, this is Torah texts and modern Jewish thought, in the same bookstore. The rabbi from Pico-Robertson might find his Shas on the shelf, just like your Silverlake hipster might find an inlet into Jewish meditation practice. This is meant to be a cafe, a bookstore and an events venue with an overtly Jewish and hip agenda.
Miriam offers the possibility to use a space in Los Angeles to increase Jewish unity. It moves to establish a visible Jewish voice that is culturally friendly both between a multitude of Jewish groups, and between the Jewish people and the greater Los Angeles communities. Miriam is meant to unify peoples through common acts of eating, reading, learning, music and performance.
The whole world, says Reb Nachman of Breslov, the great Chasidic Rebbe, is a very narrow bridge. And on that bridge I envision a gathering place. I envision not just Jews, from religious to secular, but also passer's through, the nations, a warm place where Jewish values are visible, contagious in their positivity, and contagious through the standards of design, food and entertainment therein.
Like the followers of Reb Nachman, Moses' sister Miriam, in the desert, brought joy to the people through song and dance. She was the restorer of joy in a dark time. So too, would this venue offer a bright light, a place for rejoicing in Judaism. In as much as joy is contagious, so too, is the hope that religious pride will spread with this visible beacon.
The Restaurant:
Local Foods Strict Kosher Law High Culinary Standards Modern and Artistic Design Relaxed Environment Community-Friendly Layout Appealing to Mainstream LA Appealing to Smaller Jewish Enclaves
The Bookstore:
Modern and Ancient Texts Jewish Spirituality Jewish Practice Jewish Law Jewish Humor English, Hebrew, and Other Language Works Israeli Music Jewish Hip-Hop World Jewish Music Educational DVD's Foreign and Local Jewish Film Magazines Peace and Conflict
The Venue:
Modern Design All Walls As Art Gallery A Stage for Music, Lectures and Performance Bookstore Connected to Restaurant Restaurant Connected to Stage Open and Airy Separate Focuses Collide
The Beit Midrash:
Upstairs from the Restaurant A Fully Stocked Jewish Learning Library Local Rabbis Available to Answer Questions Learning Groups Study Connecting to Events
How they come together:
So often with Judaism it is all or nothing. At Miriam, however, one will have the opportunity to experience Judaism bit by bit, “le’at le’at” as they say in Hebrew, a chance to touch in and feel around before taking the plunge. It is a gentle way to show that kosher food is real food, that Judaism is not limited to the synagogue, and that Hebrew books are accessible without having to leave your comfort zone. And for those who are already very comfortable, it is an attractive alternative for a kosher meal and fellowship.
Why do we need a place like Miriam? Because traditional, liberal and secular Judaism need a common meeting place, an "ohel moed" of the 21st century. This is where East LA merges with West LA, only who went to what synagogue stops mattering because, converging over a strictly kosher meal with high culinary standards, everyone gets along. This is a non-coercive way of engaging with Judaism.
When asking a friend what he thought about a hip Jewish restaurant in Los Angeles, he replied, "I have no idea what a Jewish restaurant is if it ain't a New York Deli." This, my friend, is it. This is the city-dweller’s oasis, giving a positive and people-friendly face to Judaism.
Furthermore, there is a disturbing trend of polarization, not only within domestic and international politics, but also within Judaism itself. Our world desperately needs safe and attractive meeting places for passionate people holding often-opposing visions.
Why not just another JCC? This is not a community center, more so a watering hole. This is an around the clock place to gather either for a quick kosher bite, or to learn about the Akeda, about Dating Kosher Style, about Judaism’s echoes in Buddhist values. It is a place for Judaism, diced, and served on a pop culture platter. And in doing so, not compromising tradition, values, or anything else so often lost in assimilation. This is not assimilation, but Judaism's American voice.
As a writer for the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles since 2007, author of AskYourYenta.com, and having just completed a year of study at the Pardes Institute for Jewish Studies in Jerusalem, I have a unique eye on Judaism today. Raised in the Jewish food world, my standards for Jewish cooking are particularly high. My understanding of Jewish communal needs stem from having attended more than a dozen synagogues across America and having lived in more than ten US cities. Raised Conservative, drawn back in by Renewal, emerging somewhere between Reform and Orthodox, I have a penchant for Judaism unquenchable. My deep love for the Jewish people, my life as a descendant of Holocaust Survivors, and my understanding of secular culture make me the ideal bridge for these many worlds.
For those who are turning away from Judaism, riding the fence of secularism, of apathy, of other religious persuasions, this offers an opportunity and even a venue for helping those people understand the many manifestations of Judaism in action, in thought and in values.
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The future depends on the present.
It's imperative to provide Jews of all ages with opportunities to strengthen their identity and connect with their roots.
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