Religious Pluralism
The Bayit is a pluralistic Jewish space.
This means that we strive to be accessible to all kinds of Jews, whether or not they keep Kosher, observe Shabbat and festivals in traditional ways, or wear a head covering. In order to live in a pluralistic way, we educate one another, elect a religious coordinator, and set community expectations. Here is a taste of what this looks like.
Kashrut
We keep the Bayit's kitchen kosher (within Jewish dietary law) so that everyone can eat our food. This means:
All of our dishes, pots, pans, and utensils are toveled (dunked in a ritual bath). No outside cookware is used in our kitchen.
All of the food in our kitchen, with some exceptions, is required to have an accepted hechsher, or a certification that it was produced in a kosher way. We rely on the guidance of the Chicago Rabbincal Council to decide which hechsher symbols to accept.
All food served formally at the Bayit, eaten on Bayit dishes, and used with Bayit appliances must be prepared in the Bayit or come from a recognized establishment (restaurant/supermarket) with approved kashrut certification.
Meat and dairy are prepared in separate cookware in our house. This can get complicated; we'll teach you about separating meat and dairy when you move in!
If you make a mistake (or think you may have made a mistake) in our kitchen, we have a "confused dishes" bin where we put any cookware that may have become unkosher. The religious coordinator will help you ensure that the rest of the kitchen remains kosher and the dish can be made kosher again. Even people who have kept kosher their entire lives make mistakes, and we treat mistakes as inevitable and (importantly) fixable.
Guests who would like to contribute a dish to a Shabbat meal, for example, are encouraged to cook in the Bayit kitchen with certified kosher ingredients and under the supervision of a bayitnik. Guests may not use our kitchen unsupervised. Alternatively, they can bring items that do not need a heksher like fresh, uncut fruit and vegetables.
We also know that not everyone keeps kosher (the person writing this doesn't!). Therefore, we have lots of ways of accommodating non-kosher food:
You can store non-kosher food in our dining room in the provided non-Kosher fridges and cubbies.
You can heat non-kosher food in the lounge microwave or toaster, and wash personal dishes in the lounge bathroom.
You can also eat non-kosher food at our dining room table, which is not a Kosher surface.
We stock paper plates, bowls, and utensils as a part of our grocery budget.
You are welcome to keep a mini-fridge in your room!
Shabbat and Holiday Observance
We keep Shabbat in some of our common spaces and not in others. This allows everyone to enjoy Shabbat according to their needs and personal customs.
In our kitchen and dining room, prohibitions against labor (under Jewish law, this means cooking, flipping light switches, writing, using electricity and some other things) are in effect during Shabbat and Yom Tov.
In our lounge, there are no prohibitions on Shabbat or Yom Tov. You can use the microwave and/or toaster, watch TV, conduct business (if that's your vibe), complete coursework, make art, play musical instruments at any volume––whatever you want!
Jewish Life
One of the best parts of living in the Bayit is the constant opportunity to celebrate being Jewish in a unique way. Here are some ways this shows up:
We have weekly Shabbat potlucks where we say blessings and sing together over Challah and Wine.
We observe most Jewish holidays, building a massive Sukkah on Sukkot and hosting a celebratory Yom Kippur break-the-fast, to name a couple examples. On Chanukah, we light candles together every night.
We kasher our kitchen for Passover and make each other kosher-for-Passover meals.
We host tisches, study sessions, and social events that are open to our extended Bayit family and the broader Jewish community.
We have a mezuzah on every doorway in our house.
We have a significant lending library of Jewish books.