National Havurah Coordinating Committee

The NHC strengthens communities and the Jewish community at large by providing programming resources to individuals and havurot across North America. We bring like-minded people together to participate in activities that will renew Jewish values in our Jewish communities and in the larger culture.

One of the NHC's greatest strengths is the diversity of its participants. We are musicians, doctors, students, furniture makers, retirees, Jewish professionals, homemakers, teachers, activists, and just about everything else. At past Summer Institutes, our youngest participants have been under 6 months old and our oldest over 80, with many participants from all age groups in between. We are Jews from birth, Jews by choice, people committed to both traditional and non-traditional Jewish practice, non-Jews, and people exploring Judaism; LGBT and straight; people of color, Sefardi, Mizrachi and Ashkenazi; urban, rural, and suburban; Conservative, Orthodox, Reconstructionist, Reform, Renewal, secular, and Jewish without labels; and people with no formal Jewish education, people with Ph.D.'s in Talmud, and people with all other types of Jewish backgrounds. The dynamic process of exploring together what Judaism and Jewishness means in our lives is a highlight of the Institute.

At the Summer Institute, every teacher is also a student and every student is also a teacher. People who are usually called "rabbi" or "professor" throughout the year go by their first names here. And people who rarely take active leadership roles in their communities discover that they, too, can teach and contribute to the community.

One participant summed it up when she wrote after attending her first Havurah Institute: "The Havurah Institute was slightly closer to heaven on earth than other places I've been before. It was a week of learning, singing, dancing, talking, thinking, and feeling...You could make friends with anyone regardless of age or affiliation. It was a place full of individuals and families of all ages, shapes, colors, orientations and interests, united by a love of learning and teaching and a desire to make Judaism a positive force in their lives." We look forward to creating community with you at the NHC Summer Institute!