Shoresh

Shoresh (Hebrew) means root, and it means so much more.

Shoresh is a coffee shop and communal gathering place in the heart of Pittsburgh’s Greenfield neighborhood — a place to grab a great cup of coffee, get some work done, or simply sit with your neighbors.  Shoresh aims to blend the sacred and the everyday by providing a welcoming space where Jewish community can gather for prayer, learning, or just a really good cup of coffee.  Based in a coffee shop, our goal is to create a non-traditional Jewish community space focused on the core elements of a spiritual community- gathering together and deep learning. In other words, we hope to create a well-caffeinated shtibl. (from the Shoresh website)

This community space is under renovation, programming is being planned, and of course, funds are being raised. Even in these early stages of development, a community is gathering and people are taking notice. Adam Reinherz of the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle noted that “a sense of enthusiasm and optimism about the Greenfield-based venture was palpable” in his coverage of the event in his article, Shoresh kickoff gives taste of Greenfield-based communal learning. Reinherz wrote about Shoresh early this summer, noting that Greenfield is a neighborhood without a coffee shop. The co-founders, Rabbi Mark Goodman and Frances Lasday are planning for Shoresh to be a place everyone in the community will want to gather.

I met Mark several years ago at an interfaith gathering… I honestly don’t remember which one, but his is a face that I always look for in those settings. Over the years, we’ve led interfaith thanksgiving services, gathered with other antiracist faith leaders, sewn menstrual pads and a tallit, and drank a lot of coffee. I’m thrilled that someday soon, we can have another cup of coffee in a place where his vision is rooted, Shoresh.

I hope you will join me in supporting this start up and my friends Rabbi Mark Goodman and Frances Lasday.

Rabbi Mark Asher Goodman and Frances Lasday stand outside the site of Shoresh. (Photo courtesy of Rabbi Mark Asher Goodman) in the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle.