Kavana - Join

Becoming a Partner

The Kavana Cooperative is a new concept in the Jewish realm - although many elements of this concept hearken back to or evoke community in days long past. As in any cooperative, people have the opportunity to become partners in this organization. Below is information outlining what it means to become a partner. If, after reading this, you are interested in exploring this further, follow the steps at the bottom.

If you're not interested in becoming a partner, but still want to experience Kavana in some form/fashion, there will be many ways to do so. The key will be staying on the email list as well as checking the website. We'll indicate those programs which will be open broadly and invite people to partake in those.

For now all programs and activities are open to everyone.

Still have questions or have feedback after reading all of this? Just send us a note!

Kavana Partner Benefits

A Personal Judaism: Kavana helps partners (and their families, where relevant) develop a rich Jewish life– promoting and enhancing a unique Jewish journey for each of us and our families depending upon our spiritual needs, wants, and desires.

Community: Kavana seeks to create a powerful sense of Jewish community – like an extended family – in Seattle. It’s for people who want a sense of connection to the larger Jewish and non-Jewish world, and who are willing and able to contribute in all ways to the well-being of this community and to the world.

Specific Partner Privileges

Receive Individual Mentorship : To envision and create your very own Jewish journey, all partners will...

Meet one-on-one with the Rabbi or a spiritual mentor from the community annually to discuss Kavana involvement and to set personal Jewish objectives that matter to you.

Meet with the Rabbi or a spiritual mentor at any time for spiritual counseling and life cycle event support.

Express Your Voice: Within the cooperative structure, the entire partnership will have the opportunity to select and participate in the governance of the organization. Together we will create a sacred community, a place of give and take, where all voices will be heard.

Create a New Model of Jewish Expression: Partners will be on the ground floor of shaping a new and innovative approach to Jewish life (Kavana is not your parents’ Judaism).

Participate in Partner-Only Events: Many of our programs and classes will be open only to Kavana partners, their guests, and people trying us out, in order to create a supportive and intimate community where growth, fun, learning, and change can happen.

Partner Requirements

Show up: Building and sustaining this kind of community requires community members to be present. Therefore we ask each partner to commit to at least monthly attendance at Kavana events.

Commit financially: Supporting a community means ensuring its financial viability. Every Kavana partner is expected to make a meaningful financial contribution to the organization commensurate with his/her capacity.

Serve the community: Kavana’s partners take shared responsibility for building this community, and contribute time and energy in the following ways:

Ongoing Tasks: Every partner will sign up at least quarterly to fulfill one of the ongoing tasks necessary to keep events running (e.g. set-up, clean-up, purchasing and delivery, recycling).

Job/Role: In the spirit of Kavana's cooperative nature, each partner will take on a specific job or area of responsibility within the community. We recognize that people's availability varies; therefore, the job-list reflects this reality with jobs varying in terms of size and scope. Job assignments will be determined based on Kavana’s needs and each partner’s unique interests and skills.

Abide by Kavana's core values:

Be “Menschy”: We hold all people, the environment, and the world in high regard. We will aim to go above and beyond standard practice in all our interactions.

Be warm & welcoming: We will create an environment that is inviting, positive and non-judgmental. We will go out of our way to help people find a comfortable place in the group.

Embrace diversity: We respect and honor the diversity of our community and will weave that diversity into everything we do.

Hold high expectations: We expect people of all ages to gauge their capabilities and challenge themselves as well as maintain high expectations of the community.

Have fun: We will make sure we laugh, have fun together, and don’t take ourselves too seriously.

Create and agree to a Brit/Covenant: Partners will codify their relationship with Kavana – both in terms of their personal Jewish objectives and their contributions to the community – in a written document called a brit/covenant, reviewed and renewed annually.

Steps to becoming a partner:

Indicate interest - we recommend attending a couple of Kavana programs to truly understand what we're about

Email us to receive the partner profile forms and we'll also follow up with you about getting together

<note - personal Rabbi meetings are on hold until January>Schedule personal Rabbi meeting by emailing Rabbi Nussbaum

Fill out partner profile form(s)

Get together for coffee to discuss the forms

Select a job

Voila! Partner

Note: throughout this process and on an ongoing basis, we will be requesting feedback on the process itself so that we can continuously improve and respond to the needs of our participants (bystanders not allowed)