MIT Conservative Minyan (MCM)

About Us | Services | Learning | Shabbatons | Leadership | History | D'var Torah | Social Events | Photos | Wiki | Contact Us

MCM is an active community of students who practice Conservative Judaism. Our primary role in MIT Hillel is to provide communal worship [with an egalitarian 10-membered minyan] to students for whom traditional liturgy and egalitarian setting is most consistent with their religious practice. By no means do our members come only from Conservative backgrounds; furthermore, students involved in MCM represent a diverse spectrum of beliefs and levels of observance. We seek to serve the entire MIT Jewish community as a source of Jewish identity and as a forum for open discussion.

Services
We usually hold Kabbalat Shabbat and Ma'ariv services every Friday night at 6:00pm. Specific information about each service is disseminated through RoboGabbai. You can join the MCM RoboGabbai community by using this link. We daven from the Likrat Shabbat Friday night siddur. If you wish to lead services or give a d'var Torah (lit. Words of Torah, i.e., a short Torah lesson), contact one of our student coordinators at mcm-admin.

On Shabbat mornings, some members of the MIT Conservative Minyan walk either to the Tremont Street Shul, a local Cambridge synagogue or to the Harvard Student Conservative Minyan, located at Harvard Hillel.

We sponsor full Conservative High Holiday services, under the leadership of Rabbi Ben Lanckton, Hillel's Conservative Rabbinic Advisor. Student participation is encouraged. We generally begin to look for holiday service volunteers over the summer.

Learning
The MIT Conservative Minyan believes that everyone has the capability of leading services. Towards that end, we have created an on-line Guide to Leading the Friday night davening.

We schedule shiurim (lessons) on a regular basis, taught by Rabbi Sam Seicol or guests such as Rabbi Elyse Winick of KOACH, the college outreach arm of the Conservative movement. We study in a roundtable format.

Shabbatons
Each semester, the gabbais organize 1-2 Shabbatons. These weeks, MCM holds Kabbalat Shabbat and Ma'ariv services on Friday night and Shacharit and Musaf services on Saturday morning. A discussion is also held on Friday night, led by either students or a guest Rabbi. Students' enthusiasm and their participation in Shabbatons have made them some of the most popular and successful MCM events during the year.

Leadership
MCM is led by a committee of student gabbai'im who meet several times a semester to organize social events, educational events, and services for chagim [festivals] and high Holydays. The gabbai'im also lead services [although all attendees are welcome to lead any part of any service] and make community-relevant announcements. Current gabba'im are:

History
The MIT Conservative Minyan was founded during the summer of 1994 (originally called the Egalitarian Chavurah), using a siddur of their own creation for Friday night services. More recent innovations include a weekly d'var Torah and use of the Likrat Shabbat siddur. The MIT Conservative Minyan is associated with KOACH, the college outreach arm of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.

D'var Torah
During term, the gabbai'im of MCM work to prepare a weekly description of the parshah [Torah portion] in the conservative-minyan e-mail. The explication provided generally serves as a starting point for discussion after services on Shabbat. However, even if you can't make it to services, you can still follow the Torah throughout its annual cycle.

Social Events
MCM gabbai'im plan social events for MCM members to complement the variety of pluralistic social programming provided by Hillel. In previous years and currently, we have made plans to go out to dinner as a group and have made our own communal Shabbat dinners. All events like this are announced at services and by the e-mail list conservative-minyan.

Photos
See our activities.

MCM Wiki -- D'var Torah Sign-Up
MIT Conservative Minyan has a wiki, which is currently used to let users sign up to give d'varim torah during our Friday night Shabbat services. If you want to enlighten MCM with your interpretation of your bar/bat mitzvah portion, you can sign up to give a d'var for any portion scheduled during the term.

Contact Us
To receive weekly e-mails regarding service times, announcements for free meals, and other events relevant to the Conservative Jewish community, you will need to be part of conservative-minyan. In order to be part of conservative-minyan, please contact the gabbai'im by e-mailing mcm-admin or any of us individually. If you have any questions or comments regarding MCM, you may also feel free to contact us.

Hillel web questions:
mlcar at mit.edu