Our activities are grounded in four core principles: Musicality, Eclecticism, Co-creation and Holiness.

We engage Jewish tradition by collectively attuning to a long and living history of music, art, literature, and culture. Rather than assuming our Judaism as a common acceptance of a single set of laws or beliefs, we see our Jewishness as something to be learned and re-learned through a shared sensibility: an embodied musicality that is exchanged with other cultures, and passed on from one generation to the next. Many of our members are musicians and music lovers, so music itself holds a strong place in many of our gatherings.

We actively make space for difference—religious, political, sexual, and in relation to the State of Israel. Our programming is designed to be accessible to Jews and non-Jews alike, whether affiliated or unaffiliated, and regardless of background or prior knowledge. At a time of deep polarization across public life, the Chavurah seeks to cultivate a place for engagement, listening, and principled disagreement among a wide range of Jewish and Jewish-adjacent experiences.

We are a radically participatory, lay-led community. As members and non-members alike, we engage the Chavurah not as a paid service provider, but as a shared project that calls on each of us to participate in whatever ways we are able. Our programs are community-led at every level, from basic logistical tasks — such as stacking chairs or preparing food for a potluck Shabbat — to the more cultural and spiritual practices of leading services, offering divrei Torah, hosting cultural events, and shaping educational programming.

We believe the source of holiness is community. The Chavurah is a community without a permanent building, which reflects the great 20th-century theologian Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel’s conception of the sanctity of time rather than space, in finding holiness in the moments of pause, blessing, mourning, and gratitude that accompany the celebration of Shabbat and holy days, and in marking important moments in the living and passing of each of our lives.