Building a community café

Income from the coffee shop will go toward community activities, prices will be reasonable, without compromising the quality of food.

By YAEL BRYGEL

JUNE 16, 2016 12:52

Prior to the coffee shop’s official opening, Habutke’s outdoor space was used for a range of community activities (photo credit: Courtesy) — Prior to the coffee shop’s official opening, Habutke’s outdoor space was used for a range of community activities

(photo credit: Courtesy)

A nondescript park on Antigonus Street has become the focus of recent renewal efforts by young students and artists in the Katamonim.

A community garden was developed in the park last year, and on June 15, Habutke – a café and meeting place for community activity – opened in memory of St.-Sgt. Moshe Davino, a neighborhood resident who grew up next to the park and was killed in Gaza in 2014 at age 20.

The park was deserted on a weekday last month, only hours after the end of a wearying heatwave, with the exception of an industrious young boy selling pumpkin seeds for pocket money. Two visionaries behind the Habutke initiative, Tamar Eitan and Jenia Frumin, sat shielded from the sun in a marquee adjacent to a brick enclosure designated to become the Habutke coffee shop, where drinks, sandwiches and salads will be sold to park-goers and locals.

The word butke is Hebrew slang for a booth or guard station – a word that accurately embodies the diminutive size of the structure where the coffee shop will be housed.

Property of the local community council, the booth, thought to have been a kiosk at some point during the neighborhood’s history – although it is unclear when – was recently refurbished with funding from New Spirit, the Jerusalem Municipality and a successful crowdfunding campaign in which more than NIS 100,000 was raised.

“Contributions to the campaign averaged around NIS 100 to NIS 150, with a large proportion of donations coming from Jerusalem residents,” explains Frumin.

Habutke is the initiative of five young adults, members of Kerem, a community that was established five years ago as part of the New Spirit organization’s Osim Shchuna (Building a Neighborhood) initiative. Osim Shchuna brings together university students and graduates from diverse backgrounds to live and volunteer in neighborhoods around Jerusalem. Kerem, comprised of 13 individuals from around the country, settled in the Katamonim and Kiryat Hayovel neighborhoods some five years ago. In 2014, as the program was coming to a close, a handful of members looked for a way to create a lasting impact on the community.

“We had come to the end of the project and wanted to create something meaningful,” says Eitan, coordinator of the project. She is originally from the Golan Heights, but she has made the Katamonim her permanent place of residence. “Being part of Osim Shchuna transformed Jerusalem into home.”

Even prior to its official opening, the outdoor space was used for a range of community activities, including musical and piyutim (Jewish liturgical) gatherings. On Remembrance Day eve, members of the local community gathered for an evening of song together with the Davino family in memory of their son Moshe.

At the event, the marquee area was overflowing as Moshe’s mother Ruchama spoke about her son and explained the importance of the project.

“Moshiko was a happy and loving person who gave of himself unconditionally. When he was killed and I was approached about how to best to memorialize him, I thought to myself, Moshiko needs to be memorialized through action. Habutke seemed like a perfect fit.”

Habutke will serve as a community meeting point for residents and visitors, local initiatives and community activities. Upcoming activities include a lecture by Shalem College (June 28).

With little background knowledge in restaurant management, Frumin, Eitan and their cohort sought the advice of city business owners, including Elyasaf Ish-Shalom, a ninth-generation Jerusalemite and community activist known for the Salon Shabazi initiative, a Nahlaot café that served as a platform for social activism and change.

“We are seeing a lot of interest in the project,” says Frumin, who was born and raised in the northern town of Nesher before moving to Jerusalem for his studies. “Neighborhood veterans and people newer to the community are eager to see it open and approach us regularly for updates.”

The kiosk will be kosher with a Hashgacha Pratit certification.

Income from the coffee shop will go toward community activities. Eitan notes that prices will be reasonable, without compromising the quality of food.

“It won’t be Cofix prices, but the prices will be fair.”

More information about the project can be found on the Habutke facebook page: www.facebook.com/habutkebek/