Use tableware from the Common Ground installation and connect with fellow diners as you take part in an interactive culinary journey.

Sukkot is a celebration of hospitality, reminding us to dwell in a temporary home and welcome one another with open hearts. Join us for an intimate Common Ground Dinner featuring a shared meal, music, stories and conversation exploring the many paths into Jewish life. Together we'll reflect on belonging, identity, and what it means to find a place at the table.

In partnership with Challah and Soul and featuring special guests Joshua Reuben Silverstein and Cinthya Silverstein in conversation with Judi Leib, President and co-founder of Challah and Soul. 

Passed Appetizers
Fig and whipped goat cheese crostini with lavender honey (VEG)
Lemon-marinated ravioles with roasted cherry tomato and basil (VEG)
Zucchini fritters with Calabrian chili aioli (V)

Mains
Shaved fennel and pear Salad with pomegranate arils, spiced pecans, EVOO, and honey vinegar (V)(GF)
Moroccan-spiced orange chicken with date syrup (DF)(GF)
Baked salmon filet stuffed with spinach, olives, and capers
Roasted delicata squash with tahini pumpkin seeds and dukkah (V)
Zucchini towers filled with Lacinato kale, leeks, and green lentils (V)
Roasted Okinawan sweet potatoes (V)

Desserts
Dried fruit strudel (VEG)
Cider and spice–poached apple shooters with ginger non-dairy whipped cream (V)
Mini citrus cakes (VEG)

Joshua Reuben Silverstein is an award-winning actor, comedian, writer, beatboxer, educator, and DEI consultant whose performances, productions, and presentations have earned admiration from creative figures ranging from Norman Lear and Jimmy Kimmel to Prince. As an educator, Joshua has designed and led theater, improvisation, and spoken-word workshops and in-school residencies that encourage creative expression, vulnerable dialogue, inclusivity, and community building.

Joshua performs regularly with The Braid and serves as Executive Director of Caz Arts, a multigenerational, multidisciplinary arts education nonprofit that brings families together to cultivate community and foster an appreciation of the arts. He was an original member of Norman Lear’s Declare Yourself Road Trip Show, a three-year spoken-word and musical performance tour encouraging Americans to register to vote, and was the first beatboxer to perform on late-night television. For twenty-five years, Joshua has co-hosted Downbeat 720, a creative open stage for high school students sponsored by the City of Santa Monica.

Cinthya Silverstein is a double-diasporic visual activist, writer, researcher, and nonprofit arts leader working across photography, cultural organizing, and community-based storytelling. She holds a degree in anthropology from the University of California, Los Angeles, where her studies informed her interdisciplinary approach to visual culture, identity formation, religion, and the ways cultural frameworks shape individual and collective understandings of identity and belonging.

Cinthya’s work examines how images shape public understanding and memory. She is particularly interested in documentary practices that challenge dominant narratives and create space for communities to represent themselves with nuance and complexity. Alongside her photographic practice, she leads and supports nonprofit arts organizations committed to accessibility, intergenerational creativity, and healing justice–centered cultural work.

Challah and Soul is a nonprofit organization dedicated to building Jewish community through meaningful gatherings centered around food, ritual, and connection. By creating welcoming spaces for conversation, learning, and shared experiences, Challah and Soul helps people of all backgrounds deepen their relationship with Jewish life and with one another.

Los Angeles–based artist Adam Silverman collected clay, water, and wood ash from all fifty American states, Washington, DC, and the five inhabited US Territories and combined them to create a set of tableware and ceremonial pots. The resulting 224 ceramic objects, titled Common Ground, is a community-activated artwork that celebrates American pluralism while also fostering human connection through shared meals and collaborative installations.