Moishe House

I currently live in MHSF and I love being a part of this organization! We recieve support from the larger organization, but also are free to plan events that are catered to our unique community here in SF. I love living in a house with great roommates who are active within the Jewish community, and it's been amazing to not only participate in a Jewish community but also to help create it. We put on about 8 events a month for young Bay Area Jews, and have a great mix of social, sports, arts, and 'mildly' religious events. Moishe House always has our back by being the organizational and fundraising nexus for the larger community of houses internationally.

I co-founded the Moishe House - Buenos Aires in 2006 and lived in the house for about a year and a half. The project enabled me to play an active role in the Jewish community of Buenos Aires and empowered me be a leader in my community. I had SO much fun as a Moishe House resident being given the flexibility and trust to run our programs the way we wanted to and create the environment that we desired. I had an incredible amount of pride in my Moishe House, not because I was told to, but because I truly felt that the project was "mine". The feedback that we received from the community members was extremely positive and I felt a huge sense of accomplishment for the work that we were doing. Even though I moved out of the Moishe House a year ago, I still feel part of the Moishe Family, and I know that I will be welcome into any Moishe House with the same amount of hospitality and warmth that I showed to my guests.

I lived in a Moishe House and helped coordinate our programming for three years. We did tremendous work together locally, and the national organization provided us with dependable financial support. The national organization also demonstrated that it is a learning organization, as the quality of non-financial support increased over the years.

As a current resident of a Moishe House in Washington, DC, I have firsthand experience with the innovative nature of the program. I've lived in the house for 2 years now, and in my 2 years I've seen our house provide a safe, fun and comfortable place for young DC Jews. Our house puts on a wide variety of events, from Shabbat dinners to poetry readings to pick up basketball. And the Moishe foundation gives each house (there are more than 25) the autonomy to chart their own course – to build events and activities around the unique needs of their community – and they provide the support that we need to get it done effectively. This means that each house looks quite different and each house grows and develops organically, driven by the community in which it is located. The Moishe Foundation’s model is truly a unique one, developing leaders and building community for a demographic (post college) that often feels lost or like they don’t have a place to call their own, particularly when it comes to religious identity. I’m grateful to be a part of the Moishe Foundation, and I look forward to seeing its continued growth and impact.

Moishe House is an incredible organization, and as a resident I was able to experience the value that the organization brings to our communities. Moishe House gives young Jewish adults an outlet after college to meet and exchange with other Jews, and helps them find a Jewish community during a very transitional stage. Whether we hosted a happy hour or a Tu'Bshvat Seder, I know that people walked away from our events with a sense of comfort and connection to the other community members present.

What a pleasure it has been to be affiliated with such a dynamic foundation as the Moishe House. For many years now, I have watched as this group of inspired and dedicated Jewish leaders has taken the organization from a modest composite of Jewish houses across America, into the transnational synergistic Jewish powerhouse it is today. In my extensive travels, I have consistently found that someone always knows a friend living in one their 24 Moishe Houses unique locations across the globe. I myself formed and organized a house in Vienna Austria, and the foundation was extremely helpful in assisting us with finances, advice, and maintenance. The staff are all well trained, friendly, and certainly do not lack vision. In my opinion, they have truly positioned themselves at the cusp of twenty first century globalization, as the values of local empowerment, global diversity, and community change are advanced through an increasingly integrated network of communications infrastructure. Through their global network, they host and support suck a diverse blend of Jewish identities. This is true to the Jewish people’s long standing tradition as nation charged with the dispersion of ideas, innovation, and exchange. Kudos to the Moishe House, and may they continue to expand their vision across the world!

Being Jewish and in your mid- 20's can be challenging. It's often that time of so- called "in-betweennes." Many of us are out of college and working, but not yet married, not yet part of a synagogue, and still trying to establish the career. This is where Moishe House has stepped in and impacted the Jewish community and world: by meeting the interests and visions of young Jewish adults in their twenties, around the world, who are searching for and to build community. The beauty of Moishe House is that this organization gives the power to its residents and their communities of young Jewish adults to engage and grow the type community they envision and want to be a part of. Being a resident, I have the freedom to plan the types of community- building programs I am interested in and that I feel will best engage old friends and allow me to meet new ones whether its through surfing, a Shabbat hike, a sports night, or just a relaxing Shabbat dinner. Moishe House has filled that vacuum of "in- betweenness" that young Jewish adults in their twenties often feel. Not only do I have a sense of community now, but new friends, old friends, new networks, and old networks alike have a gathering place to organically build and participate in community based off our passions and interests.

After being in St. Louis for a year out of college, without having found a a good way to connect with Jewish young adults, I was tipped off to Moishe House. The model is one of the most cost effective and impactful that exists. By letting young adults create the programming that they find attractive, it ensures that other young adults will show more interest. After speaking with the leadership, we were up and running in a week. What started with Shabbat dinners of 10 people quickly grew to more than 20 a week. We actually had to move out of our apartment into a house to accommodate more people. Outside of getting to meet other Jewish young adults in St. Louis and start to create community, Moishe House connected me with residents at other houses around the country and plugged me into a number of national leadership initiatives. Moishe House gets that any Jewish young adult movement needs to be peer driven at every level.

I have attended events hosted by a number of organizations whose mission statements can be generally summarized as "bringing Jews in their 20's together," and none of them compare to Moishe House. Moishe House has perfectly captured the unique idea of providing a consistent venue in the form of an actual home where members of the community can participate in events. A casual atmosphere coupled with a diverse range of events creates a constant flow of newcomers and an opportunity to meet new friends. Each month I witness people meeting each other for the first time, exchanging phone numbers, and becoming friends. For example, last month approximately 25 people came to the monthly Shabbat dinner hosted at our home. A number of people came alone but within 20 minutes of arriving were engaged in conversations and eventually they all went out afterwards for a drink. At an event later in the month a couple girls who had met new friends thanked us for hosting such an event and for creating an environment to meet new people. Meeting new people and maintaining existing friendships in the context of enjoying fun events, ranging from trivia night to Shabbat dinners, is exactly the goal of Moishe House. The wonderful part about Moishe House is that the stated mission of "creating a Jewish community for those in their 20's" is actually happening. People are hearing about Moishe House, and the word is spreading. The organization is standing on a firm ground and will only continue to thrive. With thirty houses all over the world and counting, I believe Moishe House will soon become the preeminent international organization for creating Jewish community for those in their 20's, not to mention the generation of house residents growing into and becoming Jewish leaders. I'm extremely proud to be a Moishe House resident. I've donated to the house myself, I recognize the importance and value of this amazing product, and I hope to fund a house myself one day.