MOISHE HOUSE
engaging jewish young adults on their own terms
A Moishe House is a place where young adult Jews — in their 20s and out of school — can meet up and create dynamic Jewish communities. The organization was founded when a recent college graduate, David Cygielman, found no place for Jews in their 20s to congregate as Jews. So he created it.
Our work with Moishe House began when Alan and Marcia first visited Siberia on a JDC trip. Jewish practice was made illegal under Stalin eight decades earlier; those Jews who objected were sent to Siberia. When Hitler’s army invaded Russia from the west, many more Jews fled east. And so, between Stalin and Hitler, Siberia ended up with more than its share of Jews.
When JDC launched its Siberian Jewish renewal program it found a community bereft of synagogues, JCCs, and Hillels, but full of eager young Jews looking to reclaim their heritage.
So a Moishe House-JDC partnership was born.
Yet Moishe House had never cracked the Boston market. With 74% of Boston’s young adult Jewish population Birthright alums, there surely would be great demand. So if it was working in Siberia, why not try it in Boston?
Rolling up our sleeves, we invited David Cygielman to Boston and together developed an ambitious 5-year pilot and scaling plan, integrated it into the CJP strategic plan, and built funding consortiums with One8 and Dorot.
With the Leifer Family Fund’s funding and engagement, the first new Moishe House in Boston was opened in 2015. There are now seven Moishe Houses in Boston and a thriving relationship with CJP and other Jewish foundations, strengthening the ties of young Jews to the Jewish community, and to each other.
