The Shabbat meal platform OneTable has hired Sarah Abramson as its next CEO, succeeding Aliza Kline, who stepped down at the end of last year after helping found the organization 10 years ago. Abramson, executive vice president at Boston’s Combined Jewish Philanthropies, the city’s federation, will begin her role later this summer, OneTable said.

“Throughout our search, we were continuously impressed with Sarah’s experience, expertise and passion for growing OneTable’s community. We are looking forward to working with Sarah to nurture OneTable as we enter our second decade,” Julie Franklin, chair of OneTable’s board of directors, said in a statement. 

Abramson, who oversees grantmaking and partner relationship at CJP — including overseeing the federation’s $60 million Israel emergency fund in the wake of the Oct. 7 terror attacks — has worked with a number of American and British Jewish organizations over the years, including the British Board of Deputies umbrella group, Yad Chessed, Jewish Care, Jewish Women’s Aid, and the Institute for Jewish Policy Research.

“I couldn’t be more excited to be joining the exceptional team at OneTable, following in the shoes of the incomparable Aliza Kline,” Abramson said in a statement. “At a time where there seems to be more ‘oy’ than ‘joy’ for us as a global Jewish people, OneTable represents a future filled with hope, a table full of new and old friends, and a path forward at an incredibly painful time.”

The global executive recruitment firm Heidrick & Struggles led the CEO hiring effort. 

Since Kline stepped down on Dec. 31, 2024, Irit Gross, OneTable’s chief advancement officer, has served as interim CEO, which she will continue to do until Abramson steps into the role on Aug. 11.

When Kline announced her resignation, she told eJewishPhilanthropy that as the organization’s founding CEO she felt that she was leaving OneTable prepared for the future. 

“We have a staff of 60. We have a budget of $10-$12 million each year. We’re engaging upwards of 90,000 participants in just one of our offerings — and we have three offerings. We have a reserve, thank God. We have a strong board. Those pieces that are indicators of an organization having shifted from its startup mode to its mezzanine or growth mode. And I feel good we got to those places,” Kline told eJP at the time.

In 2014, The Paul E. Singer Foundation and the Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life conceived of the idea for OneTable — harnessing the power of Shabbat meals to connect Jews in their 20s and 30s to each other and to their Jewish identities. They brought Kline — the founding director of the Mayyim Hayyim mikveh and education center — on board to develop the concept into an autonomous organization. 

Since then, the organization has developed three main offerings: its flagship program of young adult meals; an emerging initiative organizing dinners for adults over 50 (“OneTable Together”); and a new endeavor of licensing its proprietary platform to other organizations (“Powered by OneTable”). According to the organization, more than 290,000 people have participated in its programs.