
Ninety-two Moishe Houses in cities spanning 21 countries
will mark the organization’s 10th anniversary
of re-defining Jewish life for young adults
by celebrating Shabbat together on Sept. 23rd.
Moishe House, the largest organization in the world serving post-college Jewish young adults, will celebrate its first decade with thousands of Moishe House residents, local community members, family members and donors in Asia, Africa, Europe, Australia, North and South America and Israel. The goal is to bring together the global Moishe House community to rejoice and reflect on the last 10 years of creating meaningful and intentional communities for young Jewish adults around the world. All Shabbat programs will begin local time in each community.
“After an amazing and inspiring decade, today we have a wonderful opportunity to continue to grow for the future, to expand our reach, to continue to say ‘yes’ to the growing network of incredible young leaders who want to open up their homes and redefine Jewish community to meet their needs and the needs of their peers,” said David Cygielman, founder and CEO of Moishe House.
Since its founding with a single house and four people who hosted Shabbat dinners in Oakland, Calif., in 2006, the number of Moishe Houses have multiplied worldwide, with demand booming for the peer-led Jewish homes and programs. In its first decade, Moishe House has hosted over 600,000 young adults attending more than 35,000 programs worldwide.
Moishe House envisions scaling its model, and in 2017 plans to engage 62,500 unique young adults in 107 houses worldwide through 7,500 house-based programs. Moishe House has also created an alumni program called Moishe House Without Walls (MHWOW), which is the fastest growing platform for Jewish leadership involvement beyond the walls of a Moishe House. MHWOW empowers non-resident young adults to create their own communities by planning and hosting programs for their peers wherever they live.
Moishe House will also hold three special 10th anniversary celebrations in London on Oct. 30th; New York on Nov. 17th, and San Francisco on Nov. 29th.
Congrats to all the people involved in this amazing venture! I had the chance of being very close to the beggining of MOISHE House in Uruguay and I can say that the amount of possibilities this project brings is really great! Wish you all the best!!
This was a very interesting article. Kol haKavod to Jim Heeger for making Moishe House a priority in his busy life.
Shalom uBeracha David,
You have really done the job; for only ten years the results are extremely impressive, and Moishe’s House still has many years of exponential growth coming.
I don’t know how close to my Rebbe Reb Shlomo Carlebach ZTz”L, you have been, considering your younger age and his early depart, but when I walked into your Jerusalem branch I found the energy of love and inclusiveness very similar to that of the House of Love and Prayer (of which I was the last gabai in ’75/6) in S. Francisco.
As you most likely know, in ’76 we closed the House and moved the whole community to Israel creating Moshav Modiin, where I live to this day; I don’t know how much of a priority is right now encouraging aliyah in your organization, but the coming fourth wave is massively building up, and creating new intentional community villages is a nice potential result of the communal spirit Moishe’s Houses undoubtedly foster.
My 38 years of keen observation of communal development gave me insights that I will be pleased to share with you if in your next trip to Israel you will factor and schedule a few minutes for coffee or beer with me; in the meantime please find on Google some details of my “Kerem Bnei Shlomo” project.
With Blessings of Health, Steady Success and Longevity,
Shabbat Shalom uMevorach, Ktiva veChatima Tova
EGO +972586272388