Russian Moishe Houses
Moishe House is an international organization dedicated to providing meaningful Jewish experiences to young adults in their twenties. Their innovative model trains, supports and sponsors young Jewish leaders as they create vibrant home-based communities for their peers. From Shabbat dinners to book clubs to sporting events, residents find ways to connect their peers with the community wherever they are.
The first RSJ Moishe House opened in August 2009 with the support of Genesis Philanthropy Group. Since day one, its young residents from Russian-speaking Jewish families have organized exciting events focused on peer-to-peer Jewish learning and building their community, one day at a time.
Building on the success of the first RSJ Moishe House in Chicago, 4 Moishe Houses were opened in the Former Soviet Union, in cities that have both a rich Jewish history as well as a growing community of young adults who have demonstrated a desire to enrich their own Jewish lives.
The latest RSJ Moishe House opened in Moscow in November of 2010 and is joined by one in Kiev and one in Gomel, all of which opened in the fall of that yearll, and a house in Chisinau, which opened in October of 2009. The Moishe Houses in the FSU serve as an unprecedented chance for young Jewish adults to act as leaders of their communities, and engage in their Jewish identity on their own terms – an opportunity unique to their generation.
The houses, which received support from the Genesis Philanthropy Group as well as other generous funders, provide Jewish young adults with an alternative to organizational Jewish life. For example, the houses have hosted literature nights where they read poetry by candlelight, Rosh Hashanah parties, and informal text studies where many of the participants read traditional Jewish texts for the first time in their lives.
Because the residents of the houses plan all the programming themselves, they are able to create events that appeal to the community they serve.
Within the framework of the GPG grant, Moishe House is currently working on developing an educational framework through which the Russian-speaking houses in the US and FSU can exchange ideas and plan events. Plans exist to open more Russian-speaking Moishe Houses in North America in the near future.