First Home for Young Russian-Speaking Jews Opens in Brighton

Photo credits: Alec Hutson.

BOSTON – Moishe House officially dedicated a new home for Russian-speaking Jewish young adults on Wednesday, Dec. 20, in Brighton. The house will serve as a hub for young Jewish life in the Greater Boston area.

Moishe House Boston – RSJ joins only three other such Russian-speaking communities for 20-something Jews in the U.S., and three other homes in the Boston area. Moishe House is a global program where young Jewish adults live together and host Jewish programs one to two times each week for their peers, with more than 100 such houses worldwide.

The Moishe House in Brighton is part of a global Moishe House initiative for Russian-speaking Jewish young adults and aims to engage and build the community of young Russian-speaking Jews around Boston. Combined Jewish Philanthropies, Greater Boston’s Jewish Federation, reported in 2015 that seven percent of Boston’s young Jewish adults aged 18-34 were born or raised in Russia or the former Soviet Union, yet only 42 percent of them are engaged in any Jewish activities, making them “the largest minimally engaged group of Boston Jewry.”

“Every new Moishe House is an opportunity for passionate young adults to create weekly Jewish experiences for themselves and their peers,” said David Cygielman, founder and CEO of Moishe House. “This new home, the first of its kind in Boston, seeks to build a grassroots community for young Russian-speaking Jews, many of whom haven’t been engaged by traditional Jewish institutions.”

The Brighton Moishe House officially opened its doors to the community on Dec. 20 with a ceremony in which a rabbi affixed a mezuzah, a case containing Jewish prayers, to the home’s doorpost. The house’s three residents – Danielle Chernobylsky, 23, Susan Salgan, 28, and Eugene Zeleny, 27 – began hosting programs this fall, and have so far held 20 events for hundreds of young area Jews. In addition to their full-time jobs and graduate studies, the residents are committed to hosting at least 60 peer-led programs annually.

“I want to express my gratitude that I have been introduced to the Moishe House community,” said Salgan. “I feel really inspired to host programs and build the right team for a Boston – Russian-speaking Jews’ Moishe House.”

Moishe House currently supports 20 homes for young Russian-speaking Jews in nine countries throughout the former Soviet Union and around the world, including the U.S. These homes, with Russian-speaking leaders and programs, are meant to inspire young Russian-speaking Jews around their identity and heritage, in the face of increasing pressure to assimilate.

Moishe House Boston – RSJ is generously supported by Combined Jewish Philanthropies, Genesis Philanthropy Group, and the Leifer Family Fund.

Photo #1: (Front to back) Moishe House Boston – RSJ residents Susan Salgan, 28, Eugene Zeleny, 27, and Danielle Chernobylsky, 23, dedicated their new home by hanging a mezuzah.

Photo #2: (From left) Eugene Zeleny, Danielle Chernobylsky, Moishe House Director of RSJ Programming Yana Tolmacheva, and Susan Salgan at the new Moishe House Boston – RSJ.

Photo #3: The Moishe House Boston – RSJ residents hung a mezuzah on their doorpost on Wednesday, Dec. 20, to officially dedicate their new home.

Photo #4: Moishe House Boston – RSJ resident Danielle Chernobylsky opened her doors to the community on Wednesday, Dec. 20.