Jewish Millennial Hub To Open In Boston's South End

BOSTON, Sept. 21 – Moishe House recently officially opened a home for Jewish young adults in Boston’s South End neighborhood. The new house will serve as a hub for young Jewish life in the Boston metropolitan area.

Moishe House is a global organization where young Jewish adults live together and host Jewish programs one to two times each week for their peers, with more than 100 houses worldwide. In exchange, the residents receive a modest monthly rent subsidy, and a monthly programming budget. Moishe House’s South End location joins four other such homes for 20-something Jews in the Boston area, including houses in Brookline, Cambridge and Jamaica Plain.

Moishe House Boston-South End welcomed its four inaugural residents on Sept. 1, when it officially opened its doors for the first time.

In addition to their full-time jobs, the house’s residents – Ben Rosenfeld , Emily Farbman ,Emma Neusner , and Simon Luxemberg – are committed to hosting at least 84 peer-led programs annually, such as Shabbat dinners, holiday celebrations, charity events, and more. The house’s initial program on Sept. 7 featured a Shabbat dinner, while it also held a circular challah-baking event on Sept. 13.

“We are a group of four friends who met through Camp Ramah in New England,” said Simon Luxemberg. “We met when we were small children and bunkmates, and have grown to be coworkers and lifelong friends. We share a passion for Jewish leadership, and are excited to discover our post-college Jewish identities. Our goal for living together is to promote young Jewish life in the Boston area, by celebrating Jewish holidays and customs in a fun way that will make people want to come back.”

These are the kinds of programs that Boston’s millennial Jews are seeking. According to a 2014 PEW survey of 18- to 33-year-olds , “millennials have fewer attachments to traditional religious institutions, but they connect to personalized networks of friends, colleagues and affinity groups through social and digital media.”

“Boston is filled with so many Jewish young adults and many different program offerings, however, there is a gap in the scene in the South End neighborhood for intentional and homegrown Jewish communities,” said Moishe House Senior Director of Advancement and Philanthropic Partnerships Lander Gold . “Our Moishe House in the South End will help bridge that gap and ideally encourage people who only know Judaism in a more formal setting to recognize that they do have a home away from home and that being Jewish can be casual and fun, just like hanging with good friends. Moishe House is built on a demand-based model from the young adult Jewish community, and that is exactly how Moishe House Boston-South End came about.”

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

Combined Jewish Philanthropies provided the lead support for Moishe House Boston-South End. Moishe House Boston-South End as well as the other Moishe Houses in Boston are also generously supported by the CJP, The Leifer Family Fund, one8 Foundation, Campe and Amanda Goodman, Stuart and Karen Adler and Jim and Rosalie Shane.

Photo: (Far left) Simon Luxemberg; (3rd from left) Emily Farbman; (4th from left) Emma Neusner; and (5th from left) Ben Rosenfeld