Visions for the Future

Visions are diverse things, and at Moishe House London, we have a range of views on what the future might hold. Much of what I'm writing here represents my personal view, though there are links to the other Moholo niks.

Something I think we all share is the desire for Moishe House London to be a force for change. We want to make the Jewish Community, as well as London and the UK, better, more open, more creative, with richer community and stronger connections. Our ambitions stretch far beyond the 'Jewish young adult community' in fact we do not see ourselves as being just for Jewish young adults, rather existing for people of all ages, whether Jewish or not. We don't want Moishe House London to be seen as something you do in between university and getting married.

In terms of the next five years, a desire of mine is for the house to have more local organization and so not be quite so reliant on the Moishe House Foundation and on the other sources of funding we have. We are at the first stage of this process, selecting a group of our most regular attendees to be on a kind of board ( I like to call it a Sanhedrin) to help us maintain our values and go forward. This is (possibly) a first step towards having a membership, like the model of Kavod House/Moishe House Boston which we admire.

For me, whilst the financial support of the Moishe House foundation has been absolutely invaluable, and we never could have done it without them, in the long term, Jewish life needs to be sustainable, and not reliant on wealthy donors. This is a process that will radically transform Jewish life, and arguably it has already begun, in the growth of independent minyanim that do not rely on paid professionals in order to function. So in the long term (and this may take rather more than 5 years)I would hope that we could be funded by our local membership, becuase the house provides a service that they valued. From Chabad to Hillel, the showering of free gifts on young adults in the vain hope that they will stay in the fold, is somewhat infantilising and certainly not the foundation for sustainable Jewish life. Moishe House, however, uses funding much more creatively, building strong communities across the world that can eventually become self sufficient.