for a spot to live in the house, but says he
felt strongly about bringing it here.
"My goal is to empower others to take
ownership of our community's future"
he said. "My generation, locally, nation-
ally and globally, needs a deeper bench of
Jewish leaders. I'd like Motor City Moishe
House to catalyze change. This is one idea
to make our city a better place."

The Chosen Six
The other residents chosen to live in
the updated, nearly 100-year-old home
are Ariella Morrison, 23, a free-spirited,
incoming first-year law student at WSU;
Josh Gershonowicz, 27, owner of a con-
sulting/public relations firm focusing
on healthcare professionals; Allie Gross,
23, a Teach for America member teach-
ing fifth-graders at a Detroit charter
school; Justin Jacobs, 28, founder of the
social/sports league provider Come Play
Detroit; and his cousin, Jordan Wolfe, 28,
director of Federation's young profes-
sional retention program
CommunityNEXT.
Wolfe plans to step down
from that role this fall to
focus on his educational
software company, Uwemp
LLC, and other ventures.
A search is under way for
his replacement. As direc-
tor of CommunityNEXT,
Wolfe was part of the local
selection committee; he
Scott Kaufman

Adam Finkel

reviewed 10 applications (not counting his
own) along with Finkel and Moishe House
officials. But the leaders of the interna-
tional nonprofit organization made it clear
they had the final say in who was chosen
to live in the house.
"The local selection committee was not
associated with our final selection pro-
cess in any way," Moskowitz said. "Moishe
House makes its decisions based on each
candidate's application as well as a confer-
ence call I personally held with each indi-
vidual applicant."
Moskowitz went on to say he looks for
strong interpersonal skills, an entrepre-
neurial background and experience with
Jewish programming when making the
selections. Each applicant had to sub-
mit an essay explaining why they think

it's important to bring Moishe House to
Detroit, what kind of community they
hope to create and why they should be
chosen. They also had to turn in a 30-sec-
ond video to demonstrate their personal-
ity.
"Detroit needs a Moishe House
because we need a hip spiritual space
for Jewish programming downtown','
Ariella Morrison wrote on her application.
"Founding a warm and inviting hub and
hangout for Jewish young adults in Detroit
is an inspiring beginning. I, along with my
future housemates and friends, hope to be
a motivating force for strengthening the
Jewish identity of young Detroiters."
Once the selections were announced,
Wolfe explained why he applied.
"With my experience developing
CommunityNEXT and being intimately
involved with Federation and what's going
on in Detroit, I felt it was very important
to be part of the launching of Moishe
House he said. "Much of the impact of
the house will be plugging into
what's already going on in the
community. It comes down to
having one overall integrated
strategy and making sure we're
all working together. I'm uniquely
positioned to ensure this hap-
pens:'

House Hunt
Wolfe and Finkel spent about
eight months hunting for the
right house; they visited hun-
dreds of potential properties,
lr
including many on the verge of
foreclosure. In the end, Wolfe
says he personally put up all of
the money to secure both leases
(for the upstairs and downstairs
units) because the East Ferry
Street house "is perfect:'
It's located in a desirable
spot, an area considered the Art
Center of Midtown; the sur-
rounding neighborhood includes
the Detroit Institute of Arts, the
Charles H. Wright Museum of
African American History, the Museum
of Contemporary Art Detroit, the Detroit
Public Library, WSU and the College for
Creative Studies.
There's some interesting Jewish his-
tory, too. In 1923, the house was the first
Detroit residence of B'nai Moshe Rabbi
Moses Fischer and family, according to
Jewish Historical Society of Michigan
board member Gerald Cook. East Ferry
Street also housed Rabbi Judah Levin, who
led a march back in 1912 to raise money
for a Jewish hospital with the slogan "Buy
a Brick to Save the Sick:' According to the
historical society publication Michigan
Jewish History, "$7,000 in nickels and
dimes was collected:'
The house is now privately owned by

Above: Moishe House on
East Ferry Street, in the
heart of the Cultural Center

Right: Large spaces will

allow for Jewish program -

ming events.

Below right: Danniell Nadiv
is cozy in her first - floor

bedroom.

- '

•

Above:
The kitchen

at Moishe

House

Right The
first - floor

bathroom

Left:
Jeremy
Moskowitz,

eastern

regional

director
of Moishe

House

Moishe House on page 12

June 2 • 2011 11

