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Band Of Brothers

Residents of Moishe House Royal Oak celebrate their first anniversary.

Barbara Lewis I Contributing Writer

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

also had a Repair the World Moishe
House, a partnership with the Repair the
World volunteer service organization.
There's no juicy story here about
Moishe House abandoning the city in
favor of the suburbs. The leases were up
at the Detroit Moishe House, and the fact
there were separate leases for the upstairs
and downstairs complicated the process.
Some of the original residents no longer
wanted to handle the responsibility of
running a Moishe House.
Living in a Moishe House has perks,
including subsidized rent and a grant
of $400 a month to coordinate social
activities. But coordinating those events
— residents commit to coordinating at
least three each month — takes time
and effort, and communal living can
be stressful. The Detroit Moishe House
residents didn't know each other before
they moved in together. And some were
pushing the age limit; Moishe Houses are
designed for people ages 22-30.

Around the time the Detroit house
closed, Ben Goutkovitch, 23, who grew
up in Royal Oak, was planning to move to
California. He applied to live in a Moishe
House there. When his plans changed,
the Moishe House coordinators asked if
he'd like to get some friends together and
start a new house in the Detroit area.
Goutkovitch, a graduate of the Jewish
Academy of Metropolitan Detroit and
Michigan State University who now
works as a song leader and guitar teacher,
got together with three friends he knew
from his many years at Tamarack Camps:
Josh Stewart, Jordan Rosenbaum and
Josh Fishman.
They chose Royal Oak because they
knew many Jewish young adults were
living there or in nearby Ferndale or
Berkley, but there was no communal
Jewish presence in those cities.
Last October, the men moved in to
a spacious but unpretentious house on
North Washington, a few blocks from
Royal Oak's thriving downtown. The fifth

roommate, Josh Leider, joined them a
month later.
The young men have known each other
for years as campers, counselors and
supervisors at Camp Tamarack. Among
them, they say, they have 78 years of
Tamarack experience.
"We're used to living together in close
quarters:' said Josh Stewart, 25, who grew
up in West Bloomfield, graduated from
the University of Michigan and is in the
process of applying to medical school.
"Because we spent our formative years
at Tamarack, we have similar values,
thoughts and beliefs. This makes living
and working together enjoyable, rather
than stressful:'
The guys refer to their home as
"MoHo."

Started In California
Moishe House was started in Oakland,
Calif., in 2006 by David Cygielman, who
felt there was a lack of programming for
Jewish young adults who had finished

Above Clockwise:
Josh Fishman checks the food while

Jordan Rosenbaum stirs soup on the
top of the range.

Josh Stewart tastes some hot chicken
soup.

Josh Stewart calls some friends he

invited and inquires why they are late
and if they are coming.

Josh Stewart watch as a guest's dog
runs across the lawn. Josh Fishman

watches as guests Albert Budnitskiy
and Kayla Kalinski, both of Royal Oak,

are greeted by Jordan Rosenbaum.

college but not yet settled down with a
family.
For the first two years, the program
was funded entirely by philanthropist
Morris Squire. He remembered family
friends calling him "Moishe" when he

Brothers on page 10

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October 2 • 2014