Meet the Motor City Moishe House!

1. Ariella Morrison

A dyed in the wool Detroiter. To her, all roads should lead to Woodward Avenue. This sentiment has inspired her to continue her studies at Wayne State University Law School. She is interested in creating a spiritual and artistic space that serves as a force in strengthening the Jewish identity of young Detroiters. She is honored to be part of the Motor City Moishe House and looks forward to cooking vegetarian feasts, exploring the city by bicycle, and immersing herself in the vibrant mosaic of Detroit.

2. Josh Gershonowicz

Why Moishe? Josh wants to be on the ground floor of the revival of Detroit and play his roll in helping bring investment and potentially new residents into the city. He hopes to create a sense of comfort with Detroit that most suburbanites never experience. Detroit is an amazing city with tremendous assets and as a house, Moishe can create a fun, welcoming environment that can play a small part in the beginning of a viable Detroit.

Josh is a marketing and public relations executive with a dental group in Southeastern Michigan. He also operates his own consulting business focusing on heath care professionals and recently began expanding to include other small to mid sized businesses with the signing of several new clients.

3. Allie Gross

Allie is a recent graduate from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. She moved to Michigan this past August as a 2010 Teach for America corps member; She is currently teaching 5th grade ELA and SS in midtown Detroit.

In her time here, she has been fascinated by the complexities of city and the amazing juxtaposition between the media’s portrayal of the D and the actual realities.  Yes, Detroit is a city that has seen better days, but she believes this makes the location all the more critical for initiatives like Moishe House.

4. Justin Jacobs

JJ was interested in moving into the Moishe House because it seemed like a great opportunity to start bringing his large network of young (Jewish) adults into the city so that they can begin being more socially engaged in Detroit. The city has so much more to offer than the occasional dinner, show at the FOX Theater, and Tigers/Lions games, but most people don’t know where to go. With the Moishe House being a communal hub, people will be more inclined to come downtown since they know there is a strong group of people living there that know where the fun places are to go, and where there are interesting things to do. Justin loves being a host, whether it is socially or professionally, and this just seemed like a great fit.

5. Danielle Nadiv

Danielle is so excited to be a part of Moishe House. She is a Wayne State Medical and Graduate student and has been living in Detroit for the last 6 years. She loves volunteering, watching the Food Network, and urban gardening. She is looking forward to meeting new people and helping showcase all the fabulous things Detroit has to offer. Stop by the Moishe House to see Danielle and who knows, you may just wind up throwing together a quick red velvet cake!

6. Jordan Wolfe

We will look back in 10 years at the Moishe House as say it was one of the key components to rebuilding a Young Jewish community in Detroit. With Jordan’s experience developing CommunityNEXT and being very intimately involved with JFMD and what is going in Detroit, he felt it was very important to be part of launching the Moishe House. Much of the impact of the house will be plugging in to what is already going on in the community and enhance the impact. It comes down to having one overall integrated strategy and making sure we are all working together. He is uniquely positioned to ensure this happens.