Our house, beginning solely as the Kavod House, was created by leaders of Jews in the Woods, an inclusive bi-yearly gathering of Jews from the northeast for Shabbat singing, hiking, and study. We wanted to take home some of the community and spirit we found at Jews in the Woods, and looked to Chabad outreach houses as a successful model of locally based, vibrant Judaism. We also wanted to preserve the socially progressive values of our community, and wanted to find a way to involve young Jews in social action work.
After testing out our model in Washington, DC, we decided to apply for funding to start a pilot non-Chabad outreach house in Boston. We won a grant from the Bronfman Youth Fellowships in Israel Alumni Fund to get the Kavod House off the ground, and we recently received generous support from the Forest Foundation so as to join the Moishe House Network and become Boston’s Moishe/Kavod House. Like the Chabad network, we welcome people, feed them, and offer them ways to get involved in a dynamic and diverse Jewish community, whatever their background. However, instead of asking people to become more orthodox, we make our focus to get people involved in social justice work and connect them with local opportunities.