NEXT DOR VOICE OF THE NEW JEWISH GENERATION Chella Bluth and Jeremy Rosenberg at a Chanukah party
A New Jewish Hub in Detroit Moishe Pod Detroit creates events for young Jewish adults. ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY CONTRIBUTING WRITER
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hen Moishe Pod Detroit opened in December 2021, there was one goal: to build upon Detroit’s already vibrant Jewish community. Geared for young adults and organized by couple Jeremy Rosenberg, 23, and Menuchah Bluth, 24, who goes by Chella, Moishe Pod Detroit puts on events, social gatherings and more to create a hub for Jewish Detroit.
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Rosenberg and Bluth live in-house at Moishe Pod Detroit (or MoPo), located in Woodbridge. It slightly differs from a Moishe House, which operates as co-op housing with several young Jewish adults. Instead, a pod is run by two. “The previous Detroit Moishe House was closing, and they weren’t going to refill it,” Rosenberg recalls. “Instead of trying to open a
new house, they wanted to start a pod.” For the Modern Orthodox couple, who recently got married, the opportunity felt like a great fit as a next step in their journey. When asked to be the pod’s residents, they were all in for the experience. “We welcome everyone [to the pod],” says Bluth, who explains that the pod can feel like a home to Jews of all levels of observance and interests. NAVIGATING THE PANDEMIC The December opening started off strong. “We had a great kickoff party,” Rosenberg recalls. However, COVID-19 was surging at the same time, particularly with the highly contagious Omicron wave, so the ongoing pandemic slowed the pod’s plans down. “It was harder to get people to come to events,” Rosenberg continues. After three months, however, things began to look up. COVID-19 case numbers once again dropped and, by February and March of 2022, Moishe Pod Detroit was back in action. Frequently partnering with a wide variety of Jewish organizations in the area, such as Chabad Detroit, Hebrew Free Loan and more, Moishe Pod Detroit is steadily becoming a promising figure in the local young adult community. Now, as summer rolls in and the weather turns warmer, they plan to up the ante on events, especially outdoor ones. “We’re more looking forward than we are looking
into the past,” Rosenberg says. “We’ve strengthened our partnerships with other organizations here because in the summer, everyone’s coming out of the woodwork, and everyone’s experienced the same challenges when it comes to COVID-19 and lack of engagement.” Both Rosenberg and Bluth are in awe of the combined work being done across Detroit to boost engagement and continue to build upon the Downtown Jewish community. “There are so many great organizations doing great things in the city,” Bluth says, “and only so big of an audience. As opposed to contributing to that overlap, we’re trying to create that overlap at the organizational level, to get people familiar with different offerings or industries.” EVENTS FOR ALL INTERESTS They’re also working on creating programming through Moishe Pod Detroit that caters to a variety of individuals. “We want to create programs that complement people’s interests,” Bluth continues. “People want to volunteer and also go to brunch.” Rosenberg says Moishe Pod Detroit events have drawn a variety of ages, anywhere 18-year-olds to those in their mid- to late-30s. They’re not structured, but rather provide an opportunity for young adults to simply hang out and make new friends. “There’s no one answer,” Rosenberg says of age requirements. “Whenever
