Based-In HRLM
Hey! Shalom! Privyet! Welcome to Based in Harlem. A part-time Base outpost, also the home of Erica and Dimitry. We're long-time Harlem residents, artists, and educators. When we got married, we took seriously the project to "make our home a meeting place for the sages." Our favorite thing is to gather friends and neighbors in our home for shared ritual, celebratory meals, song, learning, and joyous encounters. We hope you can join us soon in home sweet Harlem.
Dimitry Ekshtut
dimitry.ekshtut@moishehouse.org
Jazz Musician. Rabbi in Training. Cat Dad.
Dimitry Ekshtut is an educator, musician, and the community leader of Based in Harlem and co-founder of Kehillat Harlem.
Born in Leningrad (St. Petersburg), Russia, Dimitry immigrated with his family at the age of five to Philadelphia, PA. While in middle and high school he fell in love with the guitar and jazz music, motivating him to move to New York and pursue a career as a professional musician. He has performed in many venues throughout the city, from small cafes and restaurants to the famed Blue Note Jazz Club. Dimitry also spent several years as a contributing writer and reviewer for Jazz Improv Magazine. He holds a Bachelor’s of Music in Jazz Guitar Performance and a Master’s of Music Education, both from New York University. From 2012-2020, Dimitry worked as a full-time music educator in public, private, and charter schools throughout New York City.
Parallel to this, Dimitry has worked to build Jewish community in Harlem, where he resides with his wife, Erica, their daughter, Maayan, and their cat, Vaska. Along with his wife, Dimitry has directed Based in Harlem, a project of the Base Movement, since 2017 and has welcomed over 1,500 unique individuals to his home for shabbat, holiday celebrations, Jewish learning, and service opportunities. Additionally, Dimitry is a principal co-founder of Kehillat Harlem, a prayer community in Upper Manhattan.
Dimitry loves learning and teaching mussar, particularly Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzatto’s “Mesillat Yesharim.” With a voice uniquely situated to speak to the Russian-speaking Jewish (RSJ) immigrant community, Dimitry hopes to address its particular spiritual needs from a place of cultural authenticity, embodied Torah, and keen sensitivity. Dimitry is currently studying toward rabbinic ordination at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah while continuing his community leadership in Harlem.
Erica Frankel
Maestro Wordsmith. Coach. Quiet Revolutionary.
Erica is one-half of Based in Harlem. She is also the Executive Director of OOI, an innovation laboratory which launches, catalyzes, and scales new projects to advance Jewish life.
Erica previously served as the Associate Vice President and Director of the Meyerhoff Center for Jewish Experience for Hillel International. In this role, she grew Hillel’s signature program, the Jewish Learning Fellowship, from one campus to more than 270, making it the largest pluralistic Jewish educational program on campus or beyond. Before that, Erica spent seven years working with emerging adults at NYU’s Bronfman Center for Jewish Student Life. She has spent over a decade training and coaching rabbis across the denominational spectrum in spiritual leadership, experiential education, and community building.
Erica holds a BFA in Dance and an MA in Dance and Sacred Texts from NYU, and she is currently a Wexner Field Fellow. Erica and her husband Dimitry live in Harlem with their daughter Maayan, where they are Co-Founders of Kehillat Harlem, an all-comers minyan engaging more than 150 households.
