Base is the home of a Rabbinic family which serves as a home-base, a grounding point for young adults and their friends. While each Base reflects the personality of the Rabbinic couple and embodies their vision for a vibrant Jewish community, every Base is committed to pluralism and is founded upon three core values: hospitality, learning, and service. 

Hospitality means we open our homes for Shabbat and holiday meals, as well as learning and discussion groups. Learning is a broad term for the study of Jewish ideas and texts, both ancient and contemporary. Unless specified for a particular study group, no previous background is needed. Service means understanding what needs exists in our neighborhoods and getting up to help. Service is the actualization of our values.

Experience the Jewish calendar

Learn from Jewish texts and tradition

Develop a Jewish social network

Build a relationship with a Jewish mentor

Engage in the Jewish value of service

Encounter Jewish diversity

We’re building...

A generation of young Jews that see themselves as a part of the Jewish family. 

A generation of young Jews living lives of meaning, purpose, and joy. 

A generation of young rabbinic couples acting as pluralistic communal organizers and spiritual leaders.

Strong networks of young Jews that celebrate, learn, and serve together.

Areas where young Jews live serving as central hubs of Jewish life.

Stronger local communities. 

In 2014, four best friends in their mid 20s sat dreaming on their couch on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Despite coming from four very different Jewish backgrounds — Yiddish secular, modern Orthodox, Zionist, and inter-faith — they all came to the same conclusion: young Jews want to connect, to find meaning and purpose in tradition and community, to feel connected to their neighborhood and in friendship and service to one another. They rejected the idea that millennials only care about themselves. These deeply held beliefs fueled the ideation of a project called Base.

Base was envisoned as a place for young Jews and their friends to eat, drink, share, discuss, sing, and serve. Living in NYC's urban jungle presented one major challenge: Where? The answer seemed obvious — in their homes — the space that most authentically represented themsleves and their commitment to building pluralistic, warm, and open Jewish life. In the summer of 2014, these four friends, the Co-Founders of Base, Faith, Jon, Yael and Avram, had the opportunity to pitch Base to Hillel International's Chief Innovation Officer who was working to build a laboratory of new ideas and initiatives for young Jews. With the stewardship of Hillel's CIO, and a generous grant from UJA Federation of NY, Base came to life in July of 2015, opening up its first two locations in Williamsburg Brooklyn and Downtown Manhattan. 

By 2020, there were nine Bases across NYC, Chicago, Boston, Miami, Berlin, and Ithaca, NY, serving over 6,000 young adults annually. With increasing demand to serve more young adults and empower more Rabbinic teams, in March 2021, the Base Movement officially spun out from the Office Innovation and started its second chapter in a new home. Base is now a strategic priority within Moishe House, the largest organization serving post-college Jewish young adults globally. This means an even larger and broader platform, opportunities to grow, and a chance to learn from the operational and scaling expertise that Moishe House has cultivated the last fifteen years.