Repair the World Moishe House Rockstars Take on Chicago and Detroit
We’re so thrilled to announce the opening of the first two Repair the World Moishe Houses in Chicago and Detroit! These communal residences for young adults are hotbeds of amazing service and social activities that help make a difference in local communities. Repair the World will be following these eight rockstar residents as they move into their new homes and start repairing their local neighborhoods.
In the meantime, you can check out our official announcement here and be sure to stay tuned for more news and exciting updates!
Chicago
Kashmir Kustanowitz
Kashmir was born and raised in the land of ten thousand lakes (Minnesota, that is). Once ripe and ready, she escaped the Midwest to attend Goucher College, where she took advantage of a study abroad requirement in order to spend five months eating samosas in India. After college, Kashmir participated in AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps in Washington, D.C., and she is now attending The University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration.
Gita Karasov
Gita hails from Saint Louis Park, Minnesota and received her undergraduate degree from the University of Maryland in College Park where she studied Sociology and Jewish Studies. She is thrilled to be back in the Midwest this year after serving as a Corps Member in AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps. Through AVODAH, Gita began her work with the Chicago Women’s Health Center, a feminist health collective and will now be working with teens on leadership development and healthy decision-making as an Outreach Prevention Specialist at a Response Center in Skokie starting this fall.
Maya Sztainer
Maya was born and raised in Jerusalem, Israel until the age of six, when she moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota with her family. Since then, she’s traveled the world – studying at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, spending a semester in Buenos Aires, Argentina, living in Israel, and teaching English in Malaga, Spain. With her new home now in Chicago, Maya will be working at the University of Chicago Eating Disorder Clinic. She’s looking forward to sharing her love of dancing, games, reading, movies, and of course travelling to the Chicago community!
Neil Garson
Originally from Northern Michigan (right near Mackinac City), Neil has been living and studying in Montreal, QC for the past four years. He is currently considering a master’s degree in Urban Planning or attending Law School with a focus in land use. In his spare time, Neil stays active by swimming, running, cooking and eating ridiculous amount of food, trying to re-learn how to ride a bike, reading, and travelling.
Detroit
Bradley Snider
A Michigander at heart, Brad grew up in West Bloomfield and studied Urban Sustainable Development at the University of Michigan. After living in Southwest Detroit for a year, Brad is excited to be a part of the Moishe House community. Since moving to Detroit, he has worked with a variety of organizations and groups to create fun, meaningful and engaging service projects. You’ll often find Brad stuffing his face with all of the delicious food that Detroit has to offer – daily aguas frescas from La Michoacana, a reuben from Hygrade Deli (the only Jewish Deli in the city) or sipping on a Detroit Brown at Cafe D’Mongo’s.
Rachel Klegon
Originally from the suburbs of Detroit, Rachel graduated from Michigan State University with a bachelor’s degree in Telecommunications. It was during her time studying abroad in India that Rachel gained perspective on how much need there is in the world, even in her own backyard. Since graduating, Rachel served one term of AmeriCorps in Detroit and ran two state-wide AmeriCorps*VISTA programs for the Michigan Nonprofit Association. She is currently the executive director of Green Living Science (GLS), a Detroit-based nonprofit that provides recycling and environmental education in Detroit schools with the purpose of empowering youth to take responsibility for creating healthy communities.
Devon Rubenstein
Originally hailing from Rockville Centre, New York, Devon fell in love with Michigan when she moved to Ann Arbor to study public policy at the University of Michigan. While in college, she also led a section of a service learning course based on education inequality and helped start a service-learning club at the university. After spending years working at a daycare in an underprivileged neighborhood in New York, and later volunteering at schools around the Ann Arbor area, Devon decided that she wanted to work in the field of education reform. Devon has now joined AmeriCorps in Detroit and will be working with Repair the World as an AmeriCorps VISTA on their upcoming education and literary campaign.
Joshua Kanter
Hailing from Huntington Woods, Michigan, Joshua received his bachelors at Michigan State University in Political Theory and Constitutional Democracy with a focus on Jewish Studies and Peace and Justice Studies. He is a recent graduate of the Jewish Communal Leadership Program in the School of Social Work at the University of Michigan where he earned his MSW. During this time, he worked with Bend The Arc’s Detroit Area Community Leadership Initiative. Joshua has a lot of experience in Detroit, having worked with the Center for Peace and Conflict Studies at Wayne State University and providing six years of service as a “Distinguished Clown” in Detroit’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. He is also very passionate about Israel having studied at Hebrew University, worked at the Israel Democracy Institute in Jerusalem, and staffed the Detroit Federation’s Teen Mission this past summer.
