Oakland, USA - After college, Eli Wald spent a year in Israel before moving to Washington to work for the American Jewish Committee.
Now 24, he grew up a devout Jew, worshiping at synagogue. He still sports a silver charm around his neck that is adorned with the names of Jewish angels.
But Wald said he began to feel "boxed out" of life at the synagogue and its social gatherings as he entered his 20s. He was looking for something more "cool, relaxed."
He found it in Adams Morgan at Moishe House. It is now his home and the center of his social, as well as spiritual, life.
Tucked on a tree-lined street, the house is part of a fast-growing network of Jewish community centers in 25 cities around the world. Young Jews live in the houses and organize religious and social events for twentysomethings. In return, Moishe House subsidizes their rent and pays for the events.
The Jewish community has been struggling to engage young professionals for some time, said Rachel Miller, who was until recently the executive director of the Jewish Study Center in the District. Synagogues and other Jewish institutions have tried to create a community for post-college, single Jews but their attempts have had little success, she said.
The problem with those attempts has been that "they don't feel planned by us, for us," said David Cygielman, 27, executive director of the Moishe House program, which has a $1 million budget supported by foundations and donations.
In January 2006, Cygielman persuaded four friends to convert their Oakland, Calif., home into the first Moishe House and convinced his former boss, 85-year-old artist Morris Squire, to fund it. It was named for Squire's childhood nickname, the Yiddish version of the Hebrew name Moshe or Moses. The D.C. house -- the fourth one -- was founded in September 2006.
Last November, Wald moved into the tan house on Euclid Street. He said he wanted to "help create a communal space engaging to young Jews." Three other Jews under 25 also live in the three-story house, which is a few blocks away from the 18th Street strip of bars.
A rug with the Hebrew letter Mem (for Moishe) sits outside the front door. A local map hangs in the hallway that leads to the living room. Two of Squire's paintings hang on the walls. In one, the residents look like they have been wrapped in a rainbow and taken to Mardi Gras. The other looks like the cast of "Friends" meets psychedelic art.
About 100 people stuffed the house recently for a Shabbat dinner. They drank wine in red plastic cups and ate free chicken as they grouped in the hallway or sank deep into plaid couches.
One secret to the big turnout was the relaxed decor. "You don't have to show up to some big building or rec center. It's just easier to walk in the door of your friend's house," Leo Beckerman, 25, said. Beckerman, who has dreadlocks down to his mid-back, founded the house. He recently moved to Los Angeles, and Wald took his place.
There are no name tags or sign-in sheets. The house hosts about a half-dozen events each month but does not have worship services like other Moishe Houses do, including the one in Silver Spring.
For many attendees, Shabbat dinners, movie nights, book club meetings and lectures at Moishe House are the only Jewish things they participate in.
"No one is asking you for money or your time, or telling you to get married," Adam Gerber, 24, said at a recent dinner. "It's just about having a good time with other Jews."
For Gerber, each phase of growing up included some form of Jewish community. As a child, he attended Jewish summer camp and in college, he turned to groups such as Hillel and Chabad House for organized Jewish campus life.
"The next thing available in the life-cycle stuff is getting married and having children, and we're not there yet," said Gerber, who wanted to be a rabbi after graduation. Now he is a consultant, and Moishe House is his only connection to Judaism.
About 3,800 people attend events around the world each month, said East Coast Regional Director Jeremy Moskowitz, 23. They do not advertise events but word of mouth generates "social buzz," he said.
During Shabbat dinners, guests chat and flirt, but the crowd is silent before prayers. The lights dim and candles are lit. Someone fills a silver goblet with wine and sings a blessing. It seems like everyone knows the long Hebrew prayer by heart even though most attendees said they do not speak Hebrew.
"The young Jewish population is going through an evolution," Wald said. "It used to be that you'd have to affiliate with a synagogue, but now you can come be a part of this community."