This summer, Michelle Sanchez and Sarah Horvitz are starting Moishe Pod Raleigh. Affiliated with Moishe House, the goal of the Moishe Pod is to build a “vibrant, diverse, fun-filled community for post-college-aged Jewish folks in the Triangle.” We talked with Michelle and Sarah about why they got involved and what they hope to accomplish through Moishe Pod Raleigh.

*Sarah Horvitz (L), Michelle Sanchez (R)*

Q: Can you tell me about yourself and your history of involvement with the Jewish community?

Michelle: I was born in Charlotte, but I’ve moved around. I lived in Peru from ages 3-7, then DC, then I really grew up outside of Philadelphia until sophomore year of high school. I was raised Catholic and my family is from Peru, so it was in Philadelphia that I was exposed to Jewish life. I learned through osmosis, talking to friends. I moved to Charlotte my sophomore year of high school. I was driving with my mom, passing by a synagogue, and told her I was interested in checking out the synagogue—and it turned out she felt the same way. We checked out a Shabbat service together, and eventually we both converted to Judaism. In college I was involved in Hillel, though not as much as Sarah. I’ve just been learning and absorbing. With this new Moishe Pod, I’m interested in taking on a more active role and immersion in Jewish community.

Sarah: I was born in Boston and moved to North Carolina when I was younger. I had my bat mitzvah at Temple Beth Or. I went to a lot of Jewish camps, including overnight camp. I was a madrichah at Temple and got confirmed there. I was on the board at Hillel at NC State—first the social action chair, then President. I even created a post-president role to stay involved! Now I’m involved in Moishe House.

Michelle: We met at NC State, but we were acquaintances who didn’t know each other that well.

Q: How did you get involved in Moishe House? How does it work?

Sarah: We each heard the other one was getting involved in Moishe House and we individually liked the idea.

Michelle: I had considered doing it in Durham, but I was also considering grad school. This was before COVID, so I would have to drive between Durham and Raleigh every day. Distance can be a factor, so it spoke to the need for a Moishe House for people in downtown Raleigh. Someone reached out to me in October, Joshua Goldberg (Director of Expansion). He had received our names through a contact and that person had recommended us for running a Moishe Pod. He wanted to set up an introductory call. Really it was word of mouth.

Sarah: It’s like a post-college Hillel kind of vibe. It’s a place for Jewish people to be social in their twenties, a community of people with a similar lifestyle. Michelle and I will live together and host the events. We are a pod with two people, so we have three events a month. We’ll do arts events, social events, Shabbat.

Michelle: It can be a mix of events at home or outside.

Q: Why did you want to start a Moishe Pod in Raleigh?

Sarah: A lot of people came to events and were excited about how close it was to their house. I’m excited because I missed having a Jewish community while working from home during COVID. It was a way to form a group again.

Michelle: The last two years of COVID, I was living at home, so I got used to observing Shabbat and religious holidays with my family. I enjoyed that, but I wanted to experience that with other people my age. For me, since high school, since I started learning about Judaism, I felt like an outsider because I don’t have the traditional Jewish upbringing. This is an opportunity to immerse myself in the community and take an active role in it.

*Moishe Pod Raleigh Open House (June 26, 2022)*

Q: What do you hope to see Moishe House do in the next few years?

Sarah: I hope it gets comfortable, in a way that makes people want to come by. I want to see people form real friendships. I want people to take an active role in helping out at events, and finding their group of people.

Michelle: From what I’ve been seeing, people have been telling us that they recently moved here and they didn’t know that there was a Jewish presence in Raleigh. If people are moving here, they can become aware that there is a Jewish community in Raleigh. We want to make it known to other people.

Q: What do you want our community to understand about Moishe Pod Raleigh?

Michelle: Moishe Pod Raleigh is an opportunity for post-grad young professionals in the Raleigh area who want to be involved in the Jewish community, but they aren’t at the stage in life where they are ready to join a synagogue. It’s an opportunity for people to learn who else is around to connect with, but aren’t necessarily ready for that next big steps.

Q: How can people get involved?

Michelle: We have a Facebook page, Moishe Pod Raleigh. We post events here. They can contact us by e-mail at moishepodraleigh@gmail.com and sign up for our newsletter. We have an Instagram where we post a lot of our events.

Meet Moishe Pod Raleigh