Episode 13: Breaking The Mold, Creating New Ways To Be and Do Jewish w/Roey Kruvi

Roey Kruvi is the Senior Director of Immersive Experiences at Moishe House. He was born in Haifa and lived in different parts of Israel before moving to California at the age of 10, where he has been ever since. Since relocating to Encinitas, he has taken on several new hobbies, using his free time to surf, horseback ride, learn the piano, practice yoga, and spend time with his family. He graduated from UC Berkeley with bachelor’s degrees in geography and interdisciplinary studies. Roey appreciates opportunities to live communally, skill share, laugh at himself, laugh with others, go to potlucks, breathe (thanks, lungs!), read books, negotiate bus fares, and eat lunch by gorging on farmers market samples.

Roey’s passion and dedication are in informal education of youth, especially in wilderness and/or outdoor settings, and he has several years’ experience designing and implementing experiential education curriculums, both in and outside of the Jewish world. Also, he’s a big fan of being alive and not taking himself too seriously. Roey is a cancer survivor and doesn’t sweat the small stuff. Roey is also the founder of Beacons Tech Consulting, a business that provides affordable tech solutions to small and medium-sized nonprofits.

We started off the conversation by talking about the new ways in which Moishe House is helping young adults figure out how best to create programming that feels like an authentic way to be and to do Jewish. Roey shared the story about the genesis of one of Moishe House’s sponsored groups called the WoMinyan – a space where Jewish women are not just advocating to have a seat at the table, but instead it is all about “building our own table” they say. As a program that was funded by Moishe House but envisioned by the young adults themselves Moishe House is pioneering an approach that seeks to democratize access to Jewish programming.

We don’t tell anyone what their Jewish identity is and cannot be. But rather, try to empower them to create and search for it on their own – and to validate that for them. -Roey

Also, we talked about how to hit the perfect balance of serious and soul-searching conversations while also creating opportunities to have fun and unwind.

If you want to create a space where people can talk about things that are harder to share and harder to hear – celebrating that at the end of the day with a little bit of fun just seems natural. You just need a space to release. That’s why sometimes I talk about just the need for a party at the end of the day, or some kind of fun evening program. It’s not that innovative. Anybody that has been leading Jewish shabbatons has figured that out. It’s even in the Jewish tradition. That’s why Friday night we have an Oneg or Saturday night you have some kind of celebration. -Roey

For a resource that Roey recommends for folks interested in continuing to think creatively about how to engage Jewishly be sure to check out Moishe House’s Camp Nai Nai Nai – a summer camp experience for adults.

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