It was 2006, and Isaac Zones was feeling, as he puts it, “a little lost in the big city.” At 24, he was living at home, in a long-distance relationship, and working full-time at a nonprofit (while also growing as a musician on the side). When his friend, ‘Dave’ Cygielman, mentioned an idea he’d had for a kind of cooperative for Jewish young adults, Isaac quickly put together a group of friends who had worked together at Jewish summer camp for a Moishe House in San Francisco. 

It would become the second Moishe House, ever. 

“Right away, it was kind of magical,” Isaac says. “People were hungry for the community experiences we were providing.” They started with their camp friends, and some of Isaac’s Jewish acquaintances from college who were “stoked” to be a part of it. But the word kept spreading, and events kept growing and growing – until at times they were cramming over 100 people into their small apartment. 

The schedule of programs would not sound out-of-place for any Moishe House or Pod today, even twenty years later: Two Shabbat dinners every month; a poker night each week; a co-ed softball team that played weekly games during the season. And there was more: “Game nights, movie nights, Passover seders, wild Rosh Hashanah dance parties with legit DJs spinning their turntables on the kitchen counter!” Isaac also remembers a ‘cooking through the alphabet’ program with foods from Argentina, Belgium, China, and so on – an early glimpse at Moishe House’s global future. 

But Isaac was more than one of the first Moishe House Residents – he was also the first Moishe House Director. “Dave basically said to me: ‘Listen…this is a really interesting idea but there are no rules right now,’” Isaac explains, with amusing frankness. They knew that someone had to decide the practical things, like how much money could be spent on each program, how many programs should be done, and how the rent got paid. 

“I already had a full-time job, so this kind of became my second full-time job,” Isaac recalls. “But I was really pumped and inspired and threw myself into it.” He remembers writing up an entire 30-page binder, just after moving in, chock-full of rules, regulations, and “a long inspirational speech about the potential impact.” 

Indeed, even with only two Houses open, the Moishe House team was already dreaming big: “Dave told me, ‘You have to open a new house every 2 months.’” So, although his own House in San Francisco had only been open for less than a month, Isaac flew to Seattle, crashing on the couch of some potential new Residents, “and tried to present this vague idea, with lots of details to be filled in as we went.” 

Isaac describes it as “pretty surreal” to see everything that Moishe House – now Mem Global – has become. “I’m incredibly proud to have been part of the beginning of this project and have the chance to shape it in the small ways I did, and to be associated with an organization that has had such a big impact in a cool way.” 

Today, Isaac is living across the Bay in Oakland, happily married to that long-distance girlfriend, and working as a musician, doing music for Shabbat services, parties, simchas, alongside officiating lifecycle events. 

He also gives a special thank you to Mem Global’s very first supporter, Morris. “Everything was funded by one person at that time: Morris Squire.  Moishe House was his philanthropic investment – and his name in Yiddish! “ 

“One specific thing I remember from Morris,” Isaac concludes, “was his mandate to create ‘magical moments.’ I still think about that when I’m on stage or the bima – how can I help create a magical moment that will leave people feeling different in a better way? Thanks Morris, thanks Dave, and thanks to Moishe House for giving me that chance and for keeping it going for so many others!”