This post originally appeared on Moishe House’s Moishe Monthly here.

By: Laura Taishoff

Throughout college I never really developed my own personal relationship with Judaism. The only time I ever felt connected to Judaism was during my family’s boisterous and incredibly lively Passover seder every year. Thus, participating in AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps was an incredibly important experience for me in that I finally connected with Judaism on my own; we were hosting Shabbat dinners and I found that practice to be incredibly restorative. Also, I met people who I found deeply inspiring who in turn told me that they were motivated to do social justice work because of their Judaism that was mind blowing for me. I have been able to take that commitment to social justice stemming from Judaism and bring it to my life at Moishe House.

It was actually planning our AVODAH Passover seder that made me want to live in the Moishe House here in New Orleans. We were planning the seder only for our house but we kept getting phone calls asking if other people, who didnt have anywhere to go, could join. All of a sudden, we had 42 people over for our seder! It was a magical night. I knew I wanted to do that more.

Living in the Moishe House has been an amazing transition from my AVODAH year. I stayed at my AVODAH placement and am now a full time staff member at the juvenile public defenders office. One of the best parts of living in the Moishe House is trying to find ways to meld my work with my life in the house and our community members. I was incredibly lucky that Moishe House and Repair the World financially helped me to attend a conference about teen courts and other alternatives to the juvenile justice system to find opportunities for my community to engage in service. I am hoping to continue integrating my work and my role as a member of the Moishe House; I am helping to plan a 5k to raise awareness about juveniles being transferred to adult court and am thrilled that Moishe House will have a team running at the event. Additionally, I am planning to use our house as a space to gather a group of community members who will focus on advocating for youth involved in the juvenile justice system.

The opportunities available to me because I am a member of Moishe House New Orleans are part of what keeps me living in and loving New Orleans as deeply as I do. Thus, Moishe House has also helped me to continue working for social change in the juvenile justice field. For that, I will be forever grateful!

Laura Taishoff, originally from Katonah, NY, graduated in May of 2009 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with an honors degree in English. After graduation she moved to New Orleans to join AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps where she worked as a Youth Advocate at Juvenile Regional Services. She is now a Moishe House New Orleans resident and continues to work for the juvenile public defender’s office providing educational advocacy for her clients. Laura also loves playing lacrosse, making cd mixes for everybody, and traveling.