Young Jews Making Change That Lasts

Abraham’s House connects young Jewish volunteers with people who need help, then builds the relationships that last.

Abraham’s House is a division of JLIC that mobilizes young Jews to address real needs in their communities. Volunteers show up when people need help most, then stay involved as things change. They build relationships, check back in, and stick around. Founded by Rabbi Joe Wolfson, Abraham’s House creates partnerships that strengthen communities and give young people a way to make an actual difference.

Turning Up. Staying Put.

Abraham’s House connects young Jewish volunteers with people who need help, then builds the relationships that last.

Abraham’s House is a division of JLIC that mobilizes young Jews to address real needs in their communities. Volunteers show up when people need help most, then stay involved as things change. They build relationships, check back in, and stick around. Founded by Rabbi Joe Wolfson, Abraham’s House creates partnerships that strengthen communities and give young people a way to make an actual difference.

Young Jews Making Change That Lasts

Abraham’s House connects young Jewish volunteers with people who need help, then builds the relationships that last.

Abraham’s House is a division of JLIC that mobilizes young Jews to address real needs in their communities. Volunteers show up when people need help most, then stay involved as things change. They build relationships, check back in, and stick around. Founded by Rabbi Joe Wolfson, Abraham’s House creates partnerships that strengthen communities and give young people a way to make an actual difference.

Turning Up. Staying Put.

Abraham’s House connects young Jewish volunteers with people who need help, then builds the relationships that last.

Abraham’s House is a division of JLIC that mobilizes young Jews to address real needs in their communities. Volunteers show up when people need help most, then stay involved as things change. They build relationships, check back in, and stick around. Founded by Rabbi Joe Wolfson, Abraham’s House creates partnerships that strengthen communities and give young people a way to make an actual difference.

What we do

Our Programs

Making A Bat Mitzva
The new JLIC TLV Young Professionals community raised the funds to put on a beautiful bat mitzvah for a young woman whose family have been living in a domestic violence shelter in south Tel Aviv. Shortly after the bat mitzvah, the family were able to leave the shelter and the JLIC TLV community rallied together to help furnish their new apartment. 
9/11 First Responder Breakfasts
What started in downtown Manhattan in 2015 has now become a feature across East Coast campuses. On the morning of 9/11 students, alumni and young professionals get up early to deliver hundreds of breakfasts to fire stations, police precincts and homeless shelters. A smile and gratitude served alongside coffee, donuts and bagels. 
LA Yachad
Responding to the acute shortage of baby formula across the United States, Shira Boshnack, co-director of Brooklyn OU-JLIC utilized their extensive alumni network so that mothers with spare baby formula could provide it to those in need. 
Nir Am
Responding to the acute shortage of baby formula across the United States, Shira Boshnack, co-director of Brooklyn OU-JLIC utilized their extensive alumni network so that mothers with spare baby formula could provide it to those in need. 
Druse
The pandemic had an enormous negative impact on the literacy levels of school kids, especialy those from minorities and lower socio-economic backgrounds. Working in partnership with a wonderful school in the south Bronx, JLIC students, young professionals and alumni purchased hundreds of books for kids at the school and then ran 13 online reading groups. Today the relationship continues with students from Columbia and alumni across Manhattan serving as in person 1 on 1 in person tutors. 
Bedouins
Thirty young professionals from the new JLIC TLV community lit candles in the homes of Shoah survivors living in Tel Aviv. The partnerships were made with the assistance of the Tel Aviv municipality. Each participant brought them with a gift of a beautiful Chanukiah handmade by members of Susan’s Home, a Jerusalem center for young people at risk. 
Homelessness
In partnership with Overthrow Boxing and their community fridge, NYU students built a Chanukiah to feed 2,000 people. Hundreds of cans of food were donated out of which an enormous Chanukiah was built which was then to donated to those experiencing food poverty in Manhattan. 
Latest Updates

From our Blog

Strengthening Small Businesses in the Western Galilee
Small Businesses Found Support Through Real Connection Students arrived ready to work at a moment when help was urgently needed. In the Western Galilee, participants from the JLIC Technion and Bar-Ilan University communities weeded fields, cleared olive orchards, and harvested lettuce alongside farmer Dor Pintel, who faced overwhelming volume and time-sensitive work. The students stepped […]
Building Community One Can at a Time
When a Menorah Becomes a Movement: How Cannorah Turns Chanukah Into Campus-Wide Community There’s something that happens when you stand outside a grocery store in the dead of a Canadian winter, asking strangers to help you build a menorah out of canned goods. Most people think you’re kidding. Then they realize you’re not, and suddenly […]
When the Sirens Sound: JLIC Communities Mobilize
JLIC Communities Respond to Operation Rising Lion The 3:00 AM sirens that pierced the quiet across Israel changed everything. What initially appeared to be an earthquake alert quickly revealed itself as something far more significant—the beginning of Operation Rising Lion, Israel’s response to Iranian aggression that would transform the daily reality for Jewish communities throughout […]

Abrahams House is...

IMPACT
HERITAGE
LEADERSHIP
SUPPORT
LEARNING
Chessed
GROWTH
TRADITION
COMMUNITY
MENTORSHIP
SUPPORT
HERITAGE
GROWTH
MENTORSHIP
COMMUNITY
LEADERSHIP
IMPACT
Voices from the Community

Reflections

JLIC is wonderful with helping students grow as Jews and as people. I am very grateful to have developed a wonderful relationship with them over the past few years. They have impacted my religious experience at Brandeis tremendously and I have grown close to their kids and to them.
Brandeis JLIC Student
JLIC is a program I’m familiar with from college in the US and was great to have here to help me transition to living in Israel. I have met most of my friends through JLIC and usually go to our JLIC couple for a Shabbat meal if they are hosting, which is always a relief and joy.
JLIC Israel Community Member
JLIC By the Numbers

Our Stats

35
Communities
400+
Student Leaders
600+
Programs Yearly
Your Voices

From The Families

“I came home for college and got my undergraduate degree from Tel Aviv University. I was a double major in Nanotechnology and Quantum Science and Technology. I met my husband, Ori, while I was at school. He was studying business. We moved back to the US and now I’m a roboticist outside Boston. Every day I work with graduates from MIT, Harvard, Stanford and more – and let me tell you, I’m enjoying life more than they are, partially because I don’t have the mountain of college debt they do! Ori is working on his MBA at Brandeis – he sailed into their business school and he’s as well or better prepared as his fellow students. And when he gets done, we’re going to start our family.”
Kyra
“Even though I’ve always found Israel to be warm and welcoming, I worried my Yussie would be alone and have trouble making friends so far from his home and family. Nothing could have been further from the truth, thanks to College in Israel. He’s made the same kind of lifelong friends at Hebrew U that he might have made here in the States. He even found a shul that he loved – maybe not as much as our congregation where he was Bar Mitzvahed here in Great Neck, but who’s complaining? And his degree? He’s getting more and we’re paying less than we ever could have imagined. We couldn’t be happier... or prouder of our son!”
Debbie, Mother of Yussie,Junior at Technion
“I came home for college and got my undergraduate degree from Tel Aviv University. I was a double major in Nanotechnology and Quantum Science and Technology. I met my husband, Ori, while I was at school. He was studying business. We moved back to the US and now I’m a roboticist outside Boston. Every day I work with graduates from MIT, Harvard, Stanford and more – and let me tell you, I’m enjoying life more than they are, partially because I don’t have the mountain of college debt they do! Ori is working on his MBA at Brandeis – he sailed into their business school and he’s as well or better prepared as his fellow students. And when he gets done, we’re going to start our family.”
Kyra