PHOTO: OneTable hosted a dinner and conversation in January, led by Rabbi Ariel Stone from Shir Tikvah, to help young adults gain skills to talk about antisemitism around the Shabbat dinner table.

OneTable
https://onetable.org/
Area of service: Jewish Community Building for Young Adults
2022 Allocation: $21,600
Mission: OneTable is a national nonprofit that empowers folks 
(21-39ish) to find, share and enjoy Shabbat dinners, making the most of their Friday nights. OneTable’s social dining platform makes it easy for young adults to make Shabbat dinner a platform for community building. OneTable envisions a whole generation of young people slowing down, getting together, unplugging from the week, creating intention in their lives and building meaningful communities.

“We strongly believe in the power of building community at the Shabbat dinner table,” says Associate Director of Field Operations Abbie Barash, who previously oversaw Portland-area programming.
OneTable has an ambitious planning process under way through 2025, which includes an aspirational goal of engaging 10% of Jewish young adults in America, or about 140,000 annually. The national nonprofit also is exploring expanding beyond the current age range and offering a similar platform for older adults, too.
“We’ve received a lot of requests over the years – ‘When do I get 
OneTable for me?’” said OneTable CEO Aliza Kline in a recent EJP article. “And those ‘me’s’ are a lot of different types – parents, grandparents, teenagers, families with young children. The population that was most recurring was empty nesters, older adults – the parents of our users.”
In its new #HowIShabbat campaign,  OneTable invited five OneTable hosts from different backgrounds to share their Shabbat practices, challenges and inspirations. The resulting curated videos (onetable.org/rituals/) offer ideas for new hosts to use rituals to make Shabbat welcoming and accessible for their guests.
In addition, the nonprofit again is supporting Passover seders (see story page 7). 
“It means so much to us that OneTable is supported locally here in Portland,” says Barash. “In addition to the allocation provided, the Jewish Federation’s support creates momentum throughout the community that helps OneTable to thrive over time. These dollars go into ‘Nourishment’ to help subsidize the cost of our Portland hosts’ dinners, staffing support, Jewish learning resources, marketing and communications, support for our online platform and research efforts.”
All young adult Shabbat hosts are volunteers. Learn how to become a host at onetable.org/hosting/. OneTable is a peer-to-peer program where you can volunteer to host friends and new friends alike.