Over a Decade, Kline Led Organization to Significant Digital Innovations and Young Adult Engagement Milestones, Providing Spaces for Meaningful Ritual and Reflection

November 20, 2024—After ten memorable years building OneTable into the leading North American non-profit that utilizes peer-led Shabbat dinners and a signature digital platform to make the Jewish community accessible, inclusive, and meaningful, founding CEO Aliza Kline announced that she will step down from the organization effective December 31, 2024.

“We are eternally grateful to Aliza for her leadership, guidance, and innovation in developing OneTable into the impactful organization it is today,” said OneTable Board Chair Rob Orley.  “Throughout her tenure, OneTable has reached incredible milestones in just ten years, including engaging more than 285,000 young adults at 150,000 Shabbat dinners—totaling more than 1 million seats around those Shabbat tables. OneTable has achieved exceptional success, and Aliza leaves the organization with a strong foundation poised for continued growth.”

In 2014, The Paul E. Singer Foundation and The Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life had the idea to launch a new organization designed to engage a generation of Jewish young adults through the practice of Shabbat. They saw Kline’s promising talents and energies, and hired her to develop their concept further and be OneTable’s founding CEO.

Under Kline’s leadership, OneTable’s annual budget grew to $11 million, with 60 professional team members across the United States and Toronto, serving 100,000 people each year and playing a central role in the Jewish community ecosystem. In addition to its success engaging young adults, it expanded to include a family of offerings including a new effort for adults in midlife: “OneTable Together” and a SaaS product, “Powered by OneTable” which adapts and licenses its technology platform and peer-engagement methodology for a wide range of organizations across the Jewish and nonprofit sectors. Over the years, OneTable has partnered with hundreds of national and local organizations to reach and enrich Jewish life including Birthright Israel, IPF, JFNA, Hillel, and JCCs especially around holidays and key moments throughout the year.

OneTable’s approach empowers participants to create experiences filled with meaning and purpose for themselves and their peers. OneTable has been a leader in data-driven growth, and continues to invest in rigorous research which has impacted the field at large. In particular, findings show that friendships formed at OneTable dinners grew into new forms of Jewish community for individuals who were otherwise not engaged in Jewish life. During periods when young adults felt anxiety or isolated—from the pandemic, to rising antisemitism, to the war in Israel, to a hyper-polarized political environment—demand for OneTable increases.

“OneTable began with a bold vision to engage an entire generation of Jewish young adults in Jewish life through Shabbat—and I am profoundly grateful to the many funders, partners, lay leaders, and professional team who helped to create, sustain, and grow this movement,” said Kline. 

“I believe in the power of Jewish ritual to bring us together and help us find strength, joy and connection especially when we are faced with challenges. OneTable was designed with the needs and values of our target populations in mind—this is why it continues to work— and why I am so confident in the organization’s future.” 

Prior to  OneTable, Kline served as the founding executive director of Mayyim Hayyim Community Mikveh & Education Center and has devoted her career to re-imagining ritual open to the full diversity of the Jewish community.  She has been awarded fellowships by the AVI CHAI Foundation and the Charles & Lynn Schusterman Philanthropies, and is immediate past board chair of JPro. She earned her BA from Washington University in St. Louis and her MPA from New York University. She lives in Brooklyn, New York with her family.

The OneTable CEO Transition Committee is working with the global executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles and its social impact executive search practice, which specializes in helping philanthropy, government, higher education, academic, and non-profit clients find new leadership. OneTable is committed to a national, inclusive, and transparent process. Nominations and applications can be sent to OneTableCEO@Heidrick.com.

Kline will be taking the immediate future to determine her next venture.

“We wish Aliza the best and know that whatever she does, she will continue to impact and uplift the Jewish community,” continued Orley.  “Her legacy of innovation, success and meaning will continue for future generations who benefit from the resources OneTable provides.”

About OneTable

OneTable is a North American non-profit empowering people who don’t yet have a consistent Shabbat dinner practice to build one that feels authentic, sustainable, and valuable. OneTable was initially funded to support people aged 21-39ish to find and share this powerful experience, and has expanded to include those 50ish+ via OneTable Together. Through its private-label technology and consulting services, Powered By OneTable, it enables other engagement-oriented organizations to experience the power and benefits of peer-led, DIY events.