WINNIPEG — About 70 people gathered Nov. 8 for the official groundbreaking ceremony for the new Jewish learning and community centre that Chabad Lubavitch is building in south Winnipeg
“Groundbreaking ceremonies have special meaning for us,” Rabbi Avrohom Altein, Chabad’s spiritual leader in Winnipeg since 1970, told those in attendance.
That’s because, as in a groundbreaking, Chabad tries to “dig beneath the surface of people and try to nurture their Yiddishe neshamas,” he added.
“Chabad is not about membership and synagogues and schools. We are about enhancing the foundations for Jewish life. When a Jewish person finds meaning or purpose and understands what life is about, he feels more a part of the Jewish community.”
Rabbi Altein himself was praised by David Rich, a Winnipeg businessman who is co-chairing the centre’s capital campaign with his son, Gavin.
“Rabbi Altein is an incredible individual,” Rich said. “He started here… with nothing and created a day camp, a school, a north Winnipeg synagogue and community centre and a south Winnipeg presence. And now, we have this.”
Joe Bova, the contractor and native of Italy who is building the new learning centre, noted that he was in Israel last summer with some Jewish friends.
“It was while visiting Masada that I came to realize how important this centre is,” Bova said. “I had been trying to tell Rabbi Altein that the project was over budget and that we had to cut costs. I was trying to persuade him to take out the mikvah, for example, and the daycare. On my return, we put everything back in.”
Also speaking at the event were Conservative MP Rod Bruinooge, representing the federal government, as well as MLA Kerri Irvin-Ross, Manitoba’s minister for healthy living, representing the province, and the area’s city councillor, John Orlikow.
The two senior levels of government helped jump-start construction of the centre with two separate $320,000 grants – one of which was part of the federal stimulus program – which were announced in mid-September. The Chabad fundraising campaign also received a donation of $75,000 from the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba.
About 10 years ago, with the majority of Winnipeg’s Jewish population having shifted from north to south Winnipeg, Chabad opened a south Winnipeg branch in a small, rented storefront space. Chabad bought the land for a larger centre in the largely Jewish and affluent River Heights area four years ago and kicked off a fundraising campaign in May 2007 with a dinner honouring the Rich family, who are strong supporters of Chabad in Winnipeg. The overall project is expected to cost more than $3 million. The centre is slated to be ready by next fall.
The new building will house a multi-purpose social hall/lecture hall/synagogue, along with classrooms, a library and a small gym for Chabad’s preschool program and its summer and winter camp.
The new building will be able to accommodate 350 to 400 people, compared to the 65 to 75 that can be comfortably squeezed into the present rented space.