Despite Detroit’s Economic Woes, Chabad Yeshiva to Build New Campus

DETROIT, MI — Battered by waves of layoffs as the home of the auto industry saw unemployment levels rise to an astonishing 28.9 percent last September, Detroit was at ground zero in the national economic downturn.

But as the economy is finally showing small hints of recovery, a local Chabad Yeshiva has launched a multimillion dollar building project.

Located in the heart of the Jewish community, the 50,000 square foot state-of-the-art facility will sit on 3.7 acres on Ten Mile Road in Oak Park, MI, in the center of a thriving Jewish community. With some 120 students currently studying at the middle school and higher institute for Jewish studies – Oholei Yosef Yitzchak Lubavitch and Yeshivas Menachem Mendel Lubavitch – the new facility will give new breathing space to both schools who currently share a cramped, 12,000 square foot campus, situated outside the Jewish community.

Rabbi Bentzion Stein is the director of the middle school, which has grown significantly since it opened in 1975, and counts students from many different countries. Ninety five percent of the schools’ alumni, he notes, are today Chabad representatives around the globe.

“We place a strong emphasis on the importance of translating the Jewish learning our students gain here to Jewish outreach,” he said.

It is a model that inspired benefactors Alan and Lori Zekelman, longtime supporters of the Yeshivas to underwrite the entire building project.

“The alumni of this school are scattered around the globe on a mission of Shlichus, bringing Yiddishkeit to far-flung places,” said Alan Zekelman. “So my family’s investment in the yeshiva isn’t just a local investment.”

Though launching the project during a recession was fraught with concern, Rabbi Mendel Shemtov, director of the higher institute for Jewish learning says he is “grateful that Mr. Zekelman has stepped up to the plate and initiated the project now so we can take a serious step forward.” Construction is due to begin in spring.

At the new campus, the educational building will house four classrooms and one study hall for each of the two schools, as well as offices, a staff lounge and a spacious dining room. The dormitory located behind the educational building will accommodate 120 students in a total of 40 rooms.

Today, the schools are giving back to local communities as well: Eighteen alumni have returned to settle as Chabad representatives in Michigan.

“I grew up in Brooklyn and Shlichus (outreach) was part of my upbringing,” says Rabbi Avrohom Susskind ’96, Chabad representative in Novi, MI. “But the Yeshiva really set me up for my work today because the concept of Shlichus was such a central theme at the Yeshiva, that’s where it became a reality for me.”

The new Yeshiva campus will be a boon for the local Jewish community, according to Irwin J. Cohen, a noted authority on Detroit’s Jewish history. In his book, Echoes of Detroit’s Jewish Communities, he documents Jewish life there since it began in 1760, right up until the twenty-first century. The arc of growth, Cohen says, indicates a positive forecast for its Jewish future . The new campus will complement the other educational institutes, including two other Yeshivas and two elementary schools for boys and girls.

“In the early 1970’s, there were three hundred Orthodox Jewish families in Detroit; today there are one thousand. Throughout its rich history, Jewish life in Detroit has grown steadily,” says Cohen. The new Yeshiva building will raise the numbers “of people who want to live in the main Jewish area. It’s a win-win, it helps cement the community.”

Cohen adds that the campus is in a very desirable location, within a fifteen minute walk from almost anybody living the Metro Detroit Jewish community. “It provides another choice and brings more young people from other cities to this place with the option of a nicer yeshiva and a nicer dormitory.” The students at the new campus “may learn to love Detroit and what we have because they are within walking distance to so many places, and decide to settle here,” further strengthening the community.

Meir Shemtov, 18, hails from Montevideo, Uruguay where his parents direct Chabad in Uruguay. The youngest of six boys, Meir is the sixth in his family to attend the Yeshiva.

“For me and for many of my classmates who also live in other countries abroad, living in a remote place is a challenge from a Jewish perspective. But I plan to share the knowledge I gain here with other Jewish people back at home, or anywhere in the world.”

Article from Lubavitch.com