More Room in Markham as Community Steadily Swells

For Allison Solomon, who lives in Toronto, Chabad Lubavitch of Markham in Thornhill has been a source of joy, support and identity.

It’s a place to teach her boys—ages 11, 10 and 7—about Jewish life, holidays and giving back to the community and to the world at large. And it’s become so special to her that she decided to run the Sisterhood there. Her oldest son, who began learning at Chabad’s “Torah Tots” program when he was just 3 years old, will most likely have his bar mitzvah there as well next September.

The timing is perfect; the Chabad center in Canada now has a social-hall space with a caterer—just a few of the elements of a recently completed building renovation and expansion project.

“This is something the whole community has been looking forward to,” says Solomon, who joined a crowd of about 600 people earlier this month for the building’s grand opening. “Everybody wanted to come out and celebrate.”

On July 8—the evening of the big summer event—guests were welcomed by piano and saxophone music into a lobby now adorned with a mural by artist Michoel Muchnik, who specializes in Chassidic art.

Solomon insists that all of this is a credit to Rabbi Avraham and Goldie Plotkin, who have been working nonstop for two decades. “They’re so highly spoken about in our community; they’re doing an incredible job. I think there are many people here who will tell you that Goldie and Rabbi Plotkin have changed their lives for the better.”

The project took about two years, bringing the building to 18,000 square feet—about 6,000 more square feet than before. The front and interior of the building have been renovated. In addition to the simcha hall for celebrations of all kinds, the synagogue itself is now 30 percent larger, so that more people can fill the sanctuary. There’s also a new library with tall windows that serves as a venue for classes, in addition to a state-of-the-art catering kitchen.

“We created a very beautiful, exquisite look to the whole facility,” says Rabbi Plotkin. “Everybody who walked in was ‘wowed’ by the place. It brought the community to a whole new dimension.”

It was also a community effort that made the expansion possible, stresses Goldie Plotkin of their new center, which hosted three huge simchas the second week it opened.

“Our shul was built by our members,” she explains. “They took their hard-earned money and put it into the Chabad House, and that’s how it happened. It’s a stunning building.”

The new space will also allow women’s programming to expand. The Sisterhood does volunteer work and outreach, and every Shabbat morning, 70 to 80 women take part in study, says Plotkin, and “we need room for that.” Plus, while they are studying, simultaneous men’s study and children’s groups are taking place.

“We have already surpassed our new building size; in fact, we’re laughing and asking ourselves why we didn’t put in another 20,000 square feet,” she says. “We hope that every Shabbat, we are bursting at the seams—that is our goal.”

More People, Programs, Activities

Started in 1985 as part of a push by the Rebbe—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory—to send shluchim, or Chabad emissaries, outside of large cities, Chabad Lubavitch of Markham began with 15 to 20 Jews.

“It was a prime area to expand,” explains the rabbi. “We moved there, bought a house, started a minyan in our basement.” The Chabad House steadily grew and moved to a space in an industrial area; in 1997, their initial building was constructed.

This second phase of renovation and expansion brings a whole new look, attests the rabbi. “Hopefully, it will not just increase the physical size and physical look, but impact the community on a spiritual level with more programs, more activities, more people walking through the door.”

The July 8 event opened with music from Chabad of Markham’s men’s choir; many of the community members hail from South Africa, where a choir at synagogue is common.

Participants heard from Chabad’s president, Paul Klein, and the chairman of the building committee, Gary Saltz, followed by a reading of Psalm 20 by youth and Hebrew-school director Rabbi Meir Gitlin and the recitation of a letter from the Rebbe by Rabbi Zalman Aaron Grossbaum, senior Chabad emissary in southern Ontario. In fact, the second segment of the event served as a tribute to the Rebbe in honor of Gimmel Tammuz, the 20th anniversary of his passing. Part of the program included an interview with guest speaker Rabbi Avrohom Shemtov, chairman of the executive committee of Agudas Chassidei Chabad, the umbrella organization of Chabad-Lubavitch, and director of Lubavitch of Philadelphia.

“I expect that there’s no greater gift we can give the Rebbe for his yahrtzeit, as he wanted us to continue to build bigger and better,” says Plotkin.

‘Everyone Feels Welcome’

Denise Hummel, who got involved with Chabad of Markham more than a decade ago, attended the grand-opening event with her husband, David. They say they feel quite at home there, and that the Chabad center reminds her of the synagogues she used to attend in South Africa.

“Everyone was very proud to see our shul taken to a new level,” she notes.

Among her favorite elements of the renovation is the mechitzah that separates the men’s and women’s sections, which is clear from the women’s side but not from the men’s. Also updated is the seating for services, which now has a men’s section and women’s section separate but side by side, instead of front to back.

“We went to the shul since the beginning,” says Hummel, “and this has just been another step in creating a beautiful environment that everyone feels very welcome in.”