Chabad of Cobb ready to build new home

The congregation of Chabad of Cobb started with only a few families in the early 1990s. They met regularly to worship in a rented classroom and later in a storefront of a converted bakery in an east Cobb shopping center.

In 1995, they bought a 40-year-old house on Lower Roswell Road. On Sunday, the congregation will have a groundbreaking for a $1.6 million,19,000-square-foot sanctuary and community gathering place.

Rabbi Ephraim Silverman, who has been the director of the Chabad of Cobb since 2000, said the present building will be torn down after the end of the children’s Hebrew classes in May. Construction will take eight to 12 months.

The congregation will rent space at the Old Towne shopping center on Johnson Ferry Road during construction.

The new building will take advantage of the natural features of the property — a 2-acre lake is in the back — while respecting the street, busy Lower Roswell Road, said Atlanta architect Irv Weiner, who designed the new structure.

“A hard edge faces the street, which respects the line of road. The rear, which is curvilinear, relates to topography and the lake behind it,” Weiner said. Visitors entering the building will be able to see the lake.

“I wanted to make sure there was a strong focus on the lake from the sanctuary and social hall,” Weiner said.

An arched entryway will lead visitors to an open gallery area, where they will be able to gather and pause to view the lake.

The sanctuary, with room for about 500 people, will be in the eastern wing of the building. It will have curved walls and large windows, letting in natural light and allowing worshippers to catch glimpses of the lake.

Large windows will also be a feature of the western wing, which will house a social hall, two kitchens — to comply with Jewish dietary laws to keep meat and dairy products separate — and classrooms.

The ground floor will feature a mikvah, an immersion pool used primarily by women to mark the end of their menstrual cycles. The mikvah will be the first one in Cobb, Silverman said.

Although the mikvah is used primarily by women, immersion in the mikvah is also done in the final stage of conversion to Judaism. According to the Web site mikvah.org, it is also used by men at “auspicious times, such as before Yom Kippur and a groom on his wedding day.”

There is also a mikvah at Congregation Beth Tefillah/Chabad of Georgia on Highpoint Road in Sandy Springs. A third mikvah will be built in the late spring at Chabad of Alpharetta on Jones Bridge and Old Alabama roads.

Rabbi Hirshy Minkowicz, director of the Chabad of Alpharetta, said his congregation is also planning to construct a 28,000-square-foot worship and learning center. Construction should begin in about two years.

Women of the congregation who use a mikvah now travel to Sandy Springs.

Hollee Parker, a member of the congregation for five years, has used the mikvah for three years after studying with Silverman’s wife, Chani, about different ways to bring blessings into her home.

Having a mikvah so close “is wonderful for me,” said Parker, a mother of four. “I thought I would try it once and that would be enough. But we really enjoyed the process and the blessing it gives to our homes.”

Silverman said the building’s design draws on the Hasidic tradition and belief that it is important to connect with God through nature.

“One of the early traditions of our group has been to go out into the forest or go out into the field or someplace where you can see the beauty of God’s world. And to use the opportunity to meditate and to pray and to connect with God in that kind of setting,” Silverman said.

In east Cobb, where most Jews are not Orthodox, the Chabad’s “goal has always been to create an atmosphere where Jews from all backgrounds feel very comfortable and enjoy participating,” Silverman said. “Over the years, most of the congregants and participants have been non-Orthodox.”

Although Orthodox tradition is not to drive on the Sabbath, many of the members drive, and the new building will have an expanded parking lot.

Parker walks about 2 1/2 miles with her husband and two youngest children to the Chabad. But she said no judgments are made of the people who drive.

“We wanted to extend the Sabbath by walking without any distractions,” said Parker, who lives in Indian Hills, just less than an hour’s walk away. “It is peaceful and relaxing and a wonderful family time.”

Although most of the members are not Orthodox, they have found a home at the Chabad because they like the traditional way of worship, said Stan Olstein, one of the original members of the congregation.

“I enjoy the melodies and the sermons,” he said. “It’s just, you know, an old-time, traditional type of religious service. It gives you a warm feeling.”