Chabad of Oceanside Purchases New Building

Chabad of Oceanside purchased its 17,000-square-foot building on June 30, cementing its place in the community and opening the door for new and expanded programs — starting right away.

The Chabad, which has been in Oceanside since 2000, was using a building that a benefactor was financing, explained Rabbi Levi Gurkov. But recently, due to the weak economy, the benefactor was unable to continue to subsidize the Chabad’s use of the space.

“And we found ourselves in the position that the building was on the open market,” Gurkov said. “And with the help of the community, we were able to make a deal with the bank and buy it.”

Gurkov said that the Chabad was able to purchase the building because the community rallied behind the organization and donated to the cause. “Ever since we started here at the Chabad of Oceanside, we’ve always been giving to the community,” he explained. “We relied on numerous benefactors in the past that let us help people in any way, fashion or form — whether it be monetary, emotional or religious services or anything of that sort. And we did this for all these years. And then when it came time for the community to actually give back to Chabad, they responded tremendously.”

Now that the organization owns the building, Gurkov said, it will expand its popular preschool program, sacrificing space formerly used for worship to accommodate more children. But with that tradeoff, he added, he expects ceremonies for the High Holy Days — which usually draw more worshipers — to be crowded. He said that those services will become reservation-only.

“Our doors are not closed — we’re not changing any of our policies,” Gurkov said. “But due to the fact that there is limited space, it would be prudent for people to reserve a seat. Otherwise there will be a severe lack of space for people.”

According to Gurkov, the Chabad of Oceanside welcomes those of all variations of Judaism. “There are no labels, there are no definitions or criteria for what kind of a Jew a person is,” he explained. “If you’re a Jew, you’re more than welcome, regardless of creed or color or things like that.”

In addition to religious services and the preschool program, the Chabad also runs a Hebrew school, a Torah class, bar and bat mitzvah clubs, youth clubs and women’s groups. Gurkov said that he wants to expand all of its programs and even add new ones.

“We want to open up something for children with special needs,” he said. “Now that we have the space and know that we can open up another chapter here, we’re looking to expand the community-based services.”

The Chabad’s main goal now is to give back to the community that helped make the building purchase possible. “The community came together,” Gurkov said. “It wasn’t just a single effort — it wasn’t like I purchased the building. It was a community-wide effort, and everybody came together. That’s the only way it would have happened.”