New home for Chabad at ASU

Phoenix, AZ — The Chabad Jewish Student Center at Arizona State University, with Chabad of Arizona, is in the midst of negotiations to purchase two properties near ASU’s Tempe campus.

Chabad will receive a $350,000 grant from the Rohr Family Foundation to assist with the purchase, according to Rabbi Shmuel Tiechtel, director of Chabad at ASU. The name of the new center will be the Rohr Chabad House-Jewish Student Center.

The properties, located at 969 and 971 S. Ash Ave., house Praxis Church and are a few blocks away from Chabad’s current home on Mill Avenue.

“We expect that escrow will close in mid-March,” said Tiechtel. “This project will truly enhance the Jewish community at ASU.”

The purchase is a joint project of the regional office of Chabad of Arizona, under the auspices of its director, Rabbi Zalman Levertov, and the Chabad Jewish Student Center at ASU. A $1.2 million fundraising campaign is under way.

Chabad will take over existing buildings, including a sanctuary, a dining room and a small house, totaling approximately 13,000 square feet, plus parking. The move is expected to occur by May or June.

At 320 square feet, the current rented location, at 1112 S. Mill Ave., “is simply not enough room for every Jewish student who wants to participate in our programs, classes and events,” said Tiechtel.

The only major renovation needed at the new facility is a kitchen “that will be fit for use for the amount of cooking we do,” said Tiechtel, who founded Chabad at ASU in fall 2003. “Feeding 70-80 hungry college students a five-course gourmet Shabbat dinner every Friday night takes a lot of kitchen space.”

Rabbi Barton Lee, director of the Hillel Jewish Student Center at ASU, is pleased that Chabad is moving forward and will continue to work with Hillel in friendship. “I’ve discussed it with my friend and colleague Rabbi Tiechtel and I am delighted even if we have to change the Jewish neighborhood from Mill.”

“Everyone is invited to take part in making the dream of a new and larger Chabad House at ASU a reality where students can study, question, explore and grow in a warm and nonjudgmental atmosphere, a place where they will feel proud to be a Jew and feel part of the Jewish family at ASU,” said Tiechtel.

“College students are the future leaders of the Jewish community. Investing in the new center is investing in the Jewish leaders and generations of tomorrow.”

For more information about the campaign, contact Tiechtel, 480-736-8672, Rabbi@JewishASU.com or Yaakov Welner, building campaign director, ejwelner@yahoo.com.