Chabad of Northwest New Jersey dedicated the Chabad Education Center in Rockaway on June 7 with close to 300 people in attendance.
Photos by Johanna Ginsberg
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June 11, 2009
The Chabad Center of Northwest New Jersey dedicated its new education building in Rockaway on June 7, capping a four-year, $2.7 million building project.
The 9,000-square-foot Chabad Education Center houses the David Hoffman Hebrew School, the Chabad Early Learning Center, a Hebrew high school, and an adult education institute.
The original Chabad building just down the road will be used for Shabbat services and as a social hall/auditorium; all other activities will be held in the new building.
“We started off in a basement at our first location with just a few children,” said the Chabad Center’s program director, Rabbi Mordechai Baumgarten. “We saw quite quickly we would outgrow the facility we had, but it took many years to work out the details.” Baumgarten and regional director Rabbi Asher Herson served as tour guides for a visitor a few days before the dedication of the education center.
The new building was designed by David Ashen of D-Ash Design, a firm that specializes in environmental design. The upper two floors offer classroom space; there is also an indoor gym that can be converted into classroom space. The building also includes a library and a suite of administrative offices on the downstairs level.
The Mei Menachem Community Mikvah is located at the back of the building, with separate men’s and women’s entrances. Although included in tours of the building on June 7, the ritual bath will have its own dedication ceremony, which will also feature an educational symposium, later in the summer.
The preschool and Hebrew school, which occupy the upper levels of the building, were completed last summer and have been in use all year. The Early Learning Center has 55 students enrolled and accepts children from six weeks of age through kindergarten. The religious school has 50 students; the high school has 20 students enrolled.
Cutting the ribbon on June 7 are, from left, Rabbi Mordechai Baumgarten; Alan Hildebrant; Mark Neidich; Michael Friedman; Allen Hantman; Rabbi Asher Herson, regional director of Chabad of Northwest NJ; and Rabbi Moshe Herson (partially blocked), dean of the Rabbinical College of America.
A Department of Homeland Security grant helped pay for outdoor video surveillance.
“To finally have a facility that does justice to our program and our director of education is just an unbelievable feeling,” said Baumgarten. “It’s a place people feel comfortable to come to drop off their children, to study. God willing, we have our work cut out for us to see the building is used to its maximum potential.”
A branch of the Brooklyn-based Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic outreach group, Chabad of Northwest New Jersey serves residents of Parsippany, Hackettstown, Sparta, Mountain Lakes, and Boonton. It has opened satellite sites in Flanders, Sparta, Montville, Randolph, and, most recently, Mountain Lakes.
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