By COLlive reporter
Photos: Shimi Kutner
After years of hosting hundreds of weddings, dinners, and other communal events, the Razag Hall in Crown Heights has begun a complete transformation.
The Razag event hall, located in the Bnos Menachem School on East New York Avenue, was spearheaded by Rabbi Motti Gurary, founder and director of Bnos Menachem School, and fellow founder Rabbi Yosef Simpson, who dreamed of opening a hall to benefit the community.
The hall was dedicated in memory of Rabbi and Rebbetzin Shneur Zalman and Chava Gurary, paragons of Chassidishkeit, Yiras Shomayim and Gemilas Chesed, by their family. No expense was spared in the building and design of the 9,000 square foot luxurious ballroom with adjoining bride, groom and family rooms.
Now, 12 years after its opening, “the Razag Ballroom has accommodated heavy traffic on nearly a daily basis, and was beginning to show the signs of wear and tear, that is not befitting such an elegant space,” the Hall’s Manager, Moishe Schmukler told COLlive.
But renovating such an often-used space presented a problem. “Since it is always occupied with one function or another, there was no way we could do this magnitude of work in one shot. We therefore worked section by section, launching the first piece of construction a few months ago and continuing to do the work in stages,” he said.
The hall’s original designer, Catherine Lagoudakis from CL Studios based out of Central Valley, NY, who custom designed the entire venue 12 years ago from the carpeting to the chairs, to the ironwork and light fixtures, was called in once again to give the hall the fresh new look.
Beginning with the lobby areas outside the elevator and restrooms a few months back, the construction crews have been working throughout the Tishrei month to complete the redo of the entire main ballroom’s feel with fresh paint and new wallpaper.
In the next month additional work will be done in the bridal suite, family room, chosson’s room and new carpeting will be installed. The final upgrade will be 650 new chairs for the hall.
“With the community Baruch Hashem continuing to grow, with not only locals but Shluchim, out of towners and others from around the world choosing to make their simchas in Crown Heights, the Razag Hall has grown and grown in popularity in recent years,” Schmukler said. “We work closely with Esther Blau, who manages the other Crown Heights wedding hall at Oholei Torah to make sure that no one has to wait for many months for a date to get married, and ensure that their simcha hall truly befits a chosson and a kallah,” he said.
The nicest part of the article was the fact that the managers work closely with the amazing Mrs . . Blau to make sure that the community benefits from the convenience of two halls. In this zchus,may both halls be booked nightly,with chasunahs of those who are so needy of finally making a proper shidduch!
A pleasure to deal with !
Moshe schmukler is a huge part of every simcha in razag. So patient. Thoughtful. He truly enhances each simcha with his calm efficiency all night long. Thank you moishy.
The carpet should go.
Dear organizers, The above poster mentioned a good point. WIll the renovations reflect in a steeper price. Please take this in consideration. Baruch hashem many families make more than one wedding in a span of two years.
Why not do it at sefirs hahomer, no weddings then???
People trip on it because you dont see whrre each stair ends
Hope now they also find place to store those tables in coat room, and that coat room back up and running, even in oholei Torah they found a new spot to store the soda so they can have the coat room open
I can’t imagine it getting nicer, can’t wait to see it. And Moishe Schmukler is a pleasure to work with, always a smile. Making a Simcha there was truly enjoyable.
The personal attention you receive from moshie is amazing! As well the razag hall is just clean, fresh and neat! And the food is Fantastic! Great place to make a wedding!
Is it going to be more expensive to rent?