$3.5M Building in the Works

Mendy Rimler – Lubavitch.com

Home to the headquarters of major corporations like Sbarro food chain, Nikon, and now, Canon USA, Melville NY is attracting young families. With the launch of a $3.5 million building campaign, Chabad of Huntington will soon make the move from their current off-base location to better serve its Jewish community.

The state-of-the-art facility will be in the heart of Melville, in south Huntington. The 1.4 acre property is located near the town center, public school and library, and close by to Melville’s burgeoning business district. Two hundred Jewish families live within a one mile radius of the new building.

“Community members are very pleased with the news, and they’ve stepped forward to support the building campaign,” said Rabbi Asher Vaisfiche, director of Chabad of Huntington since he established the center together with his wife Miriam in 1991.

The building will include a sanctuary, a mikvah, a multi-purpose social hall and classrooms for Hebrew School.

Marshall Rosenthal, an attorney living in Melville enrolled his Eleven year-old Jared Rosenthal just completed a year at the Hebrew School. His dad, Marshall Rosenthal, an attorney, says the experience helped his son overcome learning disabilities.

“Children at Hebrew School learn at their own pace in a nurturing environment, and build confidence. I believe there is a correlation between Jared’s success at school and his studies at Hebrew School,” says Rosenthal.

Jewish life in Long Island dates back to the late nineteenth century, says Bat Sheva Slavin, Director of the Allen and Helen Rosenberg Jewish Discovery Museum. Like most of Long Island’s Jewish communities, the “Jewish population in Huntington is largely the baby boomers of the post World War Two influx of Jewish people, who moved out of Brooklyn and the Bronx in search of more living space.”

“While we are concerned with the next generation, and intermarriage, today there is tremendous Jewish commitment in many areas in Long Island,” said Slavin.

Huntington is also home to two conservative temples, but many people find the membership fees prohibitive.

“At Chabad, if you live in Huntington and you’re Jewish, you’re a member,” Rabbi Vaisfische said.

Madye Shmidt, Vice President of Long Island Clean Water Service and longtime member of Chabad in Huntington said the community has taken shape over last two decades, and there is a “definite sense of community among the people I meet at Chabad.”

“The atmosphere at Chabad is non-pressured and they make everyone feel welcome. It feels like home.”