Chattanooga Celebrates New Center

Lubavitch.com

Hundreds of Chattanooga Jewish community members, visiting dignitaries, and other well-wishers celebrated the opening of the newly renovated Chabad Center for Jewish Life in historic Fort Wood.

The Center, which features a synagogue, a library, and other spaces for learning and special events, is housed in a grand 10,000-square-foot building constructed in 1914. The Fort Wood neighborhood itself is one of the city’s historic districts, renowned for its beautiful old Victorian homes.

U.S. Senator Bob Corker, Mayor of Chattanooga Andy Berke, and Congressman Chuck Fleischman participated in the opening. Mr. Michael Dzik represented the Jewish Federation of Chattanooga. Rabbi Sholom Duchman, head of Colel Chabad, was also in attendance.

Tennessee Governor Bob Haslam offered Chabad his congratulations. “For the past seven years, you have touched the lives of thousands of Tennesseans by providing social services and family education, as well as enhancing the experience of Jewish life,” he wrote. “I am certain that the new facility is a welcome addition to the great work that Chabad is already doing.”

In addition to serving the some 3000 Jews who call Chattanooga home, shluchim Rabbi Shaul and Rosie Perlstein have established a close rapport with many of the Jewish college and medical students from both University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and Erlanger Hospital. They also lead the the Jew-TCgroup, the only program in the area for Jewish students at UTC. The new Chabad Center features a spacious new lounge designed to serve the students.

One of the first persons to take advantage of the new facility is a Jewish German exchange student living in the nearby UTC dorms. He arrived at the Perlstein’s doorstep a few weeks prior to the official opening, saying he was looking for a place to enjoy an authentic Jewish experience and has been coming back ever since.

“Now we will have a religious and cultural center right here so that students at UTC can be at home and grow and prosper and learn,” said Congressman Fleischmann.