On a Yacht, Chabad South Broward Reveals $18 Million Expansion

By Joseph Obermeyer
Photos, Video: Mendel Mish

The 40th Annual Dinner of Congregation Levi Yitzchok- Lubavitch/Chabad of South Broward Headquarters in Florida took place this past Thursday evening, August the 5th, 27 Menachem Av, on the Grand Princess luxurious event yacht, with several hundred Dinner guests celebrating on three stunning floors of the boat.

An $18,000,000 campaign was launched at the dinner, to quadruple the size of Chabad of South Broward Headquarters, from 15,000 square feet to 60,000 square feet.

Six new stories will be added to the existing buildings, with three new stories being built on top of each existing building. The two four floor buildings will be built in magnificent Jerusalem stone.

“I prefer a Shtiebel,” Rabbi Raphael Tennenhaus, Head Shliach of South Broward and Senior Rabbi of Congregation Levi Yitzchok- Lubavitch remarked, “and having a Chabad Shabbos Minyan one mile away from each Chabad House in Southeast Broward, encouraged me over the years, to continue to have a Shtiebel, albeit a very active and busy one, with a flurry of activity from 5am until after midnight many days of the year.

“But with the recent growth of many new families, Camp Gan Israel of South Broward having to rent a huge Public School with 550 children this summer, and well over 200 families on the waiting list of the Chai Tots Preschool, we have no alternative,” he said.

Dozens of Shiurim are offered each week in the Main Chabad Center of South Broward, hundreds of adults participate regularly in Torah classes, and many thousands receive the Rabbi’s weekly Torah email, Oneg Shabbat.

The dinner featured the talented and popular Shuky Sadon, in a special musical performance, the reading of the last letter the Rebbe ever signed, to the 11th Annual Dinner of Congregation Levi Yitzchok-Lubavitch in Hallandale, which was read by the newest Shliach in South Broward, Rabbi Yossi Lifshitz, and a Farbrengen to celebrate this milestone occasion.

MC of the Dinner was the humorous and witty Rabbi Shmuly Tennenhaus, Dinner Party Planner was the talented Mrs. Dorit Antian, and the Dinner Committee included Rabbi Moshe Schwartz, Rabbi Mordy Feiner and Mrs. Chana Eliyahu. A special shout out to Rabbi Leibel Miller, an expert on Kashrus and cruises, who made the event the success that it was.

Honorees at the 40th Annual Dinner included local members of South Florida Hatzalah, Rabbi Eli Schochet, Mendy Hassan and Shaul Dahan, all who received the Humanitarian Award; David and Natacha Ben Aim, recipients of the Chesed Award; Moshe and Ohr Miriam Pershin, who accepted the Young Leadership Award; and Shana Wolf, assistant principal of the Chaya Aydel Seminary, who received the Educator of the Year Award.

“We merited every year to receive a letter from the Rebbe to our Dinners,” Rabbi Tennenhaus concluded, “and on some occasions, the Rebbe added sentences and even paragraphs about our particular institution. What’s most exciting this year, as we launched this campaign to quadruple our size with six new stories, is that the Rebbe’s Brocha in 5749 (1989), when we bought our buildings, was to, outgrow our new buildings, and now this Brocha is being fulfilled beyond what we ever expected!”

Upon departing the evening of inspiration and celebration, all Dinner guests received a framed copy of the last letter the Rebbe signed, a rendering of the $18,000,000 Expansion Project, a delicious box of chocolates, and an invitation to visit the new Kosher Central, opening across the street from Chabad of South Broward Headquarters, G-d willing in January 2022.

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