Sheepshead Bay Chabad Races Against Deadline to Secure Property

With what could be the biggest move in decades for Chabad of Sheepshead Bay, a rare chance to turn a church property into a new shul, school, and mikvah for its ever-growing Jewish community must be secured by Chai Elul — or they risk losing the property and their deposit.

Chabad of Sheepshead Bay has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to purchase the property adjacent to the Chabad House, currently belonging to a church, and transform it into a permanent home for Torah, tefillah and Yiddishkeit.

The 8,000-square-foot corner property will finally give the growing community the space it desperately needs.

Today, the current space can no longer meet the needs of the growing community. Chabad needs room to welcome more families, expand its programs, and build the facilities the community needs to grow and thrive. There are hundreds of children waiting to get into the Hebrew school and preschool.

This property changes all of that.

It will allow Chabad to build a beautiful shul welcoming hundreds more people, establish a much-needed Mikvah, create a social hall, build proper Hebrew School and preschool facilities, and open its doors to hundreds of additional Jewish families.

But first, they have to close.

The purchase price is $1.9 million. After tremendous effort, $800,000 has already been raised, and Chabad has secured a $500,000 mortgage.

$600,000 is still missing — and everything is on the line.

The closing is scheduled for Chai Elul, Monday, August 31, the auspicious birthday of both the Baal Shem Tov and the Alter Rebbe.

If C”VS they fail, Chabad could lose the property and the $190,000 deposit already committed to the purchase.

The choice is stark:

Either Chabad secures this property — or the church retains it.

Either it becomes a makom of kedusha — or the opportunity is lost, and it could instead be acquired by another religious institution, including a mosque R”L.

Either the final $600,000 is raised — or Chabad risks losing the property and its $190,000 deposit.

For one Shliach and one community, $600,000 in such a short time can feel impossible. But together, it is possible.

And the zechus is tremendous. Every donor becomes a partner in the Mikvah, the children who will learn here, the simchas that will be celebrated here, the tefillos that will be davened here, and the hundreds of families who will walk through these doors.

The campaign has received the endorsement of:

Rabbi Kasriel Shemtov — Mayanot, Jerusalem
Rabbi Moshe Pinson — Bais Shmuel Chabad, Crown Heights
Rabbi Sholom Moshe Paltiel — Chabad of Port Washington
Rabbi Yisroel Spalter — Chabad of Weston, Florida
Rabbi Gadi Blizinsky — Chevra Shas, Crown Heights
Rabbi Aron Ginsberg — Chabad of Boro Park
Rabbi Alex Kaller — Chabad Russian Center of S. Florida
Rabbi Shlomo Z. Cohen — Chabad of Sheepshead Bay

The deadline: Chai Elul — Monday, August 31.

The amount needed: $600,000.

The deposit at risk: $190,000.

This is a property they cannot afford to lose — and an opportunity they cannot afford to miss.

Please help a fellow Shliach and become a partner in a home that will serve thousands of Yidden for generations.

Together, B’ezras Hashem, we can get this done.