The Shmuel and Michelle Anvar Chabad-Lubavitch Educational Campus opened its doors to community members with a ceremonial ribbon cutting and traditional hanging of a mezuzah.
The new building, formerly the Villagio Events Center, is located a few blocks west of the Torah Day School and will be used for a variety of purposes for the Chabad community.
Camp Gunn Israel began using the space as a full athletic center for basketball and pickleball on July 1. The campus will be built as the future home of Torah Day School’s girls’ middle school, as well as space to meet further educational needs in the area.
“We are expanding not only physically, but spiritually,” Rebbetzin Chiena Lazarov of Chabad-Lubavitch told JHV. “We are expanding in numbers. We are expanding in personal growth. And we are expanding in holiness. This is a very significant day as we build for the future.”
Chiena, along with her husband, Rabbi Shimon Lazaroff, director of the Chabad-Lubavitch Center, were on hand to welcome the community. Rabbis Chaim and Reza Lazaroff led the community in cutting the ribbon and hanging the mezuzah.
“We are very excited and look forward to its future development to meet the educational needs of the region for decades to come,” Rabbi Chaim told JHV.
“Torah study is the oxygen that Jews live and breathe, and we hope the community will support our campaign, which will have a profound impact on the future education of Houston’s Jewish community.”
While overall plans have yet to be finalized, Chabad will launch a $14 million fundraising campaign to build the campus; $5 million has already been raised.
The main donation and purchase of the building was made by Shmuel and Michelle Amber, with the help of their daughter, Gila Barnett, and her husband, Shmuli.
The Ambers joined Chabad in 1980, and all six of their children graduated from Torah Day School. Their eldest daughter, Gila, is a teacher at TDS.
“There is a growing need for families wanting a Jewish education,” Shmuel told JHV, “so it was important for us to find this land for future development.”
“It’s been my dream for many years to build a synagogue or a school, and I feel like that’s come true.”
Torah Day School currently serves approximately 200 children from 18 months to grade 8. The principal is Rabbi Enan Francis.
“We are excited about this incredible opportunity to envision and build a campus and operations to meet the growing needs of the Torah Day School community,” Rabbi Francis said.
“This expansion will allow us to provide state-of-the-art facilities, enhance our educational programs and foster an even stronger sense of community. This endeavor is truly a dream come true.”
More than a dozen boys from Camp Gan Israel helped welcome the new building by reciting 12 verses from the Torah, saying prayers and offering tzedakah.
For Gila Barnett, the expansion is especially meaningful.
“As a TDS teacher and alumna, I am so grateful to my parents, Shmuel and Michelle Anbar, for purchasing and donating a beautiful new campus to further Jewish education for the entire Houston area, including my grandchildren,” Gila told JHV.
“Their achievement in helping children learn Torah is the continuity of the Jewish state. The new Shmuel & Michelle Anbar Campus is a dream come true for Jewish education and the Houston Jewish community.”
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