Izzy Connors ’18

The Chabad Lubavitch of Westport, a synagogue and Jewish center located on the corner of Newtown Turnpike, was built in the 1800s, making it one of the oldest buildings in Westport and a candidate for some upgrades. In an attempt to turn Chabad into a full-servicing Jewish center, it has undergone substantial structural reconstruction over the past year. The goal is to open the newly renovated center in January of 2018.

The addition will expand the original building by 14,000 square feet, making the building 20,000 total square feet distributed over three floors. But even as the synagogue is modernized, strides are being made to protect it’s history; the original antique exterior of the building will be preserved.

“We’ve gone out of our way to protect the antique building,” Peter Greenberg, the general contractor on the project, said. “We have new and old, and marrying the two together makes it a very complicated construction project.

New features include an educational wing on the first floor, a new parking lot, a large meeting room with a dividing wall that will separate the room into a sanctuary and a function hall, a four-bedroom apartment, a large commercial kitchen, a library and a teen lounge.

“We have been offering a lot of these things before, but we’ve had to rent spaces and we’ve been confined,” Dina Kantor, the wife of Rabbi Yehudah Leib Kantor, said. “Now it’s going to be a full-servicing type of center where we have a steady place where we can offer a lot more.”

According to Greenberg, the congregation is made up of about 300 people. However, the Chabad is unique in that it is not membership-based, and many of the programs offered are geared towards the entire community.

The educational wing, for instance, will be open to the whole community and will have different thematic rooms to encourage learning.

“We’re going to have art lessons and cooking lessons and a library that’s open to all and kids events that are open to all,” Kantor said. “I’m especially very excited with our commercial teaching kitchen because it will be a great space for caterers to come in and we can offer lots of parties for people that want to rent a space for parties, as well as bringing in all kinds of chefs to do demos.”

Max Sussman ’18, who attended Hebrew school at Chabad the first year it was offered, is one of many Westport teenagers who has been significantly impacted by the Chabad over the years.
“Having a place for the Chabad to grow and prosper and become one of the hubs of Jewish life in Westport is amazing,” Sussman said.

The building was also brought up to all modern-day codes. “It’s now completely handicap accessible, it meets all new fire building codes, full new sprinkler system, new energy codes,” Greenberg said.

Kantor is excited to open the newly renovated synagogue and community center in late January. “This will be one central place where people can just drop in and there will always be something happening, so it really will allow for a home for the community.”