By Morris Malakoff, JTNews Correspondent
For months, preparing for Shabbos meant also being a furniture mover for Rabbi Shalom “Berry” Farkash.
“We held services in the living room and moved the furniture into the office,” he said. “But now we don’t have to do that.”
The weekly moving-day routine ended when Chabad of the Central Cascades completed the first phase in the renovation of its new home earlier this month to create a more spacious area that can be dedicated to services and other functions.
A renovation of what had been a two-car garage into a large meeting room is the first step in a plan to build a full congregation on 1.25 acres of land on the Sammamish Plateau, which Chabad purchased last year.
“First we will reconstruct the driveway and parking area,” Farkash said, noting that not only is it steep, but it is limited in size.
“When we have Hebrew school in the afternoon and 25 families are trying to drop off the students, backing around and getting out can be a nightmare,” he said.
Later, when money becomes available, there are plans to clear land on the back half of the acreage to construct a building that will house classroom space and a mikvah. As of now, the only work done toward that structure has been a land survey to verify land use issues such as wetland setbacks on the rural property that, while it has a Sammamish address, is actually in unincorporated King County. The just-completed addition, which was built at a cost of $180,000, has given the Chabad a little breathing room.
“We are able to expand our services,” Farkash said. “We now will have Saturday Shabbos and we can have other events in this room.”
That includes adding a family service one Saturday a month as well. The new room will also allow for starting up a pre-school in the coming year. The growth of the far-Eastside Chabad spurred the congregation to make use of the facility before it was even completed.
“We held services during the High Holidays in the room even though the floor was still just cement and the ceiling was not yet in place,” Farkash said.
The first event held in the new facility after it was completed actually was not directly related to the Chabad, but a dinner for 80 people involved with Northwest Yeshiva High School.
There is no set timeline for the continued expansion on the property, but they do plan to work on the parking area when the weather improves later this year. Other construction is dependent on financing.
But there is a timeline for paying for the latest improvement.
“We have until August to come up with $150,000 to pay for this,” Farkash said. “For now, all of our funding comes from our community.”
That works out to needing to come up with an average of $1,000 a day until August. Farkash said he is always raising money. In addition, a member of the community is working on organizing an auction later this year as part of the effort to both erase the debt and begin working toward the planned future expansion.
While a similar project in Tacoma has drawn the ire of neighbors, the Chabad of the Central Cascades seems to have found harmony with its limited number of neighbors.
“When we bought the property, I went personally to each of them and told them about our plans,” Farkash said. “They asked that we not block their driveways and such, but in reality, they have been great. They seem happy that we are quiet and are good neighbors.”
Farkash said he has a database that shows about 1,200 Jewish families live in the Issaquah-Fall City-Sammamish-North Bend area he serves. About 30 of those families are regular attendees at Chabad services, though many more attend holiday programs.