With tremendous gratitude to Hashem and with much appreciation to the Rebbe, Chabad has embarked on an expansion project for the Southern MInnesota regional and visiting communities.
The Vision:
Grow the space & hub and expand resources for the local and regional Jewish community’s needs with the Southern Minnesota Jewish Campus.
Foster and develop the home away from home for the thousands of patients visiting the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, expanding the Chabad Mayo Clinic Area's support for patients and their families facing serious health challenges.
The new center will be a space where everyone can experience the beauty and warmth of our Jewish heritage, regardless of their background or level of observance. It will enable us to continue to expand our programming for the youth, adults, local, visitors, patients and caregivers!
Vision - Phase II (Schematic Designs)*
Estimated Cost $10.5 Million*
*Final renderings and construction costs subject to change
Phase I $750,000
1988:
Rabbi Dovid & Chanie Greene were sent to Rochester by the Rebbe o"bm and established Chabad's presence near the Mayo Clinic in the summer of 1988. They live in the Chabad house which was built in the early 1900s. This property was purchased with the help of Robert Zimmerman (Bob Dylan). The house serves as the Greene family home, as well as the Chabad center known as the "Bais Chaya Moussia Hospitality Center".
The house has served the community well. Since the day the Greene's moved in, it has been a typical open Chabad home offering a warm and welcoming environment for everyone coming to Rochester. It serves as a place of respite just minutes away from the hospital for those who need a break. The house is in the footprint of Mayo's campus, equidistant from each hospital.
Additionally, it is home to a weekly Shabbat minyan and Shabbat meals. Whether the Greene's are hosting people in their home, or packaging food for pickup for those visiting for treatment, the kitchen is always full of freshly made, delicious, kosher food for those in need.
2017:
In the summer of 2017, the Chabad Advisory board approved the hiring of Rabbi Shloime & Chana to become the regional coordinators for Chabad, further service the patients and caregivers, to better meet the steadily growing pace of Rochester’s Jewish needs by expanding regional Chabad activities. Over the past 6 years they established the JUDA (Chabad Hebrew School) and Gan Early Childhood Center to service youth education and meet the needs of the growing Jewish community.
The Need:
Rochester has approximately 2.5 million annual visitors arriving from across the globe.
Chabad answers hundreds of phone-calls each year to help thousands who come to Rochester seeking expert medical care and treatment. Offering Pastoral care, patient advocacy and support, or a warm bowl of chicken soup, a helping hand, Chabad is two blocks from the Mayo Clinic.
One of the main requests is for lodging. Many people come for multiple days at a time and struggle to afford hotel accommodation, in addition to their medical and travel expenses.
Over the past 6 years, Chabad has had to turn down hundreds of requests from people looking for subsidized lodging. Additionally, Chabad is the only kosher food service in town and annually serves over 1000 kosher meals to visitors.
Synagogue services, Moussia Hospitality, Hebrew School, social & holiday programming, and kosher catering department are all operated out of the Chabad space which is a shared space with Rabbi Dovid and Chanie’s residence. The Gan Preschool is bursting at the seams with 10 students and is currently operated in the home of Rabbi Shloime & Chana. For larger events space in local hotels or community centers are rented. Hundreds of community members in the region rely on Chabad of Southern Minnesota for Jewish education and Jewish Heritage & Cultural Awareness. Essentially all of Chabad programs operate out of 2 residential homes.
The Plan:
It is for these reasons that we now plan to transform the Chabad presence, and property, to a full-fledged Hospitality House and Chabad Jewish Center to fully use the property to capacity. The project includes offering high quality lodging at subsidized rates for patients and caregivers along with a fully equipped kosher kitchen and cafe. The vision is to create a home away from home for the thousands of Jewish patients visiting the Mayo Clinic in Rochester grow the space for the local Jewish community’s needs by offering youth educational experiences, social and cultural programming, along with the Southern Minnesota Jewish Historical Society and Holocaust memorial.
The project includes a property purchase to move the Senior Shluchim quarters (a property has already been purchased), bringing the current facility up to code to begin offering lodging and a kosher kitchen, albeit on a smaller scale, all the while developing the full scale vision.
The current estimate for the full-scale project is $10,500,000 with $750,000 earmarked for Phase I.
Please click here to view schematic designs for the Vision and Phase I
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