Follow ChabadInfo & Never Miss an Update!

Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our WhatsApp status and broadcast Follow us on Tiktok Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on Google News Subscribe on YouTube

By Beis Moshiach Magazine

CALLED TO DUTY

The desire to beautify and raise up the House of Hashem, the great and holy house which is the spiritual home of Chabad Chassidim for over eighty years, where every holiday, weekday or Shabbos, thousands of Chabad Chassidim converge, is currently the main focus of Anash whose greatest hope is to see it enlarged and expanded.

It’s too small; this we already know. And the Chabad family has grown beautifully. Even before Gimmel Tammuz, thousands filled every square inch of the Rebbe’s Beis Medrash. If that’s the way it was then, well, the Chabad family has only grown since, boruch Hashem.

As always, the Rebbe anticipated everything and he himself stood at the head of the campaign to enlarge the shul and Beis Medrash of Beis Chayeinu. He is the one who dedicated many precious hours to the subject of expansion and in rare fashion, laid the cornerstone for the expansion of the shul.

Yehuda Pereg was involved behind the scenes. Mr. Pereg is an architect who lives in Yerushalayim. When I spoke with him, it seemed as though all his memories were as fresh as if the events happened yesterday. He received instructions and guidance from the Rebbe about the construction, both directly and through the gabbaim and members of Agudas Chassidei Chabad who directed this project.

He seemed excited to discuss what happened back then, as well as tell of the bracha that he received from the Rebbe for expanding 770.

“It was in 5748 when I was invited by my clients to New York to prepare a schema [general blueprint] for apartments they wanted to build. While I was in New York, I was called by the building committee of 770 and asked to draw up plans for expanding the big, central shul, to see how it would be possible to provide more space for the congregants within the existing space constraints. They asked me to come to their offices so we could check together what it would be possible to do.”

R’ Zev Katz introduces the architect, Mr. Yehuda Pereg, to the Rebbe at dollars.

THE REBBE WAS VERY PLEASED

Mr. Pereg was born and raised in Yerushalayim in a religious family. When he became of draft age he served in the army for three years. Then he began studying architecture at a university in Melbourne where he studied for six years. He then returned to Yerushalayim and began working in the field.

“I remember the meeting, how together with the committee members we toured the entire facility. I also brought engineers for them to test the possibility of physically expanding the place, and I asked for two weeks to plan how an expansion would look.

“I returned to New York with the schema and even brought a small model with me. I had seen that the building has four stories which weren’t quite being utilized. I understood how important it is to preserve the shul – this is also one of the requirements I was given – which is why I planned on gutting the heart of the building without touching the level of the shul which would remain as it was, thus creating a large space which would contain thousands of people.”

How was your plan received?

“It was a first draft but whoever saw it was very happy. They told me that I could return to Yerushalayim and they would check out my proposed expansion with the contractors.”

It turned out that the check with the contractors concluded that it would be a very expensive project that could cost tens of millions of dollars which did not meet the Rebbe’s requirements.

“A few months later, the members of the committee called me and said they decided, instead of renovating and expanding inside the existing space, to build from scratch into the space adjacent to 770 which would reduce the costs. The gabbai of the shul, Rabbi Zev Katz, called me and said that I was invited to come to New York to plan the new building based on the new plan of action.

“I was very excited. To me, it was a great honor to work on the central Beis Medrash of Chabad. I knew the significance of this beyond the professional challenge. I flew to New York and met with the building committee. They laid out the general plan for me and said how they wanted the expansion to look. They asked me to come up to their office on the top floor to meet with Rabbi Krinsky.

“When I went up, he told me that several plans from a number of architects had been submitted to the Rebbe and the Rebbe had rejected all of them. The building committee was asking me to suggest a new project to expand the place.”

Peleg got to work and brought top-name engineers and examined the options for expansion without interfering with the day-to-operations of the hub of the Chassidus, which was a constant hive of activity. He realized that this was a real challenge for all the reasons in the world. He asked for a month to return to his office in Yerushalayim and plan it all anew, but this time, the customers insisted he remain in New York and prepare a first draft while still in New York.

“Throughout the month I worked with the engineers whom I hired. We prepared a comprehensive schema which I presented to the building committee. They seemed satisfied with it. ‘Now, we’ll submit it to the Rebbe and see how he reacts,’ they said. They just asked me to reduce the plans in size so it would be easier for the Rebbe to follow all the details.

“There were many architectural and engineering drawings [which are done on very large paper] in the plans that I brought and I needed several days to shrink it all down. I remember that the plan was shrunk and was still the size of a book like a Gemara. At the meeting, I explained how to show the plans to the Rebbe. They wanted to arrange the pages so that the page of the overall perspective would be presented as the first page. I explained to them that in presenting materials, we architects present the material in a completely different order – first presenting the detailed plans, sections, facades, and only at the end do we show what the finished product would look like in its entirety.

“Someone said they were afraid that just as the Rebbe rejected the other plans right after seeing a page or two, here too, the Rebbe would see a page or two and not want to even look at the general perspective, which is why they preferred presenting it at the beginning. ‘Excuse me,’ I said, ‘but I’m the architect and this is the order of how it should be shown to the Rebbe.’

“The plans were brought to the Rebbe. I don’t know exactly what happened there but one day, R’ Krinsky called me and said that the Rebbe had gone over my plans and was very pleased and he approved the construction of the building.”

Light portals above the aron kodesh

“FOR THE SUCCESS OF THE BUILDING YOU’RE PLANNING FOR US”

After the approval in principle, came the stage of examining the costs. One of the Rebbe’s conditions was not to put fabulous amounts of money into the building. Peleg himself met with several contractors, some of them together with Mr. David Chase who was one of the philanthropists who generously supported Chabad over the years.

Things moved slowly and with exertion. During the following two years, Pereg was called to New York a few times. Sometimes they wanted replacements for certain parts in the building plans to reduce costs.

“There were times that they asked me for ideas that were less grand than I thought they should be. There was a stage when they wanted only a limited expansion.

“On 24 Elul 5749, after lengthy negotiations, I understood from the committee members that the Rebbe rejected the more limited schematics they wanted to use and wanted my schema.

“That was on a Sunday and I was invited to the Rebbe for dollars. R’ Katz introduced me to the Rebbe as the architect who prepared the plans. He told the Rebbe that I would be returning to Yerushalayim. The Rebbe gave me one dollar for tzedaka in Yerushalayim, one dollar for tzedaka in Eretz Yisrael, and one dollar for ‘the success of the building you are planning for us’ (which he said in Yiddish).

“I had already moved on when I was called back. ‘The Rebbe wants to speak to you,’ they told me. Then the Rebbe said in Yiddish, ‘to actualize all the blessings and don’t disappoint me.’”

The first expansion took place in the years that followed. The Beis Medrash was expanded only partially. The bathrooms were moved to the lower level, along with the other rooms that were built down there. In 5754, the construction came to a halt.

A PLAN WITHOUT PILLARS

Years passed with no progress. In 5764, Pereg was called back to New York by the Drizin and Branover families who wanted to push the project forward. They even asked him to prepare an even more expanded version.

“I told them that I had instructions from the Rebbe and I had to make the building as the Rebbe requested.

“Originally, the lot is 1900 meters and in the building plans I presented to the Rebbe which he approved, there are 7700 meters. In the new plans that they wanted, the place would be able to contain nearly double the area that the Rebbe approved to build.

“Then I got another phone call. ‘Yehuda, hold off on the plans and the work. Disputes have arisen and until the disputes are resolved, we can’t move forward.’

“A few more years passed and then, two years ago, some askanim from New York called me and asked me if the Rebbe had given me any letter or document proving that the Rebbe approved my expanding 770. I said no, I did not receive any official document, but I remember that they showed me an agreement in which the Rebbe approved the project and said he would mention it at the gravesite of his father-in-law. I told them the date when I met the Rebbe at dollars and they checked it out and saw the video in which the Rebbe blessed me for the project.”

The Beis Medrash was enlarged only partially. The bathrooms were moved to the lower level. Then, in 5754, the construction stopped.

Can you please get more into the details of the building that you planned? I’d like to share the technical details with our readers of how the new building will look.

“In the nature of things, I can’t get into more detail now, but this I can tell you: The entrance to the big zal will remain as it is today but new entrances will be added in the new building. The women’s section will have entrances from Union Street and Eastern Parkway. We nixed the possibility of an entrance from the Kingston Avenue side because that serves as the eastern side of the shul and it’s not right that people enter from the east toward which we pray.

“We also made a connection between the floors of 770 itself, and the new building via a passageway between 770 and the new building.

“In addition to the number of people davening on the main floor, I made an additional galley level for the men and another floor for the women’s section. Under the building I made a spacious basement meant for a kiddush hall.

“One of the innovations that we introduced in the new building is that no pillars at all will be needed. With today’s technology, it’s possible build wide spaces without needing pillars.

“I also designated space for offices, a library and secondary Batei Medrash around the men’s galleries. These are meant to be rooms for learning. During holidays or other peak crowding times they will open up to one large space which will enable a large crowd of congregants to be in the same place at the same time.”

How long do you estimate construction would take according to the plans you drew up?

“The construction process from the beginning stage would take just two years. In New York, putting up buildings can be sped up much quicker than in Eretz Yisrael. The first year would be devoted to putting up the building. By my estimation, they will have to install the entire infrastructure from scratch, piping, groundwork, electricity and all the rest. The second stage will be designing the interior which will take about a year.

“In order to actualize the plans, I estimate that I’ll need about fifteen engineers to work with me in all of the main stages, the acoustics, electricity, so that altogether, I estimate that it will take about two years to make a building next to 770.”

One of the main concerns of the Chassidim, as you know, is that the form of the shul should remain as it was.

“I am definitely aware of that, and I can reassure you that the Rebbe’s chair will obviously remain in its place and the aron kodesh would remain geometrically in place as it is today.

“I included an innovation in that I put in high windows, portals of light, above the aron kodesh so that the light of day can be seen where people pray.”

In 5764, Pereg was called to New York again to move the project forward. Projected views of the expanded version.

How would the new building ‘integrate’ with the current 770?

“From what I learned from my research is that it’s very important that the new building visually honor the style of the existing building and, of course, also the 770 building where there will be no changes. This is the reason we designed a continuous facade between the buildings, wherein in the connecting space I added another window.

“Altogether, one can see how the new building honors in its form, as well as aligns nicely with, the 770 building existing today.”

What message do you have for our readers?

“As an architect, I truly hope that we can soon start work on this project. The plans for the big shul have been in my hands for thirty-five years and I’m ready at a moment’s notice to get the call and carry out the task that the Rebbe wanted so much, and finally expand the central shul of Lubavitch.”

204