27,000-Square-Foot Chabad Heralds New Era for Jewish Champaign, Ill.

Mark Neuman recalls the day 17 years ago when Rabbi Dovid and Goldie Teichtel came to Champaign, Ill., to found a Chabad-Lubavitch presence in the college town 135 miles south of Chicago.

“My dad, an Auschwitz survivor, told me, ‘Rabbi Dovid and Goldie are going to change the game for Jewish life here. Their presence and activity with young people on campus is an insurance policy that we will have Jewish life in 50 years,’ ” says Neuman, a resident of Champaign and an alum of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

The Tiechtels, who came to serve the local Jewish community as well as the estimated 4,000 Jewish students on campus, had plenty of work ahead of them. Yet few could have envisioned the exponential growth in Jewish life that they catalyzed.

Now, to meet the demands of the area’s thriving community, Chabad at the University of Illinois and Champaign-Urbana—otherwise known as Illini Chabad— has purchased an enormous almost-new facility to serve as a hub of Jewish life for students and community members alike.

“This facility will serve everyone, and we want everyone to be a part of purchasing it,” says Rabbi Teichtel.

Estimated to have a replacement value of $10.5 million, the edifice was built in 2017 for the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity and sold to Chabad for approximately half that price when the fraternity fell into financial hardship.

Located in the heart of the U of I campus, the new Chabad House has room to seat as many as 300 guests for Shabbat and holiday meals—a far cry from Chabad’s erstwhile location, where they could barely squeeze in 115 and often had to pitch tents to accommodate the overflow crowd. The center also has ample space for study, socializing and relaxation, as well as what will become the only dedicated place of worship on campus.

The commercial kitchen will allow Chabad to operate a kosher catering service for community events, as well as a bistro for students.

The new Chabad House has room to seat as many as 300 guests for Shabbat and holiday meals.

The new facility, a certified “green building,” notably features 40 private units of university-certified housing, which means that freshmen will be allowed to reside there instead of the university dorms.

As the university prepares to open the 2020-21 academic year with a hybrid of online and in-person classes, the new building, which features several unconnected outdoor spaces (an expansive deck, basketball court, lawns and a covered parking lot for inclement weather), is perfectly suited for socially distanced meals and services.

Even before the purchase was announced, the Tiechtels worked with key supporters to raise nearly $4 million in pledges. They are currently raising another $3 million from alumni, community members, supporters and the public at large.

“This facility will serve everyone, and we want everyone to be a part of purchasing it,” says Rabbi Tiechtel. “Right now, all donations are being doubled by generous donors, but that’s not what’s important. What matters to us is that every single person who has ever been touched by Chabad—or who will be touched by Chabad—feels that this is their home, their safe space, a place that’s as much theirs’ as it is ours.”

The facility includes a basket-ball court, which will supply additional COVID-safe event space.

The new building features several unconnected outdoor spaces.

The outdoor deck set for the opening festivities of its short-lived occupants, the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity.

The center also has ample space for study, socializing and relaxation, such as this rec. room.

Students will be free to drop by to work out or otherwise make themselves at home.

Located in the heart of the U of I campus, the center has ample space for study, socializing and relaxation.

The edifice was built in 2017 for the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity.