Chabad Israeli Center plans a new home in the DC suburbs

ROCKVILLE, Maryland—On its website, Chabad-Lubavitch claims it opens a new synagogue every three days somewhere on the planet. That would rank Chabad among the world’s fastest-growing franchises—putting even Starbucks, McDonald’s and Smoothie King to shame.

With 5,000+ locations in over 100 countries, Chabad seeks to establish “a living Jewish community within reach of any Jew, nearly anywhere on the globe, ensuring universal Jewish awareness with the promise of Jewish continuity.”

But unlike the fast-food business, not all Chabad locations are the same. In the United States, about 20 Chabad centers cater specifically to Israelis. These shuls—with services conducted primarily in Hebrew rather than English—are located in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and Philadelphia, among other cities.

And now, the Hebrew-speaking Chabad closest to the center of American power is building a new home.

The Chabad Israeli Center of Rockville—established by Rabbi Shlomo Beitsh in the summer of 2002—has outgrown its current location in a Maryland suburb nicknamed the “kibbutz” due to its concentration of Israeli expatriates.

“We think between 25,000 and 30,000 Israelis live in the DMV,” said Beitsh, using a local term for the metropolitan area encompassing the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia. “Of that number, most of them are not religious. Some are more traditional, some less. But we’re the only Hebrew-speaking Bet Chabad in the Washington DC area.”

It’s hard to believe, but when Beitsh, 47, arrived with his wife Sara 23 years ago, he was told that the Israelis living here were largely secular, and that a Chabad was the last thing they needed.

“The first time I came here from New York to see the area, I saw someone who looked Israeli and said ‘shalom, slicha.’ But he ignored me. The second person was with his daughter in a playground, talking on his phone. He later introduced himself as Benny and gave me his phone number. I told him we were thinking to open a Chabad. He asked me to speak to his wife, who said ‘you need to come here, right away.’”

Apparently, a handful of local Israelis had been attending High Holiday services at Ring House, a nearby assisted-living facility for Jewish seniors.

Beitsh conducted his first Rosh Hashana service in 2001, in an empty store along Rockville Pike.

“That evening, we had 20 or 30 people, and the next morning we had nine men,” he recalled. “We were waiting for a minyan, then suddenly an Israeli family arrived. The man explained that they had gone to Ring House, but that their kid was making noise and disturbing everybody, so they decided to go home. Along the way, they saw Chabad and went in to take a peek. He was the tenth man.”

From that humble beginning, the rabbi’s experiment took off.

“This guy came here fresh, and when he told people he wanted to open an Israeli Chabad center, they gave him no hope,” explained Zion Avissar, one of the center’s main benefactors. “They didn’t think it would happen, and instead, today he’s got one of the biggest Israeli Chabad communities in America.”

Soon after, Beitsh began holding Shabbat and holiday services at his home on Rollins Avenue, while he and his family lived upstairs. In 2006, he bought the house next door and moved in; the original house was converted into a Bet Chabad.

Before Chabad came along, many Israelis attended the nearby Magen David Sephardic Congregation, an Orthodox synagogue, or B’nai Israel, a conservative shul, but balked when asked to pay membership fees often exceeding $1,000 a year.

“In Israel, you don’t have to belong to a shul, because they’re all subsidized by the government,” Avissar explained, hence their reluctance—a factor that works in Chabad’s favor.

“Rabbi Shlomo provides Israelis an alternative way of praving, without the requirements of American traditions. Israelis don’t fit in a traditional American shul,” said Avissar, who owns a local real-estate company. “They don’t talk politics. They don’t care what you think. Just come and pray. They also they don’t care how you dress, and the other thing is, it’s free.”

Many of the Hebrew-speakers who attend Chabad services here are professionals working for the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, or the Israeli Embassy in Washington DC. Others run businesses typical of Israelis who emigrate here—moving companies and locksmith services—while still others peddle Dead Sea products and hair straighteners at local shopping malls.

“Those who are far from home feel a strong connection. And when Israelis travel far away, they realize how much they need it,” said Beitsh, who has 10 children. “Many times, people have told me, ‘in Israel I would never stop into a synagogue. But here, if I don’t take my kid to a synagogue on Chanukah, it would feel like a regular day.’”

The current building on Rollins Avenue, which has served Chabad for 22 years, can house up to 90 worshippers. So for high holidays, Beitsh uses the nearby JCC; this last Yom Kippur he had 400 adults and 50 to 60 children. Regular Shabbat services are normally attended by about 50 adults and 25 kids.

To accommodate the congregation’s growth, the Chabad Israeli Center will soon move to a converted office building on Jefferson Street, also in Rockville.

The new location, to open in time for next Passover, will have a day-care center and will accommodate 320 worshippers. It’ll also generate revenue for Chabad since Beitsh will be able to rent it out for birthday parties, bar-mitzvahs and weddings.

A Sept. 7 gala event, attended by 300 people at the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, raised $1.3 million for Chabad’s new home. Speakers included Yehiel Leiter, Israel’s ambassador to the United States, as well as Steve VanGrack, the former mayor of Rockville.

During his speech, Leiter noted his lifelong connection with Chabad, as well as the 2023 death of his son, Moshe, in the northern Gaza Strip a few months after the Oct. 7 invasion by Hamas.

“The dangers we face now as a people, and the atmosphere swirling around us, has not been this acute since the 1930s,” Leiter said. “There’s no end to the evil. And at the root of it is the denial of our right to exist as a Jewish state. As Israel’s ambassador to Washington, we have to confront a blood libel against our people, and that’s why I ask all of you to help me. I can’t do it alone.”

Given the recent rash of antisemitic attacks against Jewish institutions—in the wake of violent anti-Israel protests throughout the US and Europe—protecting congregants will be a top priority.

“We have to do our part to keep people safe,” Beitsh said, adding that among other security features, “the new building will have bulletproof windows. We’re taking every precaution to make it as secure as possible.”