Merrick Chabad builds community center, mikvah

As the number of Jewish residents in the Merrick area continues to grow at a rapid pace, the Chabad Center for Jewish Life of Bellmore-Merrick and Wantagh is moving to meet their religious needs, advancing plans for a community center and a mikvah, the ritual bath that is central to any observant community.

A UJA-Federation study found that 7,900 Jews moved to Merrick, Bellmore, East Meadow and Massapequa from 2002 to 2011, the largest Jewish population increase in southern Nassau in the past nine years. 

Since Rabbi Shimon Kramer and his wife, Chanie, founded the local Chabad in 2006, the couple have hosted events in either rented or borrowed rooms or their house. Now, Chabad plans to build a community center in downtown Merrick, beside a newly refurbished Stop & Shop and just north of Merrick’s Long Island Rail Road station.

Chabad purchased the 24,380-square-foot office building at 2174 Hewlett Ave. for $2.75 million in December 2011. Donors provided $1.75 million; the rest was mortgaged. A fundraising campaign and construction are now under way to complete the project.

“We were approached by friends in the community who shared our vision of creating a place where all the diverse programs, services and activities of our growing community can come together, a home where people feel welcome,” Rabbi Kramer said. “It was our vision to establish a center to serve the material, spiritual and social needs of the Jewish community, to connect each individual, regardless of commitment and background.”

The mikvah, which Chabad is building in conjunction with the Mikvah Committee of Merrick-Bellmore, is “really a great accomplishment,” Rabbi Kramer said.  “According to Jewish law, a mikvah is so important that if a community doesn’t have the funds, they are required to sell a Torah scroll” to finance one.