New center will offer first-of-its-kind space for Jewish community

A groundbreaking on Tuesday will mark a historic first in the Sioux Falls region.

The Chabad Jewish Community Center will move outreach, educational and social activities for the area’s growing Jewish population into a single 15,000-square-foot building, said Rabbi Mendel Alperowitz.

“The groundbreaking marks the beginning of a long-envisioned project that will serve as a vibrant hub for Jewish life, education and community,” he said. “It will be a real home for the growing Jewish community, a place of learning and growth, open to all.”

The community center will include a room for social gatherings, an early childhood education center, classrooms, outdoor and indoor play areas, a kosher kitchen, a lounge, office spaces, a synagogue and a mikvah, a ritual bath for women, “all the components of a happy and welcoming community center,” Alperowitz said.

Construction should take about 18 months. Architecture Incorporated has designed the building, which will be located on a site that’s currently empty on 85th Street between Western and Minnesota avenues.

The vision for the Chabad Jewish Community Center started several years ago, said Alperowitz, who first visited Sioux Falls in 2015 and moved here with his wife, Mussie, in 2017. Mussie Alperowitz is a teacher at the GAN Early Learning Center and director of operations at the community center; the couple has four children.

Chabad (pronounced huh-baad), also known as Chabad-Lubavitch, is the largest Jewish education movement and fastest-growing Jewish organization, Alperowitz said. The Hasidic Jewish movement focuses on outreach and education. Emphasizing a practical approach to Judaism, it encourages engagement with traditional practices and traditions. A Pew study has shown that the majority of American Jews who engage with Judaism participate with Chabad.

“Chabad is a worldwide organization and movement that is welcoming and opening to all with no labels,” the rabbi said. “We believe in providing a sacred space where every person can engage in their heritage and spirituality in a way that provides meaning for yourself.”

Not a new phenomenon, Chabad highlights the visions and teachings of the late Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, who inspired Alperowitz and his wife to come to Sioux Falls. Their arrival marked the first time a rabbi had lived in South Dakota for about 40 years. The Jewish community had been held together by dedicated lay people who did their best to keep growing, Alperowitz said.

“People were asking us to move here and begin this strengthening of Jewish life in the city and engaging in the broader community as well,” he said.

People sometimes drive for several hours to participate in community gatherings, and a Passover Seder can draw more than 100 attendants. As Sioux Falls’ population grows, so does the number of Jewish residents, Alperowitz said.

Currently, office space is rented, and larger community gatherings on holidays take place in Sioux Falls hotels.

Sioux Falls leaders have been supportive of the plans, the rabbi said.

“We’re hoping that this center is a place that brings people together, that offers unique opportunities that haven’t existed in the state and region,” Alperowitz said. “What we’re doing today is obviously preparing for the future, laying the ground for future generations born here, while standing on the shoulders of all those who have come before us. Sioux Falls is really a very special place, and we hope to make a meaningful contribution to our city by planting these seeds for future generations.”

A groundbreaking hosted by the Sioux Falls Development Foundation will begin at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday at 1221 W. 85th St.