Frequently Asked Questions
- What is the Chabad Jewish Learning Centre?
- What will the new centre do for Winnipeg?
- Whom is the new facility geared for?
- I already support another synagogue or organization, why should I support the Chabad Jewish Learning Centre?
- I just gave to another other organization, why this one?
- Why do we need this AND the Campus? Where does this fit in to the Jewish community landscape?
- I am not an Orthodox Jew. Why should I be interested?
- I am not religious at all. Why should I get involved in religious causes?
- What will the Chabad Jewish Learning Centre do for my children and me?
- Does Chabad get funding from Lubavitch central office?
- How are you going to sustain such a facility?
- How can I help?
- Ask your Question here!
Q) What is the Chabad Jewish Learning Centre?
A) It will be the spiritual hub of the Winnipeg Jewish Community – the soul of Jewish life in Winnipeg. The new Chabad Jewish Learning Centre will offer a Yeshiva for adult education, libraries for both adults and children, a synagogue and auditorium, school classrooms, Camp Gan Israel recreational facilities, offices, lounge, kosher kitchens (including pareve, meat, milk and Passover facilities), a Mikvah, large gym and play area, dormitories, day-care and more.
It will be a Jewish Education Center – a Yeshiva; a place where Winnipeg Jews can gain knowledge and educate themselves about their Judaism. A facility that promotes the willingness and desire to be Jewish.
Q) What will the new centre do for Winnipeg?
A) It will guarantee the continuity of Winnipeg’s Jewish community. While many Jewish Communities around the globe have vanished or deteriorated, others flourish and grow. Every community that has established fulltime Yeshivas and authentic centres of Jewish education is witnessing impressive upsurges of growth. The new Chabad Jewish Learning Centre will support Winnipeg as a vibrant and growing center of Jewish life.
As the first Yeshiva built between Vancouver and Toronto, it will allow families that are growing in their Jewish practices the option of staying in Winnipeg. In addition, the Chabad Jewish Learning Centre will encourage new families to move to Winnipeg.
The Jewish Learning Centre will also provide inner growth for the community by increasing the number of affiliated Jews. The fastest growing segment of affiliated Jews around the globe are young families of Jews that return to their roots. This will raise the bar for the entire Jewish community of Winnipeg, even those who initially may not attend the new centre.
Q) Whom is the new facility geared for?
A) The Jewish Learning Centre is meant for every Jew in this community, young and old, student and retiree, businessman and professional – all will benefit from the new facility, regardless of background or affiliation. Everyone is accepted for who they are and can therefore truly feel included in the Jewish Learning Centre.
Q) I already support another synagogue or organization, why should I support the Chabad Jewish Learning Centre?
A) The Chabad Jewish Learning Centre is not a synagogue or a membership driven organization. The Centre will be unlike anything else in Winnipeg’s Jewish community. This is the answer to all the concerns of the disappearing Jew in Winnipeg. It is called building from within. This is a program to develop the knowledge of the Jews that we already have in Winnipeg and help them understand what is special about being a Jew in today’s world by experiencing it through hands-on learning. The new Chabad facility is a Torah Learning Centre. The Torah is the only thing that truly binds Jews of every denomination around the world – whether Sefardic, Ashkenazic, Yemenite, or Chassidic.
Q) I just gave to another other organization, why this one?
A) All of Winnipeg’s Jewish organizations are truly wonderful and necessary for a vibrant Jewish community. They are the body. However, you must first have the Jewish people to create the demand for them. If Jews lack appreciation of Jewish life and do not identify strongly as Jews, all the other facilities and projects of the Jewish Community suffer. The Chabad Jewish Learning Centre will be the backbone of Jewish life, and the heart and soul of the Jewish Community. It will generate appreciation, commitment and enthusiasm for Jewish life and for all that is Jewish. This will secure Jewish life – and the continuity of all Winnipeg's Jewish organizations - not just for today but also well into the future.
Q) Why do we need this AND the Campus? Where does this fit in to the Jewish community landscape?
A) The Campus is an integral part of the body and social arm of our Jewish community. However, a body can only survive if it is endowed with a soul. With a soul, not only can the body survive, it can also grow and flourish. Our proposal is to build a centre that feeds the soul of the Jewish community. The result will be that the Campus will be sustained long term as well.
When Jews study and appreciate more deeply what they are about, they will be more passionate about their identity and automatically be more involved in every facet of Jewish Community life. Many of the younger adult leaders in our community draw their inspiration from being involved as youth in Chabad‑Lubavitch programs.
Q) I am not an Orthodox Jew. Why should I be interested?
A) We do not put labels on Jews. We have one thing that we share and that unites us – we are all Jews, and have the Torah that binds us. Lubavitch programs are attended by Jews of all backgrounds. Chances are that you too will find a program that is 'custom fit' to your interests.
Q) I am not religious at all. Why should I get involved in religious causes?
A) This centre is not only for religious people. It will help to secure a future for Winnipeg’s Jewish Community. Even if you do not particularly care about religion, you care about the continuity and well-being of the Jewish people. In addition, you may have friends or relatives that will need this facility even if you do not.
Q) What will the Jewish Learning Centre do for my children and me?
A) There is nothing greater that you can do for your children than to guarantee a genuine Jewish future for them. The Centre will give you and your children the opportunity to understand and appreciate being Jewish like no other place can – in a warm and accepting environment.
The Chabad JewCentre will offer the tried and true method that has kept Judaism alive throughout the ages. Even in the recent post-holocaust era, after many great Jewish communities were obliterated, we have witnessed the complete renewal of Jewish life in many cities. They have all been built around Yeshivas and learning centres.
Q) Does Chabad get funding from Lubavitch central office?
A) No. Although all Lubavitch institutions are globally bound by the same belief system and we share ideas and assist one another on many other levels, each individual Chabad of each community must raise all its funds locally. In turn, all those funds are expended locally. Nothing is sent away to a head office. We are truly a local organization.
Q) How are you going to sustain such a facility?
A) We have over 35 years of history in Winnipeg as an organization. We have been fiscally responsible all this time.
Our annual operating budget has more than doubled over the last seven years, from under $220,000 to almost $500,000. We have consistently been able to increase our funding sources and there is no reason to think that this trend will not continue. The more impact we have on the community the more doors open.
There is also revenue that will be redirected from our current leased site at 1825 Grant Avenue, from the annual maintenance cost of our Mikvah building on Hartford, and the decreased maintenance costs of our North-End Centre.
A) You can contribute financially. This is a major undertaking that requires serious commitments. It is an excellent opportunity to perpetuate the memory of loved ones and family names in a beautiful facility that will give continuity to the Winnipeg Jewish Community.
Any type of contribution will help; cheques, cash, credit cards or shares. All donations are tax-deductible.
Obviously, the more capital that we have up front, the easier it will be to proceed. Nevertheless, you can arrange to give payments over a longer period. What is most important is that you give an amount that you can be proud of, with your heart and soul.
You can also help by sharing the excitement about this project with friends and encourage them to give as well.
Together we will build a bright new future on the solid foundations of the eternal teachings of the Torah – the Chabad Jewish Learning Centre.