This Sunday, Chabad of Cary will be breaking ground on their new permanent home: the Chabad of Cary Jewish Center. The ceremony will take place from 12-1:30pm. We talked with Rabbi Yisroel Cotlar to learn more about Chabad’s history in Cary and their hopes for the new building.

Q: How long has Chabad had a presence in Cary? How much has it grown since then?

A: About 20 years ago, prior to my wife and I moving to NC, Rabbi Aaron and Leah Herman began coming to Cary (from where they lived in Raleigh) to lead services and classes, planting the seeds for Chabad of Cary.

It soon became clear that the community needed a full-service Chabad House and my wife and I moved here 15 years ago.

Services started in my living room, and our Hebrew school opened with four students in my garage. There’s been an explosion of growth in general in Western Wake County and we see that reflected in the Jewish Community. Now our religious school and teen program has over 100 students, and our synagogue (taking place in a storefront) often doesn’t have enough room on Shabbat. We frequently need to rent facilities for services and programs and sometimes find ourselves having to turn people away due to lack of room.

Having a permanent center to accommodate this growth is long overdue and we are so excited to finally break ground on our own home!

Q: When did the plans start for a building?

A: We began recognizing the need for a building seven years ago. Thank G-d, we found our current land in a prime area of Morrisville five years ago. The process of rezoning that land took well over a year. The entire process of developing the plans, fundraising, and permitting has been a five-year journey now, and we are so thrilled to finally be able to break ground on this project that has been years in the making.

Q: When do you hope to have construction completed?

A: G-d willing, construction should take about 15 months. With the financial support of the community, we hope to have it ready for the start of Hebrew school and High Holidays in 2026.

Q: What new programs and services will the new building allow you to offer?

A: Chabad is all about authentic connections. Our building is designed to create warm, welcoming spaces for community bonding and relationship building. Our social hall will resemble a homey dining space where families can gather for beautiful Friday Night Shabbat Dinners and Saturday Afternoon Lunches. The social hall will even extend into a uniquely designed balcony overlooking a state-of-the-art playground, affording parents the opportunity to enjoy time with friends while simultaneously supervising their children playing below. Our spacious lobby will provide an open invitation to connect over a coffee and Danish, kids and teens to laugh and shmooze over a slushie, and a safe space to have a heart to heart talk with the Rabbi and Rebbitzin. The very first commercial kosher kitchen in Western Wake County will open up new opportunities for catered events, celebrations, and Kosher Restaurant Nights with delicious Jewish food for the community to enjoy. A teen lounge, Jewish children's library, co-working space, and Kosher cooking classes for adults and kids, are just some of the many new initiatives on the horizon.

Q: What do you want the community to understand about the new building?

A: I want people to understand that this will be a home for any Jewish family! Our Jewish Center will be a place where everyone is welcome, regardless of affiliation or level of observance. No membership will be required to attend any of the programs and Jews from all backgrounds will be able take advantage of the many “points of entry” offered – all in a non-judgmental and inviting atmosphere.

It will be built for and by the community. We welcome their support at whatever level.

As we break ground on our building and more deeply appreciate all that goes into the construction of a building, our hearts are minds think about the terrible tragedy in California impacting so many lives and causing so much destruction . . . including, tragically, synagogues.

Many of us who are used to having a community center, JCC, or synagogue there for us, aren’t used to the process of creating something new. We don’t think about how those buildings and institutions got there. Now we can create something not just for the present, but for generations to come. We can do for the next generations what previous generations did for us. Building a Jewish Center truly “takes a whole village” and we are deeply grateful for the support of those got us here and those who will partner with us to complete the building.

The groundbreaking ceremony will take place this Sunday, January 12 from 12-1:30pm at the building site including food, music, & fun for the kids.

Please register here. Organizers are monitoring the weather. The event will be in a heated tent and they are hoping the roads will be clear by then.

Chabad of Cary Breaks Ground on New Home