Texans are known for thinking big: big state, big hats, big cattle.
Yet about 30 miles north of Houston, a small Jewish community has been steadily attracting a loyal following of people who say they prize the cozy and intimate sense of belonging that Rabbi Mendel and Leah Blecher of Chabad of the Woodlands have been fostering since they came to the community in 2011.
“Slowly, but surely, working out of their home, they brought in one person at a time to the extent that they outgrew their house, and the congregation needed a new, permanent space,” says Renee Glazer, a paralegal from nearby Shenandoah, Texas. “Through pounding the pavement, they created a community of Jewish people who truly feel at home and inspired.”
Occasionally, the Blechers rented facilities, such as the Woodlands Children’s Museum or local hotel conference rooms, for holiday events that attracted larger crowds, but most Chabad events were held at home, where the Blechers live with their five-month-old daughter, Chaya Mushka.
“I realized we needed to find a permanent facility,” says the Australian-born Blecher, “when I found myself turning people down for our Passover Seder this past spring. Leah and I began to approach congregants with the idea of renting a proper building for Chabad. We searched for a place that would be big enough to house our growing congregation and still retain the welcoming feeling of a home.”
‘A Place of Their Own’
This summer, the Jewish congregation found a commercially zoned home at 25823 Budde Road in Spring, Texas. Even before renovations, it housed the day camp, Camp Gan Israel. Blecher reports that major renovations will be completed in time for Rosh Hashanah, which begins on Wednesday, Sept. 4, though some of the furnishings will be added in later.
Ken Rosenbaum, a petrochemical executive from Spring, Texas, says he and his wife, Lilia, will be attending services and look forward to greeting new people in the enlarged sanctuary. “We have all been helping out in every way we can to make the new center as beautiful as possible. I suggested some good contractors, and my wife is helping with the decor.”
He credits the congregation’s growth to the Blechers’ warm outreach efforts to unaffiliated Jews in the area.
Rosenbaum met the rabbi and his wife shortly after they arrived from Brooklyn, N.Y. “They sought us out before Passover and offered to bring us some matzah for the holiday,” he says. “It was the first time in my life that people have reached out to us to advance our Jewish connection. They’ve come over to study Torah with us and really touched our hearts. We feel close to them because they opened their home and their hearts to us personally.”
His sentiments are echoed by Glazer, who says that the Blechers are constantly bringing in and introducing new community members—people the others never even knew were Jewish. The rabbi says Chabad of the Woodlands serves a Jewish community of about 1,500 people.
The new 2,500-square-foot facility rests on an extensive property with a large lawn; Blecher says a playground will soon be built for the children’s group. The main all-purpose room will be used as a sanctuary, and an alcove is slated to become a Jewish lending library. One brightly painted room will be set aside for a “Mommy & Me” program and various youth activities.
“It is really important that the kids have a place of their own, where they feel comfortable and happy,” says Blecher.
Glazer thinks that the new facility will make Chabad more attractive to people of all ages and stages in life. After all, people can feel as if they are intruding by walking into a private home for a public event, no matter how warm and welcoming.
“So it is going to be really nice,” she says, “to have this facility where everyone can come and feel like they belong.”
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