Members of the greater Conejo Valley Jewish community in Southern California gathered at a construction site on an Agoura Hills side street to celebrate the laying of the new home of Chabad-Lubavitch of the Conejo’s foundation, sealing the names of 104 supporters in a time-capsule within the structure’s cement core.

While groundbreaking ceremonies are a bit more commonplace, Rabbi Moshe Bryski, the center’s executive director, explained March 23 that the concept of celebrating a foundation dates back to biblical times.

“While people contributed to the construction of the Tabernacle of old at different levels,” he said, “when it came to sponsoring the foundation, every member of the community was expected to give the exact same amount.

“In Judaism, there’s a great deal of emphasis placed on the foundation of any structure or project,” continued Bryski. “This is true figuratively and spiritually, as it is physically and practically.”

All told, members of the community donated $500 each to fund the $52,000 cost of laying the foundation. Prior to encasing the time capsule containing each supporter’s name, attendees took part in a short prayer service and Bryski read from the capsule’s inscription.

The remainder of the construction is expected to take 11 months.


Rabbi Moshe Bryski, executive director of Chabad of the Conejo in Agoura Hills, Calif., reads from an inscription before sealing it along with the names of 104 supporters in a time capsule at a ceremony marking the laying of the foundation at his center’s new home.


Contributing $500 each, 104 members of the Conejo Valley Jewish community raised $52,000 to fund the center’s new foundation. “Years from now, these 104 people will be able to tell their grandchildren and great great-granchildren that they helped raise this magnificent edifice, literally from the ground up,” said Bryski.


Participants took part in a short prayer service before burying the time capsule in the foundation’s cement.


The capsule bore an inscription reading: “The community gathered to renew our common resolve to get this campus completed as quickly as possible, so that a whole new phase of teaching and helping people throughout this region can … get underway.”


Attendees watch as workers lay the cement.


The remainder of the construction is expected to take 11 months.


A construction worker places the final touches on the foundation.


“In Judaism, there’s a great deal of emphasis placed on the foundation of any structure or project,” explained Bryski. “This is true figuratively and spiritually, as it is physically and practically.”