Chabad of Hewlett's newest building is nearly complete. What will it feature once completed?

“It’s been said, ‘If you build it, they will come,’ and I think that, in our case, here, at Hewlett’s Chabad, ‘they already came’ — we just needed to build it,” Rabbi Nochem Tenenboim wrote in an email.

Tenenboim, who leads the now 10-year-old Chabad House of Hewlett, on Everit Avenue, was referring to the Chabad’s new building, the Chabad Center for Jewish Life, which is now halfway complete.

“We are excited and proud to say that we are nearing the 50 percent completion milestone of ‘The Chabad Center for Jewish Life of Hewlett!’” Tenenboim wrote. “We began last year with demolition to remove the old structure.”

Chabad House of Hewlett was founded in the Tenenboims’ home, and then moved to a small store on Broadway before relocating to Everit Avenue. The Chabad Center, which is replacing it, is where Tenenboim and his family will continue their mission to bring what the rabbi describes as the beauty and the treasures of Judaism to everyone.

The announcement of the construction milestone on the Chabad’s Facebook page was accompanied by photos and a caption: “The Future!” The images capture the excavation for drainage, foundation piles and walls erected, rebar for the pouring of concrete on the main floor, and steel going up.

Tenenboim and his wife, Rivkie, lead the nonprofit that serves the Jewish community of Hewlett and surrounding towns. The Chabad is home to a variety of activities and resources for adults and children, including bat and bar mitzvah clubs; an after-school program for younger children, the Jewish Kids Club of Hewlett; a program for Hewlett High School students, and Shabbat dinners.

“We will have so much more space for all our exciting activities with this new building,” Tenenboim wrote. “We will have more offices, a floor of classrooms, a gymnasium with a full basketball court, kitchen, reception hall and the most beautiful Shul/Sanctuary you’ve ever seen.”

The construction of the soon-to-be state-of-the-art building is reliant on donations and support from the Hewlett community, which Tenenboim said comprises nearly 1,000 families in and around the area. He did not say when the building would be completed.

“The outpouring of support has been truly amazing, but we are not done yet,” he wrote.

Jake Scheiner, a Chabad member and the founder of Young Jewish Professionals, a not-for-profit organization focused on providing business, educational and mentoring opportunities for the rising generation of Jewish business leaders based in New York City, described the Chabad as a “vibrant hub” that would continue being just that at its new building.

“It’s a warm and welcoming place that is a symbol of shared values and commitment of this growing Jewish community,” Scheiner said. “It’s a place for families and friends to come together and continue to have a strong bond with one another.”

Scheiner has gotten to know the Tenenboim family over the years, and although he lives in Lynbrook, he calls the rabbi and his wife the lifeblood of the Jewish community they serve.

“I don’t think there’s a single Jew in Hewlett who does not know Nochem and Rivkie,” Scheiner said. “They’ve done an incredible job in fostering these relationships going back over these past 10 years. They are the lifelines of the community.”

Jeffrey Lane, a member since the Chabad’s opening, has seen the impact the Tenenboims have had on the community.

“I’ve been a part of Chabad of Hewlett for the full 10 years,” Lane wrote in an email, “and every year have seen the community grow — new faces — especially young people and high school kids that participate in the Jewish Kids Club. The work that Rabbi Tenenboim does is so inspiring.”

Construction of the new building did face some opposition, as a few Hewlett residents voiced their concerns about its size at Town of Hempstead Board of Appeals hearings.

Tenenboim emphasized how thankful and excited his family is that the dream he envisioned for many years is becoming a reality.

“The new home is a step toward the future that will bring so much joy and excitement to Rivkie, myself, our children and the entire staff at Chabad House,” he wrote. “There is an energy around us from all the enthusiasm, it’s so exciting.”