A Wilmette storefront Jewish congregation has plans to build its own temple on the northwest edge of town.

The Lubavitch Chabad of Wilmette, now operating in 1,800 square feet of a small strip mall at 2906 Old Glenview Road, recently bought the entire center. The intention is to raze the mall and build a 5,800-square-foot temple in its place, Rabbi Dovid Flinkenstein said in an interview June 22.

The chabad has several hurdles to clear, however, before a temple is built, Flinkenstein said. The temple needs to complete a fund-raising campaign, and also win village approval to permit the expansion, including an amendment to its current special use permit.

The permit standards require that the project be deemed unlikely to reduce neighborhood safety or values of nearby properties.

Parking a likely issue

The chabad has not yet contacted the village of Wilmette about the project, the rabbi said. Parking, however, is likely to be an issue, considering that he expects the building to have only about 20 spaces on site, with the likely ability to continue to use the lot at nearby Weinstein Family Services funeral home for overflow.

The temple also needs to clear the mall of one last tenant. OK Cleaners recently moved out of the mall, but talks continue with Hair Chasers, a beauty salon holding a long lease, Flinkenstein said. The owner of the salon declined comment Friday.

Flinkenstein said that the chabad, with village approval, may soon use the space it has for awhile without major renovation, even if that means running a religious operation divided by a beauty shop.

A growing congregation

The rabbi said the chabad, founded in 1992 in his Wilmette home, has grown since it moved to the storefront two years later. Like many other rabbis of the burgeoning Hasidic sect, he refuses to comment on how many families or individuals are members, only saying, "All Jews are members here."

But he said about 100 people study weekly during nonsummer months for the chabad's Jewish Learning Institute, about 25 children study at the chabad's Hebrew school, and 300 to 400 pray at High Holy Day services each fall in the Wilmette Park District's Recreation Center.

The Lubavitch sect in America is among the most active in attracting Jews -- from the most orthodox to those who rarely see the inside of a temple -- to programs of Jewish learning.

"The Rebbe's legacy is a vision and that vision is that every Jew should be served, and more in touch with their Judaism, and more in touch with mitzvah (good deeds), making the world a better place," Flinkenstein said.

The "Rebbe," or learned man, was Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, the late leader of the sect.

The word "chabad" refers to an acronym of three Hebrew words meaning wisdom, understanding and knowledge. It also refers to a movement started about 200 years ago that relies on Jewish study, meditation and mysticism, confined mostly to the Belarus city of Lubavitch until the early 20th century.

Kabbalah classes

In many area chabads, some of the most popular programs of the Jewish Learning Institutes have taught Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism.

In Wilmette, Kabbalah classes have at times been offered twice daily.

Schneerson, father of the modern Lubavitch chabad movement, ran the sect from his Brooklyn, N.Y., headquarters. It was on the way to becoming what adherents now claim to be the nation's biggest Jewish outreach organization at the time of his death 12 years ago today.

The movement has grown spectacularly in recent years, especially in the Chicago area. Chabads have expanded or built anew in Chicago, Highland Park, Des Plaines, Northbrook, Glenview and several other municipalities.

Last year, Skokie's chabad, at 4059 Dempster St., underwent a major expansion. Rabbi Yocanan Posner says that's partly because in general, Americans are more open to religion now.

"Thirty years ago, if you were religious, people would say, 'What, are you crazy?'" Posner said Friday, "and in the Jewish world, I think people like the sincerity and the open approach from chabad.

"We don't beat around the bush. We say it like it is," he said.

"Our new building is much bigger than the old facility, but it's filling up already," he added. "If I had the means, I'd build again."

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