Jewish Geography
COMMUNITY CHABAD BUILDING ONE OF THE WORLD’S LARGEST JEWISH CENTRES by ASAF ELIA-SHALEV
venues, youth and senior pro- grams, mental-health and so- cial services, museums, and support for Jewish students on college campuses, along with facilities for large commu- nal and international gather- ings. “It will be an epicentre of Jewish life,” says Rabbi Chaim Nochum Cunin, one of the leaders of West Coast Chabad. “It will transform the landscape of Jewish life in Los Angeles and throughout the world.” Abady, who is well-known for making high-profile real estate deals in the city, said his gift reflects a long-standing relationship with Chabad that dates back to his family’s arriv- al in Los Angeles in the 1970s. The announcement comes at a moment when many Jewish institutions are under financial strain; in Los Angeles, it follows the recent sale of the American Jewish University’s historic Bel Air campus. JTA
A LOS ANGELES real estate investor known for selling homes to ce- lebrities has donated a $100-million (US) office tower to Chabad, the global Orthodox Jewish outreach movement, to create what is slated to become one of the world’s largest Jewish centres. Alon Abady and his wife, Monique, transferred the 16-storey, 300,000-square-foot complex to Chabad of California, which plans to transform it into the Chabad Campus for Jewish Life. The property sits in the Pico- Robertson neighbourhood, the heart of Jewish Los Angeles, down the street from the Museum of Tolerance and near the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Fox Studios and, since 2023, the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies, a Conservative seminary. Chabad officials say the building was appraised last fall at $103 million, making it one of the largest single gifts ever to a Jewish organization. The new campus is expected to serve as a regional hub for Jewish religious life, social services, and education, as well as a global centre for the Lubavitch movement’s worldwide net- work of emissaries. The campus will include a synagogue, life-cycle
The 16-storey building at 9911 W. Pico Blvd. in Los Angeles that Chabad plans to convert into the Chabad Campus for Jewish Life.
22 SPRING 2026
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