“And I shall dwell among them”. For thousands of years the Jewish people have wandered the world continuing the tradition of building synagogues throughout the Diaspora as a testament to their beliefs, strengths and accomplishments. The American Hebrew Academy is proud to follow in the footsteps of our ancestors by announcing an anonymous pledge of one million four hundred thousand dollars to name the Academy’s synagogue in memory of our beloved founder Chico Sabbah, z’l. While Chico chose to never name any building on the campus in his honor, our anonymous donor has received the blessing of Chico’s wife, Zmira and his daughter, Leeor to name the synagogue in Chico’s memory. The campus synagogue was originally designed by campus architect Aaron Green who worked closely with Chico to create a synagogue to meet Chico’s desires, taking into account many of the memories Chico held about the synagogue in which he was raised. This design will include a unique interior space that will permit the synagogue to be used for both community wide events as well as multiple, simultaneous denominational services in separate worship spaces suitable to meet the pluralistic mission of the school. Creating multiple worship spaces under one roof is a tremendous undertaking but one that reflects the bold and creative thinking upon which the Academy was founded. The building of such a synagogue will be the ultimate fulfillment of Chico’s dream to create a space for Jewish children of all denominations to gather as one in a place in which all are respectful of the individual beliefs, customs and practices each of us hold dear. Symbolically, construction of a formal synagogue to be located on the highest plateau on campus will send an important message to the Jewish world about the Academy’s commitment to its dual curriculum and continuity of the Jewish people and their faith.

The generous pledge received will now allow the Academy to move forward with additional design work in order to develop a working budget for construction. In the interim, the pledge received is the impetus to begin a formal capital campaign to raise the additional funds required to commence construction. Numerous other opportunities exist to name worship areas within the synagogue as well as furnishings. If you are interested in discussing such funding opportunities please contact Glenn A. Drew, Executive Director at g-drew-esq@msn.com or call him at 336/217-7015.