WOODCLIFF LAKE, N.J. — Valley Chabad will hold a groundbreaking and cornerstone-setting ceremony Sunday, May 17 for its new community home at 530 Chestnut Ridge Road, marking what the organization describes as a joyful and historic milestone for Jewish life in the Pascack Valley and Saddle River communities.
The approximately 20,000-square-foot facility will include a sanctuary, social hall, library, Hebrew school, preschool, and teen lounge. Construction is underway, with completion anticipated in early 2027.
The new center will also provide a permanent home for Valley Chabad’s Friendship Circle and CTeen programs, which serve children and young adults, including individuals with special needs from a variety of backgrounds and faith traditions.
“It’s the most significant investment in Jewish life in the region in over 40 years,” Rabbi Yosef Orenstein, who leads the Valley Chabad Teen Leadership Initiative, told Pascack Press on May 11.
For more than 25 years, Valley Chabad has served Jewish families across the Pascack Valley and Saddle River area. The organization describes its mission as rooted in “the idea that every individual has an indispensable contribution to make to the totality of the human experience.”
The project follows years of legal disputes, negotiations, and planning tied to Valley Chabad’s earlier proposal to expand at its longtime Overlook Drive location.
In 2020, Valley Chabad and the borough entered into a federal settlement agreement stemming from a religious discrimination lawsuit filed in 2016 and later joined by the U.S. Department of Justice under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. The agreement would have permitted construction of a larger facility at 100 Overlook Drive, a proposal that generated significant public controversy at the time.
Instead, borough officials and Valley Chabad later agreed that the Chestnut Ridge Road property — a commercially zoned site near the center of town — would better suit the organization’s long-term needs.
“For the community, this is a win, and for Valley Chabad, this is a win,” Rabbi Dov Drizin told Pascack Press when the revised agreement was announced in 2024.
Mayor Carlos Rendo at the time called the new location “a suitable location that makes sense” for an expanded Valley Chabad and praised Drizin for working collaboratively with borough officials to resolve the issue.
Under the revised agreement, Valley Chabad agreed to waive development rights granted under the original settlement and return the Overlook Drive property to the tax rolls.
Valley Chabad says the groundbreaking will be a meaningful and festive morning for families, with children’s activities, a celebratory atmosphere, and an opportunity to see firsthand what is being built for future generations.
Organizers say residents and neighbors are welcome to attend.
