After a decade of growth, Chabad at Rice University broke ground on the new Grinshtein Chabad Jewish Student Center that will provide an expanded home for Jewish students and strengthen the university’s growing Jewish community.
The groundbreaking ceremony brought together Rice leaders, students, alumni, community members, donors and Chabad supporters to celebrate the milestone and look ahead to the next era of Jewish life at Rice.
For co-directors Rabbi Shmuli and Nechama Slonim, who have led Chabad at Rice since its founding, the ceremony marked the realization of a dream that began with modest gatherings and Shabbat dinners a decade ago.
“For so many years, this has been a dream, and today we have the privilege of watching that dream become a reality,” Shmuli Slonim said.
The new center, which will be located at 1915 University Blvd., comes as Chabad’s reach at Rice has grown significantly. Shmuli Slonim said the organization connected with about 70 students during its first year on campus. Today, it reaches more than 300 students, despite the limitations of its current space.
“Shabbat dinners fill up; holiday celebrations overflow; classes, programs and informal gatherings have to compete for space,” Shmuli Slonim said.
The new center will allow Chabad to move beyond asking how many students can fit into its current home and instead focus on how many more students it can reach.
“Our vision for the next decade is simple and bold: that every Jewish student should have a place to call their Jewish home,” Shmuli Shmuli said.
The 16,000-square-foot, three-story center will feature spaces designed for students to gather, study, celebrate and build community, including a student lounge, game room, study spaces and classroom dedicated to Jewish learning and education. The design includes a large commercial kosher kitchen space with a dining hall that will comfortably fit 150 guests. The wellness wing will include a student lounge, cafe, game room, Judaica library and classroom. The building will also have a hospitality suite for students who may need a short-term safe place off campus.
Benjamin Johnston Design has been hired as the center’s contractor. The company is known for mixing the classical arts with today’s technology, shaping environments that are as functional as they are timelessly stylish. Tellepsen, a family-owned construction company shaping Houston for more than a century, has been hired as the builder.
More than a building
Speakers emphasized, though, that the building itself is only the setting for a larger vision.
“A building, no matter how beautiful, is not the goal,” Shmuli Slonim said. “The building is the setting. The real story will be written by the students who walk through its doors.”
In a letter to event attendees, Rice President Reginald DesRoches shared the same thoughts.
“The new center represents an extraordinary next chapter in that story,” he said. “A building can be much more than walls with rooms. At its best, it can create the conditions for community to flourish. This center will provide a permanent home where students can gather around a table, celebrate holidays, study, learn, find friendship and seek guidance. It will be a place students can walk into knowing that they belong — whether they are deeply connected to Jewish tradition, exploring their heritage for the first time or simply interested in learning from others. That kind of space matters profoundly on a university campus.”
Continued growth
Kelly Fox, executive vice president for operations, finance and support, said the university is proud to partner with Chabad in supporting students and recognized the center as an important addition to the Rice community, especially as the university is experiencing growth.
“I’ve had the opportunity to see firsthand how important the role of a Chabad organization plays on campuses,” Fox said. “They provide a home for the Jewish students. They create opportunities for students to build meaningful relationships and find community. They provide a place to celebrate traditions, ask questions, learn and simply be themselves.”
Fox said the project also reflects Rice’s continued growth.
“Rice is growing, and Chabad at Rice is growing right alongside it,” she said. “As our student community grows, this Chabad house becomes even more important. As Rice becomes increasingly vibrant and diverse, the need for places that foster connection will become even more important. This new center will help ensure that students have a place to build community and feel connected during their time at Rice. This is a wonderful example of what can happen when our university and members of our community come together around a shared commitment to our students.”
Community support
The center’s story is rooted in a partnership between Chabad and Rice, as well as the generosity of donors who believed in the project before there was a building to see.
Shmuli Slonim recalled that when the property became available several years ago, the organization faced the challenge of raising the funds needed to purchase the site and begin its capital campaign. Paul and Susan Danziger made the campaign’s first gift, helping set the project in motion.
Paul Danziger said his decision to support the project came down to what he called the “three Ps”: the people behind Chabad at Rice, the past that made the organization’s work possible and the promise of its future.
“When you invest in a project, the project is important, but more important are the people you’re investing in,” Paul Danziger said. “We believe in Shmuli and Nechama and what they’re building at Rice.”
He said his family’s experience at universities with Chabad centers also shaped his decision to give. His four children attended different universities, each with a Chabad organization that provided them with a welcoming place to find community, food, friendship and support.
“We realized there was a building there already, there was a rabbi there, there was food there, and we hadn’t given money to any of those campuses,” Paul Danziger said. “Somebody in the past had done that, so our kids could benefit, and so what occurred to us is we should fund Chabad at Rice because somebody did it for us.”
Ultimately, he said, the new center represents an investment in generations of students yet to come.
“When you build a building, you’re not just donating for bricks in a building,” Paul Danziger said. “You’re donating for the promise that young people will have somewhere to go to develop friendships and professional relationships that will make these young people even more successful in the future.”
Shmuli Slonim expressed deep gratitude for the many donors and supporters whose generosity brought the project to this pivotal milestone. He noted that the support received so far has made it possible to begin turning the vision into reality, while inviting others who share that vision to help shape the next chapter of Jewish life at Rice. He recognized several key partners whose early belief made the project possible, including Gary Davis, whose sponsorship includes the Sol and Seema Davis Social Hall, and Victor and Deborah Grinshtein, whose extraordinary commitment made it possible to dedicate the building as the Grinshtein Chabad Jewish Student Center.
A house becomes a home
For Nechama Slonim, the center’s most important feature will not be its physical amenities but the sense of home it creates.
“Beyond every program, class, service or event that we offer, a crucial component to a vibrant Jewish life is the Jewish home, the family and the relationships at its center,” she said.
Nechama Slonim described the many ways Chabad has become a home for students — from weekly Shabbat dinners and holiday celebrations to late-night conversations, meals for students who are sick or lonely and moments when students simply need someone to turn to.
“A home is not only a place; it is an anchor to your identity, to your sense of belonging,” she said.
That philosophy will guide the new center, which she said will be “a home, a place of deep connection and identity for every single student.”
Looking to the future
The groundbreaking also celebrated the conclusion of Chabad at Rice’s first 10 years and a nod to its future. As part of the ceremony, alumni representing each of the organization’s graduating classes reflected on what Chabad has meant to them and how those experiences have continued to influence their lives after graduation.
The reflections underscored the lasting impact Chabad hopes to have on generations of students — helping them build friendships, deepen their understanding of Judaism and carry those connections into their lives beyond college.
As the organization enters its second decade, Shmuli Slonim said the goal is to build a community that reaches beyond the walls of the new center and continues through the lives of the students who pass through its doors.
“What happened within these walls travels far beyond them,” he said, envisioning students carrying “Jewish knowledge, values, friendships, confidence and faith” into their lives long after graduation.