The Young Israel of Stamford unveiled the expansion if its facilities, with a dedication ceremony and carnival on Sunday, September 10th, 2006. The new “Youth House”, is the renovation of the current existing house in front of the synagogue building and creates a multi-functional facility which primarily focuses around the children of the synagogue. The construction of the Youth House provides the YI of Stamford with four private classrooms, a library, a Bait Midrash, a Rabbi’s study, a “Torah Technology Center,” and a Youth Lounge for teens.

The Young Israel of Stamford currently boasts over one hundred members in its congregation, having grown over sixty percent since Rabbi Ira Ebbin began his tenure as spiritual leader in 2002. While the Synagogue prides itself on its heterogeneousness and openness to participants of all age groups and backgrounds, the bulk of the membership is primarily on the younger side, with a plethora of young children participating in a myriad of programs on a daily and weekly basis. A most recent survey of the membership families found 164 children under the age of eighteen, including 114 under age twelve.

“We believe that this is the natural next phase for our congregation”, explained Rabbi Ebbin. “We have been blessed with so many wonderful young families and increased programming, and it became clear that our current facilities can no longer adequately serve our needs. Problems stemming from the growth of the congregation are wonderful problems to have, and we believe that the Youth House will address the current needs of our growing membership, as well as allow us to continue to serve the community in the best way possible.”

The Shabbat morning youth groups in particular, which have been overflowing with participants over the last couple of years, will get a huge boost from the new classrooms. “The Youth House will significantly change the dynamics of our shul,” explained Leon Hanna, YI of Stamford’s President. “First and foremost, it will solidify and create a safe environment for our Shabbat youth groups, while at the same time maintain the decorum in the lobby and sanctuary during Shabbat services. Besides all that, the building is absolutely gorgeous, and the kids already love their new home.”

The Milstein Teen Lounge will provide a much needed void for the ever growing teen population at the Young Israel. With the obvious concerns that parents have about teens these days, the Youth Lounge will have a large screen video, a foosball table, as well as facilities and resources for the children, where the teens can feel comfortable hanging out with each other on a Saturday night or the like with minimal adult supervision.

“Our research has found that other synagogues that have provided such facilities have seen incredible results and found the teens extremely responsive,” Rabbi Ebbin explained. “Which parents would not be happy to hear that their teenager is going to ‘hang out at shul tonight.’? Our goal is for all of our kids, including our pre-teens and teens, is to enjoy coming to our Shul both during and between services, and most importantly, to feel as though they can call their shul their own.”

The Kosowsky Family Bait Midrash and Rabbi Abraham Bloch Memorial Library will also provide teens and adults with opportunities for study that were previously unavailable until now. The success of the Family Bait Midrash Program, with over forty weekly participants in as many as seven different groups, has proven that that the previous facilities for the program were no longer adequate. Additionally, numerous donations to the Synagogue book collections have already enabled the Young Israel to expand its library significantly over the last year or so. The new library will be even more extensive, and will hopefully inspire more independent and group study at the shul. Additionally, the New Rabbi’s Study, dedicated in memory of Rabbi Marcel Wachsstock and Rabbi Nathan Barack, provides a beautiful personal setting for people to meet and study with the Rabbi.

The Rabbi Benzion and Batsheva Hartman Torah Technology Center creates a brand new resource for not only members of the Young Israel, but for the entire Stamford Jewish Community. Its function is to provide cutting edge Educational Judaic Software for both adults and children alike. Additionally, through the interactive Video Conferencing technology of Connect Israel, the TTC will provide one on one tutoring as well as small classes with live tutors at a fraction of the cost. The system allows instructors and tutors from all over the world to work with students here in Stamford. In particular, it hopes to utilize many of the teachers from Israel, and provide them with new opportunities of employment. “The Young Israel’s Torah Technology Center is being used as a pilot for many more potential sites.” explained Dan Fried, international director of Connect Israel. “There is no telling how far we can take this.”

At the Youth House Chanukat Habayit dedication and carnival on September 10th, the message was clear from the outset that the primary focus for this project was the Young Israel of Stamford’s children. Under a beautiful blue sky, children enjoyed rides and carnival booths, cotton candy and snow-cones, as well as working diligently on a special Mezuzah cases crafts project, many of which will soon be hanging in the classrooms of their new Youth House.

A meaningful dedication led by Rabbi Ebbin at the top of the Youth House staircase addressed first the children by enlightening them to the dedication of their parents, our members, in creating the Youth House as yet another means to convey the importance of Jewish education and commitment to a Torah driven life. He then described the membership, who supported this project and made it possible, as passers of the torch, the light of G-d and the Torah, from the previous to the next generation, highlighting the Bloch, the Fishman/Wachsstock, the Kosowsky, Milstein and Orbach families as supreme examples of several generations of dedication to these values. The program was concluded with the ceremonious hanging of the entrance Mezuzah, completed by YI President, Leon Hanna, and the ribbon cutting, performed by Christine Bloom, Chairperson of the Youth House Committee, both of whom had tirelessly dedicated their summers to turning this project into a reality.