“You build, and they come.” For attorney Mikhael Keifitz, the new $21 million Leizer Verbukh Jewish Community Center in Sunny Isles Beach, Florida is proof of a belief tested over two decades.
Keifitz met Rabbi Alex and Chani Kaller more than 20 years ago when Jewish life in Sunny Isles Beach was still in its earliest stages. “We were meeting in condo community rooms, and we barely had a Shabbat minyan,” he recalled. Early supporters who lived in those buildings arranged access for Shabbat and holidays. Soon, the community began renting small storefronts in strip malls, moving again and again as it slowly grew.
What followed was a long, fitful journey. The land for a permanent building was purchased more than a decade ago, but construction was repeatedly delayed — most significantly by the COVID pandemic.
“I’m skeptical by nature,” Keifitz said. “Through all the setbacks I had my doubts. But knowing how deeply the Kallers devote themselves to this community — when someone calls, they drop everything — it’s no surprise this vision became a reality.”
Today, the waterfront Chabad Russian Center stands not just as a synagogue, but as what Keifitz calls “a real home” — for its longtime supporters and for every Jew who walks through its doors.
The 39,000-square-foot building rises six stories above Biscayne Bay, making it the first newly constructed synagogue in Sunny Isles Beach. Designed to serve every stage of Jewish life, it includes weekday and Shabbat sanctuaries, classrooms, offices, a library, and a waterfront multipurpose space overlooking the bay. A large ballroom hosts weddings, bar and bat mitzvahs, and communal celebrations, while a rooftop terrace offers sweeping views of Miami and the ocean beyond.
The center also houses a full men’s and women’s mikvah — the first ever built in Sunny Isles Beach, and the Gan Frida Preschool and Tamim Miami Academy, named by the Finker-Frankel family, educating more than 180 children.
“We live in a material world, and among material things, a home matters,” said Keifitz. “Every member of the community invested in this home — and now we’re already outgrowing it.”
A two-part grand opening celebrated the new center. The first event, a community-wide ribbon cutting, drew several hundred attendees, including Mayor of Sunny Isles Beach Larisa Svechin. During the ceremony, a brick from 770 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn — Chabad-Lubavitch world headquarters — was embedded into the building’s wall, physically linking the new center to its spiritual source.
The second celebration, a gala attended by over 250 people, was dedicated to the donors who helped bring the project to life. The honorees included Dr. Isaac Verbukh, the Finker-Frankel family, and the Blavatnik Family Foundation. Each received a personalized gift of an art installation created by renowned artist Jeremy Langford, featuring a letter corresponding to their family name — part of a permanent display now hanging in the sanctuary.
“This building isn’t the result of one gift or one year of work,” reflected Rabbi Kaller. “It’s the result of a community that never stopped believing.”
After over two decades, that belief now has an address — and a strong future — in Sunny Isles Beach.
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