Surprise! It’s a New Chabad House in a Growing Sun Belt City

In 2000, the city of Surprise, Arizona had a population of just 30,000. The once-sleepy town, whose founder, legend has it, named it because she “would be surprised if the town ever amounted to much,” has since become a thriving metropolis with a population of 160,000.

As the town grew, so did its Jewish numbers, and with it the opening of the city’s first Chabad-Lubavitch center.

Chabad reps, Rabbi Shlomy and Batya Ceitlin estimate that some 2,000 Jews live in the city, which is located northwest of Phoenix. Many of the city’s newer residents are young families, and the Ceitlins plan to pull out all of their child-centric programs to serve this demographic. As well, they’ll be hosting synagogue services and events for seniors—another significant local demographic.

For Batya, whose parents, Rabbi Sholom and Chana Lew have directed Chabad of the West Valley for 25 years, moving to nearby Surprise is a homecoming of sorts. She is deeply familiar with the local community, and community members are excited the Ceitlins are putting down roots.

“I’ve watched the children grow up—I gave Batya sewing lessons,” reminisced Adrienne Kirshner, who has lived in Arizona since the 1990s. Kirshner says she looks forward to the New Chabad center, which she says is sorely needed. She expects the Ceitlins’ new center to provide “a wonderful, inclusive atmosphere—a place where young families and their children are welcome.”

The growth of Surprise mirrors the influx of new residents the state of Arizona has seen in recent years, and Chabad has kept up. Chabad-Lubavitch of Arizona, headed by Rabbi Zalman and Tziporah Levertov, now boasts more than 50 shluchim couples across dozens of cities around the state.

So when the Ceitlins moved to town to create a center in a booming Arizona city, it was no surprise at all.