Seattle Jewish Day School Secures $3.5 Million Property

“We’re going to move from having skinned knees to having grass stains,” said Rabbi Yossi Charytan, head of the Menachem Mendel Seattle Cheder Day School.

MMSC frantically assembled more than $3 million in pledges and loans in less than two months. Board members raced to the finish line breathlessly on Monday, when they closed on the new Maple Leaf property that will allow them relocate from the grassless school grounds it has outgrown.

The independent school, which operated rent-free on “Frat Row” in Seattle’s University District, was told in February that Chabad would lease its building the following school year to a Jewish fraternity. 

“Sometimes something seemingly unfortunate has to happen to get a good thing finally to come,” said Mihal Ehven, a parent with four children enrolled at MMSC.

Founded by Mrs. Chanie Levitin in 1974, the school, which offers a mix of Jewish and secular education for Jewish students of all denominations, searched the area for a new site.

“We were initially looking for buildings that were empty because of the recession, that we could move into rent free and be there while the developer waited to develop the property,” said Tziviah Goldberg, an MMSC board member. 

Click here for the continuation of article