They had no kosher butcher or Jewish school for half a century, so the opening of a new mikvah in Canberra last Tuesday was a watershed event for the local Jewish community.

Joined by Australian MPs, Israeli Ambassador to Australia Yuval Rotem, ACT Jewish Community President Manny Waks and Rabbi Yanki Glasman, representing the Rabbinical Council of Victoria, U.S. Ambassador to Australia Jeffrey Bleich formally opened Mikvah Chaya Mushka at the new Chabad premises in Canberra. Director of Chabad in NSW Rabbi Pinchos Feldman kicked off the event with the traditional priestly blessings.

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The opening came three years to the day since a group of local women headed by Shoshana Craegh approached Melbourne based Rabbi Aharon Serebryanski with a request to build a mikvah.

“Shoshana's vision extended beyond the construction of a stand-alone facility,” said Eliezer Kornhauser, a Melbourne based developer who sponsored the mikvah.

“She saw the mikvah as the groundbreaking element in the establishment of a brand new community, one which would not only complement the activities of the existing Jewish Centre at Forrest, but also enable young Jewish families to live in close proximity to the infrastructure essential to sustaining an Orthodox Jewish lifestyle,” Kornhauser said in his remarks at the ceremony.

Ambassador Bleich, who was assisted in the ribbon-cutting by community members Shoshana Craegh and Anita Shroot noted that the US government has maintained a warm relationship with Chabad and its leaders, the Previous Rebbe Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, and his successor, the late Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn, of blessed memory.

Rabbi Dan and Naomi Avital, directors of Chabad in Canberra have moved in to the new building, which includes living quarters for the Avitals and a large room that will double as a social hall for community events and a synagogue for weekly services and daily classes on Jewish themes.

With a new mikvah completed, their sights are now set on building a Jewish preschool on a nearby property.

“The mikvah, which is an appropriate foundation for the Jewish community will G-d willing precipitate the growth of a Jewish school in Canberra and have a long lasting impact on the community,” Rabbi Avital told Lubavitch.com after the event.