Despite sweltering temperatures in Oak Park, MI, more than 300 people turned out Sunday to participate in the groundbreaking of the Harry and Wanda Zekelman Campus.

“Forty-five years ago, I started a school with three children upon the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s instruction,” recalled Rabbi Berel Shemtov, Director of Chabad in Michigan. “Today, we have two hundred students at the Yeshiva.”

“Mazel Tov to the Rebbe, and to two angels who were sent to build this building: Mr. Alan and Lori Zekelman,” he said in his remarks.

Alan and Lori Zekelman are sponsoring the 50,000 square foot school that will feature a large study hall and dining areas, generously sized dormitories and a state-of-the-art mikvah. Construction is scheduled for completion by September 2012.

The Zekelmans were inspired to invest in this project  because of the nature of “the work these students will do everywhere in the world, touching Jewish people in so many far off places,” said Mr. Zekelman.

“From the time that these children are enrolled in school, they are instilled with the love of a fellow Jew and a mission to help more Jewish people do more mitzvos. We are excited to be a part of this,” he said.

The ceremony was capped off with an international representation of the student body. Seven students, hailing from countries such as Argentina, Costa Rica and Sweden passed the foundation stone from hand to hand, symbolic of the schools’ commitment to a stellar education coupled with an emphasis on cultivating leaders who will one day lead communities around the world. At the end of the line, Mr. Zekelman laid the stone in the earth.

The building, named for  Mr. Zekelman’s parents, is representative of a continuation of a legacy of giving for education, said Rabbi Bentzion Stein, Director of the middle school.

“Harry Zekelman had a vision for education and a love for shlichus [Jewish outreach], which he instilled in his son,” he said at the event.

“Today, the Zekelmans partner with the Yeshiva to realize this dream.”