Sent by the Lubavitcher Rebbe in 1980, Rabbi Zalman Itkin, a”h and his wife Fajgi established Chabad Lubavitch of Hamilton and the surrounding areas. Focusing on the arenas of need, they started Chabad at McMaster and holiday programs for adults and children in the broader Jewish Community. Rabbi Itkin gave classes throughout the surrounding areas as well, for the community in Guelph, a lunch and learn at University of Waterloo and for a number of years ran the Hebrew Sunday School in Brantford.
With the influx of Jews from Soviet Russia, Rabbi and Fajgi Itkin made sure to provide for the spiritual needs as well as assisting in acclimatization to Canada for the new immigrants. Religious texts in Russian, a mass wedding for couples who, due to communism, were never given the chance to have a proper Jewish marriage, and personal assistance are just some of the steps taken.
Concurrent to this there was a lively and active focus on student programming- Shabbat dinners, classes, personal mentoring, holiday programs and more.
In 1994 the Chabad House was purchased to provide a hub for all the student activities and office space for the broader needs of Chabad in Hamilton.
Following the passing of Rabbi Itkin in December 2006 (17 Kislev, 5767) Rebbetzin Fajgi Itkin continued the work of Chabad Lubavitch and in August 2007 Rabbi Chanoch and Shaina Rosenfeld moved to town to join the team.
Over the last 20 years, Chabad House has become the home of weekly Shabbat dinners, BBQ, a giant Sukkah, classes, lectures, the Ralph Travis Memorial Library, JLI and the office where all the planning, accounting, and communications are based.