Strathfield Synagogue sold
JEWISH day schools in Sydney will be the beneficiaries now that Strathfield Synagogue has been sold.
The AJN can confirm that the synagogue board ratified the sale of the synagogue to a kindergarten proprietor for an undisclosed sum at its AGM on Sunday, February 1.
It ends a period of uncertainty after the synagogue closed its doors in 2011, unable to garner the required numbers for a minyan.
Board member Josie Lacey told The AJN that while it was a relief to have resolved the question of what do with the synagogue’s assets, it was at the same time sad to have closed the chapter on the once-thriving shul.
“We had such a wonderful community – a warm, loving, wonderful community. We had everything there,” she said. “[But] it was time. Everything has a time and that was it. It will be remembered.”
It has been resolved that the proceeds from the sale will be spent on the youth of the community, with the synagogue board now open to funding proposals from the Jewish day schools.
“It’s going to a worthy cause,” Lacey said.
NSW Jewish Board of Deputies president Jeremy Spinak echoed that view. “We welcome the decision and can think of no better legacy for the synagogue than the proceeds from the sale being spent productively within our community,” he said.
It was initially thought that a Strathfield Council decision last year to pursue heritage listing for the site would affect the sale process.
But Lacey said it did not end up being a factor. “It’s going to be used as a kindergarten, it’s not going to be developed as townhouses,” she said.
She also clarified that it won’t be used as a place of worship: “That was in the contract.”
An existing shul-operated kindergarten on the site will also fall into the ownership of the buyer.
The sale comes after a period during which former rabbi Samuel Tov-Lev and an associate, Joseph De Varda, vigorously tried to stop the board from selling, believing the congregation could be revitalised.
Rabbi Tov-Lev argued in favour of the heritage listing at Strathfield Council and he and De Varda launched a petition in 2013 to save the synagogue.
In 2012 Rabbi Tov-Lev and De Varda lost a Supreme Court case to have the synagogue board declared illegitimate.
GARETH NARUNSKY
Strathfield Synagogue has been sold.
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