Bell tolls for Massada

ADELAIDE’S only Jewish school Massada College will close its doors next Friday, July 8.

Administrators concluded it was impossible to operate the primary school, which moved into administration in January with some $500,000 debt.

Even with donations pledged after an emergency meeting held by the Jewish Community Council of South Australia (JCCSA) in February, it was not enough to shore up operations for a full school year.

Last Friday, administrator Peter Lanthois, of accounting firm KordaMentha, announced news about the 36-year-old school the small South Australian Jewish community had been dreading.

“There was an amount we needed to ensure the school could keep going for the balance of the year and unfortunately we weren’t able to raise that money, so with no money to pay the staff, we had no alternative but to close the doors,” Lanthois told The AJN. “In some respects it’s an inevitable outcome, but in other respects it’s disappointing because we had come to an arrangement with the creditors to give a bit more time to at least see this year finished and allow the school to continue next year, albeit in a revised form.”

Major donors had indicated a willingness to help but attached conditions that could not be met, he said.

Massada’s demise has thrown parents’ plans into a spin.

Of the 19 pupils in the primary school, six are from the families of the city’s religious leaders: Adelaide Hebrew Congregation (AHC) Rabbi Nathaniel Friedler, Beit Shalom Progressive Congregation’s Rabbi Shoshana Kaminsky and former AHC rabbi Yossi Engel.

Rabbi Kaminsky, whose sons Yonatan, seven, and Nadav, five, attended the school, said parents have had time to adjust to the closure, “but for the kids, it’s been a shock”.

Minette Machet, whose son Noah, four, attended Massada’s kindergarten, was arranging day care.

Plans to send Noah to Massada’s primary school had to be shelved, and she was considering enrolling him in a public school.

“I’m very sad, but to be honest, this has been coming for a very long time. In some ways, it’s a relief,” Machet said. “Every week I kept thinking this is the last week of kindy, I’m waiting for the letter to come. There’s always a silver lining to a dark cloud, but at the moment I don’t know what that silver lining is.”

Former Massada parent Mark Cohen, whose three children attended the school, transferred his son Natan to a non-Jewish school last year so he could study through Year 7 without disruption.

Cohen, president of AHC, said the shul would take over bar mitzvah preparation for his son. Beit Shalom has run religion classes for some years.

Massada’s collapse sparked regret from the Australian Council of Jewish Schools, which has provided support for the school.

“The financial difficulties the school encountered was the result of a number of factors, including, particularly, low enrolments,” a statement from the council said.

“The school management through these past months considered and introduced strategies to address the situation it faced. During this time the school maintained the quality of education it had provided and maintained the excellent academic record of the school.”

Australian Council of Jewish Schools co-chair Justice Stephen Rothman said other schools had even tried to pitch in and help Massada in recent months.

PETER KOHN

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