Strathfield running out of options
PAST and present Strathfield Synagogue members are being asked to decide the future of the declining synagogue.
PAST and present Strathfield Synagogue members are being asked to decide the future of the declining synagogue.
President Eddy Newman told The AJN the board is desperate to find a solution because only five people attend services on Shabbat, but it is running out of options.
“We can’t get a minyan and it is no longer viable as an ordinary functioning synagogue,” Newman said.
He explained the synagogue will organise a meeting in coming months, to which it will invite all members, past and present. The idea is to develop a consultation so the generations of people who have participated in Jewish life in Strathfield can have their say.
“We want to explore every option we can think of, and that is why we want to have this meeting to see what ideas people can come up with.”
Newman advised Rabbi Samuel Tov-Lev in December that his contract will be terminated at the end of June because the synagogue “is no longer viable”.
The AJN previously reported the synagogue was struggling financially, but after reviewing the books, it appears the congregation is on solid financial footing. The main problem is numbers.
Newman said the congregation, which once comprised 200 families, has all moved to the North Shore or Eastern Suburbs. Last year the synagogue could not even gather a minyan on the second day of Rosh Hashanah.
But before the meeting with the community, the synagogue will hold its annual general meeting on May 1 and congregant Joseph De Varda told The AJN he is considering running against Newman for the president’s position.
De Varda told The AJN as long as the synagogue is financially viable, then it shouldn’t matter if there are two active members or 2000.
“They make money from renting out part of the site to a kindergarten and so even if the synagogue loses money they can still afford to run it,” he said.
“Rabbi Tov-Lev has to stay as a spiritual leader and the situation is so critical that I’m considering running for president because I’m sure all the members would vote for me.”
De Varda believes the synagogue is going to be sold, however, vice-president Sam Steif, who has been a member of the synagogue for 50 years, denied the rumour.
“The only way we are going to get a minyan is if we put a mirror on the wall, but we will not sell the synagogue,” Steif said.
“If we got to that point I would go to the Jewish Communal Appeal and the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies and do anything I could to save it because this is a war memorial synagogue and we need to keep it.”
JOSHUA LEVI
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