Cash call for community

IN a bid to move towards a user-pays system, the Council of Orthodox Synagogues of Victoria (COSV) has begun collecting funds from non-member shuls.

The organisation, whose main tasks are to administer the eruv and the beth din, was forced to reconsider its funding procedures after its budget sank $40,000 into the red 12 months ago.

Previously, the COSV collected $25 per seat sold in its member shuls, which mainly include the larger and older synagogues. Non-member shuls were invited to make voluntary contributions, which most did not do.

From this year onwards, all congregations, regardless of whether they are COSV members or not, will be charged a levy of $25 per seat to fund the COSV, although there are no sanctions for non-member congregations who refuse to pay.

According to COSV president Paul Korbl: “The past practice … [was] inequitable and the new system will ensure fairness to all.”

Korbl also expressed concern that synagogues well outside the eruv, such as Kew Hebrew Congregation, Melbourne Hebrew Congregation and North Eastern Jewish Centre in Doncaster, were paying, while others in Caulfield and St Kilda East were not.

“The COSV takes the view that every shul and minyan, no matter how small or insignificant in the overall tapestry of Orthodox life in our community, must contribute its fair share of the cost of running the community,” he said.

St Kilda Hebrew Congregation immediate past president Stephen Pinch welcomed the new COSV funding model.

“The work that the COSV does is for all the congregations and they get all the benefits,” Pinch said. “You can’t get different rules for different shuls.”

Pinch was one of the most outspoken critics of the COSV’s existing funding model last year when crisis meetings were held.

NAOMI LEVIN

PHOTO:Orthodox Jews pushing a pram on Shabbat thanks to the eruv. Photo: Peter Haskin/AJN file.