Central to Melbourne’s community
THE dream of creating a home away from home for its congregation is in the balance, with Central Shule Chabad appealing to the community for fundraising assistance.
THE dream of creating a home away from home for its congregation is in the balance, with Central Shule Chabad appealing to the community for fundraising assistance.
The primarily South African group has raised more than half of the $4 million required for the construction and fit-out of its new synagogue and community centre, leaving a gap of $1.4 million.
“We have waited until we maximised funding from our community and we are now seeking support from the wider community,” chairman of the building and finance committee Earle Sacher told The AJN. “By getting this support, it’s a handshake of friendship. It’s embracing it, supporting it and encouraging it.”
Located on the congregation’s current site in Maple Street, Caulfield South, the development will include a double-storey synagogue with seating for 800, hall, offices, a kitchen and boardroom.
“The shul is inadequate as it currently stands. It is not dignified and it doesn’t fulfil what it is supposed to,” Sacher said, adding that the new shul and community centre will provide “the necessary environment and opportunities for … people to daven, say kaddish, pray for sick relatives, name their children and celebrate life cycle events”.
“We bury our own, we bar mitzvah our own, we bris our own, but we have nowhere to do it,” he said.
To the committee members at Central, supporting the development is an opportunity to help create a new community, one that already has 600 members in addition to an extensive waiting list.
“This is the story of a journey. We have our own little history and there are so many stories yet to be written,” Sacher said. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime initiative that all on the committee live and breathe. It occupies most of our working days and keeps us up at night. The passion and commitment of all has no boundaries and we will continue until we all come home to Central. We have no option.”
Central Shule Chabad began about 13 years ago after a large migration of South Africans moved to Melbourne. While many originally migrated from South Africa to Doncaster about 10 years earlier, the community relocated to the South Eastern suburbs after establishing connections with the existing community. Too many to collectively fit into the established shuls, the group began their own congregation, and after moving around for a number of years, rallied and bought the current Maple Street site 10 years ago.
DALIA SABLE
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