Chevra Kadisha called on again for explanation

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THE Jewish Community Council of Victoria (JCCV) may consider asking the Victorian Government to take over the running of Jewish cemeteries.

If the Melbourne Chevra Kadisha (MCK), which manages all of Melbourne’s Jewish burial grounds, does not respond to the community’s concerns, the next step is to appeal to the Victorian Health Department to intervene.

The Minister for Health has ultimate responsibility for the state’s cemeteries and appoints members to cemetery trusts, including the MCK.

At the beginning of last month, JCCV president John Searle wrote to MCK president Myer Herszberg again, outlining the community’s dissatisfaction with the facilities at the Lyndhurst cemetery.

“This feeling is occasioned not only by the lack of facilities — including proper roads and signage — but by MCK’s apparent arrogance in its lack of transparency about this situation,” Searle wrote.

He requested Herszberg respond in writing within a week and include information, including details of any architectural plans for a permanent structure, the nature of correspondence with international rabbis on halachic considerations at Lyndhurst, and a timeline for better signage and the connection of utilities.

As of this week, Herszberg had not written a reply to Searle, although he had followed up with a quick telephone call. Herszberg also failed to return messages left by The AJN.
At the JCCV plenum on Monday night, significant dissatisfaction with the facilities at the cemetery, on Melbourne’s south-eastern outskirts, was again expressed.

While the plastic marquee has been dismantled, mourners are now sheltered in a temporary building, much like a portable classroom. The site is still not connected to all utilities, and it is marked by a small black sign pointing down a country lane.

In April, Herszberg advised the JCCV that his organisation was having “plans finalised” for a permanent shtiebel, but that “this is taking some time” due to halachic issues.
“The intention of MCK is to build the permanent chapel promptly once council grants permission,” Herszberg wrote.

One of the delegates at the JCCV plenum told The AJN that many community members have now had negative experiences while paying their respects at funerals.
He said individual complaints to the MCK were obviously not working, and questioned why the organisation was unable to fulfil its important mandate.

The Lyndhurst cemetery held its first burial in April 2008 and since then, a number of high-profile funerals have taken place there, including that of businessman and philanthropist Richard Pratt and a full military service for Private Greg Sher.

NAOMI LEVIN