Conservative shul farewells leader

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MELBOURNE’S Conservative congregation, Kehilat Nitzan, farewelled its spiritual leader Rabbi Ehud Bandel, who returned to Israel at the end of last week.

Rabbi Bandel, an Israeli who served for almost five years as Kehilat Nitzan’s first full-time rabbi, returned home for family reasons.

“He’s a proud Israeli and Zionist who wants his children to have a future in Israel and to be closer to his grandchildren and his parents,” Kehilat Nitzan’s president, Zvi Civins, told The AJN.

Rabbi Bandel, a pivotal figure in Israel’s Masorti or Conservative movement, was inducted at Kehilat Nitzan in 2006, and was originally contracted for three years but chose to extend his tenure with the congregation until this year.

Kehilat Nitzan held a “bittersweet” farewell Shabbat service for its beloved rabbi last week, said Civins, with Torah call-ups for congregants who were bar mitzvahed during his time with the shul.

“He was not just our rabbi and teacher for almost half of the synagogue’s years, but he and his family were our dear friends. He was self-effacing but had a magnetic personality, drawing people to the shul.”

With the rabbi’s help, Kehilat Nitzan has grown to its present size, with more 240 families signed up as members.

Civins said the 12-year-old congregation’s search for a replacement rabbi is continuing, with a committee formed for this task last year.

Rabbi Michael Graetz, an Israeli who was one of the founders of Masorti in Israel, has agreed to lead services for two months, and the shul expects to make a permanent appointment by the end of June 2011.

Meanwhile, the shul may be looking for an interim home because its large building project in Hawthorn Road, Caulfield, will not be completed before the anticipated sale of its premises at B’nai B’rith House in St Kilda East.

Civins said the congregation has “a few ideas to explore” about where it will relocate in the short term.

PETER KOHN