Rain stops pray on a wet and wild Shabbat

DAMP carpets, ceiling damage and swollen timber fixtures were fortunately the main casualties of Melbourne’s deluge last Shabbat.

Last Friday, many congregants paused from their Shabbat zemirot to peer out of synagogue windows at the cascading torrent of rain falling on the city.

The downpour came on the tail of Cyclones Andrew and Yasi, which wreaked destruction in Queensland earlier in the week.

Among the worst affected synagogues were the Sasson Yehuda Sephardi Synagogue on Hotham Street, St Kilda East; Beit Aharon just up the road from there; and Spiritgrow on Balaclava Road in Caulfield North.

The offices of The AJN in Elsternwick sustained serious damage when part of the ceiling collapsed, while Jewish school campuses were left to mop up classrooms and administration areas.

The City of Glen Eira’s Jewish mayor, Margaret Esakoff, said that luckily she had heard of no serious destruction or injuries.

“There were pockets throughout Glen Eira prone to flooding,” she said. “My heart goes out to anyone who was [flooded] because it can be devastating.”

Beit Aharon’s Rabbi Shamir Caplan said his synagogue, at Mount Scopus College’s Gandel Besen House, resembled the Waterwall at the National Gallery of Victoria.

“I’ve never been able to deliver a sermon from an island before, but this is an expensive way to do it,” Rabbi Caplan joked.

On Friday evening, as the water poured through the ceiling and windows, Beit Aharon congregants mobilised.

“When we saw the intensity and speed it was happening, all we could do was move the Torahs,” the rabbi said.

Congregants also lent a hand at Spiritgrow, removing paintings from the walls as the rain flowed into the building from all sides.

The synagogue’s carpets were destroyed, but luckily services did not need to be cancelled and instead were moved to the centre’s hall.

Sassoon Yehuda was not so lucky, president Paul Berman cancelled Shabbat minyans for safety reasons, as inches of rain filled the synagogue.

With the light and airy sanctuary built at a low point so as not to overshadow neighbouring homes, water overflowed from storm-water drains and through the synagogue’s doors and windows.

Members dug a trench to try and force the water to flow away from their building, but to little avail. After Shabbat, plumber Moshe Belleli, a congregant, brought in heavy-duty pumps to get the water out.

The AJN inspected the damage at the shul earlier this week, which included destroyed carpets, buckled parquetry and ceiling damage above the women’s gallery.

“It was a stream,” Berman said. “This building has never flooded this badly before.”

Jewish schools were also affected.

Gandel Besen House, much of which has just been renovated, was inundated; Bialik College had to close its kindergarten for a few days; and Yeshivah College was left with a $40,000 damage bill.

Nechama Bendet, business manager of the Yeshivah Centre, said the facility had extensive flooding.

“While some classes were temporarily relocated, fortunately it has not affected the delivery of our services and programs to the community,” Bendet said.

The school’s uniform shop experienced the most damage, with hundreds of new uniforms and school bags destroyed.

NAOMI LEVIN

Image: Sassoon Yehuda Sephardi Synagogue will have to undergo repairs to damage caused by the flood. Photo: Peter Haskin