Synagogue returning to CBD
The new premises are located just over one kilometre from Adelaide's residential zones, a reasonable walking distance for most congregants, and handily located for Adelaide visitors staying in the CBD.
ADELAIDE Hebrew Congregation (AHC) is moving to new premises in the CBD after 35 years in suburban Glenside.
The new building on Grote Street, a former site of the Adelaide Trades Hall, is partially heritage-listed and is undergoing refurbishment, with works due to start on Monday and the move scheduled for around Chanukah or early 2024.
AHC president Warren Bund told The AJN that the present shule, a large building designed for several hundred worshippers, was becoming untenable for year-round services with today’s smaller numbers.
Additionally, the owners of the adjacent property – formerly Massada College – wanted to extend a residential development and were keen to purchase the synagogue block and offer a temporary lease-back. Remaining on this site also posed access problems for shule-goers, due to residents entering and exiting the precinct by car on Shabbat and yom tovs.
The new premises are located just over one kilometre from Adelaide’s residential zones, a reasonable walking distance for most congregants, and handily located for Adelaide visitors staying in the CBD.
“Downsizing is something we’ve been looking at probably for three or four years. We’ve discussed it at length with our membership and in excess of 90 per cent are very supportive,” said Bund, noting elderly congregants have access to public transport.
Bund said that with major national high-tech manufacturing initiatives now coming to Adelaide, including the submarines project, he anticipates a greater influx of Jewish residents, including Israelis. AHC has a small but growing Israeli component in its membership.
The Grote Street shule also means a return to the CBD, where the original AHC was built at Synagogue Place off Rundle Street in 1848 – and until the move to Glenside, was the longest continuously used shule in the southern hemisphere.
Bund said proceeds from the sale of the Glenside property have been used in the purchase of the new premises and in other carefully chosen investments.
The decision to buy the CBD property was made after attempts to co-locate premises with Beit Shalom, the Progressive congregation, did not materialise.
In 1988, AHC ended 140 years at Synagogue Place, moving into its purpose-built current property at Glenside, with the building dedicated the following year.
Massada College, a Jewish primary and secondary school, next door to the Glenside shule, closed after it experienced protracted financial difficulties due to a shrinking community and dwindling enrolments, and a rescue mission was abandoned in 2011.
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