‘Watershed moment for Kew Shule’
Canberra's Rabbi Shmueli Feldman has been appointed as Kew Shule's new part-time rabbi.
KEW Shule has appointed Canberra’s Rabbi Shmueli Feldman as its part-time rabbi, ending a long period in which the synagogue had no rabbinic leadership.
The new rabbi will relaunch events at Kew Hebrew Congregation (KHC) with a Purim celebration on March 17 and will lead his first Shabbat services on April 8-9.
Rabbi Feldman, 38, a Sydney-born, fifth-generation Australian rabbi, holds numerous rabbinical and post–rabbinical qualifications gained in Australia, the US, South America and Israel. He has tertiary qualifications in leadership, management, education and care.
For the past decade, Rabbi Feldman has served as senior rabbi and chairman of Chabad in Canberra, where he has been an advocate for Jewish issues and a coordinator of communal events involving Australia’s political and multicultural leadership, as well as the diplomatic community.
Rebbetzin Chasia Feldman, 36, a teacher, mentor and program coordinator, was born and raised in Melbourne until she was 10, when her family made aliyah. In Israel, she completed high school and a BA in education.
During the past decade, the Feldmans established educational and humanitarian programs in the ACT, opening an award-winning Jewish community centre, a synagogue, pre-school, various social welfare programs and Canberra’s first Jewish primary school.
The Feldmans, together with their seven young children, recently decided to call Melbourne home, but still commute to and remain part-time leaders of Chabad ACT.
Rabbi Feldman said, “Kew Hebrew Congregation is a magnificent shule and enjoys such a rich history on the Melbourne Jewish community landscape. It is rare to find a group of people as committed, supportive and passionate about a shule.”
Welcoming the Feldmans, KHC president Rodney Goldbloom, who also chaired the rabbinic selection committee, said, “This is a watershed moment for the future of our community.
“In recent years, we have not had a permanent rabbi and have seen a steady decline in our membership and general outreach. If our magnificent shule is to be successful again, as so many of us surely remember … we needed to find a truly exceptional rabbi who was willing to take on this uniquely challenging role.”
Last year, a new management committee tried to reverse the dwindling membership of the shule, established in 1948, whose local congregants had largely moved away from the area.
In 2007, the congregation voted to remain in Kew, and a splinter congregation, now the Ark Centre, relocated to Hawthorn East.
As part of Kew Shule’s redevelopment, it has partnered with Giant Steps, a support centre for children with autism, which will develop some of its facilities on the premises – a plan opposed by some former shule board members.
comments