Yeshivah resignation a matter of time
BETH Rivkah Ladies College principal Shmuel Gurewicz this week denied rumours he had resigned from the Yeshivah Centre’s top board due to current controversies facing the school.
BETH Rivkah Ladies College principal Shmuel Gurewicz this week denied rumours he had resigned from the Yeshivah Centre’s top board due to current controversies facing the school.
Gurewicz told The AJN on Tuesday that he had stepped down from the six-member Va’ad Ruchni, or spiritual committee, because of a lack of time and a desire to focus his attention on the school.
The Va’ad Ruchni is responsible for guiding the spiritual needs of the flagship Chabad-Lubavitch organisation in Victoria, and was directly appointed by the late Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Groner.
While conceding his departure comes at a difficult time – when the centre is facing accusations from within its membership of a lack of transparency – he said the decision was his own.
“It is completely unrelated to the whole controversy,” the Chabad stalwart said. “The timing could be problematic. I was told people will be tying it to other issues and I was thinking of it, but I just couldn’t continue.”
He added that he did not know how, or even if, he would be replaced on the Va’ad Ruchni and said perhaps the other five members would nominate somebody.
Meanwhile, last week, a Yeshivah Centre congregant and past donor offered to make a $100,000 donation to the centre on the condition that a “democratic and transparent system” of governance be implemented.
Bruce Cooke is urging the organisation to allow congregants and school parents the ability to nominate and elect the governing body – a different entity to the Va’ad Ruchni – and to see detailed annual financial accounts.
“Donors, the parent body and congregants of the Yeshivah Centre remain unable to effectively hold the governing body to account; ensure that funds are appropriately utilised; the best staff are attracted and retained; and prevent nepotism and self-interest from being the norm,” Cooke said in an open letter to the community.
Leaving the offer open until mid-October this year, Cooke stressed he is after “no personal power or kavod [respect], just an open and accountable system”.
Responding to the letter, Yeshivah Centre general manager Nechama Bendet said the organisation already welcomes “the community’s active involvement in our organisation”.
“We remain strongly committed to working with our parents, staff, volunteers, congregants, friends and donors to ensure that the Yeshivah Centre continues to provide the entire Melbourne Jewish community with excellence in service delivery, being true to our Lubavitch ethos of seeking to improve the lives of those we touch,” she said.
She added that a series of committees are currently being launched to encourage communal participation and ensure effective succession planning for the future.
NAOMI LEVIN AND DALIA SABLE
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