£4m Liverpool home is shelved

Efforts to relocate Liverpool’s Stapely care home to the Childwall Synagogue site have fallen victim to the credit crunch.

A £3.5 million sale had been agreed for the 66-bed residential home in Sefton Park and planning permission granted for its redevelopment into flats. But with the completion date looming, the purchaser could not come up with the money.

The intention had been to put the proceeds towards the building of a £4 million three-storey care home in the car park at the rear of the shul.

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Northern Israel in economic crisis

Despite hopes that Israel would escape relatively unscathed from the global economic slump, the crisis is now hitting home with factory closures, hundreds of layoffs and outbreaks of worker unrest across the north of the country.

At the Of Haemek slaughterhouse and packing plant in the northern Israeli town of Ramat Yishai, 200 employees learned on Sunday that the factory had staggering debts and was to close.

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More shuls aid crunch victims

Job losses among the New North London Synagogue membership as a result of the economic downturn has prompted the Finchley-based Masorti shul to establish an employment resource project.

Congregants have been asked to offer counselling and training to those affected and to forward news of job opportunities.

“We’ve had a great response,” reported NNLS executive director Claire Mandel. “Job-seekers in our community are starting to make use of the service, and we know of at least one success already.”

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Faith in a recession

Businessman and philanthropist Jonathan Faith was among those advising on how to survive the credit crunch at an open meeting organised by North Hendon Adath Yisroel Synagogue on Sunday.

Mr Faith suggested that employees did all in their power to make themselves indispensable to their bosses.

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Meat goes off the menu at day centres

New and cheaper charges for services are to be introduced by Jewish Care as part of its recession-beating strategy.

From late April, a flexible pricing structure for activities, food and transport will be implemented at its day centres. Last month, chief executive Simon Morris announced that up to 22 jobs would be cut at head office as part of attempts to save £2.5 million.

After Pesach, service users will be asked to pay £1 for transport to centres and £3.50 per day for activities, rather than the current all-inclusive charges of between £10 and £12.

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Recession brings rise in calls to shul helpline

When Rebecca Brummer took on the role of Borehamwood Synagogue’s community care co-ordinator eight months ago, her workload mostly concerned the welfare of sick or elderly members of the community. Now the majority of callers to the congregation’s Careline are seeking advice on coping with redundancy and unemployment and debt and home repossession.

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New Ort team aims to increase income

British Ort’s new leadership team is confident that it can conquer the credit crunch.

Having joined the educational charity as fundraising director, Noga Zivan is “optimistic that despite the current economic difficulties, we can increase our income this year. We will continue to hold our events as normal.”

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Redundancies at Jewish Care

Up to 22 administrative and support jobs are being cut at Jewish Care as the charity looks to chop £2.5 million off its budget for the financial year starting in April.

Faced with the prospect of increased costs and less voluntary and statutory income, Jewish Care hopes to save £1 million through the redundancies, with the remainder clawed back through a range of savings initiatives at its properties.

Around one-in-six of the staff at its Merit House, Colindale, base will lose their jobs and the consultation process is under way.

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US cuts budget and jobs as income falls

The United Synagogue is axing jobs and planning to cut spending by nearly £250,000 in the light of the economic downturn.

A spokesman for the Orthodox synagogue organisation said on Monday that a financial review had led “to a proposal that a small number of positions will be made redundant. However, as we are still within the consultation process, we cannot confirm the number of positions that may go.”

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Palmers Green minister fights US plan to make him part-time

Palmers Green and Southgate Synagogue’s Rabbi Emanuel Levy is fighting a move to make his position part-time in a cost-cutting measure.

Although a United Synagogue spokesman suggested that the 60-year-old minister had accepted the change, Rabbi Levy said on Monday that he would appeal against the decision.

“I believe that the need for my services is as great now as it has ever been. We maintain regular daily services, shirum, education and welfare activities, exactly as we have always done.”

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