The “Chomesh L’Chinuch” initiative distributed over £156,000 to 22 local Jewish schools representing 5,831 pupils at an event on Sunday 14th January 2018 at Hendon Adass. It was attended by Rabbi SY Bixenspanner of Hendon Adass Yisroel Congregation and Rabbi YM Greenberg of Golders Green Beth Hamedrash. Also present were over 35 governors and senior management of the local Jewish schools.
This event brings the total distributed by the Chomesh L’Chinuch campaign to over £260,000 since its inception at GGBH in 2015.
Chomesh L’Chinuch is a shul-based project providing a communal solution to a communal problem. Shul members are encouraged to prioritise and allocate one-fifth (a ‘Chomesh’) of their Tzedokah distributions to the local schools attended by the children of their Shul. This is based on the Halachic guidance that the community must support its essential infrastructure including local schools and the importance of correctly prioritising one’s Tzedokah donations. Members are not expected to increase their already generous Tzedokah distributions, rather it is simply to allocate an appropriate percentage to local chinuch.
Rabbi Shloime Yitzchok Bixenspanner opened the third Chomesh L’Chinuch distribution event and spoke passionately about the crucial role of Chinuch within our kehilloh and the importance of prioritising our local mosdos, especially the schools. He thanked the members of Hendon Adass and GGBH who have joined the Chomesh L’Chinuch programme for their generosity and sense of communal responsibility. He encouraged more members to sign up and more Shuls to join. This will ensure the communal Chinuch deficits are fully addressed. He added, “Our NW London community is clearly able to address its schools’ substantial shortfall provided it allocates and prioritises the already generous amount of annual Tzedokah it donates”.
Mr Emanuel Meyer, joint founder of Chomesh L’Chinuch, explained the background of the initiative and praised the unstinting dedication of the school Chairs and Governors. He provided detailed statistics regarding the financial challenges faced by the local Jewish schools highlighting the substantial shortfalls amongst our local primary and secondary schools with a total annual shortfall of over £7m per year.
He reiterated that funds are desperately needed by all schools and urged every school governor to engage with their local Shul Rov, Gabboim and askonim to encourage their Shul to join the Chomesh L’Chinuch initiative in order to help it reach the initial goal of £1,000,000 per annum..
Mr Eli Katz, joint founder of Chomesh L’Chinuch, organised the distribution of the grant cheques to each school. Rabbi Greenberg and Rabbi Bixenspanner, in their respective capacities of representing their own chosheve Kehillahs and their very generous members, were given the kovod of presenting the cheques to the School representatives. This was the largest amount distributed since the inception of Chomesh L’Chinuch and represents funds raised by members of Golders Green Beth Hamedrash over the last year together with funds raised from members of Hendon Adass who joined the initiative last Elul / September.
The Chomesh L’Chinuch event attracted substantial praise from local schools Governors.
Mr Moshe Morris, Governor, Head of Finance Committee at Menorah High School for Girls commented, “Once again Chomesh L’Chinuch has delivered significant assistance to our school. We are very grateful to members of GGBH and Hendon Adass for their generosity and to Chomesh L’Chinuch for growing this initiative and leading the way by example.”
Mr Moishe Lisser, Chairman, Pardes House Grammar, “To deliver the best Torah chinuch for our talmidim, we need to ensure strong and stable funding from the NW London community, especially the members of the Shuls where our families daven. This communal initiative strongly demonstrates the harmony of halacho, generosity and kehilloh partnership. I will be engaging with our local Shuls to encourage the adoption of Chomesh L’Chinuch”.
Mr Marc Meyer, Chair of Governors, at Hasmonean High School remarked; ““On behalf of the students, parents, governors and trustees of Hasmonean High School, I would like to thank the many GGBH and Hendon Adass members for their very generous support of their shul’s Chomesh L’Chinuch initiative. The very significant funds raised will benefit the students at Hasmonean and make a very real difference to their lives. I am incredibly grateful to those who have contributed to this absolutely wonderful initiative: it really demonstrates just how much the community values the importance of building a strong Jewish future”.
Mr Allan Becker, Chairman, Menorah Grammar School added, “I am delighted that Hendon Adass has now joined GGBH in adopting the CLC initiative. The founders Eli and Emanuel have truly spearheaded something worthwhile and we hope that the rest of the local community follows their lead.”
The founders praised the members of Golders Green Beth Hamedrash who contribute regularly and generously to the fund as well as members of Hendon Adass who joined only 4 months ago. CLC are keen to rollout this initiative across more Shuls in the area and given the initial success, many other local Shuls and School Treasurers are eagerly awaiting the expansion of the project to their communities. CLC are aiming for £1m distributions per year
Many of the School Governors in attendance at the event commented that nearly every Jewish school in NW London and beyond, with its substantial Kodesh programme, has a significant financial shortfall. In order to deliver a first class and successful Kodesh curriculum for the chinuch of our children, the difference has to be fund-raised from voluntary donations and the general community. In many schools these fund raising efforts are very challenging and gaps still remain.
Any local Kehilloh looking to launch the Chomesh L’Chinuch initiative are encouraged to contact Mr Katz or Mr Meyer on info@chinuch20.org.