Chomesh l'Chinuch

Beis Hamedrash Beis Yisroel (The Dayan’s Shul) adopts Chomesh L’Chinuch Schools Initiative

Dayan Ehrentreu leads by personal example

28th January 2018

Beis Hamedrash Beis Yisroel, the shul of Dayan Ehrentreu shlitoh is the latest kehilloh to join the highly successful NW London Chomesh L’Chinuch initiative which aims to raise desperately needed finance for our local schools.

 

Initiated by Golders Green Beth Hamedrash in 2015, and joined by Hendon Adass in July 2017, the Dayan’s shul is the third shul to join – substantially strengthening the communal initiative. A fortnight ago, £156,600 was distributed by Chomesh L’Chinuch to 22 local schools, with funds raised from GGBH and Hendon Adass members.

 

Chomesh L’Chinuch is a shul-based project whereby shul members are encouraged to prioritise and allocate one-fifth (a ‘chomesh’) of their tzedokoh distributions to local schools attended by the children and grandchildren of their shul.

 

In an emotional drosho, Dayan Ehrentreu shlitoh, Rov of Beis Hamedrash Beis Yisroel, highlighted the unfortunate fact that every local jewish school is running at a deficit with a total of £7 Million per annum across all the schools. However, our NW London community is generous and certainly able to afford eliminate the collective shortfalls, if the tzedokah allocations are prioritised accordingly. He explained the halachic background to the responsibility of each member to support the kehilloh’s local schools. His guidance referenced shulchan Aruch Choshen Mishpot (163:3) which details the need for everyone in a community to support the essential communal infrastructure, specifically including schools and mikvo’os.

 

He reiterated that members are not required to increase the generous amount of annual tzedokoh which they already give. Rather, it is to make a conscious decision how to calculate their tzedokoh allocations according to Halachic guidance. This will ensure that local schools should receive at least 20% of their annual tzedokoh amounts In order to deliver a first class and successful Kodesh curriculum for the chinuch of all our children – the future of our Kehilloh – we need to ensure the schools are fully supported by the Kehilloh.

 

The Dayan concluded his drosho, in a dramatic fashion, by announcing, that “I understand, that if everyone in NW London allocates 20% – the Chomesh to our schools, the deficit would be eliminated. I therefore intend to personally join the Shul’s Chomesh L’Chinuch program and allocating 20% – a Chomesh – of my tzedokah to the local schools. I expect all of you [ my kehilloh ] to do so likewise.”

 

Mr Moshe Morris, trustee of Beis Hamedrash Beis Yisroel has written to all members encouraging them to sign up to this initiative. He noted ‘Beis Yisroel is proud to join Chomesh L’Chinuch – to help support the most vital of our communal institutions – our schools. As a well established and generous kehilloh, the Dayan has highlighted that we have an important responsibility to help our local schools. Many of our members are already generous supporters of our local schools and we hope the entire kehilloh will sign-up to the BHBY Chomesh L’Chinuch”.

 

Two highly respected BHBY members, Mr Ari Bloom and Mr Nicky Rosenthal, are spearheading the campaign in the kehilloh to explain and encourage members to sign up. They added, “A key factor in the allocation of the Chomesh L’Chinuch funds, is that is it given pro-rata to the local schools based on how many children and grandchildren of the shul members’ attend each school. This concept creates a stronger motivation for the members to support their own schools”.

 

Beis Yisroel Hendon Adass joins the Golders Green Beth Hamedrash, where the Chomesh L’Chinuch initiative was first implemented 2 years ago. Mr Emanuel Meyer, joint founder of Chomesh L’Chinuch noted that “Chomesh L’Chinuch recently donated £156,600 to local schools. Beis Hamedrash Beis Yisroel joining this initiative is an important milestone in the initial goal of Chomesh L’Chinuch of raising £1 Million per year for our local schools.”

 

Mr Eli Katz, joint founder of Chomesh L’Chinuch commented that ‘”We are delighted that another well established and respected Kehilloh in NW London has recognised the need for a communal solution to the communal educational challenge. Dayan Ehrentureu’s personal example of joining the Chomesh L’Chinuch initiative is a testament to its approach. Many kehillohs have already reached out to us to discuss joining and we are in active planning phase for additional Kehillohs in the near future. “.Any shul interested in launching Chomesh L’Chinuch should contact [email protected] .

 

Already burdened with a substantial annual shortfall, our schools’ financial situation is worsening due to a combination of slashed government real-terms funding and running beyond maximum capacity. Furthermore, there are increased costs of Ofsted compliance and additional indirect payroll costs. These factors risk staff redundancies and reductions in the quality of Chinuch which our children will receive.

Chomesh l'Chinuch