Numbers fall but hopes are high

Barry Toberman finds a community trying to adapt to diminishing members

COSGROVE CARE, supporting those with learning disability and mental health issues, is one of a variety of organisations providing welfare, social and cultural activities for the Glasgow Jewish community.

But only around 30 of its 120 clients are Jewish. “We suffer from a reduced community,” admits the charity’s treasurer, Paul Shafar. “We could not operate just serving Jewish clients.”

The Cosgrove offices are on the same site as the Maccabi building, where a refurbished lounge for teenagers stands largely unused and the hire of facilities such as its impressive sports hall by non-Jewish groups is crucial to its survival. “Without non-Jewish use or hire, we couldn’t keep going,” says operations manager Sue Faber.

According to the 2011 Scottish Cen- sus, the Glasgow Jewish population has shrunk to around 3,500 from its 1960s’ heyday of more than 17,000. Jewish representative council president Paul Morron thinks the true figure exceeds 4,000, given that not all Census respondents acknowledged their religion and that there are many Israelis working or studying there.

Many of those who remain take a full role in communal life. Three hundred turned out on a Monday night in August to question Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on issues ranging from antisemitism and Middle East policy to local hospital provision.

Mr Morron also cites attendances of 500 and 300 at, respectively, JNF and Chabad events, as evidence of proportionally high involvement.

But this does not blind him to the fact that “the biggest issue we face is adjusting to the level of population”. Maccabi’s business model required a high level of non-Jewish usage. “But, because of that, we are able to sustain a Maccabi service with 200 members. We’ve just had a summer scheme with 100 kids. But it’s different from what we would like. We need to invest more and more in people in our community, not in buildings which are not used sufficiently.”

Organisations needed to work more closely together than in the past “and I think that is most acute in the welfare sector. I don’t think we can continue to have an increasing number of non-Jewish residents and users without that eventually affecting the nature of the Jewish care itself.” There are four organisations involved in Jewish welfare provision. “Can we afford four chief executives? Do we need four different backroom staffs?

“We need to have a model of operation which is not only rationalised but, perhaps, goes a stage further, because the core responsibility of these organisations is the welfare of the Jewish community, and it must be that which dictates the nature of the services.”

Jewish Care Scotland — the community’s biggest welfare provider — is looking to a more streamlined future with the appointment of its first parttime, and indeed non-Jewish, chief executive, Kevin Simpson.

His involvement in a Scottish charity committed to establishing sustainable businesses in Malawi puts him a breed apart from the average Jewish charity CEO. He had been seeking a “rewarding, stimulating challenge”. Given the picture painted by Jewish Care Scotland chair George Hecht, he has undoubtedly found himself a challenging role.

As the title implies, the charity serves Jews throughout the country, including those in remote areas. It deals with around 500 cases annually across the welfare spectrum. Among the problems it faces is a growing demand from those living in poverty.

“We have a food bank feeding 25 people a week,” Mr Hecht reports. “We also give emergency grants. If it wasn’t for Jewish Care, people would be out on the street. And I believe there are many more who have not come forward.”

In recent years, the charity has been forced to make cuts to the point where “there is nothing else to trim”, says Mr Simpson. “If we make further cuts, it will impact on services. And, like everyone else, we are working to keep people out of residential care.” Its financial s i t u a t i o n would be p a r l o u s without its “u n i q u e partners h i p ” with East R e n - f r e w - s h i r e Council, which has four social workers embedded with the Jewish Care Scotland operation.

Paul Morron

East Renfrewshire is also the only one of the 32 Scottish councils which funds its work. But Mr Hecht says the board takes the view that wherever clients are in Scotland, “we should look after them”. Mr Simpson’s arrival had seen renewed emphasis on fundraising and there is also talk of rebranding. Mr Hecht says “we are not getting our share from Jewish charitable trusts”, which may be down to the erroneous assumption that the charity is connected to Jewish Care in London.

Shul-wise, Glasgow sustains five congregations, six if including Lubavitch, after two closures over the past decade or so. Mr Morron thinks other shuls may be forced into extinction in the longer term. For now, he is heartened by the improved relationship between the city’s largest congregation, Giffnock and Newlands, and Newton Mearns, whose respective rabbis, Moshe Rubin and Eli Wolfson, share a table with Reform shul lay leaders Karen Kaye and Eileen Carroll to discuss how the community is faring.

Giffnock and Newlands has 850 members and its building houses offices of a number of communal charities. Newton Mearns’s membership is 420 and growing and the Reform congregation exceeds 200. “Glasgow Jewish religious life is waking up and Jewish life can start from shul,” Rabbi Wolfson says. Rabbi Rubin, Scotland’s senior minister, cites a popular mums and toddlers club as an example of renewal. The Reform l e a d e r s talk of the p o s i t i v e i m p a c t made b y t heir partt i me r a b b i , Kate Briggs.

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