Burial fees issue raised as shul votes to join US

THE IMPACT of Birmingham Central Synagogue’s decision to join the United Synagogue as a full member will be felt at the city’s other main Orthodox congregation, Singers Hill.

When Central formally joins the US fold, members aged over 29 can pay a £70 annual fee entitling them to burial in a US cemetery in the London area.

Historically, many Central members have been buried in the cemeteries administered by Singers Hill, paying a one-off fee.

“Some people will want to join the [US] burial scheme,” Central chair David Korn anticipated. “But there will also be some with a long-standing tradition of family burials in Birmingham so we have no idea how many people will take it up.”

Keith Rowe, the Singers Hill president, accepted that Central’s US tie-up could cost his synagogue burial revenue. He declined to disclose the burial fee charged to non-members.

Although it was too soon to know precisely how Central’s decision would affect the relationship between the two, “we hope we can still keep together as a community”.

Ninety-two per cent of Central congregants who voted at Sunday’s EGM supported joining the US.

“We see this as an opportunity to utilise the strength and support of the US to develop our community,” Mr Korn said afterwards.

“This is a potentially important step. We hope this association will be a beginning of a reversal of the exodus of Jews from the provinces.”

Operating from modern purposebuilt premises incorporating a kosher shop, Central has more than 200 members.

Under the proposed arrangement, t h e s y n a g o g u e ’ s a s s e t s wi l l be transferred to the US. A US spokesperson stressed that “no assets would be sold unless there is no religiously viable community of members holding regular Shabbat services. That is hopefully many years away, if at all.”

Asked if Singers Hill would consider joining the US, Mr Rowe replied: “I don’t think it’s anything we would be looking at for the foreseeable future.”

Central is following the lead of Sheffield, which joined the US in 2014. It is hoped Childwall Synagogue in Liverpool will also join in the coming months.