(JHE) — A group of artists and Jewish heritage educators are trying to save a 91-year-old synagogue from being sold at auction to developers who could demolish the building or convert it into apartments.
The small, red brick synagogue in the Cliftonville neighborhood of the seaside resort town of Margate goes up for auction on December 16. The activists, who formed a non-profit called the Cliftonville Cultural Space CIC, are trying to raise £300,000 to purchase the building and turn it into a cultural hub for the community at large that would also include a permanent exhibition about the history of Jewish life in East Kent.
As part of their efforts they have set up a crowdfunding campaign.
Watch a video about the campaign:
The synagogue was built in 1928-29 for what was then a flourishing Jewish community, whose numbers were regularly joined by Jewish vacationers. Its simple brick exterior has subtle decorative elements; inside it boasts elegant wooden furnishings.
The orthodox congregation dwindled to such an extent in recent years, however, that it was forced to cancel High Holiday services in 2017 for lack of numbers and has not been used for worship since.
“We would have loved to run a service but we don’t have the people,” synagogue chairman Geoffrey Gradus told the Jewish Chronicle at the time. “We can only get eight people together. It is very sad.”
Heading the “Save Our Shul” emergency campaign are Jan Ryan, a theatre producer and festival director; Francesca Ter-Berg, a multidisciplinary musician with a focus on klezmer music; artist and academic Dr. Lucy Lyons; and Kate Gillespie, who has worked with charities and in education for the past 20 years.
They said in a statement:
Now that the Margate Synagogue has ceased to function as a place of worship, we want to prevent it from being snapped up for commercial use and instead, for it to become an inclusive arts and cultural space for the entire local community – a cultural hub which reflects the diversity of Cliftonville’s residents, whilst also celebrating and retaining the integrity of the building’s Jewish origins.
The campaign leaders said they had at least hoped to convince the owners of the synagogue, the Margate Hebrew Congregation, to postpone the auction, but so far this has not been successful.
The treasurer of the Margate Hebrew Congregation, Jeremy Jacobs, told the local newspaper The Isle of Thanet News that the sale will go ahead.
“It’s not unusual for this to happen,” he was quoted as saying.
It has served its purpose and we have tried to keep the building going but have struggled to attract members.
We have a responsibility to the charity commission to sell the building. The (Jewish) demographic has shifted dramatically and is now more London-centric than ever. It will be going to auction in December – unfortunately there are many people with big mouths and closed wallets. We needed this five years ago.
Access the crowdfunding campaign