Historic Shul Thrives Again

Melbourne Leader

When Melbourne’s Jewish community shifted from the Carlton area to across the Yarra in the 1940s, it almost spelled the end for the East Melbourne heritage-listed synagogue.

The discreet, white-fronted building in Albert St has survived boom-and-bust years to be the oldest synagogue still in use in greater Melbourne. And now – under the guidance of young and charismatic Rabbi Dovid Gutnick – the Jewish place of worship is undergoing something of a renaissance.

Built in 1877 to serve the thriving Jewish community in Carlton and the inner northern suburbs, the synagogue’s golden era was in the 1930s, under the leadership of renowned cantor Reverend Rechter.

“On Yom Kippur night, when he sang (the holy prayer) Kol Nidrei, there were lines (of people) down the street,” Rabbi Gutnick said. “There were 600 seats all taken, and no standing room. And even the priests from the Cathedrals across the road would come and listen.”

But, by the 1960s, the Jewish community had moved to Caulfield and St Kilda East, and the congregation dwindled to the point where it struggled to get a quorum for prayer.

Following long-serving Rabbi Mattus Honig’s death in 1996, the synagogue embarked on a strategy of bringing in young Rabbis to regenerate the congregation.

Rabbi Gutnick is the third of these, and claims a strong a family link to his role. “There’s a rumour in the family that it goes back nine generations, but I can only confirm three before me,” he said.

The synagogue has become a popular wedding place, it hosts bar and bat mitzvahs, and draws between 25 and 30 people to Saturday prayers.

Though Rabbi Gutnick says the synagogue is the “poorer cousin” to some of Melbourne’s more opulent synagogues, its ornate Ark, unusually large, quartz-coloured windows and fascinating history draw a regular stream of tourists, including many Israelis.

“Sometimes I walk through the synagogue at 2am and I sense that there is stuff going on in here,” he said.

“It’s probably just a mouse or possum, but you feel like it’s one of the old Rabbis come back to check on the congregation.”