Perth Hebrew Congregation

Perth Hebrew Congregation
Religion
Affiliation	Judaism
Ecclesiastical or organisational status	Synagogue
Status	Active
Location
Location	Menora, Perth, Western Australia
Country	Australia
Location in Perth, Western Australia
Geographic coordinates	31°54′50″S 115°51′54″E / 31.91377°S 115.8649°E / -31.91377; 115.8649
Architecture
Date established	1892; 132 years ago (1892)
Completed	1892
Website
www.theperthshule.asn.au

The Perth Hebrew Congregation (often shortened as the PHC) is synagogue located in the Perth, suburb of Menora, Western Australia. Established as an organization in 1892, it is the oldest of three shuls and one temple serving the Jewish community in Perth. The synagogue offers facilities for daily services, educational programmes, PHC also houses a library, a mikveh and a bookshop.^[1][2][3][4] It is situated within a Jewish precinct that also includes JHub Maccabi Community Centre and Carmel School, a Jewish Day School.^[5][6]

The first two scrolls in the possession of the Perth Hebrew Congregation were gifts from members of the Montefiore clan.^[7]

The synagogue received a grant of A$100,000 as part of the National Community Crime Prevention Programme (NCCPP). The project was to "design and erect a perimeter security fence complete with access controls around the premises of the Perth Synagogue". The rationale was for protection of the premises and population in the event of a potential attack on PHC.^[8][9]

The synagogue includes a child care - namely Ruth Landau Harp Early Learning offering education to children aged from 6 weeks to 5 years, educating children on the Jewish calendar of events and Jewish values, with all meals being kosher.

The first Jewish congregation in Western Australia was founded in Fremantle in 1887, when Benjamin Solomon organised the necessary fundraising and construction of the Fremantle Synagogue on the corner of South Terrace and Parry Street.^[10] The Reverend Abraham Tobias Boas came to Fremantle from Adelaide to lay the foundation stone of the new building, in 1891.^[10] It was opened in 1897, but did not last long as a place of worship because the congregation was absorbed into the Perth Hebrew Congregation in 1907.^{[citation needed]}

For the more orthodox Jewish settlers, the more Anglicized services of the Perth Hebrew Congregation had no appeal. They formed the Perth Jewry Association and built a synagogue known as the Palmerston Shule. Possible conflict between the two congregations was avoided thorough the leadership of Perth Jewry's first minister, Rabbi D. I. Freedman who served in the Perth Hebrew Congregation for 42 years from 1897 up until his death in 1939.^[11]

In July 2004, the shul was heavily defaced with anti-Semitic vandalism.^[12][13]

• Rabbi David Isaac Freedman (1897–1939)^[14]
• Rabbi Louis Rubin-Zacks (1939–1964)
• Rev Emanuel Fischer (1964–1967)
• Rabbi Dr Shalom Coleman (1965–1985)^[15][16]
• Rabbi Michael Orelowitz (1985–1986)
• Rabbi David Freilich (1988 - 2018)
• Rabbi Daniel Lieberman (2018–present)^[17][18]

• Temple David
• Carmel School
• List of synagogues in Australia
• History of the Jews in Australia

• Mossenson, David (2003). The Perth Hebrew Congregation 1892-2002 (hardback). National Library of Australia. ISBN 095959812X.
• Mossenson, David (1990). Hebrew, Israelite, Jew: The History of the Jews of Western Australia. ISBN 9780855643140.
• Berman, Judith E. (2001). Holocaust remembrance in Australian Jewish communities, 1945-2000. ISBN 9781876268596.
• Rutland, Suzanne D. (23 January 2006). The Jews in Australia. ISBN 9781139447164.
• Parliament, Western Australia (1921). Parliamentary Debates - Western Australia. Parliament, Australia. Parliament. Senate, Australia. Parliament. House of Representatives.
• APAIS, Australian Public Affairs Information Service: A Subject Index to ... 1993.

• Official website