Financial statements for 1924-1928, 1932-1939, 1941-1945. Auditors used include P.S. Rosss and Sons, A. Rohrlich, Wricht and Kincan, and A.F. Fullerton.

Held by

The Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue Archives via Canadian Jewish Heritage Network (incl. Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives)

Dates

1924-1945 (indexed as 1924–1945)

Level

file

Scope & content

The 1936 statement's cover is signed by Capt. W. Sebag Montefiore.

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textual record

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BudgetDocumentFinancial ReportJewish CommunityJudaismMinutesReportSignatureSynagogueTypewrittenTagged automatically by a vision model; may contain mistakes.

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PRESIDENT'S REPORT FOR THE PAST YEARSUBMITTED AT THE ANNUAL MEETING.October 29th, 1934Ladies and Gentlemen,A custom has lately been introduced whereby Bar Mitzvah celebrants invite the Congregation to Kiddush at the conclusion of the service. If we had larger congregations on the Sabbath, it would not be a bad idea to have a Kiddush every Sabbath morning. This is done in the Shearith Israel congregation in New York where it has succeeded in developing a spirit of sociability and Sabbath joy,This is done in the Sherith Israel congregation in New York where it has succeeded in developing a spirit of sociability and Sabbath joy,In presenting my report this year as you will see from the Treasurer's report we are not in a very favourable position. Your Board spared no efforts to try and balance the budget. We have made economies wherever possible and I fear that no further cuts can be made without actually closing the Synagogue.Our deficit for the year ending 31st August 1934 amounted to $3600.00 whilst last year our deficit was over $4600.00. You will see we have made some headway and let us hope that one day a President will be able to report to you that the Congregation has actually operated at a profit. Even if it does break even for the year there are heavy obligations to our Ministers which must be met.Whilst discussing the subject, I wish to bring to your attention the large sums which we owe both Ministers; by bringing this to your attention perhaps it will induce those of you who owe the Congregation money, to meet their obligations so that the Congregation can pay its debts. Naturally we should be only too pleased to receive donations from anybody who is willing to help us out over these bad times. Both the Rev. Charles Bender and the Rev. I. de la Penha are dependent on their salaries for their living expenses, and it is very wrong of us all not to assure them that their very moderate salaries are paid regularly. If this was done , I feel sure that we would lift a serious load off their minds.Do you realize that if these two Ministers demanded that we pay them at once their back salaries which is their due,that the Congregation would have to go into Liquidation. (Our Assets even at a forced sale would more than cover our Liabilities), so you see that our very existence is almost entirely due to these two gentlemen.I will now review a few of the outstanding activities and changes which were made during the period under review -The Choir: Following the practice of the last two years we have not had a paid Choir and we have had a volunteer Choir for all Holydays. For the last High Holydays we dispensed with a paid base, thus making the Choir entirely free. Thanks for this should be extended to - Mr. Isaac Kirschberg, Mr. Harry Livinson, Mr. George Kirschberg, Mr. Gerald Goldwater, Mr. Solly Samuels, and Mr. Berman.The Services: Economies have been effected in this department. The number of MINYAN men have been reduced from 9 to 5, thus reducing the expenses from $13.50 to $5.00, and considerably more in the Holyday periods.This small number creates difficulties at times, as the Services on Sabbath mornings are sometimes held up because of the fact that the only ones present are the MINYAN men and the Ministers. Especially is this the case on Friday evenings when very few Members, if any, are present.To create further economies the Friday evening services were held downstairs in the Assembly Hall, and it is estimated that this saves at least a half-ton of coal per week, because the furnaces are lighted on Fridays instead of Thursdays.Read automatically; may contain mistakes.

Harvested

2026-10-18T19:27:00Z · source datestamp n/a · cjhn

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• imageOpen original at source ↗SP-23-20-p1-PresidentsAnnualReport1934.jpg
• imageOpen original at source ↗SP-23-20-p2-PresidentsAnnualReport1934.jpg