LD Nathan’s Vision and Leadership

Speech by David Nathan
Greys Avenue Commemorative Service
19 February 2023

It was an immense project to build this wonderful building we have enjoyed as our home since the late 1960s. My Dad’s vision was to build a beautiful building that was practical useful, versatile safe and made of long lasting materials. The brilliance of design included a secure exterior with one entrance and a spacious courtyard with the olive tree to establish the connection with Israel, peace and tranquility. The classrooms were really built for the Hebrew school however a significant bequest of 74,000 pounds from Bernard Goldwater was conditional on a Jewish Dayschool being started within ten years. The magnificent Princes street Shul was too small for our growing congregation and the requisition by the Council of the corner of that site in return for this site provided the impetus to build a new Synagogue here. Princes St had cost 4,000 pounds and Greys Avenue came in at around $650,000, some 80 years later. That is inflation for you!

This site had a lot going for it, though none anticipated being regularly heralded by the fire station siren rather then a shofar! This Shul was big enough to house the whole congregation on High Holidays as opposed to an overflow service which was needed at Princes St. It had a second beautiful shul for youth and smaller services. The Ladies Gallery had great views of what was going on without the possibility of plunging to your death from the perilously steep angles as in the previous shul. There was a Mikvah for the first time, rather than an all weather dip in the sea. It was an extremely well planned and built building, which has stood the test of time.

For two years my sisters and I recall visiting the new site with my Dad after Shul every Shabbat to observe progress. He lived the project for this period and during the planning and fund raising. He was President my entire life until I was 24 years old. The architect, John Goldwater was young, headstrong and though immensely talented,l ike any true artist, liked to consider every possibility thoroughly before finally committing to an idea. There were some wonderful features that had to be cut due to cost constraints -the steel beams holding up the Synagogue were designed to be cased in beautiful wood. The idea espoused was that the wood would be added later however as it turned out most of us grew to love those metal beams.

Dad took his role as President very seriously. The president sat with the treasurer in splendid isolation. For Kol Nidre, they wore dress suits, stiff white shirts, bow ties and Homburg Hats. I remember when I was a little boy in Shul, the Shamas coming over and whispering to me, “Your dad says you should be standing up for this part of the service”. The message I sent back was, “I’m small and I am standing up”. It was a different time - in fact, in the early 20th century, during my great grandfather’s time, the new Rabbi started dancing with the Sefer Torah on Simchat Torah. He was instantly fired and sent home to Lithuania.

The consecration of Greys Ave was a glorious affair with Dayan Golditch representing The Chief Rabbi of the United Synagogues, leading a dazzling array of Rabbis and visiting church and state dignitaries.The Woman’s Synagogue Guild of which my Mum Anne was President, spent many years catering Thursday lunch’s for those who came up from the city. The funds raised from this and other efforts paid off the $87,000 mortgage and brought the community together in remarkable ways. There was drama. When Rabbi Mandel took over, he insisted that only kosher food was required, for the first time in our Shul and so everything has always been made here since.

In his Jewish life, Dad was most proud of this building and introducing Moadon or as it became Bnei Akiva as a religious Jewish youth group into the community. He realised very early that the youth are the future. He was a good leader - he had presence but was quiet, gentle, yet with huge resilience, resolve, strength and immense patience.

When he retired from being President he headed off with a small crew in his beloved yacht for a three year journey around the world. A job he took on was medical officer for which he was imminently untrained and unsuitable. Every morning he had set a time for medical visits. He took out an ugly knife designed for the removal of appendixes and sharpened it noisily. Understandably, not even ONE person came to see him with a medical complaint.This story is an illustration of how Dad got things done in his own unique way.

As we gear up for another site move, a lot of old memories come back from here and from the previous site, but we must always look forward. ‘Kadimah’, we know means ‘forward’. Commanders say this as they lead their troops to battle. And running any community can often feel like going into war or herding kittens. But people do continue to put so much work in, and all the community really has to do is turn up and help where they can.That’s the most important thing. When I do go to Shul I sometimes recall the Lara Bingle Australian tv travel advert - Where the bloody hell are you??

Thank you for inviting me to speak about my Father - He was immensely proud of the whole project and we all of course hope to be just as proud of the new orthodox synagogue to be built on the Remuera site.