Chabad's Sydney Yeshiva Closed, Government Funds Misused

The yeshiva run by Chabad's Feldman family in Sydney, Australia is closed due to a lack of teachers and funds, and an independent audit had shown that government funds appear to have been misused or embezzled by the Feldmans.

Rabbi Pinchos Feldman

Fears for future of Yeshiva
Joshua Levi • AJN

THE community has this week been preparing for the possible closure of Yeshiva College, Bondi.

Parents have been enrolling their children at other schools after it failed to reopen last week because of a shortage of teachers. Kesser Torah College has sought emergency funding in case of an influx of students, and the NSW Board of Studies (BOS) is investigating if the college is meeting the requirements for registration as a school.

The AJN can also reveal this week that an independent report, which reviewed Yeshiva College’s bank account statements, cheque butts and other documentation, determined that some of the $467,500 given to the school as part of the Building the Education Revolution (BER) was not used for the correct purpose.

It determined that the accounts Yeshiva College provided to the Association of Independent Schools were not accurate.

Yeshiva stated it made a payment of more than $175,000 to a construction company, but the report found that the cost was not incurred or will never be incurred as the construction services detailed in the invoices were donated.

It found that Yeshiva appears to have breached the funding agreement in relation to the BER funding, and also recurrent funding, which is given to the school every year.

If the NSW and federal governments stop funds, it would cost the school more than $1 million a year and it would struggle to operate.

In a statement this week to The AJN, Yeshiva College spiritual dean Rabbi Pinchus Feldman said his legal team do not believe the school mis-used government funding and was confident the matter would be resolved.

Meanwhile, parents said they were outraged when they woke up last Wednesday morning to an email that stated students could not return to school last Thursday because the school didn’t have sufficient teachers to resume classes.…

Keep reading on the AJN website

Comments

[Korben Dallas]

Say goodnight, Gracie.

[Rebitzman]

So........the audit showed improper use of government funds and what appears to be an attempt to over that up (through their own internal accounting).........

Now what?

[Steven]

......and it's good night from him...

[ah-pee-chorus]

i'm waiting to be surprised and hear that following an audit a yeshiva is once found NOT to have misused govt. money. THAT would be a chiddush.

[steven k]

Can an Aussie explain how Kesser Torah and Yeshiva College, both Lubavitch run schools differ and who sends their kids to the different schools.Of note is that Lubavitch in Sydney is not very big, so it's interesting how there are two schools.I know that Kssser Torah opened up after Yeshiva was briefly closed during the Gutnick law suit

[Eli, what me messiah?]

"Yeshiva stated it made a payment of more than $175,000 to a construction company, but the report found that the cost was not incurred or will never be incurred as the construction services detailed in the invoices were donated."

Isn't this criminal fraud and, if true, punishable by jail?

[Aussie]

@Steven K...

In simple terms....Kesser is a breakaway school started by those fed up with Feldman's BS....It has great management and support....
Was never in doubt that Kesser would grow and Feldman's mess would die a slow death....

As for Sydney Yeshivah run by Feldman....
Goodbye to bad rubbish....
Hope Feldman is charged(Indicted) with fraud and sent to jail....He is just a low life crook...

[David]

Is it actually even possible for the frumma to conduct their financial affairs in an honest and accountable manner?

Their behavior creates antisemitism which affects decent and honest Jews everywhere.

[David]

Meanwhile, parents said they were outraged when they woke up last Wednesday morning to an email that stated students could not return to school last Thursday because the school didn’t have sufficient teachers to resume classes.…

I don't understand this one. Hasn't it been reported for years what is going on there? Anyway, the parents should consider it a blessing. Maybe their kids will end up in a school where they will actually learn something to make themselves employable.

[put a square into a hole]

Pinny Feldman was screwed over by his brother-in-law yossel gutnick.

These things go on EVERYWHERE in every yeshivah and in every "FRUM" mossid.
Just here Gutnick was involved.

[Sydney EMES]

@Aussie: "In simple terms....Kesser is a breakaway school started by those fed up with Feldman's BS...."

What rubbish - you obviously don't have a good understanding of the recent history despite your place of residence.

KTC was formerly known as Yeshiva College and was a Feldman institution until the decline and dramatic fall of the YC network some years ago when Joe Gutnick took possession of the YC properties. Meir Moss "purchased" the school on behalf of a new board from R Feldman for one dollar. Following resuscitation of YC, R Feldman launched a new school that differed considerably from KTC in that its emphasis was on a full-on Chabad education with the bare minimum secular studies needed to meet home schooling requirements. Also, YC charged virtually nothing in schooling fees. KTC, while nominally Chabad, has become much more of a community school supported by Sydney's frum population. While other schools in Sydney are Modern Orthodox (Moriah, Masada, Mt Sinai), most of their student body does not come from religious homes. KTC is the only charedi school, though its school population is largely modern orthodox.

[Sydney EMES]

By the way Reb Shmarya, YC HAS NOT CLOSED. If you'd bothered to read the article that you cite, the school is ON THE BRINK of closure but has not actually closed. Such shoddy journalism on your part - and you expect your readers to support you financially when you don't even read what you post! Shame!

[Shmarya]

By the way Reb Shmarya, YC HAS NOT CLOSED. If you'd bothered to read the article that you cite, the school is ON THE BRINK of closure but has not actually closed. Such shoddy journalism on your part - and you expect your readers to support you financially when you don't even read what you post! Shame!

Posted by: Sydney EMES | October 28, 2012 at 12:13 PM

Idiot.

It is not holding any classes and it told parents not to send kids to school.

In the world outside the bizzaro world of Chabad, that means the school is closed.

[wiseaussie]

get your facts straight before you call people names.
classes at Yeshiva ARE open it was just delayed for 2 weeks.

and to answer the question about the differences between the two schools. they are both a disaster.
KTC is the most anti lubavitch (and become pretty much anti frum) school out there. Moss and Glougour should be ashamed of themselves! We all thought they would actually help when they took over the school.... boy were we wrong!

[David]

and to answer the question about the differences between the two schools. they are both a disaster.

Posted by: wiseaussie | October 28, 2012 at 05:19 PM

Are they are a "disaster" because they are not frum enough or because like most frumma "schools" they produce kids that are usually unemployable?

[steven k]

Any Aussies out there:
How large is the "real" Lubavitch community in Sydney.By "real" I mean, beards, long coat on shabbat style, not people who have a minor affiliation?

[On the inside]

Sydney emes

Yc charged virtually no fees so the teachers were expected to subsist on bread and water! That's why it is closing! Say the truth!

[Sydney EMES]

@On the inside - what is your problem? I made no comment on WHY YC is on the brink of closure. Why am I avoiding the truth by simply providing these ignorant Americans with an overview of the history of the school?!

[Sydney EMES]

@steven k - if you are going to define "real" Lubavitch in the way that you have done, then the kehillah in Sydney is quite small - a few dozen families. However, there are many affiliated with Chabad even if they do not wear a kappote on Shabbos...

[There are lots of stories I could tell]

The Feldmans have kept the school running not only by not paying the teachers but by coercing people to give them the equity in their homes and by maxing out many credit cards. They are liars, thieves and have no respect for anyone. They make up the rules to suit themselves. This is not about educating Jewish children and leading a vibrant community, it is about keeping all the Feldmans in employment and solvent.

They do not give a fig about anyone but themselves.

People - keep away from the Feldmans. They will ruin you!!!

[David]

This is not about educating Jewish children and leading a vibrant community, it is about keeping all the Feldmans in employment and solvent.

Oh, so the standard business model for most frumma "schools", then?

[Yosef ben Matitya]

the kesser isn't kesser
the torah isn't torah
the rabbis are well, straight from Isaiah 1:4
"..... A people laden with iniquity,
A brood of evildoers,
Children who are corrupters!
They have forsaken the Lord,
They have provoked to anger
The Holy One of Israel,
They have turned away backward. "