A planned bike corridor in the city of Glen Eira in Victoria, Australia is being called “an assault on the Jewish community” with fears that the proposal will be an impediment to accessing synagogues, especially for children, elderly and disabled congregants.
Last week the Glen Eira Council reintroduced plans for a “safe cycling corridor” along Inkerman Road, home to three synagogues who are worried the impact of the bike path will be so severe that they might not even be able to regularly form a minyan and have to cancel services, reported the Australian Jewish News.
“It would cripple our ability to get a minyan on weekday mornings,” Zalman Glassner, president of Hamayan Shul told the Australian Jewish News.
David Mond, president of Caulfield Hebrew Congregation called it a “disaster for congregants and the community at large, who have been attending prayer services held at Caulfield Hebrew Congregation for over 75 years.”
The news was particularly hard to digest for the local Jewish community coming on the heels of the pandemic year in which synagogues could barely cope. Officials of the three synagogues expressed shock, especially given how the likely busy bike trail would induce hardships for their more vulnerable members.
After only recently recovering from COVID, “the bicycle lane proposal will once again lock down among others, our seniors, disabled and parents with prams from accessing the Caulfield Hebrew Congregation,” Caulfield Hebrew Congregation President David Mond told the Australian Jewish news.
Hamayan’s Rabbi Dovid Shmerling, a bike rider opposed to the plan, said he was worried about accessibility if the bike trail goes ahead. “We have members with young children in pushers to elderly members who require walkers. Easy access is needed to ensure they can observe and celebrate Judaism in safety and without worry. If it’s not straightforward for them to attend, they’ll likely give it a miss.”