Levy to pay key staff

A communal levy to maintain the posts of two key Leeds professionals is to be discussed by local synagogues.

Addressing Sunday’s meeting of Leeds Jewish Representative Council, Robert Bartfield said the jobs of community development worker Neil Clarke and Leeds Jewish Initiative co-ordinator Natalie Jackson had been preserved through a mixture of private and organisational funding. Some of this comes to an end in September.

Without financial backing from an alternative source, both jobs would go, “which will be disastrous for the community”, said Mr Bartfield, who headed a 2006 report into the future of Leeds Jewry.

Urging the 50 delegates that the community’s future “should not be gambled on the lottery of charitable or private funding”, he proposed that each Jewish household should contribute £3 a month.

“Whilst we understand that not everyone will be able to pay this, it is our fervent belief that this is well within most people’s reach.

“Our aim is to ensure that Leeds will remain strong and vibrant and this is only possible with the help of professionals who can take these initiatives forward.”