A plan to solve the financial difficulties of congregations, through taxation of the more affluent members of each congregation, has been proposed by Israel Silberman, prominent resident of Kew Gardens and President of Cong. Beth Israel Community Centre of Richmond Hill, as well as Treasurer of the United Synagogue of America.
Mr. Silberman’s plan, which is similar to that of the old Jewish Kehillahs whereby every member of the Jewish community was taxed for the upkeep of the Synagogue and other Jewish institutions, proposes to request every affluent member of a congregation to tax himself to the extent of a large annual contribution to the funds of the Synagogue. This tax will greatly exceed the amount of the annual dues.
It was announced by Mr. Silberman that a Committee has been formed in his own Congregation under the Chairmanship of Phoebus Kaplan of Kew Gardens to put this plan into effect. In order to start this activity, Mr. Silberman has announced that he has donated one thousand dollars as the first member of the committee and will tax himself for a similar sum to be annually contributed to the Congregation.
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