Jewish students in NSW will benefit from a $12 million package from the Waratah Education Foundation, with Chabad shliach Rabbi Mendel Kastel and the Foundation’s board helping to drive significant support for Jewish education, continuity and community engagement.

Announced in the wake of the horrific terror attack in Bondi Beach on Chanukah, and in memory of the kedoshim whose lives were so tragically taken, the funding package will strengthen Jewish education across the state through scholarships, school support and educational initiatives. The Foundation’s commitment includes support for a range of Jewish educational and youth programs, including CTeen, Chidon, Chabad Youth and scholarships that will help ensure Jewish children and families can access quality Jewish education for generations to come.

The funding was announced at a breakfast with Chief Rabbi of the Commonwealth Sir Ephraim Mirvis at Kesser Torah College (KTC) on Tuesday.

The funding package comprises four main components: an education fund to help Jewish children overcome financial barriers to attending Jewish schools; a 13-year, $5 million scholarship fund for KTC, which was disproportionately affected by the Bondi terror attack; continued funding for existing Jewish community partners; and an allocation for various new educational initiatives, including a Jewish Experience Centre and online cultural resources for non-Jewish schools.

The education fund and KTC grant are in honour of the 15 Bondi victims.

“We have been fortunate to support KTC for a number of years, and we benefit from that engagement, and hope that KTC does as well. And we’ve also had a long standing commitment to a range of local Jewish organisations,” Waratah Education Foundation chairman Alistair McKeough said. “So it’s a great pleasure to be able to make this commitment today.”

Kesser Torah College principal Rabbi Yaacov Chaiton said the scholarship fund was “a deeply meaningful gesture for our wider community.”

“It sends a powerful message that Jewish education is the key to continuity, resilience and rebuilding,” Chaiton said.

“At a time when our community is still healing, investing in the education of the next generation is one of the most important ways we can honour those we lost and help our children move forward with strength and hope.”

Rabbi Mirvis said he was deeply moved.

“There’s nothing more important than Jewish education to secure our Jewish future, and to be present when an announcement was made of $12 million being allocated for various Jewish educational needs, that’s inspirational,” he said.

“I think the world of the Sydney Jewish community and everything the community is achieving here under the most challenging circumstances.”

Rabbinical Council of NSW president Rabbi Shua Solomon said KTC had been “one of the quiet backbones of Torah education in Sydney.”

“When you support the educators, when you support the rabbanim, when you support their families, you are investing in the spiritual future of the whole city,” he said.

Etablished in 2020, Waratah Education Foundation has distributed $12.5 million across 295 grants, benefiting 112 organisations and over 350,000 young people. Jewish House CEO Rabbi Mendel Kastel serves on its board.