(This brief Historical Sketch is composed mainly from
materials compiled by the author in preparation for his forthcoming “History of
the Jews in South Africa” and is published by permission of the Committee of
the Cape Town Hebrew Congregation under whose auspices his work will appear—Ed.
S.A.J.Y.B.)
THE Jewish community in Cape Town commenced its existence as
an organised body on the evening of Friday, the 26th of September, 1841. But
there had been Jewish residents in Cape Town long before that date, Jews, in
fact, having been connected with the Cape of Good Hope from the very earliest
period of South African history. There is a deeply interesting and romantic
story to be told of the Jewish share in the remarkable explorations of the
famous Portuguese voyagers at the end of the XVth Century, and there is little
doubt that Conversos, or forcibly baptised Jews, were amongst the very first
Europeans who set foot on the soil of the Cape. One of them, João Nunez, sailed
with Da Gama on that brilliant first doubling of the Cape of Good Hope in 1497,
and was actually the first of the Portuguese sailors to land in India. The
Jewish pilot and interpreter Gaspar, called “Da Gama” after the famous Admiral
with whom he sailed back from India, made three voyages round the Cape, and
though we have no evidence that he landed in Table Valley, he did stay for some
days at Mossel Bay in 1499.
For the next century the Cape became a portion of the
Portuguese Indian Empire, and the ships of Portugal went to and fro between
Europe and India to the exclusion of those of all other nations. Lisbon Maranos
were deeply interested in the shipping and mercantile activities, and numbers
of them who were not content to practise their religion secretly at home fled
to India, where they soon established Jewish colonies. There the Inquisition
followed them, Gaspar de Leão, the first Grand Inquisitor at Goa, issuing a
proclamation in 1565 ‘‘To the People of Israel,’’ and claiming jurisdiction ‘in
the name of the Church “over the Portuguese possessions in Asia and Africa as
far as the Cape of Good Hope.’’ ‘Two years later Cardinal Enrique, the Regent
of Portugal, prohibited Jews from sailing to the colonies, and made the captain
of every ship responsible for any Jews discovered thereon. Nevertheless,
Maranos continued to sail to India, to round our coasts, and to land
occasionally on our shores though, after the massacre of D’Almeida and his men
in 1510, Table Valley was not a popular landing place with the Portuguese. It was
about the beginning of the next century, when Portuguese sea power was decaying
and English and Dutch vessels were beginning to round the Cape, that Table Bay
came to be a favourite anchorage. The first Jew definitely known to have landed
in Table Valley and to have sojourned there for a time was body-servant and
interpreter to Sir James Lancaster, who conducted the first fleet sent out by
the English East India Company. Sir James landed in Table Valley in September,
1601, and spent seven weeks there with his crews under canvas recovering from
scurvy. His interpreter was a Jew from the Barbary States who had long been
resident in England. His name has not been preserved, though something is known
of his not very creditable subsequent adventures.
With the Dutch East India Company, which begins about this
date, the Jews of Amsterdam were closely connected, though the story of their
activities in the India traffic via the Cape is not for this brief sketch. By
the time the Honourable Company came to establish their refreshment station at
the Cape—the embryo Cape Town—the Amsterdam Jews had become of considerable
importance to the Company. Manasseh ben Israel, addressing Oliver Cromwell,
Lord Protector of England, in 1652, the year of Van Riebeek’s landing, tells
him that the Jews “enjoy a good part of the West and East India Compagnies.”
But though the Jews of Holland supplied capital to the
Company and even at some periods were to be found in the Supreme Council
amongst ‘‘their mightinesses” the Lords Seventeen, it was impossible for any
but Protestants to enter the service of the Company as officers, or even as
soldiers, so that such Jews as there were at the Cape between 1652 and 1795 did
not openly declare their Judaism even if they did not actually undergo the rite
of baptism. It is certain that there were Jews amongst the earliest arrivals at
the Cape Station, as it is beyond doubt that there was a sprinkling of them in
the thin stream of immigrants that continued to flow into the country
throughout the rule of the Dutch East India Company. Conversion to
Protestantism amongst the Jews in Holland was not so uncommon during these
times as might be supposed, and more than one staunch Calvinist whose name
figures prominently in the commercial history of Holland at this period was
born of Jewish parents. The founder of Batavia itself, the greatest of all the
Dutch governors—General Jan Pieterszoon Coen—is supposed to have been such an
one.
The first clear indication of Jews amongst the Company’s
servants at the Cape occurs in the Doop Boek, or baptismal register, of the
Dutch Reformed Church in Cape Town. In 1669, Samuel Jacobson and David
Heilbron, soldiers of the Company who were formerly Jews,’’ were baptised in
the Church. In the following year two others, described as German Jews,
embraced the Christian faith and ‘* were baptised with proper ceremony.’’ In
1673 Abraham van Prago (born at Prague) of Jewish parents, a soldier in the
Company’s service at the Cape, accepted Christianity, and in 1690 Johannis de
Souza did the same. How many Jews there were who did not come forward for
baptism but held their tongues and conformed (for church-going was compulsory
in the 17th century at the Cape) it is impossible to say; but a careful
examination of the names on the Company’s roll leads us to suspect that some or
all of the following servants or free burghers were of Jewish origin: Hessel
Jacobs (1657), Jan Israels (1670), Jacob Rosendal (1668), Maycher Bedemans
(1670), Jacob Isaach (1672), Mozes Davids (c. 1722), Jan Frederik Israel
(1762). Early in the 18th century there is recorded a conforming, and evidently
strictly religious, Jew in Cape Town. In 1709. one Henriques applies for a
passage to Amsterdam with his slave in a Company’s ship, stating that neither
of them is willing to eat the ship’s provisions in consequence of their being
Jews.
There are no baptisms of Jews recorded in the 18th century,
but the obligation to religious conformity had become less strict. Men and
women came from Europe to Cape Town and the surrounding district, however,
bearing the suggestive family names of Levi, Mozes, Abrahams, Israels, Lesar or
Lazar (Isaac), Marks or Marx, and Elias, as well as Da Costa, Hendricks
(Henriques), D’Oliveyra and other Portuguese-Dutch-Jewish names.
The beginning of the 19th century saw the Cape pass from the
hands of the English who had taken it from the Company, to those of the
Batavian Republic, which, with its Jacobin principles, passed an ordinance of
religious toleration declaring that ‘‘all religious societies, which, for the
furtherance of virtue and good morals, worship an Almighty Being, are to enjoy
equal protection from the laws.’’ The principle was upheld when the British
finally took over the Cape in 1806, and, for the first time, in that year we
find amongst the settlers persons who may be set down unequivocally as Jews.
Benjamin Solomon, an English Jew from Kent (a younger brother of the first
Solomon who settled in St. Helena), came to Cape Town immediately after the
British occupation in 1806. He was for many years Messenger of the Court in Cape
Town. He died at Green Point in 1877 at the age of 91. Dr. Siegfried Frankel
was the earliest Jewish settler who interested himself in the formation of a
Jewish community. He came to South Africa in 1809 and practised as a surgeon at
No. 9 Roeland Street. ‘After the formation of the first Jewish congregation he
was accustomed to conduct the N’ilah Service each year on Yom Kippur until his
death in 1846. Amongst others who settled in Cape Town before 1820 a few have
been remembered by reason of some unusual circumstance connected with them.
Isaac Moses was a town oddity, the butt of many jokes, a moneychanger who had
been an officer in the garrison in his youth. He wore eccentric clothes and paraded
the Heerengracht daily with a leather bag slung
round his neck and smoking a long German tobacco pipe.
Joseph Suasso de Lima was another eccentric. He was a man of learning, a doctor
of law, who came from Batavia with his wife in 1818. Lame and very ugly, he was
continually involved in quarrels, defending himself and vigorously attacking
his enemies with a satirical pen. At Amsterdam, where he was born of an old
though impoverished Sephardi family, he had published a volume of poetry. At
the Cape he wrote and published the first history of the Cape of Good Hope,
edited a Dutch newspaper, “Versamelaar,” and sold Dutch books. He became a
member of the Dutch Reformed Church and was engaged to teach the catechism to
the slave children, though his Jewish origin was notorious. It is notable that
he gave a generous subscription to the fund for founding the first Cape Town
synagogue in 1849.
Isaac Manuel was a prominent Cape Town merchant who
pioneered the export trade in hides. He settled in Cape Town in 1819. In later
years, when the Jewish congregation had been formed, he associated himself with
it, attended a Tisha B’Av service in 1843, and gave frequent donations to the
congregation, though it is probable that both Isaac and Rebecca Manuel, his
wife, had become connected with the English Church long before a Jewish
congregation was thought of in Cape Town. One of their sons, Charles Manuel,
was for many years a member of the Cape Parliament.
In 1820, when the British Government inaugurated a regular
system for colonising the Eastern frontier, there were Jews amongst the British
settlers. Three families at least found their way subsequently to Cape Town and
took part in the formation of the early congregations: the Nordens, the
Slomans, and the Nortons. The number of regular conforming Jews in Cape Town
continued to be increased slowly from this time by settlers from England and
Germany. There is reason to suppose that far greater numbers came, who did not
preserve their identity and were quickly merged in the general population. At
any rate we do not hear much of Cape Town Jewry until 1841, when the
congregation was formed.
Before that date there is occasional mention in records of
public affairs of men who are known to have been Jews. A typical instance is
that of the foundation of the South African College (now the University of Cape
Town). This institution was begun in 1828 by a committee representing the
different religious denominations in the Cape. As there was no organisation of
Jews, naturally they were not represented. Nevertheless, we find several Jews
amongst the founders, Isaac Manuel, Maximilian Thalwitzer and Dr. Siegfried
Frinkel amongst them. The students also in the first year of the College
included $. Frankel, D. Frinkel, Lewis Norton, Saul Solomon, all sons of Jewish
settlers. Dietrich Frinkel distinguished himself at the first distribution of
prizes by thanking the president for the Latin prize, which was presented to
him, in a neatly turned Latin speech which lasted for thirteen minutes and
roused the admiration of the assembled public. Saul Solomon at the end of his
second year at College in 1831 was the principal prizeman, and the other
students demonstrated their approval and honoured him by carrying him all round
the town at the head of a procession numbering some hundreds of students and
their friends, This popular student grew to be the most brilliant and probably
the most respected man who ever sat in the Cape Parliament. His career belongs
to the history of South Africa, where not only do his talents shine amongst the
brightest, but his character stands out amongst the most liberal and
generous-minded of our legislators. Leaving college in 1832 he was apprenticed
to Grieg, the printer, of ‘‘Freedom of the Press’’ fame. It was two years later
that he embraced Christianity, as did his brothers Henry, Edward and Richard,
who were at College with him. His parents, Joseph and Hannah Solomon, however,
retained the ancient faith until they died, Joseph in 1860 and Hannah in 1861
in Cape Town. Saul Solomon became a printer and newspaper proprietor and was
joined by his brother Henry, together with whom he owned and, ran the Cape
Argus for many years, exerting through its columns a powerful liberal.
influence on Cape politics.
Long before 1840 there were sufficient Jews in Cape Town to
form the ritual quorum of ten adult males (Minyan), but repeated attempts to
assemble them for divine service had been unsuccessful. At last the task was
undertaken by Benjamin Norden.
Norden had come to the Colony as a young man with the 1820
settlers and after many struggles had prospered in Grahamstown, where he had
taken a prominent part in public affairs. At a later date he moved to Cape Town,
where he became one of the first Commissioners of the Municipality. On the Eve
of the Day of Atonement, 5602 (September the 26th, 1841), he succeeded in
assembling at his house, ‘* Hemsley Place,’’ in Hof Street (now Hemsley Hotel),
the first meeting of Jews in South Africa for the purpose of Divine service.
There were seventeen in all. They were: Simeon Marcus, Morris Sloman, Siegfried
Friinkel, Joseph Mosenthal, Samuel Rodolf, Charles Joseph Hess, Nathan Moss,
Abraham Horn, Nathan Birkenruth, Hyman Canstatt, Adolf Gordon, Morris Hart and
his son Edwin, Lewis Marcus, the two sons of Simeon Marcus, Fred and John, and
Benjamin Norden himself.
On the following Sunday morning the worshippers held a
regular business meeting at the house of Simeon Marcus in Loop Street, and
founded a permanent congregation for services on Sabbaths and Holy Days. Simeon
Marcus took the initiative and succeeded in establishing a society for
maintaining the Jewish religion in South Africa. It was called the ‘‘Society of
the Jewish Community of the Cape of Good Hope,”’ its Hebrew name being ‘‘Tikvath
Israel.’’ A subscription list was opened and £100 immediately subscribed.
Messrs. Norden, Sloman and Canstatt were appointed Elders ‘« to act for the
whole body of Jews here in all matters having in view the establishing of the
Jewish religion in this Colony.’’
The first act of the ‘‘Tikvath Israel’’ was to apply to the
Governor, Sir Charles Napier, for a plot of land for a burial place. The
application was not granted, but referred to the Municipality. The latter
informed the Society that no free grant of land was available, and so a plot
was purchased and the entire remaining funds of the community expended in
enclosing it with a six-foot wall and in providing a mortuary building.
Benjamin Norden had been very active in the transaction, and the Society
recorded its thanks for his ‘‘zeal, energy and promptitude.’’ Three years later
the first interment took place, that of Abraham Horn, who had been a founder
and Elder of the congregation. His widow continued to subscribe to the Society,
and bore a son posthumously, Charles Horn, the first recorded Jewish child born
in the community.
The congregation continued to meet regularly, and celebrated
the Sabbaths and Holy Days at the houses in turn of the principal members, and
in the first few years many additions were made to their numbers. Jews in other
parts of the Colony gave the ‘‘Tikvath Israel” their support, and on occasion,
being in Cape Town, attended the services. Jews long resident in South Africa
who had ceased to practise their own religious rites and in default of any
synagogue had allowed their families to grow up in the bosom of the Church,
sent occasional subscriptions. Samuel Rodolf bore the brunt of the Reader’s
labour in the Sabbath services, and on Festivals he was assisted by Simeon
Marcus and Dr. Frinkel.
In 1846 valuable accessions to the community were the
brothers Elias and Aaron de Pass. Elias immediately became honorary secretary
and Aaron took a leading part in the affairs of the community, as he did,
indeed, in public affairs generally until his departure from the Colony in
1866, by which time his son Daniel was already a leading member of the
community. It was Aaron de Pass who brought out to the community its first
Sepher Torah, a present from Mr. P. Salaman, of London. By 1849 the affairs of
the little congregation had prospered sufficiently for the engagement of a
minister. After some correspondence with the Chief Rabbi of the British Empire,
Dr. Nathan Adler, the Cape Town Jews succeeded in obtaining the services of the
reverend Mr. Isaac Pulver as minister, shochet and teacher. Those who had
looked forward to erecting a synagogue, however, were disappointed to find that
the cost was more than they could possibly hope to raise by subscriptions and
donations. It was only possible to purchase a dwelling house for the use of the
minister, a portion of which was able to be adapted for use as a synagogue. A
property consisting of two houses and a store in Bouquet and St. John’s Streets
that had sometime formed a part of the Good Hope Lodge was bought, and by
suitable alterations converted into a synagogue. A committee, consisting of B.
Norden, Lewis Joseph and A. Wolff, concerned itself with fitting out one of the
houses to function as a synagogue.
In August, 1849, the reverend Mr. Pulver arrived, and the
congregation met in full strength at Mr. Norden’s house to welcome their first
minister. Arrangements were immediately made for the consecration of the
synagogue, which was now ready, and on Friday, 13th September, 1849, the
ceremony took place and a synagogue was formally established in Cape Town. Its
first president was Aaron de Pass, and Samuel Rodolf was its treasurer. Elias
de Pass had sailed for England, and Samuel L. Bensusan accepted the office of
secretary. The committee consisted of R. J. Joseph, A. Wolff and B. Norden. A
list was drawn up of the names of those who enjoyed full membership of ‘‘this
community called the Hope of Israel, by whose joint exertions this Community
has been established and are therefore to be considered the Founders of the
same.’’ There were twenty-eight names.
Attention was now given to the establishment of such
portions of Jewish ritual as had been before neglected. Arrangements were made
for a supply of Kosher meat for the congregation, and for the importation in
bulk of Matzos for Passover. An elaborate code of Laws and Regulations for the
conduct of the community was drawn up. The code imposed obligations on members
some of which would hardly be tolerated nowadays. Fines were imposed for
offences. Thus, persons talking in the synagogue after being warned to desist
by the Parnas or Gabbay might be fined two shillings and sixpence. But these
high officers were themselves liable to be fined, for infringing the laws, a
sum of two guineas.
The same year as the synagogue was opened and the
congregation provided with a minister, the Jewish community of Cape Town came
very near to incurring the serious displeasure of a mass of the population on
account of the conduct of two of its members and one other Jew. Benjamin
Norden, who until 1849 had always taken the lead in the community, was also
prominent in public affairs. He was one of the principal Cape Town business men
and a Commissioner of the Municipality. ‘When the British Government proposed
to make this Colony a penal settlement he had been one of the first to protest,
carrying a motion in the Municipality which called on the Governor, Sir Harry
Smith, to prevent the threatened calamity. He had joined the famous
Anti-convict Association and had pledged himself with the other members not to
employ felons and to discountenance anyone who should assist in landing them.
The convict ship arrived in Simon’s Bay, and the Governor, though willing to
delay the landing of the convicts, would not exceed his powers by sending the
‘‘Neptune” away. The Association thereupon tightened up the pledge and declared
against furnishing supplies of any description to the Naval Department at
Simonstown. Norden protested against these ‘‘disloyal and violent measures,’’
dissociating himself from them and taking immediate means to furnish the Naval
Department with supplies at his own expense. Although the Chairman of the
Association, Mr. J. B. Ebden, ranged himself, ‘‘in common with several of the
principal merchants’’ against the extreme measures, the majority, and in
particular the mob, were violently in favour of a boycott of the Governor and
the whole Civil Service. Consequently Norden and eleven other merchants,
including Benjamin Alexander, another member of the new synagogue, were “put
under the pledge,’’ sent to coventry, and made a butt for the ill-natured
treatment of a very large and unruly mob, rendered idle by all business in Cape
Town having been brought to a standstill as a result of the boycott of the
Government. A third Jew became involved, one Mark Salom, a person of character
so doubtful that the synagogue had refused him the privilege of membership. It
was not surprising that illogical and malicious people began to assume that all
the Cape Town Jews were “pledge breakers,’’ and so it became necessary for
Samuel Rodolf, in the temporary absence of Aaron de Pass, to write to the
principal newspaper of the time, The Commercial Advertiser, defending the
Jewish community of Cape Town against the assumption that the whole of the
members were implicated in the acts of two or three. That there was actually
reason for alarm is evidenced by the decision of the Vestry to exclude all
non-Jews from the synagogue during the Holy Days that year, and to apply for a
constable to keep order at the doors.
For the next three years the synagogue struggled to maintain
itself. But small differences continually arose between the Vestry and the
Minister, and, in 1851,
Mr. Pulver sent in his resignation, declaring, amongst other
things, that he could not bring up his children in a place where ** so little
regard is paid to our holy religion.”’ He did not leave Cape Town immediately,
but gathered a certain number of sympathisers; so that, when the Holy Days came
round in 1851 there were actually in Cape Town two Minyans, one with a
synagogue and no minister, the other with a minister but no synagogue. Then
came a period of six years during which the synagogue was often closed for long
periods, and the congregation dwindled so that on two separate occasions it was
near dissolution, and only the timely action and energetic behaviour of
Benjamin Norden and Aaron de Pass restored the congregation and enabled it to
tide over the difficult times when there was no minister.
In 1856 a determined effort was made to raise funds to put
the synagogue in a state of repair and to defray the expense of obtaining a
minister from oversea. . The subscription list was headed by Julius Mosenthal
in Cape Town, but not merely did the Cape Town Jews respond: the help of Jews
in various parts of the Colony was also enlisted, for, by this date, that
spread of Jews from Cape Town had begun. which assumed much more considerable
proportions during the following twenty years. Subscriptions came in from
Graaff Reinet, Burghersdorp, Colesberg, Grahamstown, Port Elizabeth, Mossel
Bay, Somerset East and King William’s Town. Two abortive attempts were made to
obtain a suitable pastor. The following year the Chief Rabbi wrote from London
urging the Cape Town community to appoint a minister, and Mr. Norden,’ being
about to leave for London, promised his assistance in the selection of a
suitable officer. Early in 1859 he wrote from London informing the congregation
that the reverend Mr. Joel Rabinowitz had been selected to fill the offices of
Reader, Shochet and Minister to the Cape Town Synagogue, and that he was about
to leave for South Africa. In July Mr. Rabinowitz arrived. Meanwhile the
synagogue in Bouquet Street had been-put in repair. On 1st August, 1859, it was
reopened, and Mr. Rabinowitz-conducted his first service.
Joel Rabinowitz had been second Minister to the principal
Hebrew Congregation at Birmingham. Born in Lublin, Poland, in 1828, and
educated in the rabbinical schools, he migrated at the age of 24 to England
where, rapidly acquiring a mastery of the English language, he was engaged in
research in the Bodleian Library by two private gentlemen, Messrs. Alderman and
Dukes. Four years later he became Minister at Birmingham, and, at the age of
thirty-one, left for South Africa where he spent, with an interval of four
years, the rest of his long and useful life. He served the Cape Town Hebrew
Congregation for 25 years, but continued his charitable and philanthropic
labours, not only on behalf of the Jews but of every section of the public,
until his death in 1902.
It soon became apparent that the new minister was an
energetic and capable person. He immediately put himself in contact with each
member of his little flock in Cape Town, and subsequently with every Jewish
family he could discover in the various parts of the Colony and beyond its
borders. The actual number of Jewish families in direct touch with the
synagogue in Cape Town on Mr. Rabinowitz’s arrival was no more than
fifteen—less than it had been some years earlier—and the number of worshippers
at the Sabbath services was usually about thirty; but throughout the country
there were some sixty Jewish families, with many of whom Mr. Rabinowitz
corresponded and established contact, so that they supported and subscribed to
the Cape Town Synagogue, and sometimes attended its services on their visits to
Cape Town. There were Jewish communities, which Mr. Rabinowitz visited from
time to time, at Grahamstown, Graaff Reinet and Algoa Bay. Each of these had
its Jewish burial place and a temporary place of meeting for prayers on Holy
Days, but none had: yet, in 1859, built a synagogue nor engaged the services of
a minister, and Rabinowitz officiated as mohel for the entire Colony.
Within a year of the new minister’s arrival, the number of
members of the synagogue had increased by considerable additions, and the Jews,
both in and outside Cape Town, through Rabinowitz’s energy and enthusiasm put
the synagogue on a firm financial basis, reduced the mortgage on the building,
and were able to contribute considerable sums to various philanthropic objects.
In 1860 they assisted, through Sir Moses Montefiore’s fund, the distressed Jews
of Tangier and those of Morocco, contributed to the Syrian Relief Fund, the
Jewish Soup Kitchen in London, and to the Cape Free Dispensary, as well as
keeping going their own Philanthropic Society, which had been established the
year before.
A properly built synagogue was now the first necessity for
the congregation. The building that had been converted for use asa place of
worship ten years before was in serious disrepair, and Rabinowitz set himself
the task of raising funds for building a synagogue. He obtained willing support
from the Jews in the country as well as those of the Cape Town congregation,
and in 1861 a property in St. John’s Street was purchased for £1,800,
consisting of a house and stable and a large garden extending back as far as
the Government Avenue. In the garden, amongst the trees, a site was cleared and
the foundation stone set for the first synagogue to be built in South Africa.
With elaborate ceremonial the foundation stone was laid on 8th September, 1862,
by Samuel Rodolf, president of the congregation and sole remaining member of
the Tikvath Israel of twenty years earlier. By the following September the
building was finished and ready for consecration. Almost every Jew in the
country had assisted in some way to erect and furnish the synagogue. A hundred
and fifty invitations to subscribers were issued for the ceremony. The interior
furnishings were presented by various members of the congregation. Mr.
Rabinowitz’s family contributed the silken curtain for the ark and cover for
the reading desk, a silver Kiddush cup, specially made in Cape Town, was
presented by N. Fisher, Samuel Rodolf supplied the boards inscribed with the
Prayer for the Royal Family, and other devoted members completed the equipment
of the house of prayer, which was duly consecrated on Erev Rosh Hashona, 5623,
A.M., September 13th, 1863, the reverend Mr. Rabinowitz officiating. The
minister preached a special and appropriate sermon, a choir composed of members
sang dedication psalms, and the collection, amounting to £74, was added to the
building fund. The cost of erecting the Synagogue was £2,200.
No single person at this time had given longer or more
devoted service to the Jewish community than Samuel Rodolf. He was a Cape Town
merchant of German origin. From the earliest days of the Tikvath Israel Society
he had acted as Reader when the congregation was without a minister. When the
Bouquet Street Synagogue was established in 1849 he was elected Treasurer, and
he was, for some years before the advent of Mr. Rabinowitz, the official
marriage officer. The year following the consecration of the newly erected
synagogue on the St. John’s Street site (now known as the “Old Synagogue”),
Samuel Rodolf decided to visit Europe, and the community took the occasion to
express its gratitude and appreciation by a public testimonial to him. On his
return to South Africa in 1864 he did not return to Cape Town, but settled at
Algoa Bay, where he immediately associated himself with Jewish communal affairs
and helped to establish a synagogue. It was not until some seventeen years
later, having meanwhile re-settled in Cape Town, that he again became president
of the congregation in 1881. He died in 1882 just when he was about to honour
the occasion of Mr. Rabinowitz’s retirement by bearing to him the mark of the
community’s appreciation of that reverend gentleman’s service.
Louis Heilbron, who followed Rodolf as president of the
synagogue, had been treasurer since 1859. He had settled in Cape Town from
Calvinia, where he had been the earliest trader from the time of that town’s
foundation. He seconded Mr. Rabinowitz’s philanthropic and charitable work,
which grew and extended until Rabinowitz’s name became famous all over South
Africa as that of a genius at collecting funds for every charitable or humane
object, Jewish or otherwise; so that he came to be known as “the greatest
beggar that ever came to South Africa.” For twenty-three years he worked on
committees and collected funds. Unfortunate people in every sect, starving Jews
in Tangiers, distressed Jews in Jerusalem, oppressed Jews in Poland, poor
whites in South Africa, hospitals and dispensaries, widows and orphans of the
Franco-Prussian War, all came within the scope of his charitable work. Nor did
he spare his own purse in the causes he championed. Until 1872 he was the only
Jewish minister in South Africa, and his parish was wherever Jews were in the
sub-continent. He was a familiar figure and greatly esteemed amongst all
classes in Cape Town, and numbered amongst his friends such public men of his
day as Sir Bartle Frere, the Governor, and Saul Solomon, the great
parliamentarian. He was indefatigable in the defence of the honour of his
people with tongue and pen, and his controversy with the Rev. Franz Lion
Cachet, a converted Dutch Jew and a leading light of the Dutch Reformed Church,
in 1876 aroused much public interest in Cape Town at the time. In 1865 a great
gale broke over the Cape and resulted in the wreck of the R.M.S. Athens, when
sixty lives were lost. There was an appeal to the public’ for assistance, and
Rabinowitz’s remarkable activity and success called forth the approbation of
the press.
In his efforts on behalf of causes not especially Jewish he
got loyal support from his own people, although bad times were beginning to
affect the prosperity of the community. The synagogue needed frequent repairs.
It was becoming difficult to meet current expenses. A general commercial
depression was settling on the Colony, and the Jews, being mostly engaged in
commercial pursuits, felt it heavily upon them. The synagogue membership about
1869 had dwindled and showed signs of melting away to the point where
organisation could no longer hold together. About 1871 it was remarked that
many of the old members had left. It looked as if the congregation would
dissolve and the synagogue be closed. Samuel Rodolf, now settled at Algoa Bay,
invited his old Minister, on behalf of the Port Elizabeth Jews, to go over to
them, but Rabinowitz resolved not to leave the sinking ship. The general
depression in the country had by now been mitigated by the discovery of
diamonds and gold in the north, but the only effect of the newly found riches
on the Cape Jewry was to reduce its numbers still further, for many tried to
cure their fortunes by leaving Cape Town for the Diamond Fields. In fact, most
of the Jews who were early at the Diamond Fields did not, as is sometimes
supposed, rush out from Europe, but went from Cape Town and the various other
centres in the Colony where Jews had been living for half a century and more.
However, in 1872, things mended. New members were coming into the congregation
both from town and country. Mr. Rabinowitz’s services were required from time
to time in distant parts of the Colony, and his visits always brought new
subscribers to the Cape Town Synagogue. He was called in these years to
Grahamstown and Port Elizabeth, Aliwal North, Dordrecht and Queenstown, and
even Fauresmith and Smithfield, to perform’ circumcisions. He set to work to
raise funds to reduce the mortgage on the synagogue building, and in 1872
succeeded in collecting £751 towards the liquidation fund. There was, moreover,
a respectable balance at the end of the year, and the president, Mr. Morris
Lewis, congratulated the members on the flourishing financial state of the
synagogue. Mr. Rabinowitz not only received the grateful thanks of members but
they marked the occasion of his celebration of his silver wedding by presenting
him with a congratulatory address and a cheque for £245, collected amongst his
friends and admirers, Jewish and Christian. Amongst the latter was Mr. William
Porter, the Attorney-General, who accompanied a contribution of £50 by a kindly
letter. Even the Diamond Fields contributed, communicating with the Cape Town
Jews through Mr. Moss Solomon, one of Mr. Rabinowitz’s admirers at the mines.
The synagogue being now established firmly, and the number of congregants
steadily increasing, Mr. Rabinowitz continued to officiate as minister during
the next ten years.
The stream of immigration to South Africa was growing in
volume. The newly discovered diamond fields, and later the gold fields,
attracted large numbers of fortune seekers from all parts of the world, and Cape
Town and the other ports expanded in sympathy with the increasing population in
the north. Rabinowitz watched many of his congregants leave Cape Town and
return from the diamond fields wealthy men, though he saw even more set out in
high hopes and return unsuccessful; but it was the trade created by the new
mining population that attracted many Jews and that added to the prosperity of Cape
Town Jewry. During these years the Jewish immigration was chiefly from England
and Germany. The earliest Russian Jews who came had previously settled in
England. It was only after 1882 that the main stream of Jewish immigration from
the Russian Empire began, precipitated by the May Laws in Russia and subsequent
oppressions. Meanwhile there were fresh additions every year to the Cape Town
Hebrew Congregation, and not a meeting was held after 1871 without the election
of one or more new members. Some who joined at this time were men who
subsequently figured in public affairs. Notable amongst these was Simeon
Jacobs, who joined the Cape Town congregation in 1872. He had been Attorney-General
of British Kaffraria in 1861, and five years later was appointed Solicitor-General
of the Cape of Good Hope. He acted as Attorney-General of the Cape from 1874 to
1882 and became a judge of the Supreme Court and a member of the Executive
Council. He introduced and carried two very important measures, the Cape Colony
Responsible Government Bill and the Voluntary Bill. The latter abolished state
aid to the Church, thereby putting all religious denominations on an equal
footing. With both of these measures the member of parliament most intimately
connected was Saul Solomon. Simeon Jacobs was created C.M.G. in 1882. He
retired and died the following year.
Amongst the new members in 1874 were Isaac Lewis, Barnet
Lewis and Samuel Marks, who, having arrived in the Colony a few years before,
had met with success on the Diamond Fields and begun that wonderful career of
industrial pioneering that has been unequalled in the history of South African
industry. Samuel Marks became a trusted adviser to President Kruger, and had
large financial dealings with the Transvaal Government. For some years before
his death he was a Senator of the Union.
The congregation was expanding. The membership permitted
more expenditure. Gas was installed in the synagogue in 1873 and the following
year the entire synagogue was renovated. In 1875, by unanimous consent of the
members, £100 was to be set aside annually for charitable demands to be
administered by the Wardens and the Secretary. In 1876 the restriction to £100
was removed and the expenditure on charitable objects left to the discretion of
the three executive officers. Shortly afterwards a philanthropic society was
founded for dealing with such cases as occurred. Or rather, the Philanthropic
Society was resuscitated, for it had been founded in 1859, before Mr.
Rabinowitz’s arrival, at the instance of Mr. H. E. Solomon. Before that date
the occasional cases requiring relief were few, and mostly arose from
shipwrecked Jewish passengers and sailors or other persons stranded in Cape
Town. Rabinowitz’s own exertions in the cause of charity have been remarked on.
They were not confined to Jewish causes at this time, but he took the lead in
every Cape movement for the alleviation of suffering. In 1874 he interested
himself in the Frontier Memorial Fund at the conclusion of the Galeka War, and
enlisted the assistance of Sir Bartle Frere. The sufferers from the great fire
at Wellington profited from his exertions in 1875, and he was prominently
associated with the Stellenbosch fund to aid the trek Boers who left the
Transvaal on its annexation by England, as he was with the fund in aid of
British orphans of the First Boer War.
The year 1881 witnessed widespread distress amongst the Jews
in Russia. With the accession of Alexander III. to the Russian imperial throne,
economic pressure, official antisemitism and mob violence reduced hundreds of
thousands of Jews to the verge of starvation. In Cape Town, Rabinowitz
organised a great protest meeting and succeeded in enlisting on a committee
nearly all the members of both houses of Parliament. He extended his appeal to
Mauritius and Rio de Janeiro, and raised a sum of £4,000 for relief.
The following year he resigned his post and returned to
England. His resignation produced widespread regret, and testimonials from
Jewish and Christian bodies alike were showered on him,
During the last ten years of his service there was not a
year when he did not take one or two journeys into the remoter parts of the
Colony or to the Diamond Fields to visit small groups of Jewish families for
some ritual or religious purpose. In this way he kept many a family in touch
with the Cape Town Synagogue which would otherwise have become entirely
assimilated. The Cape Town Synagogue remained, in this way, a true Mother
Synagogue, helping to foster the small country communities until they were
strong enough to support their own synagogue and minister. The minutes of the
congregation record in 1877 a congratulatory telegram sent by the Cape Town
Jewish community to Port Elizabeth on the consecration of the synagogue there,
the first to be built outside Cape Town.
There were established during this period the beginnings of
a Hebrew School. In 1868 Rabinowitz offered to give a special weekly religious
discourse to the children of the congregation and to conduct classes for Hebrew
and religious instruction. Previously classes had failed to sustain themselves
for any length of time, and members agreed that the fact that no fees were to
be paid had discouraged many from taking advantage of the classes. Now that it
was resolved to make a charge of two guineas per annum, it was supposed that
regular attendance of the children would be assured. Daniel de Pass, M. H.
Benjamin, and M. Klisser constituted a committee, and classes were held in one
of the rooms of the Synagogue buildings specially fitted up for the convenience
of the pupils. The teacher, Mr. Rabinowitz, was empowered to use his discretion
in admitting pupils free of charge. Classes were held on Sundays from 11 till
1, and on Wednesdays from 38 till 5, and a religious discourse delivered on
Saturday afternoon. At the end of half a year the minister reported that the
children were attending regularly and doing well. The school, however, does not
appear to have weathered the lean years of the congregation. At any rate, ten
years later, in May, 1878, a special committee was elected *‘ to co-operate
with Mr. Rabinowitz and draw up and act on a scheme for the proper education of
the Jewish children of Cape Town.”’ The suggestion emanated from Mark Klisser,
who became chairman of the School Committee. The following year there was a
satisfactory report of work done, and the Committee voted Mr. Rabinowitz a
gratuity in consideration of the care he had taken in the religious training of
the children. It was not, however, until 1882, when the new minister, the Rev.
Mr. A. F. Ornstein, had been installed that a proposal came forward for the
establishment of a regular day school in which Jewish children could get both secular
and religious instruction. Mr. Ornstein approached the Education Department and
obtained a promise of a Government grant and inspection by the education
authorities of the Colony should a school be established. A committee was
elected to devise a plan. £3800 was voted from the congregational funds, 50
boys could be reckoned on, and provision was to be made for two masters and
additional visiting masters. Mr. Ornstein had himself been a schoolmaster
before entering the ministry. An enthusiastic meeting subscribed £241 in
private donations. But the committee, consisting of the Rev. Mr. Ornstein,
Messrs. L. Sytner, D. Isaacs, M. Robel, L. Alexander, R. Rothkugel and Morris
Lewis, on canvassing the parents, found that most of them were sending their
sons to the school of a Mr. Thorner and were content to let them remain there.
And so the plan was dropped, to be taken up again a few years later by Mr.
Rabinowitz, then retired from the ministry and settled in Cape Town.
The principal Wardens of the Congregation during the
ministry of Mr. Rabinowitz were Michael Benjamin (1857-1861), Louis Heilbron
(1859-1864), Samuel Rodolf (1862, 1863 and 1881), M. H. Benjamin, M. L.
Bensusan, Morris Lewis (1872-1877), Lewis Alexander (1872-1885, with an
interval of three years only), Mark Klisser, S. Lasker and David Isaacs.
The reverend Mr. Ornstein arrived in June, 1882, and was
formally received by the community at the Royal Hotel. He had been chosen by a
committee in London and was a person with the highest recommendations. He had
been Minister to the Melbourne Jewish Congregation in Australia, and editor of
‘‘Australian Israel.’’ Born in London in 1836 he had become a teacher in the
Jews’ Free School, and subsequently Minister to the Portsea Hebrew
Congregation. In 1860 he had gone back to teaching and had become Principal of
the Birmingham Hebrew National Schools and six years later had taken up the
Australian appointment. In Melbourne he founded and took a share in managing
the Almshouses, and was a life-governor of the Hospital. He made a tour of
America in 1875 and the following year went back to Portsea, where he became
Principal of Aria College, a foundation for the training of Jewish Ministers.
He came to the Cape Town congregation at a time when that body was on the
up-grade. Since 1879 Jews had been arriving in South Africa in greater numbers
than ever before, and on Mr. Ornstein’s arrival in 1882 the congregation was
bigger than it had ever been. The following year the Treasurer reported that
the revenue was higher than in any previous year, and that the increased
membership entailed the serious consideration of a new synagogue. Finally it
was agreed to enlarge the synagogue. The work was immediately taken in hand,
and by 1885 extensive alterations were complete. There was an impressive
ceremonial consecration of the enlarged and reconstructed synagogue and it was
once more put into use, the congregation having made shift for many months with
the schoolroom as a place of worship. At the same time a Mikveh was built as a
result of a number of applications for proselytism that had been approved by
the Chief Rabbi, but for whom the ceremony of conversion had not been completed
for lack of the proper accommodation.
In 1884 an event which interested Jews all over the world
had its effect in Cape Town. Sir Moses Montefiore, who was in his time the
leading Jew in the world and the Grand Old Man of British Jewry, celebrated his
100th birthday. He had been a liberal supporter of the Cape Town community in
its infancy over 40 years before, and the Cape Town Jews had associated
themselves with Sir Moses in some of his philanthropic objects. The
congregation now sought some means of commemorating his centenary and
celebrating his birthday. A subscription list was accordingly opened and a fund
raised with this object. On the birthday of the veteran philanthropist a
service was held in the synagogue and Mr. Ornstein preached a special sermon
fitting the occasion. A memorable treat was given to all the children of the
congregation, and an address from the whole of Cape Jewry was sent to the
famous centenarian. To commemorate the occasion three fine stained glass
windows were set up in the synagogue, and a brass plate setting forth their
object was placed in the vestibule.
Mr. Ornstein found his hands full with difficulties that
arose out of the fact that a new element was appearing in the Cape Town
community. Many of the ‘‘foreigners,” as they were at first styled, would not
join the congregation but formed a separate “association.’’ The Committee
attempted to conciliate them by voting £50 towards the salary of a Shochet to
kill for all, members and non-members alike; but quarrels continually arose
between rival butchers, and for years there were petty discontents in
connection with the supply of kosher meat. In 1885 an actual breach in the
Congregation arose over the expulsion of a member whose conduct was considered
to be scandalous. The sympathisers of the expelled member not only formed a
separate congregation, but engaged a Shochet who had not the approval of the
Chief Rabbi. Much correspondence and a long tussle established the fact that,
although the Chief Rabbi of the British Empire had jurisdiction all over the
Empire and hence in South Africa, there was nothing in the world to compel any
congregation to recognise it.
The same question of the Chief Rabbi’s jurisdiction arose
over the cemetery. The old cemetery at Papendorp (Woodstock) was about to be
closed by the authorities in 1885, although it was not full, and Mr. Ornstein
and his committee fought hard to retain it, for the alternative was a grant of
ground at Maitland under conditions which would not admit of sufficient control
by the committee to ensure ministers properly accredited by the Chief Rabbi
performing the burials, or the ceremonial being carried out as was proper
according to Jewish law. There was actually an extension of two years on the
part of the authorities, but in 1887 the old cemetery was closed and Jewish
burials were in future to be conducted at Maitland, where the community had
purchased a burial ground in order that burials might be carried out in
accordance with Jewish ceremonial law. A new mortuary was erected and the
ground was opened and consecrated in 1888, the breach in the congregation
having been healed.
Another important communal service was the re-establishment
in 1891 of the Jewish Philanthropic Society. The Society had existed from time
to time since 1859. But now it was established as a body separate from the
synagogue, and undertook the task of poor relief entirely, administering its
own funds. It has continued to function down to the present time, having done
much valuable work, though of recent years its identity has been merged into
that of the Jewish Board of Guardians.
The condition of the mass of Jews in the Russian Empire had
not improved during the last ten years, and in 1892 there were serious
outbreaks of violence there resulting in widespread distress. That year almost
the whole Jewish community of Cape Town and the suburbs met to express their
sympathy with their Russian brethren in their deplorable plight. A committee
was formed for the collection of funds, and Mr. Ornstein preached a special
sermon. There was a liberal response, and a large sum of money was sent to the
Central Appeal in Europe for distribution.
As the congregation increased the minister’s duties became
more arduous, and in 1889 Mr. E. Lyons was engaged as second minister. There
had formerly been an assistant who carried out the duties of Shochet and
Shammas, first a Mr. Barnadsky and later Mr. Mizrachi. Mr. Lyons was expected
to perform the Minister’s duties should he be required to do so, the reverend
Mr. Ornstein’s health was failing. In 1891 he was granted leave of absence and
went to England for medical treatment. He returned to his duties the same year,
but three years later, when his term of office had expired, he was not
reappointed. He retired in 1895. He remained in Cape Town, where he
successfully conducted a collegiate school for Jewish boys for several years,
the community making him an honorary member of the Congregation.
During his period of office as Minister, the principal
Wardens of the Congregation were Lewis Alexander, P. Levenberg, B. Elsner
(1885-1890), A. J. Platnauer (1888-1890 and 1892), David Isaacs (1890 and
1891), Maurice Eilenberg (1892), M. Robel and L. Sytner (1893, 1894 and 1895).
Meanwhile the committee of the synagogue had communicated
with London with the object of engaging a minister. A sub-committee, consisting
of the Very Reverend Dr. Hermann Adler, Chief Rabbi of the British Empire, the
Rey. Simeon Singer, Minister of the New West End Synagogue, Dr. Hermann
Gollancz, Minister of the Bayswater Synagogue, and the Rev. Marcus Hast, First
Reader in the Great Synagogue, selected from amongst the younger Jewish clergy
in England a suitable minister for the Cape Town congregation. The chosen
candidate, Alfred Philip Bender, son of the Rev. Philipp Bender, formerly
Minister of the Dublin Hebrew Congregation, accepted the appointment and
arrived in Cape Town in 1895. The new Minister had graduated M.A. at St. John’s
College, Cambridge, was an eloquent preacher, an able scholar who had written
and published original work in the Jewish Quarterly Review, and a competent
teacher of Hebrew.
This last fact induced the Senate of the South African
College, almost immediately after Mr. Bender’s arrival, to advise the Council
to secure his services for the College for the teaching of Hebrew.
Though Hebrew had been one of the subjects of instruction
from the very year of the College’s foundation, 1829, there had been long
intervals during which no member of the staff was competent to teach it, especially
since the death of Professor Heyns in 1874. In 1895, Joel Rabinowitz interested
himself in providing for the teaching of Hebrew at the College, and obtained
guarantees for the payment of an annual sum for the purpose. Subsequently a
substantial donation from Messrs. Lewis & Marks, and another from Mr. D.
Isaacs, made the endowment of a Chair of Hebrew possible, and in 1896 the Rev.
Mr. Bender was appointed the first Professor of Hebrew, a position which he
still holds at the University of Cape Town to-day.
The new Minister recognised that it was education perhaps
more than any other factor that would make for the spiritual welfare of the
society in which he found himself, and of his own flock in particular, and
consequently he entered with keen interest into every movement which had for
its object the training of the young, both on the religious and on the secular
side. The very year he arrived a Jewish Public School was established by the
Congregation, mainly through the energy and enthusiasm of Joel Rabinowitz. It
was a Government-aided institution where Jewish boys and girls could get their
secular education and at the same time acquire a knowledge of Hebrew and the
Jewish religion. It was for some years partly supported by the Synagogue, and
Mr. Bender was, during the whole of its twenty-five years’ existence, intimately
associated with its management. Some years later, when the Cape School Board
came into existence, the School was put under public control. At the election
for the first School Board, Mr. Bender was returned at the head of the poll and
has continued to serve the interests of popular education on the Board without
a break until the present time. He still presided over the Hebrew Public
School, which continued to flourish under the School Board. For many years its
pupils numbered between five and six hundred.
Shortly after its foundation a competent schoolmaster from
London, Mr. Mark Cohen, was appointed principal. Under his guidance during the
twenty-five years of the School’s existence, some hundreds of boys and girls
completed the primary stage and got a good lift into the secondary stage of
their education. About 1906 a branch school for the junior classes was
established under the headmastership of Mr. E. H. Kloot, of the London Stepney
Jewish Schools, who had been before 1906 a master at the Reverend A. F.
Ornstein’s School for Jewish boys. The branch school soon developed into a
large primary school, which continued for many years to educate Jewish children
exclusively. In 1920 a reorganisation of the public schools in the Cape
Province resulted in the abolition of the Hopemill Hebrew Public School, which
had some years earlier ceased to be a specifically Jewish institution.
During the earlier years of Mr. Bender’s ministry, classes
were held in the Synagogue on the Sunday School plan. The children were taught
Bible history, Hebrew and religion by some of the ladies of the congregation
under the supervision of the minister. Outside the synagogue, especially
amongst the more ‘‘orthodox,” Chedorim and private teachers supplied
instruction in the afternoons on weekdays. In 1899 a regular Talmud Torah was
established, and another, slightly later, in connection with the New Hebrew
Congregation. The two were amalgamated, and continue to give instruction to a
large number of children at the present time under the title of the United
Hebrew Schools.
Almost the first concern of the new minister in 1895 was the
inauguration, in connection with his synagogue, of regular divine service for
boys and girls. On the first Sabbath afternoon after his arrival, Mr. Bender
conducted a service for young people. It included a lecture suited to their
understanding and calculated, with the skill of the practised teacher, to
interest and instruct. The liveliness and eloquence of the minister made the
experiment a success, and the service became a weekly institution, so that the
Sabbath Afternoon Services for boys and girls have remained amongst the most
characteristic activities of the Great Synagogue and have been continued almost
without a break until the present day.
One of the many public services with which Mr. Bender early
associated himself was the Hospital. In this he enlisted the interest of the
congregation and succeeded in getting such response to the annual Hospital
sermon that the Synagogue collection for the Hospital was for some years
greater than that of any other place of worship in the city. In 1902 a Bikkur
Cholim Society was established for giving assistance, medical attention,
medicine and nourishment and, where necessary, surgical appliances ‘to the sick
poor, and in more recent times an association for the upkeep of a Kosher
Kitchen in connection with the hospitals has been formed. From the first, Mr.
Bender became associated with the management of the hospitals by being
appointed to the Hospital Board, of which he is to-day the oldest member.
The period since his arrival in Cape Town has been one of
great expansion in the Jewish community. Not only has the Cape Town Hebrew
Congregation increased in power and numbers, but new congregations have arisen,
new synagogues been built, societies and institutions grown and multiplied.
From the first the increase in the size of the Congregation began to make the
old synagogue inadequate, and the serious consideration of a larger synagogue
became more and more urgent. By 1898 the number of seatholders and members had
become greater than ever before, and the revenue for the year reached £1,917.
The strain of seating the worshippers at festival times was partly eased by the
institution of special services for the children held at the school and
conducted by the schoolmasters. The following year the question of building a
more commodious synagogue: was brought forward, but the commercial depression
existing throughout the Colony at the time did not justify the Community’s
embarkation upon any expensive scheme. Before another year had gone by,
conditions had changed, though not for the better. There was now no hope of
building a synagogue. The country had been plunged into war. The Transvaal Jews
in large numbers were exiled as Uitlanders and there was a heavy influx of
refugees into Cape Town. This naturally entailed a drain on the charitable
resources of the Congregation. At the same time the demand for synagogue
accommodation was more than doubled. The latter difficulty was partly overcome
by the establishment of a series of Refugee Festival Services held in the Good
Hope Hall and in the Sea Point Town Hall. To provide for these, the
Witwatersrand Old Hebrew Congregation and the Johannesburg Hebrew Congregation
co-operated with Cape Town. The Johannesburg Rabbi, Dr. J. H. Hertz, expelled
from the Transvaal by the Boer authorities for pro-British propaganda, preached
in the Good Hope Hall and in the Banqueting Room, temporarily converted into
synagogues in 1900, and, in the following year, to mark the close of the exile,
a special final service was held at which there were no less than 1,200
worshippers present.
By this time the nucleus of a building fund had been
constituted from a bequest in 1900 by Moritz Pickler, who had been, before the
discovery of diamonds in the north, one of Mr. Rabinowitz’s congregants. He had
made a fortune by successful speculation in diamonds about 1872 and had
speedily lost it again by speculation. Returning later to the Diamond Fields,
he had gained a competence and retired. On his death he left £1,000 to the
Congregation for the purpose of building, and £1,000 to the Philanthropic Society.
In 1902 the question of building a synagogue became one of
practical importance. Peace had been restored in South Africa and the
Congregation, in spite of the return of the Transvaal refugees, had
considerably increased in numbers. It was, moreover, this year en féte in
celebration of its diamond jubilee, the sixtieth anniversary of its foundation.
(As a matter of fact, the reckoning was erroneous. The year of its foundation
was 1841, though all the printed literature of the synagogue stated it to be 1842.)
The time was considered ripe for the decision to build a new place of worship.
Designs were accepted, a building committee elected, and tenders called for,
and the following year the building was begun. On 2nd June, 1904, the
corner-stone was laid with solemn ceremony by His Excellency the Honourable Sir
Walter Hely-Hutchinson, G.C.M.G., Governor of the Cape Colony. Before the
congregation and a large assembly of citizens, Jewish and Christian, the
Governor took the opportunity of expressing the high appreciation in which he
held the beneficent work that had been done in the city by the Minister of the
Congregation, the Rev. A. P. Bender. The building proceeded apace. It became necessary
to pull down part of the old synagogue to make room for the new one, and the
Annandale Hall was hired and fitted up as a temporary synagogue and continued
to be used until the new synagogue was ready.
But things were not going as well as had been hoped. The
Boer War had left an aftermath of depression in the commerce of the country
which affected the Jewish community not less than every other section of South
African society. The ordinary revenue of the Congregation fell short. Both the
general fund and the Building Fund suffered. There was a large overdraft at the
bank. But the Community was now committed to the expensive undertaking. A sum
of £25,000 had been raised by a mortgage on the building, and now it became
necessary to raise another £6,000 on a second mortgage. To do this, personal
guarantees were required, and nearly every member of the Congregation at the
time became a guarantor or sub-guarantor. The £6,000 was required to be repaid
in twenty annual instalments of £300 each. In the midst of the commercial
depression the building was finished. It was a fine, imposing and dignified
edifice and the community were, with just cause, proud of it. But the debt was
very formidable, and the synagogue building threatened to become a white
elephant before many years had passed. At this time none foresaw that even
worse times were coming. So the Great Synagogue, the third building that the
congregation had provided, and the largest and most beautiful, was formally
opened by the President, Mr. Hyman Liberman, Mayor of Cape Town, on 13th
September, 1905, the 56th anniversary of the opening of the Bouquet Street
Synagogue, and the 32nd of the “Old ”’ Synagogue.
Many costly and handsome gifts for the interior furnishing
came from individual members. Even the children of the congregation contributed
by the public performance of an operetta, the proceeds of which purchased the
curtain for the Ark, and the Jewish Boys’ and Girls’ Guild, an institution
which had come into existence a few years earlier, presented a handsome brass
pulpit.
For the next few years the congregation struggled against
financial adversity and heavy debt, and the Wardens and the Committee were put
to deep anxiety. The ordinary revenue fell. In 1909 they were compelled to
reduce the seat-rents ‘because the commercial depression had deprived members
of the means to continue their subscriptions. Meanwhile money had to be found
to pay the bondholders, and every possible means of raising money was
exploited; bazaars were organised, collections made on every possible occasion.
A fund for paying the interest, and another for finding the annual £300 to pay
off the second bond, had to be kept up notwithstanding continual losses in
membership owing to the bad times. In 1914 a crisis was reached when the
congregation found itself unable to pay the interest on the bond. The Master of
the Supreme Court agreed with the President and Treasurer, Messrs. H. Liberman
and P. Myers, not to receive any interest for three years on condition that the
second bond was paid off. The interest was moreover reduced from 3½ to 2½ per
cent. This gave the congregation an opportunity partly to recover, and by 1917
the second bond was paid off and the guarantors were relieved of their
responsibility. From this time the financial position improved, and the
Synagogue was able to carry out its proper functions without the severe strain
that had been put on its members for so many years.
During the whole of this period the strain and
responsibility were borne chiefly by a few devoted men, though many others gave
unstinted work and interest to relieve the congregation of its burdens. Perhaps
no member of the synagogue was more assiduous in working for it than Hyman
Liberman. Elected treasurer of the Congregation in 1897, he continued as Warden
in the office of president or treasurer with but a short interval for 20 years.
He was a prominent merchant in the city, and his public work as a citizen was
no less remarkable than his record of work for the synagogue. His public
benefactions were too numerous and varied to be mentioned here. On his death,
besides bequeathing generous sums to many Jewish institutions, the University,
the Hospital, and other undenominational objects, he left a sum of £6,000 to
the Cape Town Hebrew Congregation, with a generous provision towards the cost
of a Hebrew School. He was Mayor of Cape Town for three years, and had the
honour, during his mayoralty, of opening the newly built City Hall, the Rev. A.
P. Bender being the officiating minister on that civic occasion. At the
beginning of Mr. Bender’s ministry Mr. Liberman shared the wardens’ responsibilities
with David Isaacs, who had filled the office of treasurer as far back as 1880
and was president between 1896 and 1900. Amongst those who took the lead in the
affairs of the synagogue during the first two decades of the 20th century were
M. Robel, who was one of the wardens for the first six years. He had been
president at an earlier period, between 1892 and 1896; Philip Myers, with
intervals, between 1904 and 1916, mainly in the office of treasurer; Maurice
Eilenberg, who had been treasurer in 1891 and 1892, served as one of the
wardens in 1906, 1907, 1910 and 1911, and is to-day the oldest trustee of the
synagogue. In more recent times Maurice Rosen, Woolf Harris, Abraham Liberman,
Harry Stodel, I. L. Barnett, and Harry Harris have been the principal occupants
of the Wardens’ seats in the Great Synagogue.
Outside the Cape Town Hebrew Congregation, Jewish communal
activity began to show itself markedly about the beginning of the 20th century.
For something over ten years before the beginning of the century, the
immigration of Jews, especially from Eastern Europe, had been considerable,
with the result that there was an increasing demand, not merely for more
synagogue accommodation, but for a synagogue conducted less in the English
tradition than that of the Cape Town Hebrew Congregation. This demand led to
the foundation of the New Hebrew Congregation. It was established by a meeting
held in the Masonic Hall on 16th September, 1900. Two years later the new
congregation had built a handsome and commodious synagogue in Roeland Street,
which was formally consecrated by Dr. J. H. Hertz (now the Very Reverend the
Chief Rabbi of the British Empire). Its first wardens were D. Israelson, Idel Schwartz
and S. Jacobs. Attached to it was a Talmud Torah, three classrooms having been
provided for the purpose in the new building. Amongst the chief workers in
connection with this synagogue, since a date shortly after its foundation, has
been Advocate Morris Alexander, still one of the principal leaders of Jewry in
South Africa and a member of the Union Parliament. The New Hebrew Congregation
officially accepted Zionism as one of its aims, and became affiliated to the
S.A. Zionist Federation.
Another synagogue followed shortly afterwards. In April,
1901, a movement was started amongst the more orthodox Jews in Cape Town for a
Beth Hamidrash for study and prayer under the direction of an orthodox Rabbi.
Mainly through the instrumentality of Mr. I. J. Rowtowsky, was established, in
1903, the Beth Hamidrash Hachodesh in Constitution Street. The first officers
were H. I. Cohen and H. Winnet. In 1910 the institution engaged Rabbi M. Ch.
Mirvish, whose competence as a Talmudical scholar and whose oratorical gifts
have from that time commanded the respect of the entire Jewish community.
Later, another Beth Hamidrash, that of the Chasidim, was
established in Buitenkant Street, and still another subsequently, the Poneves
Beth Hamidrash, whilst during Holy-day times a number of small Chevras met for
prayers in hired rooms temporarily adapted as synagogues. Synagogues also began
to be established in the suburbs. The earliest was that of the Woodstock and
Salt’ River Hebrew Congregation, established in 1908. Wynberg and Claremont,
Maitland and Muizenberg have since established their congregations and synagogues.
Before the close of the 19th century Zionism, that powerful
modern Jewish ideal, had been introduced into South Africa and had begun to
flourish and spread in Cape Town. The Dorshei Zion, the oldest and most active
Zionist society in the city, was established in 1899, and the following year
Jewish women formed the B’noth Zion. To-day there are numerous organisations,
Young Israel societies, Junior Zionist societies and Maccabean societies in Cape
Town and its suburbs which have for their object the cultivation of Zionism
amongst the Jewish youth and which are all affiliated to the S.A. Zionist
Federation, of which the Cape Town Hebrew Congregation itself has within recent
years become a constituent body. Recently a fine hall was erected in Hope
Street for the accommodation of the various Zionist bodies, the old Hall, which
dates from 1900, having become too small.
Since the beginning of the present century institutions for
the instruction of children in Hebrew and the Jewish religion have been founded
in the city and the suburbs. The principal of these is the United Hebrew
Schools, the result of the amalgamation of two existing institutions in 1921. A
Jewish Board of Guardians for the care of the Jewish poor was formed from the
old Philanthropic Society which dates from 1859, and the Jewish Ladies’
Association, which was founded about the time of Mr. Bender’s arrival in the
city. Numerous other charitable institutions have sprung up during the century.
One of the chief is the Cape Jewish Orphanage, founded in 1912, in the first
place through the zeal of Mr. J. Kadish, who was its first president. The
Governor-General of South Africa, Viscount Buxton, laid the foundation stone in
1915 of a fine new building, which was opened by the Rev. A. P. Bender. A
hospital was added to the main building in 1923, the gift of Isaac Lewis. The
Helping Hand Society, founded in 1902, assists the poor with loans free of
interest. A Jewish Home for the Aged was founded in recent years. There are
numerous benefit societies, the oldest of which is the Hebrew Dividing and
Benefit Society, founded in 1902; lodges, fraternities, clubs, scout and guide
troops have existed for years, and an indeterminate number of cultural and
social societies are born and die almost every year. The great majority of the
organisations meet in the Old Synagogue, which has now been for many years the
meeting place for Jews of every Jewish congregation.
Although the Cape Town Hebrew Congregation does not now
constitute the Jewish Community of Cape Town as it once did, for many general
Jewish purposes considerable solidarity has been maintained. Thus in 1914 the
problem of the Kosher meat supply was considerably simplified by the
institution of a Board of Shechita for the whole of the Cape Division. A Chevra
Kadisha, for performing the last rites of the dead, was established by the two
principal congregations in common under the presidentship of Mr. M. Eilenberg
in 1908. Though it did not survive, many charitable organisations and communal
services have always been common to all congregations, the heads of which
frequently meet on the same platform where Jewish affairs are to be discussed.
A Jewish Board of Deputies for the Cape Colony was formed in 1904, following
that of the Transvaal founded in the previous year. The two were amalgamated in
1912 under the title of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies. All
sections of Cape Town Jewry combine when it is necessary, such as it was during
the Great War, to raise funds for the relief of Jews in South Africa or in
Europe. The Jewish community of the Cape contributed a sum exceeding £100,000
to the Cape Relief Fund for Jewish War and Pogrom Victims during the war
period, and in spite of a multiplicity of organisations and minor conflicting
interests, the common denominator of the numerous sections of Cape Jewry is
still very high.
THE NEW HEBREW CONGREGATION (ROELAND STREET). (Compiled
from Material furnished by the Congregation).
This Congregation was founded in 1900 by a mass meeting in
the Masonic Hall, on September 16th, resolving on ‘‘the necessity for
establishing a New Synagogue and Talmud Torah.’’ The building site for same had
already been purchased by the promoters, and a Building Fund Campaign was then
opened. The Synagogue was formally consecrated on 24th September, 1902, by Rabbi
Dr. J. H. Hertz (now Chief rabbi in England). The architect was Mr. J. Lyon;
the builder, R. E. Wood. The synagogue edifice is of Eastern design, with two
domed towers. At the rear of the main synagogue building there was a Talmud
Torah Hall to contain about 200 children, office and necessary outbuildings.
The first Committee consisted of Messrs. D. Israelson
(President), I. Schwartz (Vice-President), S. Jacobs (Treasurer), L. Melekov,
G. Schach, L. Cohen, B. Zaacks, S. Zackon, J. Herman, S. Rostofsky, I.
Bloomberg and J. Kossick (Secretary). In the first annual report the Chairman
expresses his gratification with the satisfactory attendance of members at
Sabbath and Holy Day Services, and ascribes it to the pleasant rendering of the
service by Chazan J. Glushak and Choir. In the same year Mr. N. Morrison was
appointed Beadle of the Synagogue, and has held the same position ever since.
The New Hebrew Congregation has always identified itself
with all Jewish activities, has taken a leading part in Zionism and charitable
work, has actively supported the Board of Deputies, has been a veteran in the
field of Hebrew education. This Congregation was the first to affiliate with
the S.A. Zionist Federation, and has paid Shekolim for all its members, thus
automatically making every member of the Synagogue also a member of the World
Zionist Organisation.
A society for the study of Talmud has flourished under the
auspices of the Congregation since its inception, also a Society Kin Yankov, as
well as a Burial Society.
Among the members of the Society were many prominent men in
the community. Thus, the late Mr. I. Schwartz appears in the records of the
Synagogue in many capacities—as Vice-Chairman, Treasurer, etc.; Mr. M.
Alexander, K.C., has been for many years its President, and is now Hon. Life
President. Others who have occupied office are Messrs. Marks Cohen, H.
Levinstein, B. R. Newmark, H. Kadish, M. Bloch, I. Ochberg, E. Gurland, P.
Policansky, M. Walt, M. Gurland, A. Silbert, I. Gesundheit. S. Berkovitz, L. Bloomberg,
J. Kadish, S. Berks, S. Kleinman, J. V. Hoffman, M. Walt, M. Schach, B. Jaffe,
P. Jochelson, D. Rubinstein, S. Smith, N. Graber, R. Weinberg, N. Bloch, Dr. B.
Bernstein, M. Schrire, G. Levinson, C. Jaffe, H. M. Kahn, Ch. Levinson, L.
Cohen, M. J. Cohen, J. Jaffe, J. O. Markovitz. Mr. A. V. Rosenberg was for a
number of years Secretary and is now Auditor to the Congregation. Mr. M.
Gurland, for some years Secretary to the Congregation, is now its President.
In 1906, Rev. B. Strod was appointed Chazan to the
Synagogue. On December 17th, 1907, a visit to the Synagogue by Sir Matthew
Nathan, Governor of Natal, is recorded, when a service was held for the
occasion.
In 1909, at a reception in honour of Prof, Schechter, Mr. B.
R. Newmark presented him with an illuminated address on behalf of the
Congregation.
Every annual report contains mention of the Synagogue
granting assistance to poor members of the community, either directly or
through the various philanthropic institutions.
A Memorial Service was held on the day of the burial of the
late King Edward, at which the President delivered an address.
The Hesped for the late Dr. Theodor Herzl was held at this
Synagogue, and a most impressive and soul-stirring service was witnessed.
During 1910 Rabbi Dr. Landau, of Johannesburg, delivered an
address at this Synagogue. In 1911 Rev. W. Wilder was appointed Chazan.
In 1915 the Committee inaugurated a system of offering in
the Synagogue on behalf of the Russo-Jewish Relief Fund, and members of this
Committee have taken an active part in the work of the Fund.
In 1918 the records of the Congregation make mention of the
influenza epidemic, during which it was found necessary to co-operate with
other congregations in coping with the disastrous havoc. A memorial service for
the victims was held, also a memorial service for war victims.
By the suggestion of the President, Adv. M. Alexander, K.C.,
M.L.A., representation was made in 1918 to the Government urging them to
intervene on behalf of our brethren in Poland. In the same year the Committee
associated themselves. with other communities in protesting against the
Registration of Aliens Bill, held to be detrimental to the interests of the
Jewish community, and, thanks to these protests, the Bill was withdrawn.
In the annual report for 1918 mention is made of questions
asked in Parliament regarding the status of Jews in Poland, and the South
African Government’s views on the Jewish National Home, both of which elicited
gratifying replies from the then Government.
During 1921 the Congregation celebrated the ratification of
the Palestine Mandate by a thanksgiving service, at which the President, Mr. M.
Alexander, M.L.A., delivered an address.
Dr. Schmarya Levin, the famous Zionist leader, when visiting
this country on behalf of the Keren Hayesod, was presented with an address by
the Congregation.
The remaining bond on the Congregational properties was paid
off during 1921.
In 1923 Rev. S. Steinberg was appointed Chazan. In the same
year the Committee reported the purchase of ground in Courville Street for
£4,500 for the purpose of building larger synagogue premises, as it was felt
that the present premises were too small to accommodate all the present and
intending members.
In 1924 the Committee appointed Messrs. Ch. Levinsohn and M.
Gurland as its representatives on the Board of Hebrew Education, which was
formed in the Cape Town community for the purpose of improving the standard of
Hebrew education in South Africa.
At the local celebration on the occasion of the opening of
the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, the Congregation took an active part. Mr.
I. Schwartz, a member of the Committee, attended the opening ceremony in
Jerusalem as one of the official representatives of South African Jewry.
On May 1st, 1925, the service at the Synagogue was attended
by Mr. Nahum Sokolow, Dr. Hindes and the members of the tenth Zionist
Conference. On this occasion an address was delivered by the Hon. Life
President, Mr. Adv. M. Alexander, K.C., M.L.A.
In 1925 the Committee participated in the collection for the
Cape Hospital Board, and were instrumental in collecting a handsome sum for
that institution.
In 1928 Chazan Spector was elected to fill the vacancy as
first Reader in the Synagogue.
The present Committee are as follows: Adv. M. Alexander,
K.C., Hon. Life President; M. Gurland, President. M. Cohen, Vice-President; M.
Bloch, Treasurer; M. Walt, Assistant Treasurer; R. Weinberg, Director of
Funerals; H. M. Kahn.
Original printed page 73
Assistant Director of Funerals; J. Goldblatt, Rev. M. J.
Cohen, N. Bloch, 8. Schach, _M. Friedman, J. Cohen.
A perusal of the records of the Congregation shows its
continuous participation in charitable work in the community. In evéry annual
report mention is made of sums granted by and offered at the Synagogue for
various charities.
ZIONISM IN CAPE TOWN.
In 1899, two years after the Zionist Congress in Basle, a
handful of men, roused by the new ideal, formed the first Zionist Society in
South Africa, the Dorshei Zion Association of Cape Town. Progress in the task
of winning over the local Jewish community to the Zionist cause was slow, yet
by dint of incessant and unremittmg labour the barriers of misunderstanding,
ignorance and prejudice were gradually but effectively broken down. A room in
the upper storey of a building at the corner of Buitenkant and Commercial
Streets was hired as the first Zionist Hall in South Africa. At the end of 1900
a sister society, the Bnoth Zion Association, came into being which made an
instant appeal to the Jewish women. Within a short while the membership of the
Dorshei Zion stood at 350, of the Bnoth Zion at 160; the old meeting place
became too small, and a hall at 47 Hope Street was purchased to house the two
societies. Until 1927, when the new Zionist Hall, at a cost of £18,000, was
erected, ‘“47 Hope Street ’’ remained the hub of Zionist activity in the
Peninsula and Western Province.
The first President of the Dorshei Zion Association was Mr.
B. Cohen, who was succeeded in office by Mr. I. Schwartz. Messrs. M. L.
Genussow, J. V. Hoffman, H. Friedland, S. Schapiro and A. M. Solomon, the
latter for three years, each held the office of President of the Association.
From 1914 until his death in 1928, and on six occasions between 1900 and 1914,
Mr. Idel Schwartz occupied the presidential chair. His efforts on behalf of the
movement were heroic: no sacrifice was too great, no task too difficult. From
the inception of the society until the moment of his death his vigour and
idealism were a most potent factor in building up and shaping Zionist feeling
in Cape Town. His successor in office is Mr. Isaac Ochberg, well known for his
Jewish relief work and strong adherence to the national ideal.
Throughout its existence the Dorshei Zion Association has
been fortunate in the possession of a small band of zealous workers. Since 1904
Advocate Morris Alexander, K.C., has been associated with the Zionist movement.
His ability, energy and sincerity, his championship of every just cause and
self-sacrificing enthusiasm have made his name an honoured one wherever
Zionists and Jews are to be found. Mr. Jacob Gitlin’s unobtrusive but herculean
Zionist work has been a source of inspiration and wonder to young and old
alike.
Though principally concerned with specifically Zionist work,
the activities of the Dorshei Zion Association have been connected with almost
every matter of general Jewish significance—relief of distress, support of
national and religious institutions, war relief, the cause of Hebrew education
and Jewish culture generally in Cape Town and elsewhere. It has ever been
prepared to take the initiative in assisting any Jewish movement worthy of
support. Its work on behalf of Zionist funds is shown by the fact that in six
years a sum of over £60,000 was collected in the peninsula for the Palestine
Foundation Fund (Keren Hayesod) alone, in addition to which, large amounts are
constantly remitted to the Jewish National Fund and numerous lesser
institutions. During the same period, moreover, the Zionist Hall has been built
and equipped.
The Women’s Part.
The Bnoth Zion Association owes its origin principally to
the initiative of Mr. M. Zuckerman, a foundation member of the Dorshei Zion and
a committee-man of that body. Mrs. B. Millin (mother of Mr. Philip Millin,
K.C.) was the first President. She was succeeded in 1901 by Mrs. L. Shamban,
and in 1903 by Mrs. M. Zuckerman. In 1905 Mrs. Pepper was elected to the chair,
and from 1906 to 1908 Mrs. Ruth 8S. Alexander held this office, being succeeded
by Mrs. Dinah Zuckerman (wife of Mr. Joseph Zuckerman, who has held office in
the Dorshei Zion Executive for almost 20 years). In 1911 Mrs. M. Zuckerman
again assumed the office, which she held until 1927, when Mrs. M. Schrire, the
present chairlady, took over the reins. By spreading Zionism in the Jewish
home, assisting to bring the Jewish child up with a love for the national
ideal, and co-operating with the Dorshei Zion in its manifold Zionist and
Jewish activities, the Bnoth Zion has played an important part in the history
of Cape Town Jewry.
Within recent years two new Zionist bodies have been
formed—the Maccabean Association and the Kadimah Association, concerned
principally with culfural and propaganda work in the Zionist sphere, but
co-operating with the Dorshei Zion and Bnoth Zion in practical activities. Each
society boasts a fairly large membership, that of the Kadimah Association being
composed chiefly of newcomers from Europe. There are also numerous Young Israel
societies in Cape Town and its suburbs, linking up the Jewish youth and
training it in the ideal of national service.
From the Dorshei Zion Association there has been developed a
network of Zionist societies throughout the Western Province, inspired and
guided by the parent society. Each year sees new bodies created, new activities
undertaken. The Dorshei Zion has made Cape Town the premier Zionist community
in South Africa: its pro rata contribution to Zionist funds is the greatest,
and its spiritual adherence to the movement the strongest.
THE CAPE JEWISH ORPHANAGE.
This institution was founded in 1912 as a result of
information having come to the knowledge of the Jewish Philanthropic Society
that there were several Jewish orphans in non-Jewish charitable institutions.
The South African Jewish Orphanage in Johannesburg having been communicated
with, it was found that that institution was already full and that it could not
accommodate any further inmates.
The first children’s home was “Killiney House’’ in Upper
Mill Street, Cape Town, and the home was opened with eight inmates by Sir David
Harris. Mr. J. Kadish was the first President of the institution, and held that
office from 1912 to 1918. Subsequent Presidents have been Mr. I. J. Honikman,
Mr. Isaac Ochberg, Mr. L. Gradner, Mr. A. M. Jackson and Mr. Woolf Harris.
Within the next few years the demands for admission to the
institution exceeded the accommodation. The City Council granted a site in
Upper Roeland Street, which, however, was not acceptable to the community, and
the present site in Montrose Avenue, Oranjezicht, was purchased and a handsome
building erected.
In 1918, as a result of the terrible epidemic, many new
applications were received, and a new Building Fund created for erecting
extensions to the then existing building. In 1921, Mr. Isaac Ochberg, the
President, brought to South Africa about 200 war and pogrom orphans from the
Ukraine, 94 of whom were accommodated in the Cape Jewish Orphanage and became
the charge of the Cape Jewish community, the others being sent to the S.A.
Jewish Orphanage in Johannesburg. An additional building was erected and the
total number of children cared for at that time was 150. At present there are
60 children in the Home, and 25 in charge of the after-care committee, the
girls being resident at ‘“Shalvah,’’ the Jewish Girls’ Hostel. A large and
enthusiastic committee administer the institution. The annual revenue is about
£6,000.
THE JEWISH AGED HOME.
In May, 1916, a meeting of influential members of the Cape
Town Jewish community was called to consider the advisability of establishing a
Home for Aged Jews. The meeting was presided over by Mr. M. Rosen, and Rev. A.
P. Bender delivered an inspiring address. As a result of this meeting, a public
meeting was held two weeks later over which’ the late Hyman Liberman presided,
and much enthusiasm was displayed. Support was promised, and a Fund was
created. Very generous contributions were given, but it was not until two years
later that premises were taken. A fine property called Krynauw’s Hof was
acquired, and these premises had to be remodelled to meet the requirements of a
Home for Aged. The whole home was furnished gratuitously by members of the
community. Of late years the Home has been further enlarged by the addition of
a new wing. At the present time there are over 30 inmates of both sexes. The
present Matron is Mrs. S. Franks, assisted by a capable staff.
The first President of the institution was Mr. Morris Rosen,
who held the position for about five years. He was followed by Mr. Abraham
Liberman, and at the present time Mr. M. Hilenberg is President.
Other officers have been as follows: Mr. A. Rosenthal,
treasurer for many years. The same position was occupied by Mr. Harry Harris,
and the present treasurer is Mr. S. Gordon. Successive vice-presidents have
been Mr. L. Pinn and Mr. Pevsner (present).
UNITED HEBREW SCHOOLS.
The United Hebrew Schools of Cape Town are situated at 103
Hope Street and 62 Constitution Street. Rev. A. P. Bender, M.A., is the Hon.
President; Mr. M. Rosen, Chairman; Rabbi M. Ch. Mirwish and I. Mauerberger,
Vice-Chairmen; and Mr. S. H. Friedland, Hon. Treasurer. The schools are the
result of the amalgamation of two Talmud Torah Schools.
The first Talmud Torah was started in Cape Town by Mr. M. L.
Schrire and Mr. S. Friedgood during the Boer War in 1899, in Brown Street. The
first headmaster was Mr. Shulman, and there were about one hundred children,
many of whom were the children of Transvaal War Refugees temporarily resident
in Cape Town. The premises in Brown Street soon proved inadequate, and the
school moved to St. Patrick’s Hall, in Buitenkant Street.
At the end of 1901 or the early part of 1902 the school was
transferred to Roeland Street and conducted under the auspices of the New
Hebrew Congregation. Mr. J. Geffen became headmaster then.
In 1906, under the chairmanship of Mr. M. Shur, a resolution
was adopted introducing the system of Ibrith B’Ibrith. This medium raised
considerable opposition on the part of the older members of the community, and
the objections were strongly supported by the English-speaking section of the
Jewish residents. The objections resulted in the establishment of another
Talmud Torah School in Constitution Street, where the medium was Yiddish. At a
later date the English medium was adopted, and Mr. Turtledove was appointed
headmaster.
The two schools eventually became amalgamated under the
present title. The school owns its own property, and is subsidised by both
Congregations.
The annual revenue and expenditure is about £2,800, and the
fixed property of the institution is valued at about £5,000.
The revenue from fee-paying pupils is £658 8s. 10d.,
according to the last balance sheet. There is usually a deficit on the year’s
working, which is made up by special appeals.
