by GUSTAV SARON
THE spotlight is focussed in this essay on aspects of Jewish
life in Cape Town at the turn of the century, more or less in the decade 1897
to 1906. However, the story as it is unfolded, with its hardships, anxieties
and problems, has a significance beyond Cape Town itself.
Cape Town was the gateway to South Africa. With few
exceptions, all the Jewish immigrants who arrived in this country disembarked
in Cape Town and spent a shorter or longer period in the Mother City before
proceeding inland to the many towns and dorps where they eventually settled.
What is here recalled of the problems and difficulties of the newcomers at the
Cape, therefore, throws light on the experiences of virtually all the Jewish
immigrants who arrived in South Africa during that period.
Furthermore, during the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902), the
Jewish population in Cape Town was almost doubled as a result of the influx of
war-time refugees from the Transvaal. Its numbers were still further increased
by the rush of immigrants from Europe when the tragic war came to an end, and
by the fact that the return of the refugees to the Transvaal was delayed while
they waited for the permits authorising their return.
A study of the conditions prevailing in Cape Town during
those critical years is therefore of more than local or parochial interest.
In this essay I endeavour to add to our existing store of
knowledge of the period by drawing upon important documents not hitherto
published, many of them from the Morris Alexander Papers.
A DECADE OF TRANSFORMATION
The South African Jewish community underwent great changes
at the turn of the century. Its social, economic and religious face was
transformed as a result of the relatively large number of East European Jews
mainly from Lithuania, who arrived in the country. The dramatic story is
reflected in the census statistics. Whereas in 1891 the whole Jewish population
did not number more than about 10,000, it had grown thirteen years later to
38,101 (according to the figures of the 1904 census).
After allowance is made for the natural increase of the
Jewish community during those 13 years, it is clear that immigration was the
basic factor in its growth. This influx of East European immigrants to South
Africa, it is true, was only a minor tributary of the vast flood of emigrants
(Gentile as well as Jewish) who left Europe for new countries, most of them
heading for the United States of America, but even this small tributary made a
big difference to the composition of the South African Jewish community.
As it happened, those were also crucial years in the history
of South Africa in general, beginning with the opening up of the Witwatersrand
Goldfields, the influx of uitlanders to the Transvaal, the critical events that
led to the Anglo-Boer War, 1889-1902. and the difficult years of post-war reconstruction.
The fortunes of the Jewish immigrants were inseparably bound up with these
decisive events.
It is to be regretted that there exists comparatively little
first-hand source material on the social and economic conditions of the Jewish
community during that period. There had been a few spasmodic efforts to
establish a local press in Yiddish, but hardly anything of this survives. We
have to rely largely upon reports published in the Jewish Chronicle in London
and in the Hebrew press of Eastern Europe, supplemented by such minutes and
records of the various local Jewish institutions as have been preserved.
In stressing the relative paucity of these sources, I do
not, of course, wish to minimise their value. As the various histories of South
African Jewry, which have been based on those sources show, they made it
possible to reconstruct quite an impressive record of that period. As
instances, I would cite The Birth of a Community. Chief Rabbi Israel Abraham's
history of Western Province Jewry until 1902, and some of the chapters in The
Jews in South Africa a History (edited by Saron and Hotz).
ALEXANDER PAPERS
Nonetheless, we must welcome all additional material which
enables us to add flesh and blood to the bare bones of the story that has
reached us. In the course of my recent study of the Papers of the late Morris
Alexander, now housed in the Jagger Library of the University of Cape Town, I
came across a number of documents which throw new light in particular on the
social and economic conditions of the Jewish community at the turn of the
century.
I was especially interested in the Minute Book of the Cape
Town Jewish Philanthropic Society for the period November, 1896, to June, 1903.
The Minute Book records many hitherto unknown facts concerning that period. Its
dispassionate entries mirror, for the imaginative reader, the difficulties of
the Jewish newcomers in the pre-war period, as well as the impact of the
refugees from the Transvaal during the war and the effects of the post-war
immigration.
Other documents included in the Alexander Papers also add to
our knowledge of the problems connected with the naturalisation and immigration
of the new arrivals from Eastern Europe at the end of the war, the impact of
the new immigration regulations which came into operation at the Cape at the
beginning of 1903, the debates on the question whether Yiddish qualified as a
"Euro- pean language for the purposes of the Immigration Act, the steps
leading to the establishment of the Board of Deputies at the Cape in 1904, and
some of the problems connected with the early beginnings of that Board.
These are topics with which I now propose to deal. My aim is
not to write a history of Cape Town Jewry at that time, but, relying mainly on
the material contained in the Alexander Papers and also drawing upon a few
other primary sources, to contribute some hitherto unknown information.
STATISTICS
It has not been easy to obtain reliable statistics of the
Cape Town Jewish community of that period. An 1891 census of the Cape Province
gives the total number of Jews as 3,009 (constituting 8 per cent of the Euro-
pean population). But these figures must be accepted with caution, because, for
some inexplicable reason, 49 per cent of all the European population returned
"no religion." Dr. J. Hertz estimated that in 1900, just before the
outbreak of war, there were 7,500 Jews living at the Cape Colony, out of an
estimated total of 20,000 Jews in South Africa as a whole.
In Cape Town proper, in 1899, there were about 5,000 to
6,000 Jews, but their number swelled to 10,000 or 12,000 within a few years, as
a result of the influx of refugees from the north and also of new arrivals from
overseas. The 1904 census gave a total for the Cape Colony of 19,537 Jews,
constituting 3.37 per cent of the whole white population for the Colony. In
Cape Town proper the figure was 8,114, and for the suburbs 2,568, making a
total of 10,682.
These figures reveal how rapidly the Cape Town population
grew during and immediately after the Anglo-Boer War. Thereafter, as more and
more Jews moved to the north, the trend was for the Cape Town Jewish community
to diminish somewhat, while the community up north increased substantially.
ECONOMIC HARDSHIPS
There was considerable poverty and hardship among the Jewish
community at the Cape in the early nineties, especially among the recent
immigrants.
A considerable number of English Jews came to South Africa
in extremely impoverished circumstances, and were in urgent need of relief. A
local journalist reported in 1895: "The overcrowded state of the labour
markets at home has caused an influx into this country of co-religionists who
can find no employment in the special branches of the tailoring and boot-making
trades, at which they worked in England. The wave of depression also, which is
passing over this and neighbouring States, has had the effect of preventing new
arrivals from obtaining employment. The land here is in a destitute condition
and, unable to get work of any kind, they find themselves compelled to appeal
for assistance"3
The economic depression was indeed a prolonged one. Further
particulars about it are provided by reports which appeared in the Hebrew press
in Europe, written by immigrants to South Africa, who described the unhappy
situation. Hatzefira in 1891 published a series of "letters" written
by N. D. Hoffman, a journalist from Lithuania, who arrived in South Africa in
1889, via the United States of America. He travelled extensively throughout
South Africa and wrote up his impressions in a series of letters to the
Hatzefirah, which are of considerable historical value, especially in view of
the great dearth of contemporary first-hand impressions of Jewish life in this
country at that time. The following is a condensation of his letter No. 5.
published in Hatzefirah in April, 1891:
"The times have been very difficult. In my last letter I
described a prosperous Johannesburg, Since then a drastic change has taken
place. The mines are petering out and a great exodus is taking place. The share
bubble has burst and thousands of people have lost their money. Many Jews are
included among them, and they have had to leave Johannesburg and seek refuge in
other colonies in South Africa - in Natal, the Cape Colony or the Native
Territories. A year ago, in the prosperous times, the Jewish population was
about 4,000. Now the number is reduced to half."4
In a subsequent letter, No. 15, written in the same year, he
continues to paint a sombre picture of the economic position in South Africa. A
corrective to this grim picture is, however, provided by the preceding letter.
No. 14, in the course. of which he wrote:
"I am always very grieved when I read in the English
newspapers published in Cape Town, especially the Cape Times and the German
Suid-Afrikanische Zeitung, a weekly published by Mr. Herrmann Michaelis, which
shout from the housetops and issue all sorts of solemn warnings to Jews who are
about to emigrate to South Africa, to the effect that they should not take
their lives in their own hands and come here, because they will not be
successful and days of darkness and grief will await them, since this land is
not suitable for them and they will not find in it any reward in it …
"South Africa, which you desire, is a big and good
country, able to sustain thousands of industrious human beings who work with
their hands; also the laws of the country and the characteristics of its
inhabitants are favourable...
"Everyone who comes here is compelled to work very hard
till he can find food for himself and his household, whom he has left behind in
the old country without any support. I assure you that if you are prepared to
get down to hard and honest work, you will not suffer hunger here, and slowly
you will also make good. Experience has taught me that those who cry bitterly
for their failure to make a living here are themselves to blame."
THE CAPE TOWN JEWISH PHILANTHROPIC SOCIETY
Detailed insight into the economic situation of the recent
immigrants in Cape Town and further afield, and particulars about the problems
with which the more settled Jewish population tried to cope, can be obtained
from a reading of the minute book of the Cape Town Jewish Philanthropic
Society.
The Society was first established in 1859, lapsed, was
revived again in 1877, became defunct once more and was again revived in 1890.
The minute book for the period November 1896 until June, 1903, contains nearly
250 handwritten pages. What it records, usually in very laconic language,
throws light on the type of persons seeking assistance and the purposes for
which assistance was given. Perhaps even more significant is the evidence that
conditions in one part of South Africa had repercussions upon other parts.
The Philanthropic Society, which was affiliated with the
Mother Congregation, the Cape Town Hebrew Congregation, was for long the main
and perhaps the sole philanthropic institution. Soon after the arrival in Cape
Town of the Rev. Alfred Bender in 1895, from England, to become minister to the
Cape Town Hebrew Congregation, a Ladies Association was formed. In addition to
providing certain services to the synagogue, it had as its aim to visit the
sick in their homes and in the hospitals, and to minister to their wants: to
search out (sic) and enquire into cases of distress and to obtain means for
their relief; to provide vestments for the dead and flowers for the graves in
the cemetery. In the sphere of charity the Ladies' Association was the female
counterpart of the Philanthropic Society, while the latter dealt with male
cases, the former assisted women in need."
The Philanthropic Society described its objects simply as
"to relieve or assist Jews in distress." The seventh annual report
for the year ending September 30, 1897, summarised the purposes for which the
Society's funds had been expended, thus: "Amounts distributed for
temporary relief, the purchase of licences and goods for persons in detrimental
circumstances, expenditure for tools for mechanics, and grants towards the passages
to Europe of those in ill health and entirely without means, who have been medically
advised to leave the country.”
This brief summary itself vividly reflects the special
circumstances and problems of that period. The minutes themselves record a
great variety of forms of assistance, of which a few examples are chosen at
random: Providing a surety to enable a man to purchase goods on credit: a loan,
of £2, to enable another to repay certain borrowed money to buy clothes and
necessaries: a sum of 5/- for temporary relief, while a committee member
volunteered to find the applicant employment: £1 voted to buy hawker's lines: a
grant of 15/- per week towards board and lodging: 2/6 granted to a tailor for
his immediate wants: 20 /- voted for the purchase of suitable goods to enable
the applicant to earn a livelihood: a grant of £1 to the Rev. Bender to procure
kosher wine for the poor people for the Passover Festival; a packer from Scotland
applied for assistance to travel to Port Elizabeth, where he hoped to find a situation:
10 /- voted to an immigrant who was awaiting transport to return to the United
States: a locksmith asked for help to buy tools. The list can be multiplied
indefinitely, each single-line entry in the minutes telling its own story of
hardship and disappointment, but also of hope that conditions would improve
"TO CHECK THE INFLUX"
The minute book tells us many new facts about Jewish
immigration and its repercussions upon the local Jewish community. The very
first page records that at a meeting on November 30, 1896, on the motion of the
Rev. A. P. Bender, "it was decided that a notice setting forth and
explaining the new Transvaal Aliens Law be inserted in a Russian paper called The
Light … and that the papers be distributed throughout the principal towns
of Russia, in order to check the influx of poor Jews into this country.
The reference is to the first restrictive immigration law
(as far as I am aware) ever introduced into South Africa. After the Jameson
Raid in the Transvaal, feeling against uitlanders had hardened and the
Volksraad decided to take steps to restrict free immigration to the Transvaal
Republic. Henceforth, an immigrant would have to possess £100 or be a tradesman
with a contract for work and would also have to present a certificate of good
character. The new law was to come into effect at the beginning of January,
1897.
As the minute entry cited above shows, however, even before
the law came into operation, it was realised that persons turned away from the
Transvaal border might try to get admission into one of the other territories,
which might thus become a dumping ground for foreigners who failed to get
admission into the Transvaal. The Philanthropic Society took the decision to
make known in Russia the implications of the new legislation. As it turned out,
the new Transvaal law led to a controversy with Britain, which claimed that the
law was contrary to the provisions of the London Convention. The law was
eventually repealed by the Volksraad in May, 1897, not because Britain's right
to intervene was conceded, but because it had offended and pressed upon the
neighbouring states and colonies.7
The same minute mentions "the complaints of
ill-treatment which are continually being made by Jewish third-class passengers
journeying to this country by the vessels of the Castle Steamship Company. It
was decided to write to the head office in London requesting that enquiries be
made into the matter and that precautions be taken to prevent its recurrence in
the future."
Jewish philanthropic bodies in other towns, such as
Kimberley and Port Elizabeth, were also feeling the impact of the immigration
restrictions. In January, 1897, the Helping Hand Society in Port Elizabeth in a
letter to Rev. Bender, "set forth the heavy calls and great tax that was
being made upon philanthropic societies throughout the Colony through the
influx of foreign Jews, and suggested that a letter signed by the committees of
these Societies showing the evils resulting from this influx be sent to some
Jewish paper or influential body in London, with the request that steps be
taken to stay this immigration as far as possible."
In the following month Mr. Bonas, President of the Kimberley
Hebrew Congregation, attended the Society's meeting in Cape Town "in order
to discuss with your committee the serious position that was being brought
about through the great influx of destitute Jews and the action of the Aliens
Law in the Transvaal and to determine upon some decided step for relieving the
situation." He proposed that "cables be sent to the Chief Rabbi and
the Board of Guardians in London from the united congregations in South Africa,
urging the exigency of the situation and entreating them to stay the
immigration to this country as far as is in their power."
There was a further proposal that a letter be written to
"the Jewish minister at Kovna, in Russia, for publication in that
district, warning intending immigrants from coming to this country unless they
are able to satisfy the demands of the Transvaal government or are possessed of
sufficient means to support themselves until they can find employment
These proposals were accepted and acted upon.
CASES FROM THE RAND
The Cape Philanthropic Society also decided that it must
endeavour to dissuade the Witwatersrand Jewish Helping Hand Society from
sending destitute persons to Cape Town in the hope that the people at the Cape
would supply them with the funds to continue on their voyage back to Europe. A
large and increasing number of cases were being remitted. from the north. In
June, 1897, the Rev. Bender laid before the Committee a letter from the
Witwatersrand Jewish Helping Hand Society. "It expressed the hope that the
Committee would defray the cost of passage to Europe of any applicants who
might be recommended to them by the Society from time to time." However,
the Cape Committee took a decision to reply, expressing regret that the many
local calls that are made upon the Philanthropic Society render it quite out of
the power of the Committee to afford the assistance solicited, but at the same
time expressing a willingness to relieve the immediate wants of any deserving
applicants who arrive here from the Rand.
In August of the same year, another letter was sent to the
Witwatersrand Helping Hand Society "advising that all possible assistance
has been rendered in the cases recently recommended, but emphasising the fact
that this Society is quite unable to grant any monetary aid in the future to
applicants arriving here from the Transvaal, or even to obtain for them
admittance into the hospitals, as the authorities of these institutions have
stated that the accommodation at their disposal is not sufficient for the many
local cases that are brought to their notice."
Soon thereafter an advertisement was inserted in a Jewish
journal published in Johannesburg, explaining to would-be returnees to Europe
that no assistance would be granted to them at the Cape. Obviously, this was a
very thorny problem and its solution was not made easier by the fact that the
Philanthropic Committee had unanimously resolved "that the funds of this
Society should, according to the by-laws, be devoted to local cases only."
In February, 1898, Rev. Bender reported a conversation which
he had had with Mr. Bebro, President of the Johannesburg Chevra Kadisha. The
latter had put forward a suggestion "that a fund might be started, towards
which all South African Hebrew Congregations might be induced to contribute,
this fund to be devoted to the object of sending people to Europe, who may on
account of ill-health or other cause, such as age, or in ability to work, be
compelled to leave the country. It does not appear that such a fund ever
materialised.
Was the Cape Town Jewish community exerting itself
sufficiently on behalf of those in distress? At this distance in time it is not
possible to say.
At every Annual General Meeting, with monotonous repetition,
the Honorary Treasurer or the Rev. Bender made strong appeals for more
subscribers and more donors to the Society. The 1897 Annual Report recorded
that the number of paying subscribers was 158, an increase on the figures of
the previous year, yet the amount received in annual subscriptions ($130 8s.
6d.) is totally inadequate to meet the continually increasing expenditure of
the Society." The amount voted for relief during the year was £300 11s.
4d., and this had assisted 220 individual cases. The finances would have been
very much in the red but for the fact that donations had been received
amounting to £168 8s. 9d.
One cannot help remarking that these amounts appear
exceedingly small by present- day standards, but clearly the value of money was
then very much greater than now.
DURING THE WAR
Only a few months later the problems of the Philanthropic
Society were gravely multiplied as a result of the outbreak of war between
Britain and the Transvaal Republic. This is inferred rather than stated,
because the minutes of the Philanthropic Society only rarely make mention of
the impact of the war upon the Society's work. This is in keeping with the
formal and colourless language of the successive secretaries, whose minutes
were confined strictly to the business in hand. However, there are other
contemporary sources which reveal that the problem of poverty and economic
distress had assumed quite unprecedented dimensions, and that the Rev. Bender,
in his personal capacity (apart from his association with the Philanthropic
Society), carried out a herculean task in bringing relief and assistance to
those in need.
The aggravation of the social problems in Cape Town was the
direct result of the influx of several thousand Jewish "refugees"
from the Transvaal. Even before the official declaration of war, a large exodus
of uitlanders had begun from the Transvaal, and there was a stampede when war
was actually declared. Most of the British subjects and "other undesirables
were soon ordered to leave the borders of the Republic, with the exception of
those who had been given special permits to remain. The majority of the Jews
joined in the general exodus of foreigners, although a number, estimated at
1,500 to 2,000, remained in the Transvaal throughout the war period. Most of
the refugees found their way to the Cape, some with the intention of waiting
there until the end of hostilities in order to return to the Transvaal, others
in the hope of securing sea passages back to their home countries overseas.
The Jewish Chronicle (London) of December 22, 1899,
carried a very vivid report of conditions in Cape Town as seen through the eyes
of a visitor who had recently arrived there from England. This writer was
deeply impressed, in particular, by the heroic work being done by the Rev.
Bender in coping with the situation. What he tells us incidentally of the
situation of the Jewish refugees is one of the few first-hand records
available. "There must be at least 10,000 Jews at present in Cape
Town," he wrote. "The normal Jewish population is nearer 6,000 than
5,000. But now it is doubled and the disposition of this terrible influx in
most cases, of paupers lies with Mr. Bender. A fearful responsibility for any
man, however striking and conspicuous his ability. But Mr. Bender is a great
general and one in whom Jew and Christian alike have implicit and unbounded
confidence. Perhaps he is one of the hardest-worked men in the Cape Colony at
present, but his tasks are far from thankless. His magnificent work both within
and without the community is heartily appreciated."
THE TRANSVAAL "REFUGEES"
In a later passage, he describes the conditions of the
Transvaal refugees
"There are some thousands of poor Russian refugees here
from Johannesburg who are practically destitute. They soon find their way to
Mr. Bender's residence, who supplies them with tickets issued by the Accommodation
Sub-Committee of the Mayor's Rand Relief Committee, entitling them to nine
pennyworth of food per day for such a number of days as Mr. Bender may deem
right. The produce market near the docks has been converted into an admirable
Shelter. The accommodation is far better than that of the best steerage. The
bunks are comfort able and spacious. The breakfast supplied is from the best
materials, and the most scrupulous cleanliness is observed. If a man is willing
to work, is unobtrusive and cleanly in his habits, he can live in comparative
comfort until a passage home to Russia can be procured him. Many hundreds of
them are working on the flats, or repairing roads, etc.
"Some of these poor Jews have saved a little money
towards their passage home, and they naturally stand a better chance than their
less fortunate brethren. Committees sit every day to decide on the merits of
applicants for free or assisted passages home. Gaunt and wan are the faces of
these poor refugees, with the imprint of Ghetto tragedy on their sad features.
Tis but a game of shuttlecock and battledore, tossed from Russia's inhospitable
shores to the African littoral, only to be tossed back again, dispirited and
heartbroken."
There is a brief reference to the Mayor's Rand Relief Fund
in the report of the Annual General Meeting of the Philanthropic Society, which
took place in November, 1899. The minutes record that the Rev. Bender proposed
a resolution "to convey to the Accommodation Sub-Committee of the Mayor's
Rand Relief Fund their unanimous and cordial thanks for the generous
consideration shown by the Committee for the religious scruples of the Jewish
refugees in providing special Food for them in accordance with Commandments of
the Jewish Faith."
Two other items in those minutes also probably refer to the
war situation. The one was an appeal by the Rev. Bender to the meeting to make
good a shortfall amounting to £15 10/- for the cost of matzoth, which had been
distributed among the poor in the community during the previous Passover This
money was duly voted. In a second request, Rev, Bender spoke of "the
absolute necessity of contributing a share towards the passage money to Europe
in cases of poor refugees." The meeting voted a sum of £50 for assisting
passages to Europe of those Jewish refugees "who are physically incapacitated
for work and whose unfitness for labour has been certified by a medical practitioner
and whose deservedness in every respect had been recommended by the Mayor's
Relief Committee."
In succeeding months, it was clear that the Society was
finding its work increasingly difficult, because expenditure was so much in
excess of income. Continuous appeals were made to the committee to assist in
obtaining new subscriptions and donations.
In June, 1900, it was decided again to invoke the assistance
of authorities overseas in order to reduce "the influx of poor Jews"
into the Colony. Letters were addressed to Chief Rabbi Dr. Adler and to the
Jewish Chronicle (London), "requesting that the facts of the very critical
state of affairs at present obtaining here should be forcibly brought before
the public in England and on the Continent."
MORE WARNINGS ABROAD
Among the Alexander Papers, I came across the original of
the reply written on July 20, 1900, by the President of the Board of Guardians
for Relief of the Jewish Poor in London. He wrote that they "are much
obliged for this warning," had caused a notice to be inserted in the
Jewish press, and added "We believe that this, coupled with our own
intention to refuse all applications to return or to emigrate to the Cape or
the Transvaal, will, so far as is in our power, check the influx at any rate
from this country. We may point out that similar warnings, without regard to
creed, have already emanated both from the Colonial Government and from the
Home Government. We quite appreciate the severe strain to which your Society
has doubtless been subjected in consequence of the war, and we only hope that
as hostilities seem to be approaching their end, you will soon perceive the
dawn of a brighter state of things."
There is also in the Papers the original of the short reply
from Chief Rabbi Adler.
The August meeting of the Committee was informed by the
President "that since the writing of the letters a marked diminution in
the arrival of poor Jews to this country was noticeable."
In October of that same year, 1900, however, we come across
a letter from the Rev. Bender, written to the Society, referring to "the
constant increase of applications for monetary assistance on the part of
destitute members of our community," and stressing that adequate
arrangements must be made for dealing with these applications. He writes: “… I
find it quite impossible to deal with all the cases that come before me
satisfactorily under the present conditions. Sometimes I have five or six sick
cases a day brought under my immediate notice and I am obliged to assist them
with either my own means or the money that is sometimes given to me by friends
for the purpose."
He therefore proposed that the officers of the Society
should meet with him, in order to draw up some scheme for the future which
would improve methods of relief. In a later minute the suggestion is recorded
that there should be a "combination between the Philanthropic Society, the
Ladies' Association and the Rev. Bender" in order to ensure that the funds
would be distributed "in a better and more efficacious manner," but
the records do not show whether the new system did in fact produce better results.
Meanwhile, in a hand-written letter to Mr. M. Robel, the
President of the Society, dated December 2, 1900 (portions of which are re-
produced on page 75), the Rev. Bender records his deep appreciation of the
services which had been rendered to the Society and to the poor by the officers
of the Society, in conjunction with the committee of the Ladies Association. He
adds: "At the same time I cannot help feeling that if it had not been for
the perennial generosity of several members of our community to whom I have
never appealed in vain, even the twin Benevolent Societies of our Congregation
would have been unable to cope with the exceptional strain caused by the war.
Perhaps no one knows better than myself how many cases of destitution and
sickness were relieved by the timely generosity of these ladies and gentlemen,
and I myself feel personally indebted to those whose purses have always been
opened to me when I have appealed to them for help."
In the following year, Moritz Pickler, a diamond speculator,
made history by his last Will and Testament, leaving all his wealth to charity,
Christian as well as Jewish, and dividing his bequests between Cape Town and
Kimberley. In the Mother City, he left £2,000 to non-Jewish welfare
organisations and £1,000 each to the Cape Town Hebrew Congregation (for the
building of a new synagogue), to the Philanthropic Society and to the Hebrew
School. These legacies were the very first of their kind.8
The bequest to the Philanthropic Society, it was decided,
should be invested, the interest to be applied to the special budget of one or
more orphans, it being understood that the annual income would be expended on
the education, or on the apprenticeship to a trade, or on the support during
study or training, of an orphan child or children.
So the Society continued with its humanitarian tasks
throughout the year 1902. At the Annual General Meeting on November 30, the
President complained of the scanty interest taken in the Society and the poor
attendance of members at the meeting. The minutes were now written by a new
hand, that of Morris Alexander, the young and promising advocate who had not
long before returned from his studies in England and who was destined to play a
notable role in communal affairs in Cape Town and also further afield.
Several references reflected the impact of the changes which
were taking place in Cape Town Jewry, as a result of the recent East European
immigration. First, there was a suggestion by the Rev. Bender, in connection
with the Somerset Hospital, "that a nurse who understood Yiddish should be
engaged by the Hospital at the ordinary rate of service and that a certain
amount in addition should be voted from the funds of the Society annually
towards her stipend." It was also recorded that Mr. H. Liberman, while
criticising the scanty attendance of members at the meeting "suggested
that the other Congregation" (the reference is presumably to the new
Hebrew Congregation in Roeland Street) "and the Beth Hamedrash should be
invited to join with them in the Philanthropic movement." The meeting
decided to appoint a Committee to "prepare some scheme to secure the
desired co-operation.
These brief references clearly indicate that the hegemony of
the Mother Congregation, the Cape Town Hebrew Congregation, was now no longer
undisputed and that the older, more settled elements in the community were
realising that they had to accept the changed situation resulting from the
advent of the East Europeans.
Progress along these lines was recorded at a later meeting.
The minute states: "The question of a federation of the various Jewish
Philanthropic Societies of Cape Town was next considered. It was notified that
the Bikkur Cholim, formed in connection with the new Beth Hamedrash and the
Ponnewitzer Sick Benefit Society, were willing to send representatives to serve
on the committee." It was agreed that each Society would serve on the
committee for the year 1902/3. It was also resolved to write to the New Hebrew
Congregation, informing them of the proposed federation and inviting them to
send representatives to a meeting when the federation would be considered.
Unfortunately, I am unable to say whether the federation did in fact take
place. It is possible that the reference to this matter in the minutes may have
escaped my notice.
The Philanthropic Society itself was experiencing ever
greater difficulties in meeting the increasing demands made upon it. Every
month its accounts showed a serious shortfall of income in relation to
expenditure. On August 3, 1903, Morris Alexander, as Honorary Secretary, issued
a printed appeal, of which a copy is extant. He pointed out that the Society
had in hand only £30, which in the light of its current expenditure "will
not last until the end of the present month." The Society, he continued,
"fairly represents the Jewish community of Cape Town, and is responsible
for nearly all the charitable work done for the poor and sick in our midst.
Since the date of the last Annual General Meeting (November 30, 1902), over
eight hundred applications for advice and relief have been attended to, and
close on £500 has been expended in the cause of charity."
He thus describes the forms of relief given by the Society:
"We find work for those of our brethren in faith, who are unable to obtain
employment owing to their ignorance of the English language, and we grant them
temporary assistance, until we succeed in finding situations for them. We help
our sick brethren to recover their health and strength, and if so advised by a
doctor, assist them to proceed up-country or to Europe. We also provide medical
comforts and nourishment for sufferers, who are unable through lack of space to
find accommodation in the Somerset Hospital. We purchase tools of trade for
poor workmen, and thus enable them to earn a livelihood. In fact, we are to the
Jews of Cape Town what the Board of Guardians is to the Jews of London, with
this important difference, that all the work done in connec ion with the
Society is undertaken voluntarily and in the sacred cause of charity
alone."
As the minute book from which I have been quoting ends in
June, 1903, I am unable to report on the measure of response to this appeal. By
the time the Annual General Meeting came round, a new secretary had taken over
from Morris Alexander. For some reason, however, this minute book covering the
years 1896-1903 remained in his possession and was found among the mass of
papers in his office at the time of his death. Thus it comes to be part of the
Alexander Collection in the Library of the University of Cape Town, recalling
to us the troubles and vicissitudes of that far away period.
THE EAST EUROPEAN IMMIGRANTS
It is clear that the problems of the Cape Philanthropic
Society had been seriously aggravated by the persistent influx of new immigrants
from Eastern Europe. Is it possible to arrive at a reliable estimate of their
actual numbers? The difficulty is that there are no official statistics of
Jewish immigrants until the year 1903, and therefore calculations for the
earlier period can be little more than estimates. Nevertheless, there are
sufficient facts to justify the conclusion that the stream of immigration, both
before, during and after the war, was a fairly large and continuous one.
Mention has already been made of Dr. Hertz's statement that there were about
20,000 Jews in the whole country in the year 1900, and that the official figure
of the 1904 census was just over 38,000-a very substantial increase.
The overseas. Jewish press in February. 1897, reported a
"great immigration movement of Russian Jews from the Vistula provinces to
Africa." It said that America was proving less attractive to immigrants
than was South Africa, and added that in several districts in the Old Country,
the Jewish male population was greatly reduced and businesses were carried on
by the women.
The records of the Poor Jews Temporary Shelter, which had
been set up in London by the London Jewish Board of Guardians, provide
important information. A large proportion of immigrants who were coming to
South Africa spent a shorter or longer time in this Shelter. The Shelter
reported that in the year from November, 1901, to October, 1902, 832 persons
had passed through its portals on the way to South Africa, while in the
following year. November, 1902, to October, 1903, the figure was 3,594. In fact
(as will be seen presently), the figure for 1903 was even larger.9
A fuller report from London, which was. published in the S.A.
Jewish Chronicle (Cape Town, February 13, 1903), read:
"There is no doubt that a considerable movement of
foreign Jews has set in towards South Africa, writes a London correspondent. It
began in the autumn of last year, after the permit system had been modified,
and it has gone on, apparently, with increasing strength till the present day
relieving to some extent, perhaps, the emigration to America. In November as
many as 657 passed through the Jewish Shelter in Leman Street, bound for the
South. In December, this number had increased to 870 - 1,527 in two months. On
January 2, again, 118 more left in a single vessel, and the movement bids fair
to continue. Practically all of these people have come from three Russian
'Governments, viz.. those of Kovno, Witebsk and Wilna. Others have come from
Minsk, but only a few."
In 1904, an official South African source provided a wealth
of statistical information. It is a report by A. John Gregory, Medical Officer
of Health for the Cape Colony, covering the working of the Immigration Act,
1902, for the 11 months ending December 31, 1903, the portion of the year
during which the Act was in operation.10
Any reader of the Gregory report will immediately see that
he was not partial to the "Russian and Jewish aliens" (the official
phrase which he uses when referring to the Jewish immigrants from Eastern
Europe). He would rather that many of them had not come; he did not like their
appearance, their habits, their occupations and much else besides,
Nevertheless, his report tells us a great deal about the immigration during
that first year after the new Cape Immigration Act came into force.
MEANS OF SUPPORT
He points out that although the Act officially became
operative on February 1, 1903. as insufficient notice had been given to persons
overseas its provisions were not enforced for a time, especially the
requirement that immigrants should be in possession of "visible means of
support" and not "likely to become a public charge." He writes:
"To have excluded such persons on the grounds that they
could not comply with the provisions of the Law, with the existence of which,
let alone its provisions, they had no means of becoming acquainted with, would
have been unjust in the extreme. The Government therefore decided to officially
relax for a while its provisions in the case of these persons, who, although
unable to comply with the legal requirements, were nevertheless not wholly
undesirables, and therefore to sanction their admission, provided that employment
could be found for them under reasonable contractual engagements. A large
number of immigrants, generally aliens of Russian nationality who would
otherwise have been excluded, were permitted to land.
"Although many leading members of the Jewish community
in Cape Town came forward and generously assisted in obtaining for these
persons suitable contractual engagements, a very large number had to be admitted
on exceedingly slender qualifications. As a matter of fact, the Act could
hardly be said to have come into effective operation until April, 1903, instead
of on February 1, and even then it could not be thoroughly enforced.11
After April the statistics are specific between May and
June, 1903, 641 "Russians and Jewish aliens" landed; between July and
September, 2,308; and between October and December, 2,033. A total, therefore,
of 4,982 East European Jews landed in Cape Town during the last 11 months of
the year 1903. Gregory gives another interesting statistic from the record of
the Customs Department, which showed that "foreign immigration through the
Port of Cape Town increased during the year 1903 as compared with the year 1902
by 120%; that is, it considerably more than doubled itself in the year, despite
the operation of the Immigration Act. In both years, Russians constituted
nearly half the number of foreigners.”
In a further statistic he points out that "nearly 11%
of all passengers consisted of Russian and Jewish aliens" and that
"taking only alien immigration into the colony (during that year) no less
than 45.8% of it consisted of Russian and Jewish aliens."
1903 seems to have been the peak year. At the beginning of
1904 there was a considerable decline. In the first quarter of 1904 only 965
"Russian and Jewish aliens” landed, and in the second quarter, 374. There
was also a decrease in the number of British immigrants owing to the
"depressed economic and financial conditions in South Africa." (In
addition to the ravages of the war, there had been a very severe drought.) In
the case of Jews, however, it would seem that an additional and important
reason was the fact that from the beginning of 1904 "the stringency of the
Immigration Act was increased by raising the minimum amount required as visible
means of support from £5 to £20."
The total figure for 1904 of "Russian" aliens
"principally Hebrews." was 2,465; for 1905 it was 2,004 and for 1906,
1,931,
The proportion of " Russian and Jewish aliens" to
all persons landed dropped significantly. In 1904, January to March, it was.
11.13%, April to June 4.33%; by 1905 it had dropped to 4.9% and by 1906 to
4.8%."
GREGORY'S EVALUATION
Gregory noted one significant feature about the immigration
of Jews which distinguished it from that of the other immigrants, British as
well as aliens, namely, the much higher percentage of females among the Jewish
immigrants. In Gregory's laconic words: "Russians, it will be noticed,
come first among those who bring their families to the country." In other
words, the Russian Jews had come to build a future in South Africa and did not
regard themselves as birds of passage. As already stated, Gregory made critical
comments about many of the Jewish immigrants. Here are a few extracts:
"The reports of the Immigration Officers - and this I
can bear out by my own observations are very decided as to a large proportion
of these immigrants being unsatisfactory in most important respects, being
ill-provided, indifferently educated, unable to speak or understand any
language but Yiddish, of inferior physique, often dirty in their habits,
persons and clothing, and most unreliable in their statements. Although many of
them claim to be artisans such as tailors, shoemakers, carpenters, masons,
bricklayers and painters, it is extremely doubtful how far these claims are
good …”13
However, he was candid and fair enough (according to his
lights) to recognise that these immigrants were likely to establish themselves,
although he did not particularly favour the contribution which he thought they
would make to the country's economy.
"It is true that these immigrants are not likely to
become, in the wording of the Act. a public charge. On the contrary, there are
good grounds for expecting that most if not all of them will eventually acquire
means and amass considerable property, yet it does not follow that they will
thereby greatly contribute to the aggregate wealth or prosperity of the nation.
That a limited number of such immigrants may be of advantage to the Colony is
possible, but it would seem that the number actually being admitted constitute
a surfeit in a country in which the spirit of speculation is already out of
proportion to the capacity for production.”
A DIFFERENT PICTURE
A significant corrective to Gregory's assessment of the
class of immigrants who were arriving is provided by a report from the London
Jewish Shelter. It was published in the S.A. Jewish Chronicle, February
13, 1903:
"The question is, what sort of people is it who are
thus conveyed to South Africa? What kind of human investment is it that the British
Colonies in that part of the world are making?
"Well, to take the money test first, every one of the
immigrants before referred to paid his own expenses. So, at all events, says
Mr. Somper, of the London Jewish Shelter, who, if I mistake not, himself buys
the tickets for the emigrants. The passage money is considerable. At all
events, it is beyond the reach of the mere pauper. Thus from Libau, Hamburg,
Rotterdam, Antwerp and Bremen, it is about ten guineas not an inconsiderable
sum and, curiously enough, a good deal more than the fare to America. Some of
them, I have been told, have paid as much as fifteen guineas for their fare.
This hardly indicated a condition of downright beggary.
"But the money test may take another shape. How much do
the emigrants carry with them? In this connection it may be mentioned that the
present writer looked in on Monday evening last at the Shelter, where he found
something like forty men at supper. All of them were en route to South
Africa. One of these men had in his possession 360 roubles (nearly £40), a gold
watch and a pair of gold links. Another had 355 roubles as well as a gold watch
and a pair of links. Several of them had 30 roubles; and, according to the
Superintendent of the Shelter (who often takes charge of their money during
their temporary stay here), there was not a single one of them who did not have
some money about him. Indeed, the Superintendent occasionally finds himself
with between three and four hundred pounds all owned by some of these
trans-emigrants.
"But one must admit that the possession of a little
capital can hardly be the solitary and determining factor in deciding the ‘desirability’
of an immigrant, however much importance may be attached to it by the advocates
of 'restriction’. An equally important question to be asked is whether the
immigrant possesses the knowledge of a trade capable of yielding him an honest
livelihood. With the view of testing this, questions were put to some of the
trans-emigrants at the Shelter. Of twenty-one asked, all except four had
knowledge of some handicraft. Many were carpenters or cabinetmakers, others
smiths, or tailors or bootmakers. One of them, again, was a brushmaker. Of the
four who had no fixed trade, one at least was going to join his relations, who
were people of fair commercial
standing.
“What are you going to do in South Africa? was the next
question put to the men.
"To follow our trades, was the answer, which came from
several directions at the same time. Clearly, these men, if they are samples of
the rest of the immigrants who have gone and are going to South Africa, can
hardly be described as undesirables. All of them, it should be added, were
strapping. robust young fellows, hardly answering to the descriptions of
physical decrepitude which are frequently given of the Russian emigrants.
"Some of the Jews now going out have been in South
Africa before, having returned to Europe at the time of the war. One of those
seen last Monday night was on his way back to reopen the general store he had
formerly had. Finally, I believe it is the case that the emigration to the
South African Colonies is by no means confined to the 'raw aliens. I have been
told on good authority that a number of Jews in the East End, who have been
here one, two or three years, have also shaken the dust of London off their
feet and gone South. If this be so, the importance of the fact in relation to
the alien problem should not be overlooked."
"VISIBLE MEANS"
This group of immigrants who passed through the London
Jewish Shelter at the beginning of 1903 may conceivably not have been a truly
representative sample, at least as far as their financial resources were
concerned. It is possible that as the volume of immigration increased, it
included more persons in impoverished circumstances. At any rate, that is the
impression to be gained from some of the paragraphs in Gregory's report. Thus
he writes: "Great difficulty is experienced in deciding on the question of
visible means of support required under Section 2, subsection (b) of this Act.
When all is said and done, qualification under this head must mainly consist in
the possession of a sufficient sum of money, although the question is not to be
entirely decided by the evidence of pecuniary means, but also by the general appearance
and character of the immigrant, his physique and state of health, and whether
he is in possession of a trade and the means of exercising it."
He points out that when the Act first came into force, the
possession of £5 was regarded as sufficient. Soon, however, it was discovered
that this amount "was entirely inadequate. and many instances arose in
which persons. who were landed with only this sum in their possession were
shortly afterwards applying for charitable assistance. It was therefore decided
to increase this amount to £20, a decision which was cordially endorsed by the
leading gentlemen who are in the habit of coming in contact with immigrants
shortly after arrival in the Colony." (Precisely what this last sentence
means is not clear.)
Gregory then continues as follows: "There is good
reason to believe that in many cases the sum exhibited is not really the bona
fide property of the immigrant, but has been lent to him for the purpose of
affecting a landing. It is indeed quite common for the attempt to be made to
pass the necessary funds to the immigrant after the arrival of the vessel, and
it is a frequent occurrence, on making a second and surprise examination of an
immigrant, at the moment he is leaving the ship. to find that he is without
money, although shortly before he had exhibited the necessary sum to the
Immigration Officer, and on the strength of it received from him a permit to
land.15
It is not possible to know whether this was a widespread
practice. A more compassionate commentator might have remarked on the humiliations
and anxieties which these impoverished immigrants had to undergo and the all-
pervading fear lest they might be declared prohibited immigrants and turned
away from South Africa's shores.
A TYPICAL GROUP ANALYSED
The Alexander Papers contain a document which furnishes much
detailed information regarding a group of immigrants who, I think, can be
considered as typical of the Jewish immigrant population as a whole. This is a
register of 1,237 Jewish residents in the Cape Colony who applied for Letters
of Naturalisation through the Cape Jewish Board of Deputies in the years 1904
to 1905. I shall explain presently how this register came to be compiled.
These persons were dispersed throughout the Cape Province in
both large towns and small, but nearly 60% (703) were resident in Cape Town and
its suburbs. Just under one third (395) arrived in South Africa before the war,
and nearly 36% (442) arrived after the war. Of the pre-war immigrants, the
great majority (340) arrived in Cape Town during the five years preceding the
outbreak of the war. 45 had been there five to ten years, and 10 for more than
ten years.
As might be expected, it was mainly the younger, more
adventurous type, who had left the Old Countries to seek a new home. Of the
total of 1,237 immigrants, 23% were under 21 on their arrival here (some were
in their teens, anything from 14 to 19 years of age), 28% were in the age group
21 to 25, and 20% in the age group 26 to 30: the over forties constituted 8%.
The analysis of the birthplaces of the immigrants showed Lithuania well to the
fore (the statistical break- down is not exact, as some of the recorded names
of the localities are not identifiable). Lithuania accounted for 680 (i.e.,
69%): Poland 181 (18%): Latvia and Estonia, 125 (11%). In addition,
"Russia was stated as the birthplace of another 127 (12%), some of whom at
least must have come from Lithuania. The Lithuanian city of Kovno headed the
list of the towns where these immigrants were born. It accounted for 228,
followed by Vilna 51. Ponewes 36, Shavel 35, Plungian 26 and Wilkomir 20, and
there were many others in smaller numbers. Minsk (38) and Dwinsk (28) headed
the list of towns in Russia proper, and Warsaw (27) and Grodno (28) those in
Poland.
It is a remarkable fact that the pattern of East European
immigration, as reflected in the proportions between the various countries of
origin, remained substantially the same during the following three or four
decades, until the immigration virtually came to an end at the outbreak of
World War II.
THE RECOGNITION OF YIDDISH
I have written elsewhere in detail about a serious problem
which confronted Jewish immigrants from East Europe in the immediate post-war
period, namely, the uncertainty regarding the status of Yiddish as a European language
for the purpose of the Cape Immigration Act, the eventual recognition of Yiddish
under the 1906 Cape Immigration Act. and the part which this issue played in
the establishment of the Board of Deputies at the Cape in 1904.17
The insertion of the education test in the Cape Immigration
Law at the end of 1902 was intended to keep out Asiatics. The Act defined as a
prohibited immigrant "any person who shall be unable to, himself write out
and sign in the characters of any European language an application. For some
time, there was a doubt whether this language requirement did not also bar
those who could only write an application form in Yiddish. The unsympathetic A.
John Gregory thought that it could bar them and wanted to apply it accordingly.
He expressed the view, in his report, that "this provision of the Act
would effect the exclusion of a very large proportion of these immigrants in
the same manner as it has affected the exclusion of the Asiatics," and he
continued: "It would, moreover, have the effect of excluding some of the
worse and less desirable portion of such immigration. In the large majority - certainly not less than 50% - of cases,
these persons are not acquainted with any other language than Yiddish, and are
unable to write an application except in that language and in Hebrew
characters, and then in most cases, only very imperfectly. It has, however,
been decided by the Law Adviser that Yiddish is a European language, falling
within the above provision of the Act. There are many who hold that Yiddish is
not a language at all, but is a jargon, and if a language, that it is not a
European language spoken by any nation of Europe: and further, even if it be
conceded that it is a European language, that it is still excluded by the Act,
as it is written in oriental or Hebrew characters."
Fortunately, this was not the official Government view.
Indeed, when Morris Alexander led a deputation of representatives of 23 Jewish
institutions at the Cape on May 28, 1903, to the Attorney-General, Thomas
Graham, the latter stated that he was satisfied that the knowledge of Yiddish
would comply with the requirements of the Act. But apparently the bogey was not
laid to rest. In 1905, a General Dealer's Licences Bill was proposed which
required all business books to be kept in "a European language." For
a while there was quite a flutter among the Jewish newcomers and preparations
were made for special Jewish representations to the authorities, but the Bill
was later postponed. The following year, however, when a new immigration law
was again under consideration, the Government itself introduced an amendment by
adding to sub-section 3(a) the words "provided that for the purpose of the
sub-section Yiddish should be accepted as a European language."
LETTERS OF NATURALISATION
It was the need to obtain official recognition for Yiddish
that led to the establishment of the Cape Board of Deputies on September 4,
1904, with Morris Alexander as its President and his brother. Solomon, as its
Honorary Secretary. In addition to the recognition of Yiddish, however, the
acquisition of Letters of Naturalisation was also considered of much importance
by the new immigrants. At that time an alien could apply for naturalisation
after only one year's residence in the country (although a few years later the
period was extended to two years), and many Jewish aliens did acquire
naturalisation. However, this fact was not welcomed in some quarters. The Cape
Times, which in those years often expressed anti-alien sentiments, wrote on
January 28, 1903:
"The first point that must strike the most casual
student of the return is the very large proportion of Russians and Poles who
figure in the list (of persons naturalised). Out of 653 aliens who were
naturalised as British subjects during the year, all but 86 were from Russia,
Russian Poland or Poland: while of the remainder the great majority hailed from
Syria and Roumania, many of the latter having doubtless been persuaded to leave
a country where the Government has pursued a policy of ruthless persecution
against the Jews, to try their fortunes in a land where they will at least have
equal rights. It is interesting to know that by far the greater number of the
naturalised aliens give their place of residence in the Colony as Cape Town, or
at least within the Cape Peninsula, and as about 20 per cent of them are
described either as 'general dealers, storekeepers' or shopkeepers, of the nice
distinctions between which we confess ignorance, there seems good reason to
suppose that the petty trade of the city is gradually being absorbed by a most
undesirable class of people.
"The large number of unsavoury-looking fruit shops,
fifth-rate grocery stores, and similar places of business, which have been
opened of recent months, furnish unpleasant proof that the undesirable alien
has established himself pretty firmly in Cape Town. It is noteworthy that
whereas there were only 392 aliens naturalised in the first six months of 1902,
the number had swollen in the second half-year to 653, indicating that the
favourable reports sent home by the earlier arrivals had encouraged Russian and
Polish immigration on a considerable scale."
BOARD'S CO-OPERATION SOUGHT
Official Government policy, however, seems to have been in
sharp contrast to this attitude. Every facility and encouragement was given to
the newcomers to acquire naturalisation. The Cape Board of Deputies, in one of
the few early reports which it publish ed (a copy of which is now among the
Alexander Papers), wrote: "The Colonial Secretary approached the Board
during the latter part of the year 1904, with reference to their reporting on a
large number of applications for Letters of Naturalisation from Jewish citizens
throughout the Colony, and in connection with which the Government experienced
great difficulty in obtaining reports, leading to an unfortunately long delay
in issuing certificates. The Board decided to accept the offer of the
Government in order to facilitate the issue of Letters of Naturalisation to
deserving members of our faith, and it is gratifying to record that it has been
the means of securing the Naturalisation of close on 1,500 members of our
community resident in various parts of the Cape Colony.
"The pressure has now. by the efforts of the Board,
been removed and so the Government completes the investigations itself, but it
has informed the Board that whenever any difficulty in connection with any
Jewish applicant arises, the Government will be glad to avail itself of the
services of the Board. In this connection it is pleasing to note that the
relations between the Government and the Board have always been of the most
cordial description."
It was in connection with this undertaking that the register
of Jewish applicants for naturalisation who were resident in the Cape Province
(analysed earlier) was compiled. (See page 81). A specially appointed committee
of members of the Cape Board of Deputies carefully sifted each application. The
specimen of a few lines from one of the pages of this book (reproduced on this
page) shows that for each applicant there were separate columns recording
birthplace, age, occupation, length of residence and address. Intended
originally for quite another purpose, this compilation has proved a most
valuable social document for the research student interested in the story of
Jewish immigration to South Africa.
The system of investigation undertaken by the Board seems to
have run into problems. There is, for instance, a letter dated June 1, 1906,
from the Under-Colonial Secretary, pointing out that the papers relating to a
particular applicant, "have been in the hands of the Jewish Board of
Deputies for a considerable time now" and requesting an early report.
There is a later letter dated July 20, 1906, in reply to a letter
(unfortunately not included) from the Board of Deputies itself, which reads:
"I am directed to inform you that the Colonial
Secretary has had the matter under consideration and concurs with the Board
that it is desirable that the applications of Jewish aliens should undergo one
investigation only, as this will greatly facilitate the issue of Letters of
Naturalisation and, it is hoped, obvi ate the delays complained of in the past
by these applicants.
"It has accordingly been decided to revert to the old
system under which the Government alone enquired into these applications, and
Colonel Crewe desires to take this opportunity of expressing to the Jewish
Board of Deputies the thanks of the Government for the assistance it has
rendered this Office in connection with the large number of applications for
Letters of Naturalisation received from aliens of Jewish nationality. "I
am to add that the Government will be pleased to avail itself of the services
of the Board as heretofore in the event of any difficulties arising in deciding
on any applications"
A CONTROVERSY IN THE BOARD
After its energetic beginnings, within couple of years the
Cape Board of Deputies went into the doldrums. Meetings were held rarely,
reports were not forthcoming and there was dissatisfaction among some, at any
rate, of the Board's members. A small "palace revolution" was attempted
in October, 1906, which Morris Alexander and his supporters quickly suppressed.
It is referred to in a paragraph in my essay on the Board of Deputies published
in The Jews of South Africa: A History (on page 256), but the
particulars were not available when that essay was written. Now the Alexander
Papers enable us to reconstruct the whole story.
Although not in itself of very great importance, it does add
an interesting footnote to the history of those times.
David Goldblatt, who was the father of Advocate Goldblatt,
of Windhoek, had been a key figure in the struggle for the recognition of
Yiddish and the establishment of the Board of Deputies. Indeed, he was regarded
by many as the co-founder of the Board. He was a scholar with a passionate
devotion to the cause of the Yiddish language, and the publisher of one of the
first Yiddish papers at the Cape - the Jewish Advocate. He was described
as "a man who loves to fight or rather a man who fights for what he loves
and loves what he fights for." Whenever Yiddish was threatened, he rushed
to its rescue, displaying a great deal of energy in making public speeches and
writing articles and pamphlets.
He must have been chafing at the Board's inactivity, and his
dissatisfaction was shared by Joel Dorfan (who was chairman of the Somerset
Strand Jewish Congregation and its delegate to the Board) and also by other
members of that congregation. On October 14, 1906, David Goldblatt paid an
unexpected visit to the Strand, which was reported in a contributed article to
the Cape Argus of October 19. It records that during the five days of
his stay at the Strand, "arrangements were made for no less than five
receptions, two dinner parties and a special general meeting, all of which were
carried through excellently."
Dorfan and Goldblatt used the general meeting for a
full-blooded attack upon Morris Alexander and the Board of Deputies. Goldblatt
said "that the Board in itself was a body capable of doing much good for
the Jews and Government. The Board must act as the interpreter of sentiments
between the Jewish communities and the Government. As such, it was a body
indispensable, and if such body sometimes went wrong, there should be no
complaint against the body as a whole, but against the administration which
allowed, such negligence."
Goldblatt complained that the Board had met very irregularly
and this negligence he attributed to "the fault of the head of the Board
for taking into his hands too many duties." He (Goldblatt)
"remembered that when the chairman, Morris Alexander, had no other offices
and duties, the Board flourished." A report on the Board's work, promised
a long time back, had not been published. Certain cases which should have been
dealt with by the Board had been neglected. "His informants stated that
they had seen the chairman and his reply was that he had no time."
The meeting thereupon passed a resolution expressing its
sorrow at the negligence of the Board during the last 12 months and instructed
the congregation's delegate "to write and seek an explanation for this
apathy."
Obviously, no chairman of an organisation could take such an
attack lying down. Furthermore, the report of this meeting had been specially
contributed to the Cape Argus for publication. This was likely to do
serious damage to the reputation of the Board, vis-a- vis the public and
the Government. Alexander called an urgent meeting of affiliated bodies to
"consider the conduct of D. Goldblatt and J. Dorfan in connection with the
publication of the report and to take such action otherwise as the Board may
consider advisable."
What many delegates of the Board. thought of this episode
was probably reflected in a letter dated October 25, 1906, written by T. Marks,
delegate representing the Stellenbosch Congregation:
“I avail myself of this opportunity of stating that I deeply
regret the steps taken and resolutions passed at the Strand meeting on the 14th
inst, in connection with this Board. I consider the conduct of those gentlemen,
who organised the meeting as most discreditable without their first advising
all the delegates of the Board of their intentions. There should first have
been a conference of all the Delegates to consider the advisability of taking
any steps. Mr. Goldblatt and Mr. Dorfan having without the consent of the whole
Board taken upon their shoulders the risk of destroying the reputation of our
Jewish Board of Deputies by publishing minutes of the Strand meeting with the
evident intention of boycotting our Chairman and Officers in order to place the
working of the Board in their own hands. I would therefore propose that for the
benefit and future prosperity of the Board, Mr. Goldblatt and Mr. Dorfan be
either asked to apologise for their conduct or to resign their office."
We have no record of what took place at the meeting, but it
was decided that both Dorfan and Goldblatt be expelled from the Board
BENDER OPPOSES THE BOARD
The early history of the Board of Deputies, not only in Cape
Town, but also in Johannesburg (where different problems were encountered), was
indeed not a smooth one. Long before the episode just recorded, the creation of
the Board had led to a sharp communal dissension. The
"Establishment," consisting of Rev. A. P. Bender, minister of the
Mother Congregation, the Cape Town Hebrew Congregation, and its lay leaders
strongly resisted the whole idea of such a representative body, and refused to
have anything to do with it for many years. The reasons are interesting.
Bender's opposition may have arisen, in part, from a concern to preserve his
personal prestige and status as intermediary between the Jewish community and
those in high places. But there were also other reasons by temperament and
outlook, he belonged to a school of thought which believed in the quiet
diplomacy of individual Jews rather than in concerted public activity. That
type of Jewish diplomacy, though not entirely discarded, later rather fell into
disfavour.
In a long letter written to Alexander in February, 1905,
Bender stated his view in these words they are quite a classical expression of
a certain school of Jewish thought: "I regard the so-called Jewish Board
of Deputies as fraught with such serious danger to the community generally that
no consideration would induce me to recognise it or take any part in its work.
I am so thoroughly satisfied that the Jews of this Colony have not the
slightest reason to fear that any civil or religious disabilities will be
imposed upon them by any government in power, that I cannot see the least
necessity for calling a special Board into existence to protect their
interests. The Jews of this country have, in my opinion, no other special
interests to conserve, apart from their fellow citizens of other religious
denominations, beyond those immediately connected with their synagogues. their
schools and their charitable associations.
It seems clear that the newly created Board of Deputies had
to make heavy weather in its early years, because it was functioning in a very
divided community. Moreover, the Board seems then to have been in large measure
a one-man show," dependent upon Morris Alexander as its chief protagonist.
With the passage of time, however, the Board steadily built up its support and
its prestige and was called upon to assume important responsibilities on behalf
of Jewry at the Cape
------
Much has happened since the "Russian. and Jewish
aliens" (to revert to the quaint official description for the
East-European immigrants) set foot on South African soil at the beginning of
this century. Their subsequent experiences - as they struck roots in the new
land, earned a hard livelihood for themselves and their children, and simultaneously
contributed to the development of the rich and varied Jewish communal life
which we enjoy today - make up in large measure the modern history of South
African Jewry,
Most of the actors have now passed from the scene, and there
are very few survivors who can recall at first hand the conditions of that
period sixty and more years ago. It is well, however, that a later generation
should learn of the trials and tribulations that beset their parents and
grandparents on their arrival in this country. It is against this background
that we should assess and appreciate the achievements of the present-day community,
both in its Jewish aspects and in its contribution to South Africa as a whole.
REFERENCES
(The numbers refer to points marked in the text.)
1. Fuller particulars regarding the Morris Alexander Papers
are given in Gustav Saron, Morris Alexander: Parliamentarian and Jewish Leader,
South African Board of Deputies. Johannesburg, 1966, pages 3-5.
2. Jewish Chronicle (London) April 20, 1900, page 13.
3. Jewish Chronicle (London). May 17, 1895, page 17.
4. Hatzefira, No. 84, Vol 18, May 24, 1891, quoted in
Abrahams, I, The Birth of a Community, page 148
5. Condensation from Hatzefira. No. 254. Vol. 18 1891,
quoted in Abrahams, I. ibid, page 149
6. Abrahams, I. ibid, page 100.
7. Gustav Saren. Jewish Immigration 1880-1913," in The
Jews in South Africa a History, Saron G. and Hotz L. Editors, Oxford University
Press, Cape Town 1955, page 88
8. Abrahams, I. ibid, page 22.
9. Gustav Saron, ibid, page 90,
10. Report on the Working of the Immigration Act 1902"
for the Year 1903, by A. John Gregory Colonial Secretary's office. 1904
Sessional Papers: Appendix to Vol. 4 to Votes and Proceedings of Parliament.
11. Ibid, paragraphs 11 and 12.
12. Ibid, paragraph 57,
13. Report on the Working of the "Immigration Act
1902" for the Year 1906, Cape of Good Hope Legislative Council Papers
printed by the Government: Vol 2, 1907.
14. Report for 1903, ibid, paragraph 58.
15. Ibid, paragraphs 83 and 84,
16. Louis Hotz ‘Jews Who Arrived Here 60 Years Ago’ in
Jewish Affairs, February, 1963, pages 4-12
17. The Jews in South Africa - a History, ibid, pages 92 ff.
239-241, 254 ff.
See also Gustav Saron: Morris Alexander, Parliamentarian
and Jewish Leader, South African Jewish Board of Deputies, Johannesburg,
1966, pages 16-18.
THE ILLUSTRATIONS
The photographs which appear on pages 60, and 68, are taken
from the Official Report on the Second SA. Zionist Conference, which took place
in Johannesburg in 1906, This rare booklet was lent to us by Mrs. R. Isakow of
Pretoria, who also lent us the photograph of David Wolffsohn's visit to Pretoria,
which appears on page 76. For the purpose of historical record, we would like
to identify as many of the personalities on these photographs as possible, and
would be grateful if any reader who can name one or more of these personalities
would write to the Editor, P.O. Box 2878, Johannesburg.
The facsimiles of letters and documents from the Alexander Papers are reproduced by kind permission of the Library of the University of Cape Town, where the Alexander Papers are housed.
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