Jewish Religious Life in South Africa by Rabbi Prof J. Newman

JEWISH RELIGIOUS LIFE IN SOUTH AFRICA by RABBI PROF. J. NEWMAN

A SOCIOLOGICAL evaluation of the cultural and religious pattern of a community must be based on complete tables of reliable statistics going back over a period of years. Unfortunately, no thorough scientific study has so far been made of any major aspect of the South African Jewish community, let alone a comprehensive survey of all the forces and trends work, as far at as the Jews in this country are concerned Various facets of the history of the Jewish community in South Africa have been covered, but the sociologist has not yet been at work.

While it is true that general religious trends may be gauged by large schemes of sampling, probing into the outlook and concepts of members of the Jewish faith; the fact remains that in order to obtain a more reliable picture, the statistical side must essentially form a concrete foundation for any authoritative study. Membership of congregations, attendance at services, registers of people belonging to regular study circles on religion, and much other statistical data must provide the basic sources of information. Unfortunately there is not sufficient reliable material available to enable us to draw conclusions about religious trends in the Jewish community even from the turn of the century until today. (What little data is available is, of course, useful in supplementing information gleaned from observation.)

The first Hebrew Congregation in South Africa was established in Cape Town in 1841 by a group of Jews of English and German origin. The first synagogue in South Africa was consecrated in Cape Town by this congregation, eight years later, and in 1851 the first minister of the Jewish religion was brought to South Africa to serve this congregation, in the person of the Rev. Joel Rabinowitz.

By the end of the nineteenth century. Hebrew congregations had been established in various parts of the country, including the Transvaal. Grahamstown in 1843, Port Elizabeth in 1857, Kimberley in 1875. Oudtshoorn in 1883. (By 1896 the Oudtshoorn community was numerically strong enough to have two rival congregations!) The first Witwatersrand Old Hebrew Congregation, with a total membership of 100, was founded in Johannesburg in 1887. By 1891, another congregation had been established, due to a split in leadership. In 1893 a third congregation was formed, namely the Johannesburg Orthodox Hebrew Congregation, to cater more specifically for the mode of worship of Jews who had come from Russia and Lithuania.

By the turn of the century, Germiston, Klerksdorp, Pretoria and a few other centres in the Free State, the Cape and Natal had built synagogues too.

The first reliable statistics of the Jewish from the year community are only available from the year 1911, when there were in all just over 47.000 Jewish souls in South Africa, and 44 Hebrew congregations. At that stage there were 21 synagogues in the Cape, 17 in the Transvaal, 4 in the Orange Free State and 2 in Natal.

A remarkable fact is that in 1911, not more than an estimated 16% of the total Jewish population belonged to Hebrew congregations, Natal having had the highest percentage and the Transvaal the lowest with 10%.

What were the reasons why the actual membership of Hebrew congregations was so low in relation to the total Jewish population? Here, as in so many other departments, we lack the data that can only be obtained by a proper sociological study. It may be assumed, however, that economic circumstances constituted an important determination. It must be borne in mind that most of the Jews who hailed from Eastern Europe (coming from countries such as Poland, Lithuania and Russia), arrived in South Africa without means and had to face a serious battle to establish themselves economically. This did not apply to the same extent to the Jews who came from Germany and England. In their cases, another factor, lack of strong attachment to traditional Judaism, would appear to have been the cause of the failure of many to become dues paying synagogue members.

CHANGING CONDITIONS

By 1926 the swing of the Jewish community towards the northern part of the country seems to have been already in evidence. There was then a total Jewish population of 72,000 souls, the majority of whom lived on the Reef and in the Transvaal. By that year (1926) Johannesburg had ten synagogues, with a total of 1,850 members. The Federation of Synagogues for the Transvaal was established in 1926, and the Board of Jewish Education was mooted and founded two years later. There were nine Talmud Torahs in operation, but no figure is available for the total number of children attending.
At this stage the total Jewish population in the Transvaal was double that in the Cape, a considerable percentage living in rural areas. A remarkable feature of rural Jewish life was that as soon as a handful of Jewish families settled in a village, the establishment of a congregation was undertaken and a synagogue was built. Somehow the Jews who settled in the smaller dorps felt more keenly the need for organised congregational life than their counterparts in larger cities.
With the advent of the Second World War, the distribution of the Jewish population changed considerably. Rural communities started to become depleted in numbers; several were eventually destined to become defunct. Correspondingly, the bigger centres, such as Johannesburg, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Bloemfontein, etc., received an influx of Jewish residents.

At this stage there were 26 synagogues in Johannesburg, serving Jewish community of 41,000 souls. The seating accommodation in synagogues provided for not more than one-fifth of the total Jewish population of the city. The influx of Jews from Germany contributed its share towards the development of synagogal life in the Golden City.

When World War II came to a close an additional 12,000 Jewish souls had settled in Johannesburg, but synagogal facilities did not keep pace with the influx of Jewish people. By the time 1960 arrived, the total number of synagogues in Johannesburg amounted to 35, 32 of which were Orthodox and 3 Reform. The total seating capacity in established synagogues amounted to 17,000. By then the Jewish population of Johannesburg were over 50,000.

In the subsequent five years two more congregations were founded, but the number of synagogues remained as before, on account of two older synagogues going out of existence. With the rebuilding of some synagogues in Johannesburg into larger houses of worship, accommodation is today provided for nearly 18,000 worshippers. against a Jewish population of 57,000.

The Jewish community has, over the last three decades, seen a gradual intensification of certain aspects of its religious life. The observance of Kashruth in particular has been strengthened beyond recognition. Whereas thirty years ago there was not a single hotel in Johannesburg catering for Kosher functions, there are today five major hotels catering under the supervision of the Beth Din for special functions, and there are four Kosher hotels. Five catering firms specialise in Kosher catering. All communal functions are today under the supervision of the Beth Din and the greater majority of private affairs such as weddings, Barmitzvahs, etc. are catering on Kosher lines.

It may be assumed that in private homes, Kashruth is observed at least in the same proportion as two or three decades ago.

There is certainly a considerable increase in the attendance at synagogues on the part of children and young people, due to the special services for children that have now become an established feature of South African Jewish life. The practice of holding a breakfast Minyan on Sunday mornings, when young people near and over Barmitzvah age gather for services and a joint breakfast, has given a fillip to weekday attendances in synagogues on the part of younger people.

THE RABBINATE

In assessing the religious development of the South African Jewish community, the Rabbinate must essentially be taken into consideration.

In this field the community owes a particular debt to the late Chief Rabbi Dr. J. L. Landau, who arrived in Johannesburg in 1903, at the age of 37, and soon began exerting a great influence upon every phase of Jewish communal life on the Witwatersrand. He was destined to do much of the spade work in organising the community on a systematic basis, the full fruits of which ripened only after his death in 1942.

In 1922 an energetic Talmudic scholar of great repute. Rabbi Solomon Rosenzweig, arrived in this country and considerably. strengthened the ranks of the Rabbinate. Soon after his arrival he was instrumental in forming a Beth Din, the first Ecclesiastical body to function officially, with Chief Rabbi J. L. Landau and Rabbi Moshel Friedman as co-Dayanim. In 1933, Rabbi Isaac Kossowsky was appointed the first Rav to the Federation of Synagogues, and his arrival marked a further strengthening of the rabbinical authorities in this country.
A few years later Rabbi Israel Abrahams, the present Chief Rabbi of the Cape, assumed office as the Senior Rabbi of Cape Town and by his dignified bearing and great ability, greatly enhanced the standing of the Rabbinate in the Western part of the country.

At that stage, practically all ministers serving country communities hailed from Lithuania, whilst the greater part of the ministers serving larger centres came from Anglo-Jewish centres with a background of English culture and pastoral-ministerial experience.

Rabbi Dr. M. C. Weiler arrived in this country in 1933 to start the first Reform Congregation. Three years later the first Reform Temple was built in Johannesburg. A present, there are Reform Congregations (also referred to as Progressive Congregations) in ten of the larger towns of the Republic. It is estimated that the Reform Movement constitutes approximately 10% of the total Jewish population of this country.

Since the founder-Rabbi left this country several years ago, the Reform community has seen several changes in its spiritual leadership. The present Chief Minister in Johannesburg, is Arthur Saul Super, an able preacher and gifted writer.

In 1945 Rabbi L. I. Rabinowitz arrived in Johannesburg in response to a call, three years after Chief Rabbi Landau's death, to become the Chief Rabbi of the city's United Hebrew Congregation and later head of the Beth Din and Chief Rabbi of the Federation of Synagogues. A very able and energetic leader, he helped to strengthen every facet of Orthodox Jewish life in the region over which he became the spiritual head. It was particularly during his term of office that the communal observance of Kashruth was greatly strengthened, and a College for the training of rabbis and ministers was set up, which soon trained a group of conscientious and promising young people to assume spiritual leadership in various congregations in South Africa.

Rabbi L. I. Rabinowitz relinquished his position in 1962 to settle in Israel. A year later a call was extended to Rabbi B. M. Casper to become Chief Rabbi of Johannes burg's United Hebrew Congregation. Six months later he was also appointed Chief Rabbi of the Federation of Synagogues. whilst Rabbi S. Rosenzweig became the head of the Beth Din.

In 1951 the S.A. Jewish Board of Deputies made the first appointment of a National Rabbi to the Country Communities, in the person of Rabbi Dr. J. Newman. It was the task of the Rabbi to the Country Communities to organise, foster and assist the religious, cultural and educational life of the small Jewish communities in rural centres. The present Rabbi to the Country Communities is Rabbi E. S. Duschinsky, a very gifted organizer, preacher and scholar.

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

In 1951, Rabbi A. Hilewitz, a Talmudic scholar of world reputation, assumed the position of Principal of the Training College for Hebrew Teachers, and later also of the Training College for Ministers, which posts he occupies until this day. The Training College for Hebrew Teachers is named after the late Rabbi J. L. Zlotnik (Avida), who, as Director of the S.A. Board of Jewish Education, laid the foundation for a systematic religious educational programme for Hebrew schools under the Board's aegis. On his retirement to Israel he was succeeded by Rabbi L. Goss, a profound thinker and an educationist of world repute. Under his guidance and care, the network of religious education is making remarkable progress.
The first Jewish Day School in Johannesburg. the King David, was founded in 1948 and has by now a remarkable record of progress and achievement to its credit. The present enrolment of the Jewish Day Schools in Johannesburg is close on three thousand pupils, whereas the afternoon Chedarim have nearly two-thousand children on the register of such afternoon schools as are affiliated to the United Hebrew Schools. There are today Jewish Day Schools functioning with great success in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Pretoria, Durban and Port Elizabeth, with an enrolment between them of another 2,500 pupils, so that there are now over 5,000 pupils attending Jewish Day Schools in South Africa as a whole. The beginnings of Day Schools are also evident in other centres.
In 1956 the Yeshiva College, named after the late Rabbi Isaac Kossowsky, opened its doors as another Jewish Day School, as a result of the devoted efforts of the late Rabbi Michael Kossowsky who came to this country in 1941. A tireless worker in the vineyard of the Lord, he left his imprint on a number of national religious organisations. He died in 1963 at the young age of 54: his name, like that of his father, will for long remain cherished in this community.

THE POSITION TODAY

Johannesburg, with the highest concentration of Jews, has today 32 Orthodox Synagogues and 3 Reform Temples, Cape Town and environs has 12 Orthodox Synagogues and two Reform Temples: and there are at least two Orthodox Synagogues in most of the major centres, such as Pretoria. Durban, Port Elizabeth. There are a further 40 congregations with their own ministers up and down the country.

The two national synagogal bodies, namely the Federation of Synagogues of South Africa, and the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations in the Cape, maintain their own ecclesiastical courts. Conversions to the Jewish faith and the religious Bill of Divorce. the supervision of Kashruth and a number of other religious functions are the sole prerogative of the ecclesiastical courts.

Practically every synagogue has its own Ladies Guild, which assists in the work of the congregations: these bodies have a roof organisation in the Federation of Synagogues Women's Guilds of Southern Africa. The present Chairlady is Mrs. E. Rappaport, the wife of the renowned and erudite scholar. Rabbi Professor S. Rappaport. The Reform Movement has the counterpart of the Guilds in the form of Sisterhoods attached to individual Temples.

Most synagogues have their own children and youth services at which children become acquainted with and are trained to follow the full synagogue services.

An important innovation is the organisation of Youth Seminars and Camps under the auspices of the Youth Department of the Federation of Synagogues. These, together with the Bnei Akiva activities, have helped considerably in inculcating Jewish values and observances among the youth and should result in furthering the spirit of Judaism.

The Rabbinical Association of South Africa, to which over seventy members of the Jewish clergy of the Transvaal, Orange Free State, Natal and Eastern Province of the Cape are affiliated, has intensified its activities and strengthened its influence over the last decade or two. A series of publications under its auspices addressed to the larger community, regular meetings, conferences and days of study have had their beneficial effect.

The sister organisation for the Cape, Omer, also meets regularly, aiming at strengthening the Rabbinate in the area under its auspices.

Broadly, the picture of Jewish religious life in South Africa may be summed up in these general terms. On the credit side: an ever-increasing number of children attending Jewish Day Schools and the Yeshiva College: an intensification of Kashruth, both publicly and privately: more synagogal accommodation; and greater awareness of the Jewish way of life among children and youth. On the debit side, one must note: a considerable apathy towards synagogal affairs and functions among the adult section: a larger percentage of divorces in which the parties do not bother about the Jewish Get; depleted Batei Din both in Johannesburg and Cape Town: a continuous decrease in the observance of the second day of Rosh Hashanah: and a tendency to utilise public holidays which coincide with Passover and other festivals for taking family holidays in environments where neither Kashruth nor synagogal facilities are available.

There is much talk of a significant turn of interest in favour of religious doctrine and practice. If that be so, it has not been fully explored and utilised by all concerned in furthering religious matters. It remains to be hoped that a more concerted effort will be made in the future, particularly by the national religious organisations, to translate such interest into practice, in order to strike ever deeper roots in the soil of Jewish commitment.