Alexander, Bernard

1929 Yearbook 

ALEXANDER, Bernard, Solicitor, Justice of Peace, Member of the Inner Temple and Barrister at Law. Born in Mogilno, Province of Posen, in 1872. Educated at Educаtional Institute, Cape Town, and Inner Temple, London. Came to South Africa in 1877. Married Hannah Danziger in 1901; has four children. Past Member of the Town Council of Johannesburg and of the Witwatersrand Central School Board; for many years on the Executive Committee of the Witwatersrand Old Hebrew Congregation, and was President at the time of its amalgamation with the Johannesburg Hebrew Congregation; was first Chairman of the Council of the United Hebrew Congregation on the amalgamation; was first President of the Jeppe Hebrew Congregation; was one of the founders of the Jewish Board of Deputies of Transvaal and Natal, and was President at the time of its amalgamation with the Cape Jewish Board of Deputies; on the establishment of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies, by the fusion of the two former bodies, became Vice-President for the Transvaal and later President; as Transvaal President, he was Chairman of the Jewish War Victims Fund from its inception in 1915 till 1925; during this period the sum of £600,000 was collected and forwarded to Jewish War Sufferers in the various war zones; the Fund brought out to South Africa 200 war and pogrom orphans who were housed at the South African Jewish Orphanage at Johannesburg and the Cape Jewish Orphanage at Cape Town; the Fund also established the Children's Colony at K'far Yeladim, in Palestine, where 135 orphans have been maintained for five years; was Member of the Advisory Board and Committee of Management of the South African Jewish Orphanage; was Member of the Management Committee of the Talmud Torah; as President of the Board of Deputies he presided at the first meeting called for the formation of Federation of Synagogues; while on Town Council was Chairman of the Finance Committee, Works Committee, first Municipal Pension Fund, and of the Valuation Court has served on the Council of the Law Society. Postal Address: P.O. Box 2590, Johannesburg.