The Jew in South African Literature by S A Rochlin

The Jew in South African Literature By S. A. ROCHLIN.

IN THE fascinating field of South African literature, the footprint of the Jew is easily discoverable and explainable. Striking and portentous has been this place and function of the Israelite in the arena of letters and publicity. Suggestive and enthralling has been the mission of the Jew in an African environment, in consonance with his worldly progression and universal outlook, to interpret unto humanity the visible markings of African—South African—developments.

Above all, it is a story (as will be seen) worthy of rational evaluation and the motivation of a people's earnestness to triumph for the common welfare.

Such a narration has its roots deep in the soil and in the evolution of African doings. Long before the Jews interested themselves in South African affairs, Israel had its chequered history in other areas of this varied and challenging continent.

Eminent Jews in Biblical or Talmudical or post Talmudical ages did usually evince a keen interest in African activities. Evidence of it is available, and its well-defined account is unique in the annals of a believing world. Study the history of the Jews in Egypt or in the popular Maghreb and there would be revealed to the student the eminent literary contributions made by cultured and daring Israelites to civilisation.

But modern South Africa, too, since the day when a Jewish navigator of the fifteenth century, Joseph Zapateiro de Lamego a collateral of the Montefiore family—in company with Abraham of Bija, who first brought the intelligence to an awakening Europe that there is a South Cape of Africa which could be doubled, has a direct and impressionable attachment with the laudable efforts of Jewish scholarship some six centuries ago.

Long before this epoch-making event occurred, we find that the famous legend of Prester John (12th-14th century) undoubtedly owed its origin to the literary labours of a 9th century Jewish traveller, Eldad Ben Mahli ha-Dani. He professed himself to have been a citizen of an independent Jewish state in East Africa. His ideas were early ridiculed by Jewish savants. Among this company must be included the name of a great Jewish soul, Abraham Ibn Ezra (1092-1167) on whose life Robert Browning penned his famous poem "Rabbi ben Ezra." It is in his Commentary to Exodus ii. 22 that Abraham Ibn Ezra challenges Eldad's viewpoint.

It was after the discovery of the Cape in 1486 that more international interest was aroused in South African matters than was the case hitherto. Jews did partially evince a desire to know more about this country and its strange peoples. Some Marrano Jews hailing from Portugal or Spain, it is known, while proceeding to the then new European settlements in India, did actually write a word or two about the Cape. Their small literary output is now hidden away in some archives in Europe or in Asia.

Correa in his Three Voyages of Vasco da Gama, issued by the Hakluyt Society, London, in 1869, tells of the activities of one Gaspar da Gama, a Marrano Jew, who, in 1500, accompanied the Franciscans to India as interpreter. He had an unusual career, this Gaspar, and was evidently a man of some learning. And Dr. J. G. da Cunha in his Historical and Archælogical Sketch of the Island of Angediva et supra gives us a detailed account about Gaspar da Gama's vivid life.

For close on two centuries after its discovery by Europeans, South Africa, on the whole, was not widely known to the world at large. That is to be seen, in one instance, in the work of one well known Jewish writer of his generation.

Leo Africanus in his Geographical History of Africa, published in Latin at Antwerp in 1556, which was translated into English by John Pory in 1600, does not mention the Cape at all in his work. His was a typical attitude of well-meaning publicists of those days in not describing conditions at the Cape. And he is not the only individual to sin in this respect. An eminent South African author once affirmed this statement by declaring that "in spite of the visits of navigators from Bartholomew Diaz (1486) to Sir Francis Drake (1595) very little was known of this territory." So it passed for many a generation to come.

Moreover, even during the regime of the Dutch East India Company in South Africa, Jews very rarely interested themselves in this country and its doings. There are quite a number of plausible reasons for this state of affairs. Nevertheless, at the headquarters of the Dutch East India Company in Holland, Amsterdam was the centre of the Hebrew book trade from the middle of the seventeenth century to the nineteenth. It was during this period that the renowned Manasseh ben Israel (1604-1657), founder of the first Hebrew press in Holland, was the champion of the readmission of Jews into a Cromwellian England.

Thus, in one important sense, South African Jewry may be linked with the historic course of events either in Holland or in English Jewry at this juncture. Partly, it was due to this spirit that one of the earliest bands of professing Dutch Jews arrived at the Cape in 1685-6 on their way to India to inquire into the conditions of the dark-skinned Jews of Cochin, who were then under the rule of the Dutch East India Company. As a result of this investigation, a report appeared in 1697 at Amsterdam under the title Notisias dos Judeos de Cochin Mandadas por Mosseh Pereyra de Paiva.

And, on the other hand, in The Voyage of François Leguat of Bresse to Rodriquez, Mauritius, and the Cape of Good Hope, first published in French in the year 1708, we find this remark: "If my voyage was written in Hebrew, I am well assured it would at least succeed as well as that of Rabbi Benjamin." This Rabbi Benjamin was none other than the famous Rabbi Benjamin, the son of Jonas of Tudela, who travelled from Spain to China during the years 1160 and 1173. Among Leguat's companions on this adventure was one Isaac Boyer, a merchant, born near Nerac (France), whose actions show that he must have been a Marrano Jew. Here, again, we have evidence to suggest that many a far-famed adventurer of those days. rounding the Cape did know a little Hebrew or Israelitical traditions.

One thing is certain that before the year 1800 the most popular book at the Cape, apart from the Bible, was the well-known History of the Jews by Josephus, the famous Jewish historian of Roman times. That brilliant Swedish scientist, Dr. Andrew Sparrman, in his A Voyage to the Cape of Good Hope (London, 1785), while visiting a farm-house in the Paarl district, exclaims that "the good woman of the house was obliged to go to bed alone, while her husband employed himself with the history of Josephus, in order to convince me of his great attachment to study." (Volume 1, page 70.)

This attitude receives more support when we glean through the work of one well-known Cape Colonist, who numbered among his friends Suassa de Lima. This Cape Colonist was P. B. Borcherds, who published An Auto-Biographical Memoir in 1861. Writing of the life lived by South Africans before the dawn of the nineteenth century, he opined that “No respectable family was seen without the Bible in its possession, some too with books of prayer or hymns, which, with other religious books, were read with attention and reverence. Some families owned a Flavius Josephus."

But another century had to pass away before Jews really evidenced a feeling to make South Africa the home of their adoption and the birthplace of their oncoming Kin and Kith. It was then that South Africa began to realise that a newer and active force had carved its way into the life of the land, effecting their cultural relationships in a manner which time alone will clarify and substantiate.

II.

It is to the nineteenth century that we must now focus attention, displaying a critical note of appreciation to those of the Jewish nation who have rendered signal service to the cause of South Africa and to the cause of intellectual Israel.

The nineteenth century in South Africa, at any rate, was the century ushering in a period of real enlightenment and compelling advancement. It was an era of pioneering literary contributions a true and well-laid foundation for the South Africa of to-day. Brilliant names flourished during this century and brilliant books written in a South African atmosphere were added to the scanty shelves of South African literature.

And the Jews, small in number but devoted to the land of their abode, rightfully delivered their share to the promotion of literary ventures of an absorbing and permanent kind. It is a favourable comparison. The quantity and quality of their works will stand the test for many years to come, heightening its value and its erudition in no uncertain degree.

It undoubtedly paved the way for a new orientation on the part of South Africa to regard the Jew as a welcome force in spreading light and lustre to all concerned in the path of national honour and progress.

Possibly, one of the earliest instances in nineteenth century South Africa of a Jew, who had such close connections with this country in his later life, was that of Mr. Solomon, of St. Helena, a worthy progenitor of the worthy and notable South African family of that name. He had long settled in St. Helena, this Mr. Solomon, and can be considered in the presentation of our case.

Apparently, early in life, Mr. Solomon was interested in advancing literary matters. One fact stands out clearly against his name. In Extracts from the St. Helena Records, compiled by a former governor of that Island, H. R. Janisch, C.M.G., we find under the date 14th January, 1810, this significant sentence: "Mr. Solomon, proprietor of the St. Helena Press, is informed that objectionable remarks had appeared in the St. Helena Register for the month of December, and is directed to print no more until the sheets have been first submitted to the Secretary of the Government."

But, it was a relative of his, the adventurous and versatile and youthful Nathaniel Isaacs, who is undoubtedly the first Jew in South Africa to have given to the world a fine piece of literary craftmanship. His Travels and Adventures in Eastern Africa—With a Sketch of Natal, published in two volumes in 1836, is a splendid account of the then conditions in an uncolonised Natal. Therein he pleads for the honour of England to interest itself in Natal. And he propagated this idea to the very end of his unusual life.

Hailed by the late Dr. Theal as a valuable document of historical importance and by Sir George G. Frazer in his monumental Folk-Lore in the Old Testament (London, 1918) as a citable authority for some native customs, Nathaniel Isaacs must be given due respect and credit. Even his previous communications, to be found in the 1832 issue of the S.A. Commercial Advertiser, must be acknowledged in this wise. It is well that he has been called the "Knight Errant of Natal."

Another literary pioneer whom we claim as one of direct Jewish descent was Joseph Suasso de Lima, LL.D. (1791-1858). Powerful in intellect, eccentric in manners, courageous in defending his particular causes, de Lima, lawyer by training and somewhat of a litterateur by avocation, deserves some notice. He was also a pushful schoolmaster, having taught at the Lutheran School in Cape Town. Apart from the several poems he penned early in life and the many pamphlets he issued on different subjects, de Lima wrote the first history book of South Africa. Entitled Geschiedenis van de Kaap de Goede Hoop (1825) it is an interesting work. Dr. G. McCall Theal once declared that "the work was prepared to suit the views of Lord Charles Somerset; it is somewhat partial, and is of more value now as a curiosity than as containing information." He was one of the earliest of directory-compilers in South Africa. He edited a lively journal the Verzamelaar in 1828 and following years. He was a remarkable linguist and did much work as a sworn translator. And he wrote many dramatic pieces, laying a real foundation stone for the development of literature in South Africa. Dr. F. C. L. Bosman in his Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika (Pretoria, 1928) gives one of the best accounts of the life of this remarkable character.

In the realm of science nineteenth century South Africa was greatly honoured and advanced by the presence in this country, between the years 1832 and 1837, of Sir John Herschel, the most famous astronomer of his generation. Although he was not a Jew by conviction, Sir John Herschel was of immediate Jewish origin. His father, Sir William Herschel, too, was the greatest astronomer of his day, and was a Prussian by birth. The Herschels, indeed, displayed the typical Jewish attitude towards learning and refinement. While residents in South Africa, Sir John Herschel, apart from his classical works on Cape astronomical investigations, took a serious interest in the development of educational facilities in this land. Thus, he has left in a way his indelible mark on the intellectual life of South Africa-a factor which will be more enhanced in the years to follow.

About this time the greatest Palestinian geographer and scientist of his day, Rabbi Joseph Schwartz (1804-1865), entertained the idea that the Ten Tribes were to be found in Abyssinia, Central and South Africa, Yemen, Tibet, and China. And when he visited America (about 1849), the famous Isaac Leeser published in English Schwartz's Tebu'ot ha-Arez, which is regarded as being the most important Jewish work printed in the U.S.A. up to that time. In this edition, Leeser adds an interesting discussion on the above topic. (pages 493-518). Further, we may affirm, that in this instance, there is a mutual literary link between the Jewries of Palestine, South Africa, and the U.S.A. The subject is a controversial one, and was discussed by South African authorities antecedent to the appearance of Rabbi Schwartz's opinion.

Again, in the advancement of the Press in South Africa during the past hundred years, the Jew has taken his part well. Occasionally, before the 'forties of the last century, matters of Jewish interest, chiefly theological, were published in the then growing journals of this sub-continent. For the most part these Jewish notes were penned by Gentile contributors.

Possibly, the first professing Jew in South Africa to write an article on the right of the Jew to settle here was that of De Pass in 1848. It is to be found in Vol. II. No. 9 of the Cape of Good Hope Literary Magazine, which was edited by a much-travelled Irishman, James L. Fitzpatrick, who, it seems, was a sincere friend of the Jewish cause. A few years after this effort of a Jewish contributor, his relatives. in Australia—John De Pass & Co., of Adelaide—favoured the S.A. Commercial Advertiser with reports of marketing conditions in that country. It was regarded as a valuable service, and received commendation from Mr. John Fairbairn, the famous editor of the Commercial Advertiser.

But one of the greatest pioneers of the Press in this country was the brilliant and gifted Saul Solomon (1817-1892), the "Cape Disraeli." He was a real publicist of South Africa in every sense of the term. In the 'fifties’ of the nineteenth century he founded the Cape Argus, a journal which was as influential in his time as it is now. He had, moreover, established a well-conducted printing concern then, the leading one in the Cape Colony, which produced many a publication invaluable in the cause of South African literature.

Furthermore, another Jew, Harry Solomon by name, founded the Port Elizabeth Observer in 1877, lasting for nine years. Locally, he was known as the “People's Harry," and served his co-religionists and the general public well. Across the waters, Mauritius, which was then closely connected with this country, as is the case now, saw the birth of the Mercantile Record and Commerce Gazette about the year 1859. Its first editor and founder was J. I. de Lissa Cohen, who died on 31st May, 1879, at Curepipe. He possessed an able pen and sane-minded programme, this de Lissa Cohen, and was much admired by his adopted countrymen.

Then, during the Bechuanaland Expedition (1884), Julius Mendes Price, an Anglo-Jewish artist and traveller, was the war correspondent to the Illustrated London News, and eventually wrote a few notable travel-books. And it appears that, contemporary with the above example, a Jew edited an important Bloemfontein journal—De Express. M. J. Boon in his History of the Orange Free State (London, 1885)—a most peculiar work—mentions it (vol. 3, p. 56). Possibly its owner, a German, was also an Israelite.

Not only do we find Jews playing their role in the above fashion, but performing such a duty. In 1879, we are told that Mr. Joseph Leon, amongst other good acts has instructed his agents to hand over the sum of £20 to be appropriated to the acquisition by the South African Public Library of works on the history and literature of his native Poland. Commentary on this, the Cape Argus (15th July, 1879) declares: "The donation is the more useful as the Library is very deficiently supplied with works of foreign literature." Since then we have witnessed other Jews making similar contributions.

It is interesting to note in this connection, that Karl Marx, the famous economist and thinker, was supposed to have been for some time a correspondent to one of Cape Town's important journals. In 1854, he is said to have contributed a series of articles to the Zuid-Afrikaan. One of his brothers-in-law was J. C. Juta, the bookseller and publisher. According to some authorities this Juta came of Jewish stock. At any rate, Juta displayed some interest in the growth of literary South Africa. Here is one early evidence of his interest. “It will not be uninteresting to our readers to be informed," wrote the editor of Zuid Afrikaan (19th June, 1854), “that one of our social wants, to which of late the attention of the public has been repeatedly solicited, is about to be supplied. An enterprising and intelligent Dutch bookseller, Mr. J. C. Juta, of Wale Street, will, if duly supported, start a periodical, which, being conducted in the manner contemplated by the publisher, cannot fail to contribute largely to the intellectual as well as material improvement of our Colonists.'

Jewish effort in theological enlightenment was also a pronounced factor during the preceding hundred years. And as far as this country is concerned, the famous modernist criticism of the Pentateuch from the pen of an Anglican dignitary, Bishop Colenso, of Natal, aroused intense interest everywhere.

From the Jewish side, much was written respecting him. There were Dr. A. Benisch's Bishop Colenso's Objections Examined (1863), Chief Rabbi Dr. N. M. Adler's Bishop Colenso Answered, and A Jewish Reply to Bishop Colenso, issued by the Jewish Association for the Diffusion of Religious Knowledge (1865). About this time the first minister to the Port Elizabeth Hebrew Congregation, the Rev. Samuel Rapaport, wrote his popular Stories and Sayings Translated from the Talmud, later to be followed by Tales and Maxims from the Midrash.

But the principal polemical work in this century in South Africa, which was published as a result of religious differences, was that of the Rev. Joel Rabbinowitz and the converted Jew, the Rev. Frans Lion Cachet. In the Cape Argus (1876) is to be seen the reply of this Rev. F. L. Cachet. It was an interesting controversy and helped to inspire men's minds regarding the truths of Judaism.

Before the close of the century, the Rev. A. P. Bender published his important and scholarly Beliefs, Rites and Customs of the Jews, Connected with Death, Burial and Mourning in the Jewish Quarterly Review, Vol. VI. (1893-4) and Vol. VII. (1894-5). His contribution has been acknowledged as authoritative by the well-known Rev. Morris Joseph, author of Judaism as Creed and Life, in Hasting's Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, 1911, and in the Jewish Encyclopedia respectively.

And it was about at this stage that the Rev. Dr. J. H. Hertz, now Chief Rabbi of the British Empire, arrived in South Africa. In 1898, there was published his Bachya, the Jewish Thomas à Kempis. With his coming to this country a new period was commenced in the history of Israel in South Africa, leading to events which had a decisive effect on the subsequent life of the community. But that is another chapter in the story of the Jews in the sub-continent.

In promoting knowledge and in scientific edification, Jewry in South Africa as well as overseas have also helped to elucidate the foremost scientific problems of this country.

In 1857, Julius Mosenthal published his pamphlet on the Angora Goat. Twenty years later he, aided by J. E. Harting, produced his Ostriches and Ostrich Farming, which, as it has often been admitted, is a leading work in this sphere.

In mineralogy, one of the ablest authorities on the minerals of South Africa was that of Prof. Dr. E. Cohen, of Heidelberg University. His Ueber enige eigen-thüraliche Melaphr-Mandelsteine aus Süd Afrika appeared in 1875. There is an interesting discussion on this volume in the Cape Monthly Magazine, 1875 issue. In 1883 he published a pamphlet on Ueber der Südafrikanischen Diamandfelden. He was followed by, among others, Charles S. Goldmann's standard works on the Transvaal gold mines in 1892 and in 1895-6 and F. Pollak's Les Mines d'or du Transvaal (1894)—a prelude to similar studies undertaken by Jews during the twentieth century.

Furthermore, in this regard, we must include the name of Professor Edwin E, Goldman, born at Burghersdorp on 12th November, 1862. A great pathologist, he succeeded the famous Ehrlich as one of Germany's leading authorities on his subject. Before the close of the century, he, in company with Middeldorp, presented his Croup und Diphterië to the world. Probably, the other noted medical savant, who was also born in South Africa, Professor Albert Hoffa, was a relative of the famous German-Jewish philologist and archæologist, Joseph Hoffa (1803-1843). Apart from these instances, there are extant several pamphlets on South African scientific subjects read or written by Jews before 1900. They all served to show how, in other aspects of South African life, many a Jew evinced a keenness and an enthusiasm to inquire into those conditions of our South African society worthy of thought and improvement.

Making known South Africa to humanity was another field of activity chosen by Jews. The case of the courageous Nathaniel Isaacs has already been commented on. And during the nineteenth century several pioneering Israelites—many of their names are hardly known in present-day South Africa—did some extraordinary labour in exploring the lesser-known parts of the country.

In a German periodical, Globus, for the years 1866-7, there is to be found, for example, a fine description of South Africa from the pen of Ludwig Heinrich Holländer, Professor of Dental Surgery, Halle University. He was a German Jew, and was resident in South Africa from 1856-1865. Following him was Emile Mann-heimer's Du Cap au Zambéze (1884), giving an account of a journey through South Africa, Julius Falkenstein, in 1885, issued his Afrikas Westkunde: von Ogowe bis zum Damara Land—an arresting book on the topographical description of what is now known as South-West Africa. Then the late Captain Eduard Foa—his career is now almost forgotten—traversed the whole of South and Central Africa in the early 90's. As a result of this, he lost his life in a tragic way. He may still be regarded, like Emin Pasha, as a real explorer in matters African. His books, written in French, deserve consideration on our part. Among others, they are Traversée de 1, Afrique équatoriale du Zambéze au Congo les grand lacs and After Big Game in Central Africa, 1894-7. This Captain Foa came of a well-known Franco-Jewish family. His pedigree can be traced back to the eighteenth century, and even earlier.

On the lives of the two great Gentile travellers, David Livingstone and H. М. Stanley, we gather that Arthur Montefiore, a member of the well-known Montefiore family in England, wrote about them (c. 1890), praising their works and their legacies to civilisation. Finally, in 1895, Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild in his Three Weeks in South Africa: a Diary gave a traveller's impressions of this country in his own fashion. And, as the century closed, more Jews were to be found writing about the country than was the case before. It was in connection with the Boer War.

In Afrikaans literature, too, several persons of distinct Jewish ancestry have added their portions to its growth. The two brothers, Jews by birth and Christians by religious convictions, Frans Lion Cachet and Jan Lion Cachet, both wrote in Afrikaans and in Netherlands, and are accorded no mean position in Dr. G. Besselaar's Zuid-Afrika in de Letterkunde, pages 170-172. Frans in De Worstelstryd der Trans-vaalers renders us the early history of the Transvaal. Jan, in a series of popular stories, did much to influence the progress of Afrikaans in literary circles. Incidentally, Jan's teacher in Holland was the famous converted Jew, Isaac da Costa.

An eminent poet and theologian, one of his longer verses found its way into R. J. Stapleton's Poetry of the Cape of Good Hope (1828), probably translated by Suasso de Lima. Of this da Costa, Dr. Kayserling expressed his viewpoint as follows in the Jewish Encyclopedia: "Although he wrote much on missionary matters, he is distinguished from many other converts in that, to the end of his life, he felt only reverence and love for his former co-religionists, and often took their part."

On the whole, the relation of Gentile South Africa to Israel, as it was expressed in its nineteenth century literature, was favourable. There are certain reasons for it. In the main, the non-Jewish publicists of South Africa, following in the wake of Lord Macaulay and his friends, endeavoured to treat the Jew, both in the Press and in private life, disinterestedly and humanly. It was the age of liberalism in its newest guise. And it gave the Jew in South Africa a feeling of security, a sense of gratitude.

III.

The next important period of our study, say from 1900-29, commenced its career in a battle-like era of chaos and suffering. The Anglo-Boer War was the cause of it. For a time such an affair stifled the freedom and progress of true literary South Africa. Men's minds and hearts were then intent on an unfortunate war. But it had its results. It brought a new orientation into South African literature, and the Jew, in this respect, has been a conspicuous figure in this movement. And the past quarter of a century has seen this particular movement grow in strength and in vitality, leaving its impressions in no unstable manner.

Apart from contemporary periodical contributions made by Jews, the earliest years of the new century witnessed the interest taken by Jews concerning the Anglo-Boer War.

Rabbi Dr. J. H. Hertz's timely pamphlet on The Jew as a Patriot: a Plea for the Removal of the Civil Disabilities of the Jews in the Transvaal denoted how Israelites viewed the cause of the War. Another example was that of M. Rabinowitz, whose name is well-known in the S.A. Press, who published in 1900-2 his strongly-worded letters, which were reprinted from S.A. News. But that was not all. Jewish interest, on the whole was not weak. S. M. Gluckstein in Queen or President (1900) and F. Hertz in Recht und Unrecht in Boerenkriege (1902) argued the cause effectively for both sides. Again, C. S. Goldmann in With General French in South Africa and Kisch in The Siege of Ladysmith gave a descriptive account of the various battles. And George Levy in Après la Guere: Problem es Sud Africains (1905), among others, told of the post-war questions then affecting the rise of South Africa to nationhood.

Possibly, the next literary event which had an important bearing on Jewish relationship was the famous communication made by the late Mrs. Olive Schreiner. Her Letter on the Jew (1906) came from a sincere and human heart, breathing a spirit of toleration which has been acknowledged by Dr. J. H. Hertz in his Book of Jewish Thoughts. Mr. S. C. Cronwright-Schreiner in The Life of Olive Schreiner (1924) informs us of the fact that this great genius was of Jewish ancestry. She was proud of it. In one or two of her novels, Mrs. Olive Schreiner has drawn a character or two of the Jewish type she knew. She played her part well, and holds a place in the affections of the Jewish people.

The writing of the history of the Jews in South Africa took a more determined course in this century than was the case previously. The earliest notable effort made in this direction was that of the late Rev. Joel Rabinowitz in the London Jewish Chronicle (1894-5). He was followed by Dr. J. H. Hertz's The Jew in South Africa (1905), Sydney Mendelssohn's Jewish Pioneers of South Africa (1912), and N. D. Hoffman's pioneer Yiddish work on the subject (1916). All these are in pamphlet form, and there are others to be found in various journals.

But it is to Sydney Mendelssohn's name that we must pay respect. A lover of books, a patron of learning, Sydney Mendelssohn has left other similar works behind him. The Jews of Africa and the Jews of Asia (1920) show what scholarship he possessed Even his printed lecture on Judaic Legends Amongst S.A. Natives (1914) revealed his devotion to study. And from the pen of Sir John de Villiers, of the British Museum, who is a Jew of South African birth, we have his Holland and Some Jews (1908). Therein he furnishes some interesting information on a well-known historical subject.

In spreading the Jewish viewpoint in matters religious and otherwise, the current century has seen energy and enthusiasm evinced in this respect of our presentation. The community, as yet, has not produced great scholars, clerical and laymen. Nevertheless, the coming years may evidence a change in this connection. So far there have appeared these books and pamphlets on general Jewish topics.

In 1914, the Rev. A. P. Bender, M.A., delivered a course of lectures on Hebrew Music at the S.A. College, now the University of Cape Town. The late Rev. D. Wasserzug, B.A., in 1913, wrote The Messianic Idea and its Influence in Jewish Ethics, which was well received. Again, in 1918 and in 1916, he published his important sermons on Tolstoi, an Essene and Why I am Orthodox, and his occasional articles in the Press have added to his previous reputation. But it is Dr. J. L. Landau, who has been most prolific in his literary activities, who demands our attention. An erudite scholar and a forceful personality, Dr. Landau, apart from his many contributions to the Ozar Israel (Hebrew Encyclopedia) is widely known as a pioneer of the modern Hebrew drama. Besides, he has written many works on other sections of Hebrew thought. He has also published his lectures of Jewish interest which he delivered at the Witwatersrand University as well as several pamphlets on Zionism.

Another South African Jew who has received recognition for his literary endeavours is Mr. D. Mierowsky ("Ben Eliezer"). His Letters of a Jewish Father to His Son (1928) [published originally in the Zionist Record.—Editor] has certainly achieved acclamation in many circles. Apart from these instances, there are several other co-religionists, who, although they have not published books on specific Jewish subjects, are active in promoting the ideals of Judaism in the popular Jewish or non-Jewish journals.

Studies in South African politics or economics are another region of local life to which Jews, in a minor degree, have given their share. Some of their works are now considered to be of authoritative value. Beginning with David Goldblatt's informative pamphlet Yiddish: Is it a European Language (1905), let us say, which was written to a great extent for political purposes, other co-religionists have closely followed in his wake. This David Goldblatt, who was formerly a Yiddish journalist in South Africa, is now in New York, and has some important newspaper connections. Contemporary with him there appeared S. M. Gluckstein's Black, White or Yellow. Here the author discusses the Chinese question in South Africa in all its phases.

Next we find Mr. H. S. L. Polak publishing his Indians of South Africa in 1909. His book, too, was also reckoned as prominent in his specialised field of activities. Many of his articles on Indian questions, here or overseas, are to be found in popular Indian and English journals.

In 1912, Miss S. R. Rostowsky issued her concise History of the Emancipation of Women.

Nathan Levi, who is one of the best-known journalists in South Africa, wrote his Jan Smuts in 1917. Herein he gives many interesting details of Gen. the Hon. J. C. Smuts' private life. It is highly laudatory. He has also translated Dr. F. V. Engelenburg's Louis Botha into English.

A brilliant New York journalist visited this country in 1921, and the result of his impressions was his book on An African Adventure. Isaac Marcosson in this work supplies piquant comments on the various facets of South African society.

Morris Kentridge, in 1923, wrote his Unemployment in South Africa: A Simple Solution. It is a valuable document on one of the leading economic issues in this country.

Aside from these, other well-known South African Jews have written, either in the Press or in pamphlet form, theses on contemporary questions.

A book which has been much praised by leading journals and people in this country is that of Dr. Frankel's one on The Railway Policy of South Africa (1928). It is a welcome addition to the shelves of local economic works. It gives a succinct account of the financial and economic aspects of our railways. Its importance will be stressed in the years to come.

To illustrate the growth of literary consciousness amongst us has also been the function of Jews in producing several worth-while publications. Commencing with Mendelssohn's two portly volumes on South African Bibliography (1910), which is one of the greatest efforts in its field of study, a new light was shed on literary South Africa. Its introduction is written by Ian D. Colvin, admitting the seriousness and the immensity of Mendelssohn's self-appointed tasks.

Then we have Dr. Manfred Nathan, author of many standard works on South African law, who has written several important books. His South African Commonwealth (1919), South Africa from Within (1925) and his manual, S.A. Literature: a General Survey (1925) may be recognised as informative contributions to our small realm of letters. In this field, too, we may add the name of Dr. Julius Herman, whose pseudonym is "Herbert Skimpole”. Author of a noted Bernard Shaw: The Man and His Work (1918), Dr. Julius Herman, in 1926, produced his Music of S.A. Life in its Relation to the Culture of Europe. Written in an argumentative spirit, the author has some quite original theories on the past and on the future development of South African literature.

Harry J. Mandelbrote, M.A., LL.B., in another sphere, has translated from German into English Mentzel's Beschreibung des Vorgebirges der Guten Hoffnung (1785). He has edited it for the Van Riebeeck Society, and received commendation for his labours. Also, in 1927, F. B. Adler published his History of the Transvaal Horse Artillery, supplying details of the past life of this regiment, making it interesting and valuable.

Then, we find many younger South African Jews displaying an interest in purely scientific matters. Among them we may note, among others, the promising career of Isaac Shapera. He specialises in the anthropological questions of South Africa. Some of his learned articles on Bushmen lore have appeared in Bantu Studies (Johannesburg) and in Africa, the organ of the International Institute of African Languages and Culture (London) and in other similar periodicals.

Anent this subject, L. Weinthal has translated from German into English R. Weismann's The Bawenda of the Spelonken (London, 1908). This is a treatise in connection with the psychology and folk-lore of an important Transvaal native tribe.

In other departments of modern South African literature, namely, in issuing popular addresses and books, we find the Jew also active. When Dr. J. H. Hertz was in this country, he delivered popular lectures on Kant, Spinoza, and so forth. Some of these addresses have been printed. His one on The Place of the University in Modern Life (1905) is full of constructive thought and powerful in its tone. In 1911, Vera Friedlander published her Diary of a Motor Car on a Journey from Durban to the Cape. Then the Rev. A. P. Bender, M.A., who has oft-times published his popular addresses in contemporary newspapers in 1915, gave a significant lecture on Thought on the Times. Eloquent in its plea, the lecture in question attracted much notice at the time of its publication. There are others who have performed similar works, and in this region the influence of the Jew cannot be gainsaid.

Several also have written plays of a South African atmosphere. Here the Jew plays a minor role. It is simply a reflection of general South African conditions, and no great play or drama of typical South African life has, as yet, been written. And except what Mr. J. Langley Levy, the well-known editor of the Sunday Times (Johannesburg), had produced in this line, the only ones who have written, in so far as South African Jewry is concerned, are Mr. I. M. Goodman and Mrs. Bertha Goudvis, and Mr. D. Dainow, who has recently penned a play on a Zionist theme.

In 1923, I. M. Goodman wrote a comedy, "Sugarman the Shadchan," which has been produced by amateurs in most of the larger towns of South Africa. It is a successful piece of work of its kind, and gained notice in Dr. Manfred Nathan's South African Literature.

Mrs. Goudvis has written playlets, “The Way the Money Goes," "Patriots," “The Sergeant in Charge," "A Husband for Rachel," and one of her plays was encouragingly approved by the Jewish Drama League of England.

No eminent poet of Jewish descent has arisen in South Africa. A few Jews have written poetry. With only one younger modern Jewish poet is South African Israel linked up. He is Isaac Rosenberg, a young English poet killed in the last war. He was recognised as a coming poet, and for some years was resident in South Africa. His collected poems have been edited by Gordon Bottomley, with an introductory memoir by Lawrence Binyon, himself a well-known present-day poet. While in this country, Isaac Rosenberg wrote some splendid verse, and contributed a story to one of our leading women's journals. Had the World-War not intervened, Isaac Rosenberg may have become one of South Africa's leading muses.

Biographical sketches of some Jews who have made their mark in this country, although few in number, suggest how, in several niches of our national life, Jews have risen to no mean height. One of the earliest of such studies is that of the late B. I. Barnato by Harry Raymond (London, 1897). In 1911, Louis Cohen published his Reminiscences of Kimberley, which had an interesting court sequel. Again in 1924, Louis Cohen supplemented this volume by his Reminiscences of Johannesburg and London.

About the same time Sir Lionel Phillips issued his Some Reminiscences, giving an account of some historic episodes of his earlier life in South Africa, particularly in connection with the exciting pre-Boer War days in the Transvaal. Sir Lionel Phillips is also the author of Transvaal Problems (1905).

Jews also have been prominent, since the beginning of this country in promoting journalistic ventures or as writers with a national reputation.

In the early days we found the Standard and Diggers News (Johannesburg) owned and edited by Jews. Emanuel Mendelssohn was the proprietor and Joseph van Gelder its editor. E. Goldreich founded the Reef in 1902. Leopold Graham controlled the destinies of the Transvaal Financial Record some twenty-five years ago. Harry Freeman Cohen, who died in 1904, was, for some time, one of the owners of the Rand Daily Mail. In 1905 there died de Hass who edited the one-time important Het Land en Volk.

In the Boer War period Mr. Richard Goldmann was correspondent for several leading journals overseas. There are others who have also acted in a similar capacity. Even to-day Jews are to be found directors of several of the leading newspapers in this country. As a contributor to our daily organs of public opinion, the name of the Jew is familiar, and, in several instances, the leading ones in their particular lines of thought.

Among others, the following names are well-known in the current South African Press: Leo Weinthal, editor of the African World (London), Nathan Levi, J. Langley Levy, Ruth S. Alexander, Arthur Shacksnovis, Bertha Solomon, Irene Antoinette Geffen, Greta Bloomhill, J. Alexander, L. Pekarsky, Aaron Goodman, Eric Rosenthal, Emil Millin, and L. Hotz, editor of the Union Government's Social and Industrial Review.

For the most part these persons contribute to the English-written journals. But some co-religionists also write for the Afrikaans Press, especially those who are residents in the country districts. Occasionally, one notes in Die Huisgenoot and other Afrikaans newspapers articles written by Jews.

In addition to the above examples, the Jew in South Africa is also remembered for the few novels and books for children he has produced. Some of them are still treasured by lovers of South African literature. Leah Guinsberg in her Fairies, Wind and Rain (1920) has written a delightful book for children. Annette Joelson, whose first novel, The Dancing Girl of Gilead, has just been published, has also performed a similar labour in her book of children's stories issued in 1927. While L. Cohen in Shloma Levy and other Vagaries (1913) and C. A. Lowenthal (Low Lathen) in Anna Strelitz (1912) and in A Victim of Circumstance (1913), showed the lighter side of life.

And in Afrikaans, Sarah Goldblatt in Liefdes-Kransie (1919) and Wolf en Jakhals Versies (1920-1) revealed, in rather a small way, that she had some passion and gift in entertaining her readers. She has also been praised by the well-known champion of Afrikaans literature, Senator J Langenhoven. More than this, we find in various South African periodicals similar reading matter presented by Jews. It is a wide field, and should become more accentuated in future.

But the greatest inspiration to-day in literary South Africa, whether it be Jewish or Gentile, is Mrs. Sarah Gertrude Millin. She stands, par excellence, in a class by herself. A singularly-compelling novelist, an incisive thinker, accompanied by a directness of outlook, Mrs. S. G. Millin has won her way to world-wide fame, and has, incidentally, by her own exemplary attitude, shown what the Jew or Jewess can do for South Africa when he or she has been allowed freedom and liberty to exercise his or her accepted vocation in life. It is a recognised factor in historical relationship between Israel and non-Israel. In all her books, Mrs. Millin has treated and tackled the outstanding problems of South Africa in a serious manner a decidingly leavening force for the country at large. Since 1919, she has published the following novels: The Dark River (1919), Middle Class (1921), Adam's Rest (1921), God's Stepchildren (1924), Mary Glenn (1925), An Artist in the Family (1928), and The Coming of the Lord (1928), the last four universally considered her best efforts in her appeal and craftsmanship as novelist. Her other volume, The South Africans (1927), is a striking piece of work. Therein she handles the various social, economic, and political questions of this country in quite a thrustful fashion. In one chapter of The South Africans she discourses on the position of the Jew in South African society. It is argumentative. Said Leonard Merrick, the famous novelist: "The South Africans is a classic that will be read as long as South Africa lasts." So, too, will the majority of her other works receive their place in the hall of fame.

Above all, there is a future for the Jew in the development of South African literature. He will certainly emerge from his swaddling clothes, and deliver his legitimate goods to the land of his birth or abode. He is no mean agent, and, assuredly, with his cultural background, the Jew will deepen his mark in this regard. He will, in this wise, strengthen the contact of South African Jewry with the best of modern Jewish cultural forces in other areas of the earth. It is a mission-a worthwhile mission. Then the function of the Jew in South African literature will be real and secure.