Introduction

Two books have been indexed for this blog:

• The South African Jewish Yearbook: Directory of Jewish Organisations and Who's Who in South African Jewry 1929, 5689-90, edited by Morris De Saxe and published by the South African Jewish Historical Society in 1929
• South African Jewry 1967-68. A Survey of the Jewish Community; Its Contributions to South Africa; Directory of Communal Institutions; and a Who's Who of Leading Personalities, 2nd edition, edited by Leon Feldberg and published by Feldhill Publishing Co, Johannesburg, South Africa in 1968.

Together they provide an invaluable snapshot – forever frozen in time – of South African Jewry (inlucing South West Africa and Rhodesia) and its immense contribution to Southern African life.

This blog has 3204 biographies (779 from 1929 and 2,425 from 1967/8) and several longer articles. Every word in the biographies and articles is searchable through the search box. This is useful if searching for locations, spouses, type of employment etc. Use the page, label or search box to find the information you are seeking.

To distinguish entries from the two books, the records for 1929 have '1929 Yearbook' at the top. Where a person appears in both Yearbooks I have put their entries on the same page.

There are also a number of longer articles.

1929 Yearbook

• The Johannesburg Jewish Guild
• The Jewish Gold Pioneers by Eric Rosenthal
• Notes on the Springs Jewish Community
• A Resume of the History of the Durban Jewish Community
• The History of Jewry in Port Elizabeth Compiled by H. SCHAUDER, Rhodes University College, Grahamstown
• Bloemfontein Jewry
• The Jews of Griqualand West [Kimberley]
• Jewry in South-West Africa by Ralph Goldman
• The Jewish Communities of Rhodesia and the North by the Rev. M. I. Cohen (Minister, Bulawayo Hebrew Congregation.)
• The Educational Value of South African Jewish History by Dr. J. H. Hertz, Chief Rabbi of the United Synagogues of the British Empire
• The Jewish Board of Deputies in South Africa by Percy Cowan
• Mr. Siegfried Raphaely (President, S.A. Jewish Board of Deputies)
• South African Zionism by Jack Alexander
• Mr. A. M. Abrahams (President, S.A. Zionist Federation)
• The Binyan: A South African Business Enterprise in Palestine by I. B. Rudaizky
• The Hon. Mr. Justice L. Greenberg
• The Jewish War Victims' Fund
• Saul Solomon by M Rabinowitz
• The Jewish Press in South Africa by J. S. Judelowitz
• The Jew in South African Literature by S A Rochlin
• The South African Young Israel Movement by Lewis Pinshaw

• South African Jews in the Universities by Arthur Lourie

1967/8 Yearbook

• Editorial: Planning for the Future by Leon Feldberg 
• A Bird's-eye view of South African Jewry Today by Edgar Bernstein
• Jewish Contributions to Medicine in South Africa by Dr Louis Herrman
• Jewish Religious Life in South Africa by Rabbi Prof J. Newman
• At the turn of the century: Social and economic aspects of South African Jewish life at a formative stage by Gustav Saron
• Jews in the Platteland: the Small Communities of the Rural Towns by Rabbi E J Duschinsky
• Hyman Morris: A Pioneer of Johannesburg Jewry by Muriel Rathouse
• Some Jewish Scientists Associated With South Africa by Eric Rosenthal

This project is in memory of my father, Lionel Harris Hodes, General Secretary of the South African Zionist Federation from 1969 – 1973, for his communal service and contribution to South African Jewry.

Jeremy Hodes PhD

Albury, Australia

October 2026