-SU A-SIG U The journal of the Southern African Jewish Genealogy Special Interest Group http://www.jewishgen.org/SAfrica/ Editor: Roy Ogus [email protected] Vol. 14, Issue 4 June 2016 InU this Issue President’s Message – Saul Issroff 2 Editor’s Message – Roy Ogus 3 Front-Line Kibbutzim – Joe Woolf 5 Lithuanian Footprints in South Africa – Aage Myhre 13 New Book – There Was Once A Home by A. Sarid 19 A Tragic Romance and Its Consequences – Eli Rabinowitz 21 De Aar: About A Small South African Town – Ann Rabinowitz 25 Jewish Origins of Some Durban Street Names – Colin Plen 29 New Book – Our Litvak Inheritance by David Solly Sandler 30 Zimbabwe’s Lemba Build First Synagogue – Katya Cengel 31 The Story of the South African Fallen In Defence of Israel – Beryl Ratzer 35 Obituary – Maurice Ostroff 40 The Yiddish Book Center’s Wexler Oral History Project – Roy Ogus 42 The Jewish Digital Archive Project (JDAP) – Roy Ogus 46 New Items of Interest on the Internet – Roy Ogus 47 New Book – Soap to Senate by Adam Yamey 55 Keep It Brief ... – Adam Yamey 55 New Book – Letters of Stone by Steven Robins 57 New Issue – Chanukah 2015 Issue of Jewish Affairs 58 Letters to the Editor 59 Surnames Appearing In This Newsletter 60 © 2016 SA-SIG. All rights reserved. All articles are copyright and are not to be reproduced in whole or part without the express permission of the both the author and SA-SIG. The opinions expressed in this Newsletter reflect those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Editor, or of the members of the SA- SIG Board. The Editor has the right to accept or reject any material submitted, or edit as appropriate. PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE th The Southern Africa Jewish Genealogy The New Year of 2016 marked the 17 year since the SA-SIG started! A lot has been achieved in Special Interest Group (SA-SIG) terms of recording and making accessible Southern The purpose and goal of the Southern Africa Special African records, but reviewing the activities, the Interest Group (SA-SIG) is to bring together Jewish discussion group, the web site, and the sessions at genealogy researchers with a common interest in Southern annual IAJGS conferences, highlights that many Africa and to provide a forum for a free exchange of ideas, research tips and information of interest to those additional areas need to be worked up. researching Jewish family history in the communities of South Africa, Lesotho (Basutoland), Botswana During the past summer, I spent some time at Beth (Bechuanaland), Zimbabwe (Southern Rhodesia), Zambia Hatfusot (The Museum of the Jewish People) in (Northern Rhodesia), Swaziland, Mozambique, Kenya, and Israel (http://www.bh.org.il/). Beit Hatfutsot is the former Belgian Congo. undergoing a comprehensive renewal program The SIG has been producing a quarterly Newsletter since which will culminate with the opening of the 2000 in which is included articles on personalities in the Synagogue Hall in 2016 and a new museum in Southern African Jewish community, religious 2018. congregations, communities – past and present and general news about the lives our Southern African families led. The database section of their web site Further information on how to subscribe to the Newsletter, (http://www.bh.org.il/databases/jewish-genealogy) as well as an archive of previous Newsletter issues, can be contains a lot of Southern African material found at: particularly relevant to the larger cities and towns. http://www.jewishgen.org/SAfrica/newsletter/index.htm Many of the entries have been derived from family If you would like to contribute articles to the Newsletter, tree submissions to the Douglas E. Goldman Jewish accounts should include descriptions of families of the Genealogy Center. The director of the database community, aspects of local Jewish life, its institutions and center kindly provided me with copies of many of particular character. Jewish involvement in the community these databases, but I feel for privacy reasons that at large, its history, business life and development could be these should not go on the SA-SIG webpages. In featured as well. due course, Beth Hatfusot will make a lot of this Articles for inclusion in the Newsletter, or any general material available on their site, but for the time enquiries, should be sent to Roy Ogus, Editor, at being, inquiries should be made directly to them. [email protected] The SA-SIG maintains a set of Web Pages that can be They have excellent community sections, e.g. for found at: http://www.jewishgen.org/safrica Cape Town: SA-SIG Board http://dbs.bh.org.il/place/cape-town President Saul Issroff However, this highlights the fact that there are still Vice-President Roy Ogus gaps in past South African genealogical research Vice-President Emeritus Mike Getz mainly with regard to Johannesburg, Cape Town, Treasurer Ed Goldberg Durban, Pretoria, and Port Elizabeth. The Country Membership Ed Goldberg Communities Project of the SA Friends of Beth Newsletter Hatfusot has done amazing and very detailed work Editor and Layout Roy Ogus on the smaller communities, but little has been done Webmaster Roger Harris on the larger localities. For further information see Australian Coordinator Herbert Epstein Jewish Country communities: Canadian Coordinator Ed Goldberg Israel Coordinators Rose Lerer Cohen, Beryl Baleson http://www.jewishcountrylife.co.za/ South African Coordinators Stan Hart, Colin Plen USA Coordinators Roy Ogus, Ann Rabinowitz The KehilaLinks project on JewishGen.org has a large section on South African towns, organised © Copyright 2016 SA-SIG mainly by the very enthusiastic Eli Rabinowitz. The KehilaLinks (formerly called “ShtetLinks”) project facilitates the creation of web pages to commemorate the places where Jews have lived SA-SIG Newsletter, Vol. 14, Issue 4, June 2016 © Copyright 2016 SA-SIG Page 2 around the world, including in Africa. The EDITOR’S MESSAGE KehilaLinks web site is located at: Welcome to the latest edition of the SA-SIG http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org Newsletter, once again a bumper issue that is packed full of interesting items! Breaking the and the list of South African KehilaLinks pages already in existence can be found at: record set by the previous issue, this edition contains 60 pages, by far the largest to date. http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/Asia.html I’m again very pleased to have been involved in all Eli Rabinowitz will assist anyone who would like to activities associated with the publication of this create a site for a new town, or would like to help issue ranging from the sourcing of the articles, the out in any other way – volunteers are welcome! final editing, as well as the completion of the back- You can contact Eli at [email protected]. end work which included the layout and distribution of the final version of the document. Once again I Saul Issroff have strived to continue the tradition that has been London, UK established over the years to produce a high-quality [email protected] journal which is filled with interesting and compelling content covering a wide range of topics Editor’s Note: More information on the of interest to Southern African genealogical KehilaLinks project and the list of pages for researchers. I hope that you enjoy this issue as Southern African towns can be found on page 47. much as I enjoyed producing it! As usual, this issue contains a collection of engaging articles as well as many other items of interest. At the end of World War II, about 4,000 pioneer settlers from Western countries all over the world arrived in the newly-established state of Israel to help protect the new country against the many threats facing it. In the first article, titled Front-Line Kibbutzim, Joe Woolf tells the story of the set of South African pioneers who helped in the struggle. About 90% of the Jews living in South Africa are of Lithuanian descent (the so-called Litvaks), and this group constitutes the largest pocket of Litvaks living anywhere in the world. In his article, Lithuanian Footprints in South Africa, Aage Myhre describes this unique Jewish community that still keeps Lithuania alive in its hearts, museums, and its synagogues. All Eli Rabinowitz knew about his name was that he was apparently named after his great-uncle Moshe. As Eli understood it, Moshe died in a motor accident, six weeks before his planned wedding around the beginning of the 1930s. Then, in 2011, Eli was given a photo that changed everything, and this event started his journey of discovery about great-uncle Moshe! Read the story in Eli’s article titled A Tragic Romance and its Consequences. Ann Rabinowitz has a great fondness for the South African town of De Aar, and she has done a great SA-SIG Newsletter, Vol. 14, Issue 4, June 2016 © Copyright 2016 SA-SIG Page 3 deal of research on this location over the years. In features, as well as descriptions of several recently- her article, De Aar: About a Small South African published South Africa-related books of interest. In Town, she provides a capsule history of the town addition, the regular compilation of new together with a detailed timeline of the key events information, resources, and other items available on that have occurred there since 1837. the Internet of potential interest to Southern African genealogical researchers, is included as well. In his article on page 29, Colin Plen describes the Jewish origins in the naming of a number streets in the city of Durban. Colin would like to hear from Let me also address a question that is posed to me any readers who can add any names to his list of from time to time, viz.