J EEWISW I S H A F FA I R S SOUTH AFRICAN JEWRY – 175 Years Rosh Hashanah 2016 Price R50,00 incl. VAT • Registered at the GPO as a Newspaper ISSN 0021 • 6313 MISSION EDITORIAL BOARD In publishing JEWISH AFFAIRS, the SA EXECUTIVE EDITOR Jewish Board of Deputies aims to produce a cultural forum which caters for a wide David Saks SA Jewish Board of Deputies variety of interests in the community. The journal will be a vehicle for the publication of ACADEMIC ADVISORY BOARD articles of significant thought and opinion on Suzanne Belling Author and Journalist contemporary Jewish issues, and will aim to Dr Louise Bethlehem Hebrew University of Jerusalem encourage constructive debate, in the form of Marlene Bethlehem SA Jewish Board of Deputies reasoned and researched essays, on all matters Cedric Ginsberg University of South Africa of Jewish and general interest. Dr Elaine Katz University of the Witwatersrand JEWISH AFFAIRS aims also to publish essays Professor Marcia Leveson of scholarly research on all subjects of Jewish Naomi Musiker Archivist and Bibliographer interest, with special emphasis on aspects Isaac Reznik of South African Jewish life and thought. Gwynne Schrire SA Jewish Board of Deputies Scholarly research papers that make an original Dr Gabriel A Sivan World Jewish Bible Centre contribution to their chosen field of enquiry Professor Gideon Shimoni Hebrew University of Jerusalem will be submitted to the normal processes of academic refereeing before being accepted Professor Milton Shain University of Cape Town for publication. The Hon. Mr Justice Ralph Zulman JEWISH AFFAIRS will promote Jewish ADVERTISING AND SUBSCRIPTIONS – Shirley Beagle cultural and creative achievement in South ENQUIRIES [email protected] Africa, and consider Jewish traditions and 011 645 2583 heritage within the modern context. It aims TYPESETTING/PRINTING – Bookpress, Johannesburg to provide future researchers with a window on the community’s reaction to societal challenges. In this way the journal hopes critically to explore, and honestly to confront, problems facing the Jewish community both © South African Jewish Board of Deputies 2015 in South Africa and abroad, by examining Permission to reprint material from JEWISH AFFAIRS should be national and international affairs and their applied for from impact on South Africa. The South African Jewish Board of Deputies The SA Jewish Board of Deputies is committed JEWISH AFFAIRS is published 3 times annually to dialogue and free enquiry. It aims to protect Annual subscription R150 including VAT and postage human rights and to strive for better relations Overseas Subscriptions R300 among peoples of diverse cultural backgrounds Postal Address: PO Box 87557, Houghton 2041 in South Africa. [email protected] The columns of JEWISH AFFAIRS will therefore be open to all shades of opinion. The views expressed by the contributors will be their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editor, the Editorial Board Original, unpublished essays of between 1 000 and 6 000 words on or the Publishers. all subjects are invited, and should be sent to: However, in keeping with the provisions of The Editor, JEWISH AFFAIRS, PO Box 87557, Houghton 2041, the National Constitution, the freedom of [email protected] speech exercised in this journal will exclude the dissemination of hate propaganda, personal attacks or invective, or any material which may be regarded as defamatory or malicious. In all such matters, the Editor’s decision is final. VOL. 71 NO. 2 ROSH HASHANAH 2016 Editor: David Saks THE JEWISH SOUTH AFRICAN EXPERIENCE: 1841-2016 Editorial – South African Jewry turns 175 ..............................................................................................6 A Pictorial Journey through South African Jewish history ..................................................................8 REGIONAL The founding and early decades of the Cape Town Hebrew Congregation, Mother Congregation of SA Jewry Solly Berger ...............................................................................................................................................18 ‘You are not in Lithuania anymore’ - Yehuda Leib Schrire in Johannesburg, 1892-1893 Gwynne Schrire..........................................................................................................................................23 Colonial Port Jews - The Jews of Port Elizabeth Saul Issroff .................................................................................................................................................29 Jewish Life in the South African Country Communities Adrienne Kollenberg .................................................................................................................................36 The Jewish Communities of Limpopo/Northern Transvaal Charlotte Wiener........................................................................................................................................42 ECONOMIC, PROFESSIONAL, POLITICAL The Rabbinate and South African politics, from 1898 to the present Naomi Musiker ...........................................................................................................................................53 Jews in the Legal Profession in South Africa Dennis Davis ..............................................................................................................................................61 A glimpse into the role of Jewish farmers in the SA economy Eli Goldstein ..............................................................................................................................................67 The Protocols of the Elders of Zion Comes to South Africa (Part III) Hadassa Ben-Itto .......................................................................................................................................70 The Jewish Connection in the Rivonia Trial, 1963-4 Gene Eisen, Les Glassman .........................................................................................................................78 Grit in InteGRITy Charlotte Cohen .........................................................................................................................................82 The poetry of David Fram revisited Maurice Skikne ..........................................................................................................................................87 BOOK REVIEWS Chief Rabbi Cyril Harris: how humanity, morality and humour helped lead a community Marcia Leveson..........................................................................................................................................93 How long can South Africa survive? The Looming Crisis Ralph Zulman .............................................................................................................................................94 Soap to Senate: A German Jew at the Dawn of Apartheid David Ginsberg ..........................................................................................................................................96 JEWISH AFFAIRS ROSH HASHANAH 2016 EDITORIAL - SOUTH AFRICAN JEWRY TURNS 175 * This year, a number of commemorative events have been held to mark 175 years of Jewish communal life in South Africa. Inter alia, it was the keynote theme of the SA Jewish Board of Deputies Gauteng Council conference, at which the Chief Rabbi of the Commonwealth Ephraim Mirvis was keynote speaker. Rabbi Mirvis was himself born and raised in South Africa. He is just one of scores of rabbis of local origin who today occupy pulpits throughout the Jewish world, something that the handful of pioneers who came together to form the first minyan in Cape Town back in 1841 would have regarded as unthinkable. This Rosh Hashanah 2016 issue of Jewish Affairs (which this year itself is celebrating an anniversary, its 75th) is devoted to looking back at the last eighteen decades or so of what SA Jews have accomplished, both as Jews and as members of the greater society. It begins with what is (almost) a year-by-year photographic portrait of how the community has developed, using in the main images sourced from the archives of the SA Jewish Board of Deputies and SA Zionist Federation. It is followed by a section looking at some of the main regions where Jewish life developed, viz. Cape Town, Eastern Cape, Johannesburg and the rural areas and smaller country towns. The concluding section looks at specific areas of Jewish endeavour – politics, the rabbinate, law and the arts. Taken as a whole, South Africa has been good to its Jewish citizens. Even during the pre-World War II period, when antisemitic sentiment reached an all-time high, Jews were never officially discriminated against (albeit that legislation was passed specifically aimed at limiting further Jewish immigration). For their own part, Jews have played a hugely disproportionately large role in the development of the country (even, to a more limited extent, in the sporting spheres. So far as this community is concerned, at least, the old joke about the world’s thinnest book being the history of great Jewish athletes has not applied). South Africa has had a turbulent past, and in the contemporary era continues to be confronted with serious challenges, including widespread poverty and unemployment, social and political unrest, corruption at the highest levels of government and economic stagnation. On the positive side its liberal democratic foundations have stood firm since the memorable transition