The Jew in South Africa

TH E J E W I N SO UT H A F R I A C . RA B B I DR H Z . H E T R . J . j o H AN N E SB U R G L T H E C EN T RA N EWS AG E N CY, L M T E D 1 0 . I I , 9 5 PR E S S PI N I N S O O . London J ewish Chronicle (E ditorial c omment) ’ Dr H e z P e the J e w in S u . rt s ap r on o th A frica is a val u abl e c ontribu tion to J ewish his t r not e e the w hich o y , m r ly for information it emb dies bu t be o , also for its practical arin g Dr z . H e on cu rre nt qu estions . rt has don e a ” h s u seful service to t e J ewi h cau se . A u u h T ransvaal Lead er . l mino s record of t e ” s the J w s colonising hi tory of e . 21 075 61 P R E F A C E . THIS Paper , read before the First Zionist on 9th 1905 Conference in South Africa , July , , deals with a chapter of Jewish history—the Jew — as discoverer and pioneer of which the outer h world knows not ing , and even Jews them selves all too little . As it is , furthermore , the first attempt to present the story of the Jew in all the South African colonies , the author n invites correctio s of the facts enumerated . Such information he hopes at a later date to c of embody in a fuller ac ount the same subj ect . J . H . H . x 3206 J ohannes bu r 0 . B o P. , g , e tember 25 t 1 9 05 S p h. A T H E JE W I N S O U T H A F R I C . H E R T z . DR H . B Y RAB B I . — I ntrOduCt‘ Om N all newer countries countries like America , I — Australia , South Africa the Jew , according to popular fallacy , is a late comer who has arrived on the scene to reap in ease what others have . I s is J env _it d sown in tears and travail Tfhe , m _ hel immi i nt has a recent g a , who been unwilling to d r h h d un e go t e ar ships of the pioneer , who has had no share in the building of any roads f oi the v I n r t s f or ci ilisation , the c ea ing of any new p ath the industry and commerce , of the younger lands ' ‘ n he now inhabits . This being the u iversal — opinion and the J e w himself in his ignorance ’ does not gainsay ih—" is it a wonder that the Jew s admission to these new co u ntries comes to b e looked upon as a matter of grace and bounty , that the cry of 071 3 Land is so often raised against the Jewish immigrant , that his rights are n held to be inferior in antiquity and in kind eve , to those of the population who have other racial and religious affinities of The Jews America , some fifteen years ago , began to realise the grave seriousness of leaving v this universal fallacy unchallenged . E en if the facts of history seldom change the views of the - anti Semite , it was essential , they saw , that Jews at least should be taught the truth ; that they themselves should no longer look upon them selves as interlop ers , as exploiters but rather as ac tiv e participants in the upbuilding of the T he J ew in S ou th Af r ica . u . Introd ction. national life Our American brethren set to work and founded " The American Jewish His ” tor ic al Society . In the twelve volumes that that Society has published so far , is to be found a complete and absolute vindication of the American Jew ’ s position in the national house in hold . The Jew , New York , for example , it is now seen , had preceded the Irish and German immigrant , and was the contemporary of the proud Virginian , the reverend Puritan and the 1 s u bstantial Knickerbocker . His communal life dates back 25 0 years , to the day when New York was a little village , New Amsterdam , with a population of 200 inhabitants , ruled by Peter Stuyvesant , under the direction of the Dutch West India Company ? Aided by the researches of men like the late Rabbi of Budapest , Dr . M . a erlin t. K ys g, these scholars have brought to ligh an even earlier domicile of the Jews on the shores of the New World . Before New York fl i u tim was , learned Rabbis ourished and wrote p y and halachic works in South America ; and scores of Jewish martyrs were cremated by the Inquisition in Mexico , Chili and Brazil . And to w cro n all , generations before these sages and u ff s erers , Jewish sailors were among the first to be lured by the cry of Westward Ho " For at least five Jews do we find among that stout 5 ’ hearted crew that accompanied Columbus on his first voyage into the vast immensity of the u n known sea . 3 It were well if the Jews living in this Newer World were to imitate the example of ou r Ameri ou r can brethren . For in case is it not the ume as of general belief , ass d a matter course , that the first Jews only arrived on the discovery of the Kimberley Diamond Fields , followed seventeen years later by the rush to the Wit ? w ate rs rand Gold Fields Only self - delusion (1) S e e Lou i s Marsh all : Th e J e w as an E lement of th e "Ame ri can" " ulati on P s P es e 111 th e A me) wan H eb ew M a 5 th a t and r nt , r , y , fgofi 2 hnF sk e : T h e u ak e th e Du h e in Ame i ( ) Jo i Q r and tc Coloni s r ca, - . I . 330337. Vol " L pp 3 S ee Ame th e D s e in th e ewish E nc clo czd ia ( ) rica, i cov ry of, J y p , 5 1L Vol . L . p . ? The J ew in S ou th Af r ica. l I ntmduct on‘ of will blind us to the fact that , as a consequence t such prej udice , the respec enj oyed by the Jewish community of South Africa is not at all com mensurate with its services and its sacrifices for this country . So far , next to nothing has been done to collect the various data , statistics and early events of the various Jewish settlements . " We are too busy making history to have time ” to write it , was the answer received from a leading South African Jew by an inquirer con cerning the beginnings of our earliest communi f n ties . The wisdom o that answer is o a par of with its modesty . Verily , not in such a spirit folly and conceit will we Zionists undertake to win for the Jew that respect which is due him from his neighbour . It is in the hop e of enlist ing your assistance in this most important work of collecting the building - stones for a South Af rican Jewish history that I venture to come before you , delegates of the First Annual Confer f A o S . ence the Zionist Federation , with this ” on paper The Jew in South Africa . - of Jewish interest in the sub continent South 23320313? anti u ‘ A r q w' frica , that pa t of the world to which the J e w ish Diaspora has spread latest , goes back to hoary anti quity . Scattered over the plateau of Southern Mashonaland and Matabeleland , the mysterious Zimbab e y Ruins have been discovered . Though we cannot speak with any certainty of these a arch eological curiosities , yet in all probability these are the vestiges which ancient Semitic gold seekers and Solomonic Ophir - explorers have left behind them , when at some unknown date , centuries ago , some inscrutable calamity com pelle d them to abandon their work in South 1 Africa . J e w ish 1 mm” , of If however , we leave the field conj ecture aI I OD 111 and confine ourselves to historical times , the 5353353533 connection between Jews and South Africa 1 E nc clo aed 1a B Vo . ( ) y p i i , L m 711 B e : r tann ca ” T. nt T h e Ru e es M s h in d Citi of a onaland . The J ew in S ou th Af r zca. begins some time befor e the epoch - making dis c ov ery of the Cape of Good Hope by Bartholomew . Ka se rlin Diaz . The researches of Dr y g in the archives of Portugal and Spain have established J of the fact that the ews Portugal , in the period of 1497 before the expulsion , as well as later in nn the Mara o p eriod , have had a large share in of those early voyages gallant adventure , in those romantic discoveries and conquests which opened 1 up the new worlds to civilised humanity .

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