September / October 2020 1 Pretoria Jewish Chronicle Editor: Diane Wolfson Address: PHC Communal Centre, 246 Schroder Street, Groenkloof, 0181, Pretoria Email: [email protected] P.O. Box 2512 Brooklyn Square, 0075, South Africa Tel: 012-346-8712 Fax to computer: 086 716 7963 Printer: Minit Print, Hatfield Banking Details: Pretoria Jewish Chronicle Standard Bank Brooklyn Branch - 011 245 Account No.: 011 819 200 With compliments and good wishes for a The Chronicle is published under Happy New Year and Well the auspices of the Pretoria Council of the SA Jewish Board of over the Fast Deputies. Chairman of the Editorial Board: Dr Doron Goldstein The views expressed in the pages of the Chronicle are not necessarily those of the Editorial Board or any other organisation or religious body, unless otherwise stated. The Chronicle merely reflects views of that particular organisation or individual. The Editor and/or the Editorial Board reserve the sole right to refuse publication of any material submitted. September / October 2020 2 Pretoria Jewish Chronicle ~CONTENTS~ MESSAGES WEDDINGS & ANNIVERSARIES Chief Rabbi Dr W Goldstein Page 4 Weddings Page 29 HE Ambassador for Israel Page 5 Anniversaries Page 30-31 Rabbi G Fox - PHC Page 5-6 Dr D Goldstein - SAJBOD Page 6 INTEREST ARTICLES Mrs H Jocum - IUA / UCF Page 7 Ms L Beckbessinger - Jaffa Page 7 Spotlight - Dora Klein Page 48 Mr D Ossip - PHC Page 8 Mr W Lautenberg - Bet Menorah Page 9 AROUND & ABOUT Over Board Page 11 Page 12 Appeal Letters Page 17 Page 13 Classifieds Communal Offices Page 20 Notices Page 22 YOM TOV GREETINGS Letter from Tel Aviv Page 40 Obituaries Page 45-46 WIZO Community Greetings Pages 14-16 Israel News Update Page 51 Organisations' Greetings Page 18 Welcome - Newcomers Page 52 Professional Firms’ Greetings Page 19 Dates for Yom Tovim Page 42 ORGANISATIONS MOTIVATIONAL ARTICLES Emergency Numbers Page 3 Gemilus Chasodim Page 19 Katarinka Page 39 Pretoria Hebrew Congregation Page 21 Honey In, Honey Out Page 41 Women InTouch Page 22 Goodbye 5780 Page 43 Union of Jewish Women Page 23 Question & Answer Page 44 Jaffa Page 32-33 WIZO Page 35 BAR / BAT MITZVAHS IUA / UCF Page 37 Bar Mitzvahs Page 26 Bet Menorah Page 49 Ganeinu Page 54-55 Bat Mitzvahs Page 27 EMERGENCY NUMBERS PHC: Rabbi Fox 082 3399 744 Bet Menorah: Wilfred Lautenberg 082 788 1861 Chevra Kadisha: Nolan Karp 083 326 0002 or David Eichhorn 083 417 2929 (012 346 8788) Medical Rescue Unit: (Dean and Gary Witz) 0861 112 911 CSO: 086 18 000 18 for any community related security, emergency, suspicious activity and/or anti-Semitism. The Chronicle’s banking details: Pretoria Jewish Chronicle Standard Bank Brooklyn Branch 011 245 Account No.: 011 819 200 September / October 2020 3 Pretoria Jewish Chronicle Rosh Hashana Messages 5781 - 2020 before G-d in humble submission. Message from Chief Rabbi, As the South African Jewish community, we recognise these Dr. Warren Goldstein truths. We feel them deeply. We experience weekly daily, how our Returning to our spiritual home shuls enrich us spiritually, emotionally and socially. We go to When the first Jews arrived in SA in shul to connect with Hashem. We the 1800’s, one of their main go to shul to connect with each priorities was to establish shuls. other. We go to shul to find faith The first congregation was founded and strength, community and in 1841 in Cape Town, when 17 partnership, vision and inspiration. men gathered on Kol Nidrei night to And that is why these past six form a minyan at the home of months have been so tough for us. Benjamin Norden in Hof Street - a One of the most difficult aspects of site that would later become the Mishkan, the holy “Sanctuary”, the the pandemic is that we haven’t Mount Nelson Hotel. The first shul place where G-ds presence was been able to go to shul - and we’ve building was inaugurated eight felt almost intensely, the place the been bereft without them. This years later in The Gardens. Jewish people gathered together to absence has deepened for us how In Johannesburg, the first recorded connect to G-d in an intimate way. truly precious our shuls are to us. minyan took place in the store of a The Mishkan was a forerunner to We could never have imagined a “Mr Weinstein” on the corner of the Beit HaMikdash - the holy scenario where all our shuls would Mark and Harrison Streets. It Temple in Jerusalem - and forms be closed. And yet that is what wasn’t long before the President the prototype for our shuls happened. This traumatic experi- Street Shul was built in 1888 - throughout history. ence has made us appreciate even more what our shuls mean to us. Johannesburg’s first shul and one According to the Talmud (Megillah of the young city’s first brick 29a), even after the destruction of Now, thank G-d - with our commit- buildings. the Temple, G-d’s presence ment to implementing comprehen- continues to dwell in the shuls we The Jews who founded these shuls sive safety protocols - our shuls build, which our sages calla were refugees from the poverty, are open to us once more. And just “miniature sanctuary”. Our shuls, hardship and oppression of eastern in time. Rosh Hashana and Yom so permeated with sanctity even Europe, struggling to find their way Kippur, in particular, is a time that amidst the darkness of exile, are a in a new country. Wherever they we all feel the importance of being microcosm of the Mishkan and the went, across the length and connected to our shuls and our Temple. They are places of innate breadth of the country, they set up congregations. holiness - of spiritual shuls to gather as a community, to connectedness - where we can This Rosh Hashana, let us pray to G-d, learn Torah, and to be access G-d and be uplifted by its recommit as a community and as connected to the Divine heritage of holy atmosphere. individuals to our shuls. Let each of the generations of Jews that had us think about what we can do in come before them. At shul, we feel a deep sense of the new year ahead to strengthen belonging. We form bonds of love We, South African Jews, the and deepen our connection to our and connection with each other and descendants of the brave pioneer shuls and each other. Let us each feel held by a sense of community. who started our first congregations, contribute our unique energy, We feel G-d’s presence intensely have inherited their passion for giving what we can give and doing and we nourish the roots of our shuls. Our shuls are places where what we can do to ensure our Divine values that form the essence we all feel we belong. We feel at shuls’ ongoing vibrancy and of our Jewish identity, and keep us home. We feel welcome no matter sustainability. strong in a turbulent, confusing our background. We feel Jewish, world. At shul, we find solace and And, in turn, let us draw strength we feel connected to community, tranquillity, where we can regroup, and inspiration from our shuls as we feel connected to Hashem. We refocusing on what’s important and we end a difficult 5780 on a more love to come and feel part of a doing so together as families and hopeful note, and pray for a better community where we find friends as a community. When we gather 5781. who become like family. together in our shuls, prayer May each of us and all of us This commitment to shuls goes becomes a communal experience - together find favour before our back to the very beginnings of not a lonely, isolated one - a way of Creator, and may G-d inscribe us Jewish history. One of the first transcending our own narrow all for a sweet new year - a year of instructions the Jewish people interests, praying for the good of health and healing. received from G-d, while we were the whole, summoning our still in the desert, was to construct collective merits as a community Shana Tova, history’s very first shul: the and as a people, even as we come Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein September / October 2020 4 Pretoria Jewish Chronicle MESSAGES Message from the short amount of time we have had this year. H.E. Lior Keinan Israeli Ambassador We look forward to the coming year, and to strengthening our On behalf of the Embassy of good relations for the benefit of Israel in Pretoria, I would like both countries. As the country to address my best wishes to starts to reopen and with the the Jewish community for the opening of shuls we wish for coming year of 5780. the safety of everyone in the South African community and The past few months have for a better and sweeter year. been a challenging one for the Jewish community of South On behalf of the State of Israel, Africa as we have been faced that were affected in the I thank you for your continued with the uncertainty of the community, businesses and love and support and wish you Coronavirus pandemic. Many families. and your families a sweet New friends and families have Year blessed with peace, good faced the loss of loved ones We continue to work hard to strengthen our political, health and happiness. due to the pandemic, but the economic and cultural community continue to stand May you be inscribed in the relations with South Africa, together.