Cape Town Clock Tower

We arrive in Cape Town, South Africa to a beautiful view of the city and the Table Mountain in our background at the Waterfront. South Africa’s oldest city and legislative capital is a mix of upscale, modern and many struggling neighborhoods with a significant cultural heritage. It is Africa’s third main economic center and business technology hub. It is a major tourist attraction with much to see. With 11 languages, it is interesting to get around, but most people spoke some, if not fluent, English. It would be a good place to retire to but the government corruption and unrest in the city makes it less desirable.

We decided to change our plans, cancel our city tour, and spend the day at the Jewish Museum and St Johns Street and Great Synagogues, Holocaust Museum & Libraries and other related attractions (and then the next day at Robben Island). Our plans were later changed by “events”…read on.

The museum was a wonderful place as we were the first ones in and enjoyed for 2 hours knowing they were closing early and would be closed for two days for Passover. It tells the story of the Jewish immigrants to South Africa and how the community built up and served the Jewish cycles of life including birth, growth love and loss with its own rituals and traditions connecting the individual to the family, to the community and past generations.

In 1652, the first Europeans that settled in the Cape of Good Hope were those that used it as a supply station for passing ships but the Dutch East India Company only recognized the Dutch Reformed Church and were strict about only working with those observers. In 1804 when they lost control of the Cape to the British, religious tolerance was established. By 1880 there was an estimated population of 4,000 Jews in Cape Town mostly from England and Germany. Later Eastern European (mainly Lithuania) Jews came here in large numbers to find work, mostly as merchants, tailors, and butchers and later diamond mining and dealers (all the obvious ones). They settled in a vibrant inner city area (District 6) and brought many traditions of Jewish life. At the end of the Century, Jews began to increase in Johannesburg as well as Cape Town.

The first Synagogue was established in 1841 with the first Rabbi in 1849 and an actual building was consecrated in 1863 as the Spiritual Center of Jewish Life in Cape Town (first in South Africa) and Julius Mosenthal, who had built a large shipping business here in 1858 became the first Jew elected to the Cape Legislative Assembly in1858. Jews were settling into this new world. An interesting fact was that Oudtshoorn (nicknamed Jerusalem of Africa) was a town of over 1,500 Jews in 1910 and had established a large business in the Ostrich feather industry. Although a lot of Jews from Eastern Europe left Russia and came to the U.S in this timeframe, 40,000 came to South Africa to work in the gold and diamond fields. This growth continued in the 1930’s when there were 90,645 Jews in South Africa (5% of the white pop and 1% of the total pop) mostly in Johannesburg. The community was/is mostly Ashkenazi but there is an old Sephardim group that lived on Rhodes Island starting in 1553 and they established a Community in Cape Town in the1950’s.

Jews and Human Rights-
While many Jews along with most of the South African Whites lived quietly with segregation and apartheid, a large number challenged the inequities of life in South Africa and sought a more humane and just society. Some Jewish Organizations seemed to be driven by Jewish values but others by social ideals (liberalism and socialism). Their efforts for human rights covered equal education. health care and social welfare services. In the1970’s the United Jewish Women (UJW) were very outspoken against apartheid and fought for equality, often more than the Jewish Community at large. It was always a tough balance since the Jewish Community was a minority and did not want to appear as a subversive organization and contrary to the government.

As a very organized community, Jewish life centered around the formation of Hebrew congregations. At the end of the 19th Century, they built Synagogues, consecrated burial grounds, provided philanthropic assistance and created educational facilities (in particular when apartheid introduced Christian National Education into state schools). The first South African Zionist Federation were started in the 1898s and grew into support for the establishment of the State of Israel.

In the 1960-70’s there were 120,000 Jews in South Africa but now there are only 51,000 with 12,000 of them living in Cape Town and the remainder mostly in Johannesburg. We are told that there is little antisemitism but there are anti-Israel protests whenever there is a Jewish holiday. Sure enough, this was the eve of the first seder and the first day of Passover and a Palestinian protest was beginning to form around noon, right outside the Jewish Complex here. We were quickly escorted out to be safe and unfortunately did not get to see the Holocaust Museum www.ctholocaust.co.za or the Great Synagogue (see the video of the forming of the protesters outside the Synagogue as we left). As you will see in the next post, we did get to enjoy the afternoon in Cape Town as we strolled through the city and visited other venues.Read more