The Gardens Shul, formally the Cape Town Hebrew Congregation (CTHC), also called the Great Synagogue, is a Modern OrthodoxJewish congregation and synagogue, located in the Company Gardens, in the Gardens neighborhood of Cape Town, South Africa. The congregation was established in 1841, making it the oldest Jewish congregation in South Africa.[1]
The congregation, known as "The Mother Synagogue of South Africa," possesses two historic structures, the 1863 synagogue known as the Old Shul and the 1905 synagogue. The South African Jewish Museum, located in its grounds, also occupies the Old Shul and is responsible for its upkeep.[1][2] The 1905 building is an example of Edwardian architecture and has been called "one of the most magnificent synagogues in the world."[1]
History
The congregation first met in 1841 on Erev Yom Kippur in a private home.[1][3] The next week it established the Society of the Jewish Community of Cape Town, Cape of Good Hope or Tikvath Israel (tikvath meaning "hope").[4]
In 1842 it purchased land on Albert Road in Woodstock to establish a cemetery for the congregation,[4] after the Municipality of Cape Town refused a request for a customary free grant of land for a cemetery and demanded the congregation pay £10 for a plot on Somerset Road. The congregation was upset by the refusal and the plot's proximity to a slave cemetery, which it understood as a reference by the Municipality to Jews being descended from slaves in Egypt, so it withdrew the application and raised funds for the Woodstock plot.[5]
The congregation moved into a purpose-built synagogue in 1848, next to the Houses of Parliament.[6]Rabbi Isaac Pulver, the first rabbi at this location, left for Australia after two years because, he said "first, that I cannot get kosher meat, secondly that I cannot, as a Jewish parent, bring up my children in a place where so little regard is paid to the principles of our Holy Religion; and thirdly, that, notwithstanding nearly two years’ trial to live as economically as possible, I could not make my income meet my expenses."[4]
Pulver was replaced by Joel Rabinowitz, who formed the Jewish Philanthropic Society (now the Board of Guardians).[5] In 1863 the congregation moved into a larger building, now known as the Old Shul.[6] The architect, James Hogg, is believed to have made a careful analysis of Solomon’s Temple in the Books of Kings and Chronicles, and incorporated features derived from this study in the final plan.[5]
In 1896, the congregation formed its own school on Hope Hill, the Cape Town Hebrew Congregational Public School. It was supported by Cecil Rhodes and Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr and by 1902 had 500 pupils in its high school and separate junior school. It was eventually taken over by the Cape School Board, but lost its character as a Jewish school and closed in 1920.[5]
The previously Anglo-German character of the congregants began to change as significant numbers of more religiously observant Jewish migrants arrived from Eastern Europe between 1880 and 1948.[7][5] In 1899, 25,000 refugees from the South African War arrived in Cape Town, 3,000 of whom were Jewish and mostly from Eastern Europe. Many of the Jewish refugees' English was not sufficient to easily follow Bender's [clarification needed] sermons, and were uncomfortable with the less strict religious observance of the Anglo-German Jewish establishment, and with Bender's antipathy towards Zionism. The monopoly of the CTHC was broken and The New Hebrew Congregation was formed, with its Roeland Street Shul opened in 1902, accommodating the less affluent, more religiously observant Jewish migrants from Eastern Europe.[8]
The CTHC began a building fund for a larger, more ornate synagogue. It was designed by architects Parker and Forsythe and built at a price of £26,000, and could accommodate 1500 worshipers.[5] The synagogue was opened in 1905 by the CTHC President, who was also Cape Town's first Jewish mayor, Hyman Liberman.[8]
In 1937, Bender retired and was succeeded by Rabbi Israel Abrahams, who was Cape Chief Rabbi for the next thirty years. Both Bender and Abrahams occupied the chair of Hebrew studies at the University of Cape Town and had the title of Professor. Abrahams was heavily involved with the establishment of United Herzlia Schools.[5]
In 1942 Abrahams addressed Cape Town City Hall as news emerged of the Holocaust unfolding in Europe, telling attendees that that two million souls, each one created in the image of God, had been destroyed from this earth.[9] Abrahams was cautious about the arrival of Reform Judaism in Cape Town, with Temple Israel having opened in 1944.[10] He arranged a series of meetings on the perils of the Reform tradition, and upon his appointment as Chief Rabbi in the Cape in 1951, attempted to prohibit his rabbis, cantors and Hebrew teachers from meeting with rabbis and other representatives of the Reform movement.[10] He also attempted to prevent the movement from hiring communal halls.[10]
There were tensions between the congregation and the burgeoning Orthodox synagogue, Marais Road Shul in Sea Point, particularly between Abrahams and that congregation's rabbi, Rabbi Shrock. In 1949, Abrahams had blocked Shrock's appointment to the Beit Din. Shrock and his congregation also opposed Abrahams' appointment as Chief Rabbi of Cape Town, and rejected the notion of a Chief Rabbi for the Cape This would allow Abrahams to make decision about their synagogue and presume a higher status than Rabbi Shrock. The congregation's representatives did not attend a vote for a Chief Rabbi and in their absence, Rabbi Abrahams was elected, with Rabbi Shrock as deputy Chief Rabbi. Shrock rejected the deputy position and the congregation left the Cape Board of Deputies and United Council of Synagogues. A decision was made to federate with the Roeland Street and Vredehoek synagogues to strengthen their position. The congregation rejoined the UC in 1955 on the condition that by rejoining, it did not imply that the congregation would be under the authority of the Cape Chief Rabbi and that the synagogue would remain independent.[11]
The synagogue was the seat of the Chief Rabbi of the Jewish congregations of the then Cape Province, as well as of South West Africa and the Sephardi Congregation of Rhodesia (only since 1986 has South Africa had one sole Chief Rabbi for the country).[6] In 1965, Walter Gradner, president of the congregation, also became Mayor of Cape Town.[12]
Membership progressively declined as much of the City Bowl Jewish population migrated to the Southern Suburbs and Sea Point. In 1995, the synagogue took the lead in Cape Town by hosting a memorial service for the murdered Israeli president, Yitzhak Rabin. At the turn of the millennium, the congregation was reinvigorated by the development of its campus in providing the South African Jewish Museum, the Cape Town Holocaust Centre, the Jacob Gitlin Library, the Gardens Jewish Community Centre and the kosher cafe, Café Riteve.[6] In 2007, the congregation hired a 24-year old Chabad rabbi, Osher Feldman from Sydney as its new spiritual leader.[13][14] The cantor is Choni Goldman, also known as Choni G.[15]
Gallery
Sanctuary of the 1905 synagogue
Bimah of the 1905 synagogue
Interior detail of the 1905 synagogue
Interior detail of the 1905 synagogue
Stained glass window of the 1905 synagogue
Ceiling detail of the 1905 synagogue
The 1905 synagogue beneath Table Mountains, seen from Company's Gardens
David Shlomo Rosen KSG CBE is an English-Israeli rabbi and interfaith peacemaker. He was Chief Rabbi of Ireland (1979–1985) before relocating permanently to Israel in 1985. He has taken leave from his position as AJC’s International Director of Interreligious Affairs in order to serve as Special Advisor to the Abrahamic Family House in Abu Dhabi.<https://www.rabbidavidrosen.net/></ref>"David Rosen". AJC. 9 July 2017. Retrieved 26 October 2020.</ref> From 2005 until 2009 he headed the International Jewish Committee for Inter-religious Consultations (IJCIC), the broad-based coalition of Jewish organizations and denominations that represents World Jewry in its relations with other world religions.
Gardens is an affluent inner-city suburb of Cape Town located just to the south of the city centre located in the higher elevations of the "City Bowl" and directly beneath Table Mountain and Lion's Head. It is home to several national museums such as Iziko South African National Gallery and the Iziko South African Museum. The University of Cape Town also houses its Fine Arts department in the suburb, at Michaelis School of Fine Art. Company's Garden, South Africa's oldest garden, a public park and heritage site is a focal point of the suburb. The area is also home to the oldest synagogue in Southern Africa, the Old Shul and its successor, the Gardens Shul, "The Mother Synagogue of South Africa."
The Oxford Shul is an Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, located in Riviera, near the suburbs of Saxonwold, Houghton and Killarney, in Johannesburg, in the region of Gauteng, South Africa. The congregation was established in 1943 and moved into its current building in 1962. The sanctuary is one of the largest in the Southern Hemisphere, with seating for 1,500 congregants.
The United Herzlia Schools is an organisation that manages the delivery of separate Jewish education in Cape Town in South Africa.
Sir Ephraim Yitzchak Mirvis is a British Orthodox rabbi who serves as the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth. He served as the Chief Rabbi of Ireland between 1985 and 1992.
Rabbi Barry Marcus is a South African rabbi. He retired as senior minister of Central Synagogue, Great Portland Street in London in 2018 after serving the congregation for over 23 years. He is notable for his rabbinical and pastoral duties in the UK, Israel and South Africa.
The Great Park Synagogue is an Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at 75 4th Street, in Houghton, Johannesburg, in the region of Gauteng, South Africa.
The Temple Israel is a Progressive Jewish congregation and synagogue, located in Hillbrow, a suburb of Johannesburg, in the district of Gauteng, South Africa. Designed by Hermann Kallenbach in the Art Deco style, the synagogue was completed in 1936 and is the oldest of eleven Progressive synagogues in South Africa. The synagogue is classified as a provincial heritage site. The congregation is affiliated with the South African Union for Progressive Judaism (SAUPJ), which is part of the World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ).
The South African Union for Progressive Judaism (SAUPJ) is an affiliate of the World Union for Progressive Judaism and supports 11 progressive congregations. Rabbi Moses Cyrus Weiler, a founder of Reform Judaism in the country, led the country's first Reform synagogue, Temple Israel in Hillbrow, Johannesburg. Weiler is credited with growing the movement, to represent 15-17% of South African Jewry and establishing 25 congregations in the country. A 2020 joint study by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research and the University of Cape Town showed that 12% of Jews identified as Progressive and that in relative terms the progressive strands are increasing after falling to 7% in 1998 and 2005 studies. In Johannesburg, the community accounts for 7% of the city's Jewry, rising to 18% in Cape Town and 25% in Durban.
The Temple Israel, also known as the Cape Town Progressive Jewish Congregation (CTPJC), is a Progressive Jewish congregation, located in Cape Town, with three synagogues located in each of Green Point, Wynberg and Milnerton, in the Western Cape region of South Africa. As three centres combined, they are the largest Progressive congregation in South Africa, and the second largest Jewish congregation in Cape Town after Marais Road Shul in Sea Point.
Moses Cyrus Weiler was a Latvian-born South African rabbi and founder of Reform Judaism in the country. He was Chief Minister of the United Jewish Progressive Congregation and served as rabbi of Temple Israel in Hillbrow, Johannesburg, the mother synagogue of the country's Reform movement. He is credited with growing the movement, with 25 congregations established during his tenure. He made aliyah to Israel in 1958, where he spent the second part of his life.
Rabbi Dr David Sherman was a South African and American rabbi. He was the first spiritual leader of a Reform congregation in Cape Town, where he led Temple Israel in Green Point.
The Marais Road Shul, formally the Green & Sea Point Hebrew Congregation (G&SPHC), is a Modern Orthodox synagogue in Sea Point, a seaside suburb of Cape Town. The congregation was first established in 1926, and the synagogue was completed in 1934. It had initially intended to become a branch of the Gardens Shul in the City Bowl, but opted for independence, and became the larger of the two. It is the largest Jewish congregation in South Africa, and by 1994, it had become the largest in the South Hemisphere. The Sephardi Hebrew Congregation, established in 1960, also operates a shul from the G&SPHC's Weizmann Hall on Regent Road in Sea Point.
The Vredehoek Shul, formally the Cape Town Hebrew Congregation, was a Modern Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, located in Vredehoek in Cape Town, South Africa. The synagogue was completed in 1939 and closed in 1993. The Art Deco-style building is a protected South African Heritage Resources Agency site and currently operates as Private Collection, an antique furniture showroom.
Hyman Liberman was a Polish-born South African politician, produce merchant and philanthropist. He served three consecutive terms as the Mayor of Cape Town between 1904 and 1907. He was the city's first elected Jewish mayor. David Bloomberg, who served as mayor of the city in the 1970s, said that Liberman's appointment was "extraordinary" at the time as much of the Council was made up of gentry from England, Scotland and Ireland. He became the second Jewish person in South Africa to hold mayoral office, after H.H. Solomon in Port Elizabeth in 1875. According to Milton Shain, Liberman may have been the inspiration behind a Jewish caricature cartoon by D. C. Boonzaier.
The Muizenberg Shul, formally the Muizenberg Hebrew Congregation, is a Modern Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, located in Muizenberg, in Greater Cape Town, in the Western Cape region of South Africa. The congregation was established in 1924, and the synagogue was completed in the following year.
The Beit Midrash Morasha is a Modern Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, located on Arthur's Road, in Sea Point, a seaside suburb of Cape Town, South Africa. The congregation was first established in 1897 in District Six, before relocating to Vredehoek in 1945. It moved to its present location in Sea Point in 1954.
The Stellenbosch Synagogue, formally the Stellenbosch Hebrew Congregation, is an Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at 44 Ryneveld Street, in Stellenbosch, in the Western Cape region of South Africa. The congregation was established in 1900 and moved into its current building in 1923.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
