Boers are the descendants of the proto Afrikaans-speaking Free Burghers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. From 1652 to 1795, the Dutch East India Company controlled Dutch Cape Colony, but the United Kingdom incorporated it into the British Empire in 1806. The name of the group is derived from Trekboer then later "boer", which means "farmer" in Dutch and Afrikaans.
Paarl is a city with 285,574 inhabitants in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is the largest town in the Cape Winelands. Due to the growth of the Mbekweni township, it is now a de facto urban unit with Wellington. It is situated about 60 kilometres (37 mi) northeast of Cape Town in the Western Cape Province and is known for its scenic environment and viticulture and fruit-growing heritage.
The Griquas are a subgroup of mixed-race heterogeneous formerly Xiri-speaking nations in South Africa with a unique origin in the early history of the Dutch Cape Colony. Like the Boers they migrated inland from the Cape and in the 19th century established several states in what is now South Africa and Namibia. The Griqua consider themselves as being South Africa’s first multiracial nation with people descended directly from Dutch settlers in the Cape, and local peoples.
Hillbrow is an inner city residential neighbourhood of Johannesburg, Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is known for its high levels of population density, unemployment, poverty, prostitution and crime.
Griekwastad is a country town in South Africa. It is sometimes still called Griquatown, a name which is now considered historical. The town is on the N8 road in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa 168 kilometres (104 mi) by road west from the city of Kimberley. It was the first town to be established in the country north of the Orange River.
Paradesi Jews refer to Jewish immigrants to the Indian subcontinent during the 15th and 16th centuries following the expulsion of Jews from Spain and Portugal. Paradesi means foreign in Malayalam and Tamil. These Sephardic immigrants fled persecution and death by burning in the wake of the 1492 Alhambra Decree and King Manuel's 1496 decree expelling Jews from Portugal. They are sometimes referred to as "White Jews", although that usage is generally considered pejorative or discriminatory and refers to relatively recent Jewish immigrants, predominantly Sephardim.
South African Jews, whether by culture, ethnicity, or religion, form the twelfth largest Jewish community in the world, and the largest on the African continent. As of 2020, the Kaplan Centre at the University of Cape Town estimates 52,300 Jews in the country. The South African Jewish Board of Deputies estimates that the figure is closer to 75,000.
Muizenberg is a beach-side town in the Western Cape, South Africa. It is situated where the shore of the Cape Peninsula curves round to the east on the False Bay coast. It is considered to be the main surfing spot in Cape Town and is currently home to a surfing community, centered on the popular 'Surfer's Corner'.
Vredehoek is a residential suburb of Cape Town, South Africa, located at the foot of Table Mountain and Devil's Peak. It is sandwiched between the two neighbouring suburbs of Oranjezicht and Devil's Peak Estate, the latter of which is often considered a sub-suburb of Vredehoek as they both fall under the neighbourhood watch community called DPV - Devil's Peak & Vredehoek.
Caledon, originally named Swartberg, is a town in the Overberg region in the Western Cape province of South Africa, located about 100 kilometres (62 mi) east of Cape Town next to mineral-rich hot springs. As of 2011 it had a population of 13,020. It is located in, and the seat of, the Theewaterskloof Local Municipality.
Ohr Somayach in South Africa is an affiliate of Ohr Somayach, Jerusalem, a network of Haredi yeshivas and Synagogues. Like its parent institution, it focuses on educating baal teshuvas. It has branches in Johannesburg and Cape Town.
Grabouw is a town located in the Western Cape province of South Africa.The mayor of Grabouw, Enrich Adams and his wife, Chante, reside in Pineview.Grabouw is located some 65 km south-east of Cape Town, over Sir Lowry's Pass from Somerset West, along the N2 highway. The town is the commercial centre for the vast Elgin Valley, the largest single export fruit-producing area in Southern Africa, which extends between the Hottentots-Holland, Kogelberg, Groenland, and Houwhoek Mountains. The town's population has grown rapidly, with 44 593 people in 2019 from 21 593 as listed by the 2001 census.
Prior to the arrival of the European settlers in the 17th century the economy of what was to become South Africa was dominated by subsistence agriculture and hunting.
The Old Yishuv were the Jewish communities of the region of Palestine during the Ottoman period, up to the onset of Zionist aliyah waves, and the consolidation of the New Yishuv by the end of World War I. Unlike the New Yishuv, characterized by secular and Zionist ideologies promoting labor and self-sufficiency, the Old Yishuv primarily consisted of religious Jews who relied on external donations (halukka) for support.
The Gardens Shul, formally, the Cape Town Hebrew Congregation (CTHC) is a Modern Orthodox synagogue located in the Company Gardens, in the Gardens neighborhood of Cape Town. It has the oldest Jewish congregation in South Africa, dating to 1841. 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. The 1905 building is an example of Edwardian architecture and has been called "one of the most magnificent synagogues in the world."
The history of the Jews in Zimbabwe reaches back over one century. Present-day Zimbabwe was formerly known as Southern Rhodesia and later as Rhodesia.
The United Herzlia Schools is an organisation that manages the delivery of separate Jewish education in Cape Town in South Africa.
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.
Temple Israel, also known as the Cape Town Progressive Jewish Congregation (CTPJC), is a Progressive Jewish congregation in Cape Town, with three centres in Green Point, Wynberg and Milnerton. 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. The congregation first started in Green Point in 1944, eight years after South Africa's first progressive synagogue, also Temple Israel, opened in Hillbrow in Johannesburg. The Cape Town congregation caters to over 3000 Progressive Jews in the city. The congregation is an affiliate of the South African Union for Progressive Judaism, which is part of the World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ). The congregation represents around 18% of Cape Town Jewry.
The Marais Road Shul, formally, the Green & Sea Point Hebrew Congregation (G&SPHC) is a notable 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.
