Temple Israel | |
---|---|
Religion | |
Affiliation | Reform Judaism |
Ecclesiastical or organizational status | Synagogue and congregation |
Ownership | Cape Town Progressive Jewish Congregation |
Leadership |
|
Year consecrated | 1944 |
Status | Active |
Location | |
Location | all in Cape Town, Western Cape |
Country | South Africa |
Architecture | |
Type | Synagogue architecture |
Date established | 1944 (as a congregation) |
Website | |
templeisrael |
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. [1]
The congregation started in Green Point in 1944, eight years after South Africa's first progressive synagogue opened in Hillbrow in Johannesburg. The Cape Town congregation caters to over 3,000 Progressive Jews in the city. [2] The congregation is an affiliate of the South African Union for Progressive Judaism, which is part of the World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ). [3] The congregation represents around 18% of Jews living in Cape Town. [4]
The congregation was founded in Green Point in 1944 by founding rabbinic couple, Rabbi Dr David Sherman (z”l) and Bertha Sherman (z”l). Rabbi Moses Cyrus Weiler (z”l) founded the Reform movement and led the movement's mother synagogue, also called Temple Israel, in Hillbrow. Although Weiler had been tasked with establishing a national Reform movement, he resisted establishing other congregations outside Hillbrow during his first ten years. He felt that it was more important to build a significant membership in Johannesburg before expanding nationwide. In 1943, he relented and agreed to help set up the first progressive congregation in Cape Town, and was able to call upon Sherman, his friend and Hebrew Union classmate. [5] [6] Sherman led Temple Israel in Green Point for the ensuing decades, seeing exponential growth with 25% of Cape Town Jewry affiliating themselves with the Reform movement. In comparison, the percentage of Johannesburg Jews affiliated to the Reform branch has always been under 10%. [5] The profile of the local Atlantic Seaboard Jewry differed from the Yiddish-speaking Jewish migrants that settled in District Six and Woodstock, Cape Town generations before. They were usually South African-born and spoke English in the family home. They mostly attended local government schools rather than Jewish schools (cheders or yeshivot). They were usually more affluent than their migrant parents and they abandoned many religious practices, favouring modern dress and haircuts and sometimes anglicizing their names. [7]
In Johannesburg, Weiler had faced backlash for introducing Confirmation at age 16, requiring students to study for an exam and then lead a service. [5] Parents also voiced their disagreement with the Christian-sounding name for the rite. [5] [8] However, Confirmation, which had become common in American Reform Judaism, persisted in Cape Town under Rabbi Sherman's leadership. By 1977, the Green Point congregation had been holding Confirmation services for 31 years. [9]
In the 1940s and 1950s there was a Johannesburg-Cape Town cultural split when Temple Israel in Green Point rejected a proposal for the creation of the position of Chief Minister under which all Progressive congregations would fall. The appointee would have been Rabbi Weiler, who was based in Johannesburg. [8] Weiler had sent Victor Brasch as his emissary to Cape Town to assure the community of the need for central control, based in Johannesburg, and enuring that each congregation follow the same formula. However, Cape Town wanted a looser federation where each city made its own decisions and pushed back against the notion of a Chief Minister, arguing that it was against the democratic principles of Reform Judaism. In 1951, Cape Town quit the South African Union for Progressive Judaism and refused to return until 1963. [5]
The arrival of the congregation and Reform Judaism in Cape Town was met with opposition from Rabbi Israel Abrahams, spiritual leader of the Gardens Shul. 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. He also attempted to prevent the movement from hiring communal halls. [10] Dr Herman Kramer, a long-time president of the Orthodox Marais Road Shul in Sea Point, later became president of Temple Israel. [10] In 1965, Rabbi Sherman was critical of a concordat that was signed in Johannesburg between the Orthodox Chief Rabbi, Bernard M. Casper and Chief Minister of the United Progressive Jewish Congregations Rabbi Arthur Saul Super. They agreed that from "the religious point of view there is an unbridgeable gulf between Orthodoxy and Reform." Super was only representing Johannesburg's progressive congregations in the agreement. Rabbi Sherman argued that it amounted to “allowing ourselves to be read out of the community of Klal Yisrael." [8]
Rabbi Rabinowitz, who led the Orthodox Marais Road Shul in Sea Point from 1959, was sympathetic to Abrahams' viewpoint. Rabbi Sherman was addressing a 1963 function held by the Union of Jewish Women, Rabbi Rabinowitz and his wife refused to attend. He wrote to his congregants telling them that the UJW, as a social and charitable organisation, had no right to invite a Reform minister (Sherman) to address them. “I am not going to tell my lady members that they must not go… but I really don’t think you should go” and admitted that some women who had not intended to go were now going “out of perversity”. According to Sherman “Orthodox women were instructed not to attend the trefe lecture in the trefe hall. The result was an exceptionally large attendance.”. [11] The congregation had more cordial relations with Rabbi David Rosen, who led the Marais Road congregation between 1975 and 1980. Rabbi Rosen conducted a Bat Mitzvah service with the participation of the Temple Israel choir and the two synagogues worked together to set up a facility in the area to provide cheap meals for vagrants. [12] [13] In 1982, the Marais Road Shul president accepted an invitation to attend the induction service of a Reform rabbi at Temple Israel, with the Cape Beth Din determining that there was neither reason nor halachic grounds to refuse to attend or for an Orthodox rabbi not to attend a chuppah under which a Reform rabbi participated. [12]
Sherman took a discreet yet courageous stand on issues of human rights, he opposed apartheid and spoke at protest meetings. During his tenure, Major Hall at Temple Israel had a dual function as a centre for African culture, literacy and poverty alleviation projects. [14] In 1971, to mark Sherman's 25th anniversary with the congregation, the David Sherman Lecture was established. [15] Each year, a prestigious speaker would be invited to give the lecture. The congregation has invited figures such as the Israeli politician Aryeh Eliav [15] and Robert Kaplan, Chair of the United Jewish Appeal (UIA) South Africa. [16] The congregation has also been addressed by Nobel Prize winners, F. W. de Klerk, State President of South Africa [17] and Desmond Tutu, the Anglican bishop. [18] On other occasions, figures such as Dr. Alon Liel, Israel's ambassador to South Africa addressed the congregation [19] and Tony Leon, leader of the opposition have addressed the congregation. [20]
In 1965, a second temple was opened in Wynberg to serve congregants in the Southern Suburbs. The most recent congregation was formed in 1998 in Milnerton. [21] The original Temple Israel in Green point was a much larger building that was later demolished. Part of the land was developed for apartments and a smaller synagogue was rebuilt to better meet the needs of the community. [22] Between 1994 and 1997, Dana Evan Kaplan, an American rabbi, led the congregation. [23]
In 2020, a study by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research and the Kaplan Centre at the University of Cape Town found that 18% of Jewish respondents in Cape Town identify as progressive. [4]
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the congregation live-streamed services, an option that was unavailable to Orthodox congregations. Online attendance for services such as Yom Kippur was especially high and much greater than Temple Israel's combined membership. [24]
Temple Israel in Green Point also houses, Czech Memorial Scroll 128, a Sefer Torah . As the Nazis invaded Czechoslovakia, some of the artefacts such as the Torah scrolls were rescued and stored in a warehouse in Prague. Donors from Westminster Synagogue bought 1 564 scrolls from the Czechoslovak government in 1964. The scrolls were restored and many have been sent to congregations around the world, including Temple Israel. [25] [26]
The congregation is served by four rabbis; [28]
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.
The National Council of Young Israel (NCYI) or Young Israel, is a synagogue-based Orthodox Judaism organization in the United States with a network of affiliated "Young Israel" synagogues. Young Israel was founded in 1912, in its earliest form, by a group of 15 young Jews on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Their goal was to make Orthodox Judaism more relevant to young Americanized Jews at a time when a significant Jewish education was rare, and most Orthodox institutions were Yiddish-speaking and oriented to an older, European Jewish demographic.
The Gardens Shul, formally the Cape Town Hebrew Congregation (CTHC), also called the Great Synagogue, is a Modern Orthodox Jewish 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.
Bernard Moses Casper (1916–1988) was a British-South African rabbi. He was born and raised in London; educated in London and Cambridge; and served as both a Rabbi and educator in Manchester and London. He was a commissioned Chaplain in the British Army through most of the Second World War, and served with distinction as Senior Chaplain of the Jewish Infantry Brigade Group, earning a Mention in Despatches. He served as Chief Rabbi of the Union of Orthodox Synagogues and its predecessors in South Africa from 1963 to 1987.
Dana Evan Kaplan is a Reform rabbi known for his writings on Reform Judaism, in particular, and American Judaism, generally. He has also written on other subjects, including American Jewish history and Jews in various diaspora communities. Kaplan has been the rabbi of Temple Beth Shalom of the West Valley in Sun City, Arizona, since June 2019.
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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).
Beit Emanuel, formally the Temple Emamuel, is a Progressive Jewish congregation and synagogue, located in Parktown, a suburb of Johannesburg, in the district of Gauteng, South Africa. The synagogue was established in 1954 and is one of the largest Progressive Jewish congregations in South Africa. It is an affiliate of 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.
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.
Arthur Saul Super was a British-born rabbi and journalist. He initially served as a rabbi to Orthodox congregations before switching allegiances to Reform Judaism. He served as Chief Minister of the United Jewish Progressive Congregations of Johannesburg between 1964 and 1975.
The South African Jewish Museum is a museum of South African Jewish life, history and identity. The museum is situated in the downtown neighbourhood of Gardens in Cape Town. It is located in the grounds of Gardens Shul, and is in the same complex as the Cape Town Holocaust & Genocide Centre and the Gardens Jewish Community Centre. It is also close to the Iziko South African National Gallery and Houses of Parliament. The museum was founded by the late philanthropist, Mendel Kaplan. It documents the community's historical roots in Lithuania and elsewhere. Thereon it documents the role of South African Jewry in South African society and their contributions to a number of diverse fields.
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.
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