| United Herzlia Schools | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
 | |
Deerpark Dr E, Vredehoek, Cape Town, 8001 Cape Town , South Africa , Western Cape | |
| Coordinates | 33°56′36.8″S18°25′18.0″E / 33.943556°S 18.421667°E |
| Information | |
| Other name | בתיהייס המאוחדים הרצליה |
| Motto | "אם תרצו" ("If you will it, it is no dream") |
| Denomination | Orthodox Judaism |
| Established | 1940 |
The United Herzlia Schools is an organisation that manages the delivery of separate Jewish education in Cape Town in South Africa.
One of the earliest Jewish schools was the Hope Mill Hebrew Public School which was located at the top of Government Avenue, close to the Cape Town Hebrew Congregation. By 1901 it had about 350 students. The school received state assistance from the Cape school board and the school gradually lost its Jewish character.
A Talmud Torah school was established in District Six in 1899 and by 1903 it housed 100 pupils. In 1919, the United Hebrew Schools of Cape Town were established. The school was housed at 101 Hope Street under the principalship of Mr Joseph Homa.
With the arrival of Rabbi Abrahams as Chief Rabbi of the Cape Town Hebrew Congregation, the idea of the Jewish Day School was given new impetus. The first class, which was housed at 101 Hope Street, Cape Town, opened in January 1940.
The first parent committee was established in August 1940 to help stimulate parental support. Thus began the long tradition of active commitment on the part of the parents.
In 1945, it was decided to give the morning school a separate identity from The Hope Street Talmud Torah. It was subsequently given the name Herzlia [1] By 1948, with 225 on the roll and six standards, the problem of space prompted the committee to purchase four and a half acres of land in Highlands Estate but building only began many years later.
In 1955, the school went up to Std 9 with 423 pupils and Myer Katz was appointed Head of Herzlia. Construction began on the Highlands plot. In 1956, the four foundation stones were laid by; Chief Rabbi Professor Abrahams, Max Rabie, Ben Wilder and the fourth (in memory of the late Jacob Gitlin) by Meyer H Goldschmidt.
On 29 April 1957, 560 Herzlians assembled in the new school hall for the first time, The number of pupils soon approached 1000 and a new preparatory school block was built as well as a hostel (currently Highlands Primary) that enabled the country pupils to obtain a Jewish education. They came from as far afield as Upington and Zambia.
In 1976, the Kindergarten classes of Highlands Primary moved into the building which previously housed the school hostel and the upper primary classes joined them in 1978. In 1972, the first sod was turned on the ten acres of land in Kendal Road, Constantia and on 17 July 1973 the completed building was handed over to the new governing body of the school.
Weizmann Primary joined the Herzlia system in 1976 and so it was at that point that the Jewish Day School movement in Cape Town was unified. In 1981 the Middle School was erected on what was previously the school sports field.
Many changes have occurred at the schools over the past decade, including significant changes to the national curriculum and the matriculation examinations. [2]
During 2000, the United Herzlia Schools merged with the Association of Hebrew Pre-Primary Schools. Herzlia has opened playgroups for younger children and also consolidated some of its campuses, integrating the preschools into its schools in the Atlantic and Southern Suburbs regions. The Herzlia Pre-Primary schools are situated in four suburbs of Cape Town, serving families closest to their homes. Herzlia has also absorbed the Sarah Bloch crèche, which provides an aftercare service to families in the area.
The schools are managed in regions by regional principals with the majority of children attending school in the City Bowl region. The Director of Education has direct educational responsibility for all Herzlia schools educationally and is also the public face of Herzlia, while finance and administration is headed by the Director of Finance and Administration who is seated in the administration house.
United Herzlia schools is a School Group that executively runs in Cape Town. Herzlia Pre Primary to Herzlia High School campuses. Campuses that are included in the Herzlia school group are as follows. [3]
Both the South African and Israeli national anthems are traditionally sung at school events. In November 2018, during the singing of the Israeli anthem during the prize-giving event of the former Herzlia middle school, two Jewish Grade 9 students "took a knee" to protest the Israel government's treatment of Palestinians. [4] [5] In the following days after the students' protest, the UHS board imposed disciplinary action against the two students. [5] [6]
On the 25th of November 2018, in response to the news of disciplinary action being taken against two grade nine learners, a group of Herzlia alumni penned a two-page letter titled “Herzlia Alumni Support Freedom of Thought and Peaceful Expression of Dissent”. [7]
Herzlia's 7204 alumni are located in all corners of the world. Currently the alumni are spread as follows: 897 live in the United States of America, 212 in Canada, 578 in the United Kingdom, 654 in Israel, 643 in Australia, 25 in New Zealand while the balance live in South Africa and a few other smaller destinations.[ citation needed ]
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.
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.
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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."
Herzliya is a city on the central coast of Israel.
The Oxford Shul is a shul (synagogue) in Riviera, Johannesburg near the suburbs of Saxonwold, Houghton and Killarney.
Sir Ephraim Yitzchak Mirvis is an 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 24 years. He is notable for his rabbinical and pastoral duties in the UK, Israel and 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.
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.
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Louis Kreiner was a South African politician and Mayor of Cape Town from 1979 to 1981. His brother, Sol Kreiner subsequently held the position between 1983 and 1985. His wife, Patricia Sulcas Kreiner was also mayor of the city from 1993 to 1995.
