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The Cape Jewish Orphanage: Bes Yesoymim, 1911-1939

Author: Published on: Published in: Jewish History – South Africa

(Veronica Belling, Vol. 64, No. 2, Rosh Hashanah 2009)

 

The commandment to care for the widow and the orphan, the most vulnerable members of society, is one of the most basic precepts of Judaism. Although the oldest Jewish organisation in South Africa, Cape Town’s Tikvath Israel congregation, was founded in 1841, a Jewish orphanage in that city was only established in 1912, eight years after that of the South African Jewish Orphanage in Johannesburg. Prior to its establishment, abandoned and destitute children were sent to Norwood, the Jewish Orphanage in London. After the establishment of the orphanage in Johannesburg, the general feeling was that one Jewish Orphanage in South Africa was sufficient, and six Cape Town orphans were sent there. The proposed establishment of an orphanage for Cape Town was first raised and discussed at the Cape Town Jewish Philanthropic Society in 1907.

The idea of founding this body was first conceived by Mrs Natalie Friedlander, a prominent charity worker in the Cape Town Jewish community. At the end of 1909, in response to a rumor that there were Jewish children living in a state of great neglect in the Western Boland, Mrs. Friedlander, accompanied by Miss Henrietta Hill (at the time a high school student), discovered three Jewish children – two boys and a girl, aged eight or nine – who had been living with a Colored family in Piquetberg since their parent’s death. The children were found at the back of a hotel washing bottles and glasses from the Bar! Another little boy was subsequently found on a farm in Namaqualand. These children were brought to Cape Town and homes found for them, but the question was what would happen to future cases. An Orphan Aid society was established by the Cape Town Hebrew Congregation, but this was clearly not enough.

Mrs. Friedlander inspired her friend Joseph Kadish, a Cape Town jeweler well known for his public-spiritedness, to convene a meeting. This took place on 15 July 1911. Participants were Kadish himself, his brother, I. Kadish, J. Isaac Wittenberg, one of South Africa’s earliest clothing manufacturers, Louis Gradner, a printer and future mayor of Cape Town, Meyer Lintern, a hairdresser in Long Street; Simon Frank from Gordon Street, J. Isenstein, William Street shopkeeper in District Six, and the Reverends B. Strod and Weinberg. As the Very Reverend Dr Adler, Chief Rabbi of the United Congregations of the British Empire, had passed away only a few days before, it was proposed to name the institution “The Doctor Adler Jewish Memorial Orphanage.” This name is written across the first page of the minute book, but is never heard of again.

Within a month, the committee had expanded to include Advocate Morris Alexander,  Parliamentarian and Jewish community leader, the Policansky brothers, well known tobacco merchants, popular theatre impresario, Harry Stodel, the medical doctor, S. E. Kark (who offered his services free), Messrs R. Barnett, M. Davies, R. Weinberg, M. Papert, and Isaac Ochberg. The latter was to play a pivotal role in the history of the Orphanage. The committee was joined by the charities: the Hebrew Dividing and Benefit Society, the Grand Order of Israel, the Wynberg Synagogue, the Roeland Street Synagogue, the Helping Hand Society, the Bnoth Zion Association and the Jewish Girls Circle. A system was devised whereby all Hebrew congregations, charities and societies of various kinds that took out annual subscriptions to the orphanage would also be members of the committee.

While the original committee was a predominantly a male affair, by October a Ladies committee consisting of fifteen women, chaired by Natalie Friedlander with Mrs A. H. Stodel, wife of Harry Stodel, as vice chairlady, was appointed. In the meantime the new institution was officially named the ‘Cape Jewish Orphanage, Bes Yesoymin.’

There were four basic preconditions for the orphanage’s establishment, viz. money, a building, a matron to care for the orphans, and the orphans themselves. All were achieved in the short space of six months. Money was the most pressing requirement. The Jewish community of Cape Town and surrounding districts already had a wellestablished tradition of fundraising and a communal network comprising a numerous Hebrew congregations and charities. 100 subscription lists were initially drawn up. The first lists were sent to Simonstown, Diep River, Hopefield and Port Elizabeth, indicative of the policy of the orphanage of catering for the whole of the Cape Province.

Within a fortnight the first contribution of £8 17s 6d was received.1 Yet notwithstanding institutional support and that of the wealthier patrons, it was noted at a meeting in May 1912 that the majority of the subscribers came from the poorer section of the community, proving how necessary this institution was to Cape Jewry at large. Anyone donating £50 or more was eligible to endow a bed that would bear a plaque bearing the donor’s name. The beds, however, could only be endowed in the name of living people; the names of those deceased person would be inscribed on a Memorial Board at the entrance.

The task of finding a suitable house was not easy. Committee President Joseph Kadish offered a house that he owned in Mill Street, but it did not have any grounds and with the shop attached could only accommodate between 12 and 14 children.2 A house in Hatfield Street belonging to the Cape Town Hebrew Congregation that could accommodate fifty orphans was initially favored, but it was considered to be too central and the congregation was not agreeable.3 A certain Louis Elias, a member of the Grand Order of Israel, offered a plot 80’ by 100’ in Upper Mill Street.4 This offer, which was bound to the condition that the ground only be used for an orphanage, was finally abandoned.5

As no other houses were available, it was decided to use Kadish’s Mill Street house from 11 December 1911.6 Renovations were immediately set in motion and the house was soon equipped by generous donations of linoleum, furniture, beds linen, toys, and books. The Orphanage was opened in February 1912 by Colonel David Harris. Colonel Harris, while being deeply sensitive to the complement paid to him, “regretted that such an institution was not kept by the state” and that, as it was sectarian, it would only be supported by the Jewish community. Still he “hoped that they would receive outside support, as the Jew had always proved himself to be a reliever of human suffering.”7

By June 1913, the house in Mill Street was running out of space.8 It was proposed that plans should be put forward for the erection of a building that could accommodate fifty orphans.9 Two plots were considered: the first was in Upper Mill Street that could be leased from the Cape Town Municipality at a nominal fee, and the second was in Montrose Avenue in Oranjezicht, that was far more expensive but could be bought outright. Reservations were expressed about the possible penetration of Coloreds into Upper Mill Street, as well as the possibility of the area becoming more industrial. It was decided that the Oranjezicht plot would be the better asset, and it was duly purchased.10 South Africa Governor General Lord Buxton laid the foundation stone of the new building.11

With the flue epidemic of 1918, an extension to the building was envisaged.12 The following year, it was reported that there was space for another three more boys and six more girls.13 In January 1920, a scheme was outlined to build on two extra wings that would each be able to accommodate thirty six children.14 In February 1921, just before the arrival of the Ukrainian orphans, it was reported that there were 51 children from 19 different families in the home.15[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Residents of the Cape Jewish Orphanage, as they appeared in a Rosh Hashanah fundraising, 1920.

Even before advertisements were put in the paper for applicants, the committee made sure to ascertain whether there were any Jewish orphans who were being kept at any of the Christian orphan asylums in the city, such as the St John’s Home, Nazareth House or the All Saints Home. One Jewish girl was located at St Michaels Home.

Rumors surfaced from time to time about Jewish children who were being kept by Malay or Colored families, but these did not always prove to be accurate.16

A set of criteria for admission was devised. First and foremost, the child had to be halachically Jewish.17

Secondly, the child had to be an orphan. Before the arrival of the Ukraine orphans, there were relatively few cases of full orphans, with only one of the parents having passed away in most cases. Priority was given to a child who had lost both parents; next came the child with no father; and third in line was a child with no mother.18 The criterion that the child had to be an orphan was adhered to very strictly in the early years and a child whose parents were both alive was almost automatically rejected.19 This principle was upheld steadfastly until September 1920, when, because of the case of a young child from Port Elizabeth whose parents were alive but who were unable to care for her, it was first set aside, with the following proviso:

To make explicit the rule with regard to the admission of children to this orphanage, which shall include not only orphans in the ordinary accepted meaning of that term, but also such distressed children whose parents are in such circumstances that they may be considered dead.20

Committee of the Cape Jewish Orphanage, 1922.

The threat of children becoming Christian was also an incentive for this principle to be waived. Four children in Kimberley, whose father had deserted their mother and who were being supported by the community in a Christian Home, were also admitted.21 On occasion, the reason for refusing to admit the children of separated parents was that this would be an inducement for them to remain separated.22 Another determining factor was a means test. If a parent had the means to support the child, it was unlikely to be accepted.23 In all cases, parents were required to contribute towards the child’s upkeep according to their means. Grandparents and aunts and uncles were also exhorted to contribute.

It is interesting that there were no applications for the admission of children from unwed Jewish mothers during this period. However a newborn male baby, found abandoned in a basket at the Home in April 1933, could have been the exception to this rule. This anonymous child was unanimously declared to be Jewish, circumcised and given the name of ‘Abraham’, the first Jew in the Bible. (‘Theodor Herzl’, the first name suggested, was ultimately rejected). The baby was then put up for adoption by a Jewish couple.24

It was initially resolved that no more than two children from a single family should be admitted. This criterion was put to the test in the case of the very first application received in December 1911, when only two of the four applicants were admitted,25 but was subsequently abandoned.26 The home also initially refused to accept children who were under five years of age,27 but this criterion too fell away.28

It was not until 1928, however, that the first set of infants were admitted – aged three and a half, two and a half, and six months – and a Nursery Department established.29 Besides a minimum age, a maximum age was also determined, fourteen years for boys and fifteen for girls.30 This could be extended if the boy or girl had not yet passed Standard Seven.31 In January 1925, the maximum age was increased to sixteen.

Admissions were on the whole restricted to the Cape Province. Children from elsewhere, such as the Orange Free State or Durban were refused,32 although children from Bulawayo and from Elizabethville in the Belgian Congo were accepted.33 On the other hand, three children from Beira in Mozambique were advised to apply to the SA Jewish Orphanage in Johannesburg.34 Children who were physically disabled or retarded were also excluded and their families were referred to the community charities.35 Very early on, it was laid down that the home was for poor and destitute orphans who were physically healthy.36

The circumstances of the applications reflect the exigencies of the time. A particularly poignant case was that of a woman who had arrived from Russia only seven months before to join her husband, who was acting as a shoykhet in Sutherland, Western Cape. When he suddenly passed away, she was forced to apply to the Orphanage to admit her two sons aged six and seven.37 In another instance, a ten year old boy whose mother had died in Vilna was placed in the orphanage by his father, who was working as an ice cream vendor and could not look after him.38 Similarly another six year old, who had been deserted by his mother in Russia, was admitted because his father was working as a bus conductor.39 The Ukrainian pogrom orphans

The number of orphans at the home was doubled with the arrival of the Ukrainian pogrom orphans. The first mention of them appears in the minutes of 8 August 1920, when Isaac Ochberg, by then President of the Orphanage, reported that due to the war and pogroms, there were about 300 000 Jewish orphans in the Ukraine and stated that it was imperative that some of these be brought out to South Africa. By the time that he approached the Committee, Ochberg had already made contact with Dr Jochelson of the Federation of Ukrainian Jews, who was willing to bring the orphans to London, and had obtained the permission of the Minister of the Interior, Patrick Duncan, to bring them into the country. Ochberg initially envisaged bringing some 50-100 orphans at a time. He saw the Orphanage as acting as a clearing house, putting the children up for adoption and keeping the remainder at the Orphanage. Looking back, it was an amazingly romantic and heroic scheme and one that reflects the character of its originator. Isaac Ochberg, himself an immigrant from the Ukraine, had become a very wealthy man in South Africa. He was totally committed and involved with the Orphanage, on one occasion describing it as being his “whole life”.

It was suggested that £10 000 should be raised by the Cape Relief Fund and that a public appeal should be published in the press to adopt the orphans. The SA Jewish Orphanage was also approached to cooperate. The Committee sent out appeals for funds as well as to ascertain how many orphans would be adopted, so as to determine how many children to bring in the first batch.40 The public was asked to subscribe £25 000 towards the scheme and it was decided that Ochberg himself should travel to the Ukraine to fetch the children.41 By January 1921, fundraising tours to the country districts had raised over 15000. The Johannesburg Committee had in the meanwhile  succeeded in convincing General Smuts to agree to contribute towards the fund on a pound for pound basis.42 Immediately on Ochberg’s return in September, the campaign to raise £25 000 was set in motion.43

Ochberg originally collected 233 orphans and brought them to the Temporary Shelter in Warsaw, but 37 ran away while others took ill so that it was impossible to take them to London. He finally departed for South Africa with 167 on the Edinburgh Castle, on which special accommodation for the orphans had been arranged. Various welcoming receptions were arranged in Cape Town including a Memorial and Thanksgiving Service in the synagogue.44 It had been agreed that the children be divided equally between Johannesburg and Cape Town, with seventy ultimately being sent to the former while the balance was accommodated at the Cape Jewish Orphanage.45 Ochberg also brought along a Mr. and Mrs. Maman to act as the new principal and matron respectively, a Mrs. Zalkow to be an assistant doctor and a Miss Bettman to teach Hebrew. Fortunately, the incumbent matron had recently married and volunteered to retire.

At the 8th SA Zionist Conference in January 1922, it was proposed to bring out more orphans and to take some of them to Palestine.46 Although Ochberg had originally envisaged bringing 500 to 1000 orphans, in May 1922 a resolution to bring in more orphans from Eastern Europe was opposed in the light of the upheavals on the Rand and the resultant wave of antisemitism throughout the country.47 Instead, it was decided to establish a temporary home for a maximum of 100 Jewish pogrom war orphans in Eastern Europe, to be maintained by funds provided by the Cape Jewish Orphanage, until such time as would be suitable to bring them out to South Africa.48 A sum of not less than £3000 would be donated to the Orphans Fund in Europe.49

Through the arrival of the Russian orphans in 1922, numbers at the Orphanage peaked at 100. At the institution’s May 1922 AGM, it was reported that 44 of these were South Africans (21 boys and 23 girls) and 53 were Russians (20 boys and 33 girls). The question of the adoptions became urgent. Preference was to be given to couples who had no children and next to couples who had girls and wanted a boy, and vice versa. It was determined not to split families if possible.50 By November 1921, twelve of the orphans had been adopted, with the number rising to 21 by the following month.51 By 1931, numbers in the Home had dropped to 64.52 In the next two years, they increased slightly to 73 and 77,53 rising to 83 in September 1936 (39 boys and 44 girls).54

The employment of a suitable matron proved to be the biggest problem in the very early years. Advertisements were inserted in the local papers as well as in London. While it was never specified, the matron had to be of the Jewish faith, hence the applications of several Christian ladies who responded were not entertained. She further had to be educated and able to maintain the home in a strictly kosher manner.

Between January 1912 and April 1913, three different matrons served the home. Standards were strictly Victorian, and the first matron was dismissed after three months, having been found with a man in her room at 9.45 p.m.55 The second stayed only for six months, leaving of her own accord to join her husband.56 The third, a Miss R. Davids, was a volunteer and a member of the committee, who stood in between matrons and proved to be extremely popular with the children.57 Finally, in January 1913, Miss Lily Berliner, who came highly recommended from London, was engaged.58 Except for a period from October 1914 to November 1915, she served the Orphanage continuously until June 1918.59 Generally, her service was considered exemplary other than a complaint of excessive punishment when she was accused of plastering the children’s mouths! Her response was that this form of punishment was common in Europe, but if the Committee objected she would not do it again.60

The administration of the Orphanage was completely changed with the arrival of the pogrom orphans and the employment of the Mamams, who had accompanied them from Warsaw. The Matron was replaced by a Principal, Mr. Maman, who would also supervise the Hebrew education and teach the boys for their barmitzvahs while his wife took charge of the domestic side of things. However, the couple did not prove that popular and when their contract expired at the end of 1926, it was not renewed. In March 1927, a Mr. and Mrs Beresinski were employed in their place. Mr. Beresinski had been the principal of a large orphanage in Israel, where his wife had been the Matron. He was also a competent Hebrew teacher and could replace the current incumbent, Mrs. Gordon.

The Beresinskis remained for eight years until 1935, when they resigned to return to Palestine.61 In October of that year, they were replaced by a young British couple, Mr. and Mrs. Hickman. They lasted for five months before being summarily dismissed in April 1936. It would seem that they were too rigid in applying the rules of the home, on one occasion leaving a widowed mother of six who arrived unexpectedly to visit her children, out in the grounds and in the corridor in a howling southeaster. Moreover Mr. Hickman was not a competent Hebrew teacher, a very important function that the former principal had carried out.62 In May 1936, the Beresinskis reapplied for their former positions and were accepted unanimously.

Conditions at the Home

First and foremost, the Orphanage aimed to ensure that the children were brought up as observant Jews, and Jewish law was strictly enforced at all times. At the outset, a member of the community was engaged to make the Friday night Kiddush,63 and the Matron was instructed to take the children to the synagogue on Saturday mornings.64 A regular minyan was held at the home and it was laid down that “No boys other than those who are not necessary to make a minyan should be allowed to join any synagogue choir.”65 The children were to attend Reverend Bender’s Sabbath afternoon services at Gardens Synagogue.66 Passover Seders were conducted at the home; the Cape Town Jewish Philanthropic society donated such necessities as  matzos and wine, and donations were received to buy the children new clothes.67 On the High Holidays, services were generally conducted at the Home. Barmitzvahs were celebrated in the local synagogues, followed by a tea at the Orphanage. In September 1936, a Consecration Service for girls was introduced.68 The children were not allowed to attend amusements on Shabbat and Festivals69 (a performance of the Yiddish operetta, Shulamis, by Goldfaden, at the Opera House in May 1925 was refused because it was scheduled for a ‘yontef’).70 On the very rare occasion when the children were invited out on a picnic, they were not permitted to go unless the food was kosher.71 Offers of domestic employment for orphan girls in homes that did not observe kashrut were not entertained.72

To prevent parental interference, in January 1914

the Orphanage applied to the courts for power of guardianship over the children.73 Holidays presented a problem, with parents applying to take the children out for those occasions, and which was generally refused to avoid favoritism.74 On the other hand, Morris Alexander’s offer to take two orphans to his home in Muizenberg on weekends was greatly appreciated.75 For very specific occasions, such as a child’s birthday or a relative’s barmitzvah, the parent was sometimes allowed to take his/her child out. Considerable problems were experienced with parents coming to visit their children at all times, and in October 1914 it was declared that visiting hours would be displayed on a plaque on the door and would also appear on all stationery.

Life was Spartan for the children. Clothes were made from blue serge,76 but an offer of second hand boots was refused on the grounds that the children were only to wear new clothes.77 A crisis occurred when one of the girls was allowed to spend a month with a family in Ceres. Apparently, on her return she refused to dress the same or have her meals in common with the other children. However, within a month she seems to have relented.78 In September 1925, it was resolved by fourteen votes to eight that no scrubbing was to be done by the children!79 In June 1929, for the first time provision was made for the children to acquire dressing gowns and slippers. It was also resolved at that time that either the Matron or the Principal were to be present at all meal times, and that once a month a lady investigator should arrive unannounced to a meal and to inspect the kitchen.80

Entertainments and treats were few and far between. In June 1912, the children were taken to a matinee at the Tivoli,81 but it is not until December 1914 that we hear of another such outing. In that year, the children were taken to the circus, the Sea Point Pavilion82 and Hout Bay.83 Annual outings to Stellenbosch were organised by the Stellenbosch Young Israel society, and once a year the children were invited to a picnic at the Balmoral Hotel in Muizenberg.

Entertainments and lectures were also held on occasion at the Orphanage on Saturday nights. However, these could not have been too well patronized as the children were specifically exhorted to attend them. In 1925, it was decided to hold a holiday camp, either at Hout Bay or Kommetjie. Muizenberg was very specifically excluded.84 Later, extremely successful holiday camps were organized at the Strand during the Christmas break.85 In 1937, the camp moved to Muizenberg.

Education

The first children were sent to the Hope Mill School at the top of Government Avenue. By 1911 Hope Mill, the original Hebrew Public School, had become a government school, and the School Board agreed to provide the children with free education. Three years later, however, the children were transferred to the West End Public School as it was closer to the Orphanage.86 In the earliest years, the children’s education generally ended at Std 6, the end of elementary school in those days. The writer found only one case before 1915, where a young girl was considered worthy of being transferred to Good Hope Seminary to study beyond Std 7.87 Discussion was initiated in September 1915 over having the older girls attend Higher Grade Schools.88 In June 1922 a teacher of dressmaking was engaged for the girls.89 In later years extra-murals were even provided for the children: in 1933 15 children (13 girls and 2 boys) were taking piano lessons,90 while elocution, physical culture, Scouts, and Girl Guides were also provided.91

The children’s Jewish and Hebrew education was regarded as crucial. In the words of the famous Yiddish playwright and traveler Peretz Hirschbein, who visited the home together with his wife in May 1921,92 the importance of this could not be over emphasized. In the beginning, Hebrew classes were provided by volunteer teachers93 until, in response to complaints by Rabbi Mirvish as to the poor standard of the children’s Hebrew,94 it was decided that those over nine years old should be sent to the Talmud Torah.95 Two in-house Hebrew teachers were employed for the younger children, and Mark Cohen, principal of the Hope Mill School, was engaged to teach the senior boys.96 In January 1939, it was recorded that the children were studying Hebrew for five and a quarter hours a week. Older children who joined late with little or no Hebrew education studied longer hours. Although it was claimed that children in private homes attended Hebrew lessons 8-10 hours a week, the Orphanage children, also attended shul twice a day.97 In July 1939, it was suggested that due to the disparity of knowledge of the seventy children learning Hebrew, a third teacher should be employed.98

The first hurdle for the pogrom orphans was to learn English. As recorded in the minutes, they were initially sent to Normal College for this purpose. However, this did not prove to be sufficient and a special English teacher was employed at the Home.99 The senior girls, who were working in the morning, studied English in the evening, and an English teacher was also hired for the adults.100 Extra teachers were employed to teach Hebrew. Unfortunately, between 1922 and 1925 there is a gap in the minute books, so it is not known exactly how the Russian orphans settled down in their very first years in South Africa.

The boys were sent to the Hope Lodge School and the girls to the Central Girls School, where there was provision for thirty percent of the pupils to be educated free of charge.101 Over the years, a running battle developed between Rosa van Gelderen, the Jewish principal of the Central Girls’ School and a progressive educationalist, and the Principal, Mr. Beresinski. In October 1932, when it was decided to transfer the girls to the Tamboerskloof school, it was only through the intervention of Reverend Bender and Morris Alexander that a compromise was reached, and they were allowed to stay on.102 The last straw came in July 1933,103 when it was finally decided to transfer the children to the Tamboerskloof School at the beginning of 1934.104

After-Care Committee

The future prospects of the orphans presented the biggest problem. Their lack of academic prowess made this extremely difficult. Very few managed to pass the Junior Certificate. A list of eleven senior boys aged between fourteen and seventeen, compiled in 1929, reveals that three had passed Standard 5, four Standard 6, one Standard 7 and two JC. Of four girls, three (15, 16 and 17), had passed Std 6, and one (16) had passed JC.105 In only two cases – in 1926 and 1927 – were two children allowed to stay on at the Orphanage so that they could obtain a matric. Both were girls.106 In the 1930s, the situation improved slightly. More girls went to Underwood and did Shorthand and Typing,107 but only one completed her matric.108 In 1938 it was recorded that no child should leave the home without a JC at least.109 Between 1912 and 1939, only one boy was sent to university. He did the four year teaching course, T1, as he was considered not “mentally or physically fit to stand behind a counter”.110

Not long before the arrival of the Ukrainian orphans, in December 1919, Ochberg established an After-Care Committee to oversee the orphans from the time they left the Home until they were able to earn a living. This Committee was to act as guardians of the children until the age of 21.111 It succeeded the Education and Vocational committee, established in

August 1916112 and which had secured apprenticeships for boys with jewelers, electricians, dentists and farmers;113 and for girls with dressmakers, milliners and hairdressers. Ochberg recognized this as the most crucial time, when the Orphanage needed to provide supervision, maintenance, and education.114 According to the rules, the children had to leave the Orphanage at  age fourteen for boys and fifteen for girls, when on average they had only passed Standard Six, did not have a trade, and were at their most vulnerable. In January 1925, the age of leaving the Orphanage was increased to sixteen.

Two senior girls were on different occasions appointed as assistant to the Matron at a nominal salary.115 One of them subsequently joined the permanent staff.116 Other options that were entertained were to send the orphans to Palestine. However the children were not keen.117 It was proposed to establish a Technical and Industrial School, or to create a farm settlement where the children could learn some type of trade or work on the land.118 This idea later merged with that of the Chalutz training scheme of the Zionist Youth movements, that aimed to send young people to Palestine, as it was believed that “to train poor lads as farmers for this country was creating more Poor Whites.”119 Once the children were working, they were boarded out. It was generally felt that on apprenticeship to a trade or a business, the employer, was obliged to provide the children with a home. In December 1926, a hostel was established for the girls with Miss Berliner, the former Orphanage Matron, as the Hostel Matron.120

In 1930, a special memorandum was drawn up regarding the unsatisfactory methods of finding work for the boys and especially for the girls. It was reported that the girls tended to be employed in bazaars where the work was heavy and often irksome, the pay small, the general influence bad and the prospect of eventual independence virtually nil. The boys were ‘pitch-forked’ into whatever could be found, with little consideration of suitability, future prospects or influence on their characters. Once a billet and a home had been found, no more interest was paid to the children, provided that they held their jobs. It was resolved to adopt a method that had been in vogue for many years in London: that each member of the Sub-Committee choose an individual child for whom he would act as guardian, helping him/her to find a suitable job and  receive follow up reports from his employer.121 However, nothing was done as in December this resolution was reiterated.122 For girls, the best prospects often lay in marriage. A bequest to the home by A. S. Nathan provided a Fund to supply the girls with dowries of £20 each. By 1930, at least five of the girls123 were married. Most of the pogrom orphan girls as well as the local girls married.

When Isaac Ochberg passed away in December 1937, he left a bequest to the Orphanage of £1000 and a Fund for Higher Education of £10 000.124 Although it was initially hoped that this bequest could assist one of the Orphanage boys to become a candidate for the Rabbinate, it was more realistically decided that it should be used for the purchase of High School and Hebrew books, to pay for extra tuition, and towards the board and lodging for children who were continuing their education. 125

Conclusion

Isaac Ochberg was responsible for one of the most successful undertakings of South African Jewry: the rescue of the children from the Ukraine. This venture showed the community at its best. It was never replicated. Various schemes to rescue children from Nazi Germany and from Nazi Occupied Europe were entertained, but none of them came to fruition. In July 1936, the admission of fifty German Jewish children of no older than ten years was contemplated.126 In June 1938, a proposal to bring 25 children, between the ages of six and ten, from Austria, was dismissed by the SA Jewish Board of Deputies “owing to likely legal and public reaction.”127 In May 1940, the possibility of saving fifty orphan Dutch Jewish children, between the ages of two and twelve, was entertained, but never materialized.128

Besides rescuing the Ukrainian orphans, the Cape Jewish Orphanage played an indispensable role in the years between 1912 and 1939, helping destitute immigrant families and ensuring that their children remained Jewish. The lack of educational attainment of the children is attributable to the standards at that time and to the children’s disadvantaged backgrounds. In the case of the Ukrainian orphans, they also had to overcome earlier traumas, learn a new language and adapt to a foreign land. The Orphanage might not always have been the warmest place, akin to a real family, but what was never lacking was a sense of responsibility and identification with the children, as being among their own, as eygene, as members of the

Jewish community, who would under no circumstances be abandoned even after they had left the Home. To quote from the Minutes: “our children were not treated as orphans but were happy in their home.” All in all the children were, “no worse and no better than the average child in decent homes.”129

The war years proved to be a watershed for the Orphanage, as it was for the community. The immigrants began to prosper, becoming more established in their new homes. The Orphanage became less and less of a home for orphaned children than a place of refuge for children from broken families. In due course, it became better known as the Oranjia Jewish children’s home than as the Cape Jewish Orphanage. Today, its official title is the Oranjia Jewish Child and Youth Centre.

 

Veronica Belling has been the librarian at the Jewish Studies Library, part of U.C.T. Libraries and the Kaplan Centre for Jewish Studies and Research, for the last 28 years. She is the author of Bibliography of South African Jewry (1997), Yiddish Theatre in South Africa (2008), and the translator of Leibl Feldman’s The Jews of Johannesburg (2007) and Yakov Azriel Davidson: His Writings in the Yiddish Newspaper, Der Afrikaner, 1911-1913 (2009).

 

NOTES

  1. Eric Rosenthal, The Story of the Cape Jewish Orphanage: Commemorating the Fiftieth Anniversary of Oranjia, Cape Town: Oranjia, Cape Jewish Orphanage, 1961, 1-4
  2. Minutes, 24 October 1911, Oranjia, Cape Jewish Orphanage, BC 918, Manuscripts and Archives, U.C.T. Libraries.
  3. Minutes, 17 October 1911.
  4. Minutes, 24 October 1911.
  5. It seems as if Elias regretted his initial offer as he progressively increased his stipulations, and finally under the apparent influence of a Johannesburg committee member, even seems to have questioned the need for an orphanage in Cape Town. Minutes, 3 January 1912.
  6. Minutes, 24 October 1911.
  7.  Eric Rosenthal, 1961, p. 7.
  8. Minutes, 11 January 1914.
  9. Minutes, 1 June 1913.
  10. Minutes, 1 February 1914.
  11. Eric Rosenthal, 1961, p. 8.
  12. Minutes, 13 November 1918.
  13. Minutes, 13 July 1919.
  14. Minutes, 25 January 1920.
  15. Minutes, 12 February 1921.
  16. Minutes, 14 November 1911, 31 January , 14 February, 28 February, 18 August , 31 October 1912,  January 1913, 16 January 1916, 25 June, 9 December 1917.
  17. Minutes, 20 March 1912.
  18. Minutes, 3 January 1912.
  19. Minutes, 22 September 1912, 4 May 1913.
  20. Minutes, 19 September 1920.
  21. Minutes, 27 May 1930, 1.4,
  22.    Minutes, 29 July 1930, 29 December 1932.
  23. Minutes, 6 July 1913, 21 March 1920.
  24. Minutes, 4, 29 May 1933.
  25. Minutes, 20 December 1911, January 31, 1912, Also 24 November 1912.
  26. Minutes, 10, 27 April, 1 May, 15 June 1919.
  27. Minutes, 8 February 1912.
  28. Minutes, 16 January 1916.
  29. Minutes, 21 August, 28 November 1928, 26 February 1929.
  30. Minutes, 6 April 1917.
  31. Minutes, 18 April 1920.
  32. Minutes, 16 June 1912 and 15 June 1919.
  33.  Minutes, 31 May, 22 September 1912 and 15 August 1926.
  34. Minutes, 28 April 1931.
  35. Minutes, 30 November and 13 April 1913.
  36.  Minutes, 6 April 1917.
  37.  Minutes, 1 March 1913.
  38.  Minutes, 31 March 1930.
  39.  Minutes, 8 March 1932.
  40.  Minutes, 19 September 1920,
  41.  Minutes, 8, 19, 22, August 1920.
  42.  Minutes, 12 January 1921,
  43.  Minutes, 18 December 1921.
  44.  Minutes, 19 June, 21 August, 1, 4, September 1921.
  45.  Minutes, 19 June, 21 August, 1, 4, September 1921
  46.  Minutes, 24 January 1922.
  47.  Minutes, 14 May 1922.
  48.  Minutes, 12 May 1922.
  49. Minutes, 18 June 1922.
  50. Minutes, 9 September 1921.
  51.  Minutes, 17 November and 18 December, 1921.
  52.  Minutes, 27 October 1931.
  53.  Minutes, 28 June 1932 and 31 January 1933.
  54.  Minutes, 29 September 1936.
  55.  She was also accused of sending the children out on messages, and not reporting a robbery that had been committed at the orphanage to the committee. When asked to resign she had put her case in the hands of solicitors. Minutes, 27 March 1912.
  56. Minutes, 31 October 1912.
  57.  Minutes, 19 May, 16 June 1912.
  58.  Minutes, 26 January 1913.
  59.  Minutes, 16 June 1918.
  60.  Minutes, 11 January 1914, 17 December 1916.
  61.  Minutes, 26 March, 1934.
  62.  When in April 1936, three boys who were due to celebrate their barmitzvahs were found to be so unprepared that their barmitzvahs had to be postponed, it was unanimously decided to dismiss the Hickmans. Minutes, 27 April 1936.
  63. Minutes, 19 October 1913.
  64.  Minutes, 29 March 1914.
  65.  Minutes, 24 September 1925.
  66.  Minutes, 19 September 1926.
  67. Minutes, 29 March 1914.
  68. Minutes, 29 September 1936, 3 November 1937.
  69.  Minutes, 22 September 1912.
  70.  Minutes, 12 April 1925.
  71.  Minutes, 13 January 1918.
  72. Minutes, 16 August 1926, 10 April 1927.
  73.  Minutes, 11 January 1914.
  74.  Minutes, 1 December 1912.
  75.  Minutes, 13 April 1913.
  76.  Minutes, 27 September 1914.
  77.  Minutes, 19 February 1912.
  78.  Minutes, 15 February, 8 March 1914.
  79.  Minutes, 24 September 1925.
  80.  Minutes, 25 June, 20 July 1929. A grocery investigation later that year revealed that only 14lbs of meat a day was being consumed for 72 people, that was considered to be grossly insufficient, 14 November, 1929.
  81.  Minutes, 16 June 1912.
  82.  Minutes, 27 December 1914.
  83. Minutes, 31 January 1915.
  84. Minutes, 8 December 1925.
  85. Minutes, 29 August 1933.
  86. Minutes, 15 February 1914.
  87. Minutes, 27 September 1914.
  88. Minutes, 5 September 1915.
  89. Minutes, 18 June 1922.
  90. Minutes, 31 January 1933.
  91. Minutes, 29 May 1934.
  92. Minutes, 15 May 1921.
  93. Minutes, 16 June 1912, 19 October 1913, 9 November 1913.
  94. Minutes, 3 August, 14 September 1913.
  95. Minutes, 30 April 1914.
  96. Minutes, 3 June and 14 October, 1917.
  97. Minutes, 31 January 1939.
  98. Minutes, 25 July 1939.
  99. Minutes, 16 April 1922.
  100. Minutes, 12 February and 2 November 1921.
  101. Minutes, 29 March 1931.
  102. Minutes, 25 and 31 October 1932.
  103. Despite the girls’ poor reports, Van Gelderen, who did not believe in homework, absolutely refused to abide by the request to provide the girls with extra arithmetic homework. Minutes, 25 July 1933.
  104. Rosa Van Gelderen’s educational experiments were very progressive and worked extremely well with the children from more advantaged backgrounds. However, they were not always suited to children from deprived backgrounds such as those at the Orphanage. The Orphanage AfterSchool program devoted considerable time to supervised
  105. homework, which she refused to support, but which might have been advantageous to the children. Minutes, 28 June, 30 August, 27 September 1932, Minutes, 29 August 1933.
  106. Minutes, 22 January 1929.
  107. Minutes, 14 November 1926, 17 July 1927.
  108. Minutes, 22 February 1937.
  109. Minutes, 24 November 1936.
  110. Minutes, 1 March 1938.
  111. Minutes, 30 January 1934.
  112. Minutes, 19 June 1921.
  113. Minutes, 3 August 1916, 11 February 1917.
  114. Minutes, 18 June 1922.
  115. Minutes, 28 December 1919.
  116. Minutes, 14 October 1917, 1 December 1918.
  117. Minutes, 15 May 1921.
  118. Minutes, 14 June, 12 July 1925.
  119. Minutes, 14 May 1922.
  120. Minutes, 23 October 1933.
  121. Minutes, 6 December 1926. 121 Minutes, 27 February 1930.
  122. Minutes, 2 December 1930.
  123. Minutes 27 March 1927, 29 July 1930, 25 April 1933, 25 July 1933.
  124. Minutes, 1 February 1938.
  125. Minutes, 1 March and 3 May 1938.
  126. Minutes, 28 July 1936.
  127. Minutes, 20 June and 2 August 1938.
  128. Minutes, 28 May 1940.
  129. Minutes, 25 February, 19 March  and 30 June 1936

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