(Author: Charlotte Wiener, Vol. 71, No. 2, Rosh Hashanah 2016)
The northern part of South Africa was the last area of the country to be explored and occupied by Europeans. It was an untamed area, with wide open spaces teeming with animals. The first Trekkers1 who moved northwards wanted to escape the influence of the British in the Cape. These pioneers, led by Louis Trichardt, were independent, strong-willed and ready for adventure. They settled in the Zoutpansberg, near present-day Louis Trichardt/Makhado, in 1836, before moving on eastwards. In 1848 Andries Hendrik Potgieter, who did not want to be shackled by the authority of A W J Pretorius in Potchefstroom, arrived in the area. This spirit of independence and dismissal of centralised authority continued for many generations. Because of the long distances to the main towns and the neglect of these far-flung areas by the central authorities, these pioneers made their own rules. A similar spirit of independence was exhibited by the Jewish communities that established themselves in many remote country towns, far from the influence of the mainstream community leadership in Johannesburg.
The area changed its name several times in the course of history. The British recognized the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek[ZAR] in 1852. After the Second Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902, this area, including the Northern Transvaal, was incorporated into the British Empire as the Transvaal Colony. In 1910, the Transvaal was incorporated into the Union of South Africa. After the first multiracial elections in 1994, the Transvaal was restructured and the Northern Transvaal became known as the Northern Province. Its name was again changed, on 12 February 2002, to Limpopo Province.
Pietersburg is situated 275 kilometers north of Pretoria on the Great North Road to Zimbabwe. It was established on the farm Opzadel [Sterkloop] in 1884 by the Vice-President of the Transvaal Republic, Kommandant-Generaal Pieter Jacobus Joubert and was named after him. The town was officially proclaimed on 31 July 1886. Pietersburg was renamed Polokwane in 2002 and it is the capital of Limpopo Province. The old names of the towns will be used in this study.
According to Elazar and Medding’s ‘Centre and Periphery Model’,2 the South African Jewish community is an example of structured power, whereby the central institutions formulate policy. This model of authoritative power works well in the country’s relatively homogenous Jewish community. Other models include the American ‘pluralistic’ diffusion of power, where there is no one source for decisions affecting the whole community, and the ‘separatist’ fragmentation of Argentinian Jew r y.3
Pietersburg/Polokwane looked to Johannesburg for guidance in its Jewish needs. In the same way Pietersburg became the centre in the Northern Transvaal/Limpopo for the surrounding satellite towns of Louis Trichardt/Makhado, Messina / Musina, Potgietersrus/Mokopane and Tzaneen, as well as the smaller communities of Soekmekaar, Haenertsberg, Duiwelskloof, Gravelotte, Phalaborwa, Nylstroom/Modimolle and Naboomspruit/Mookgophong, Settlers, Roedtan and Marble Hall. However, because Pietersburg was so far in distance from the authoritative Jewish institutions in Johannesburg, the community often felt neglected, as they believed that they received no assistance when they had problems obtaining ministers and teachers and also that speakers from the different societies only visited when they collected money. The Pietersburg community therefore tended to act on its own initiative and did not always conform to what the central authority told them to do.
The first gold rush in the Transvaal began in 1871, when gold was discovered at Eersteling near Marabastad, a few kilometers from present-day Pietersburg. The first Jews to come to the northern Transvaal were mostly prospectors, originally from England, Germany and Holland. Marabastad ceased to exist in 1887 as it was too far from the claim sites. Instead, the diggers moved south-east to Smitsdorp, but as this place did not have enough water, they again moved two kilometers away to New Smitsdorp.4 In 1888 Senator Munnik, the mining Commissioner in New Smitsdorp, moved the whole town to Pietersburg. Gold was also discovered around 1887 near Haenertsberg, Agatha and Leydsdorp. When these goldfields failed to produce good yields, many Jews turned to trading and farming in remote areas. Eventually, small Jewish communities were built up around these trading stores.
Jews started arriving from Eastern Europe, mainly Lithuania and Latvia, after 1882. They left Europe because of persecution, overpopulation and poor economic conditions and were attracted by the economic opportunities and freedom from oppression in South Africa. Many could not find work in Johannesburg and decided to move north to establish trading stores and hotels in remote areas, despite the hardships they were to experience there. They had to travel by horse or wagon or later by Zeederberg stagecoach on poor roads, which became muddy and treacherous in the rainy season. They also had to brave the dangers of wild animals, restless black tribes, heat and diseases such as malaria and black water fever. Most traders learned to speak Afrikaans from the farmers, as well as an African language from the blacks who frequented their stores.
Jews integrated so well that many fought on the side of the Boers during the Anglo-Boer War, fought between the British Empire and the Boer Republics of the Transvaal and Free State. The mining houses also had grievances against President Kruger’s government, such as the dynamite monopoly, the railways, food supply and the pass laws. President Kruger feared losing his independence if he succumbed to their demands. At the outbreak of war, those who were British citizens fled to the Cape or further afield. However, most of the Jews in the northern Transvaal remained neutral as they had not been living in the country for long and did not want to take sides. Nevertheless, they continued trading and some of their stores were looted by the Boers. The British instituted their ‘scorched earth’ policy to remove the Boer’s source of supplies. Several Jewish families living in remote areas were put into concentration camps, such as the Hirschmanns in an internment camp in Houtbosdorp and the Kallmeyers in a camp in Pietersburg and their houses were confiscated. The Kallmeyers managed to be transferred to a house in Pietersburg due to the overcrowding in the camp. Several Jewish men fought heroically for the Boers,5such as Commandant N D Kaplan, Sascha Schmahmann of Slypsteendrift and Joel Charles Duveen. Sascha was nicknamed ‘Jan Snyman die Jood’, as the Boers could not pronounce his name and also to distinguish him from another man called Jan Snyman. Duveen was a dare-devil, who saved many of his fellow soldiers on several occasions.
After the war, many of the Jewish storekeepers claimed compensation from the British government for goods looted from their stores. However, they were generally not compensated as they had no proof of Russian citizenship, most of them having left Russia illegally. The British also claimed that they had carried on trading with the Boers during the war and had served in the Town Guard. The Germans were also not compensated as they had been in the country for too long and no longer had claim to German nationality.
There were Jews living in many of the small towns even before these towns were declared municipalities. Naboomspruit was first called Kaufmann’s Place after a Mr Kaufmann, who owned a shop and an inn with a stable that was used by the Zeederburg Mail Coach. Philip Cohen opened a general dealer store, together with the first hotel, in Naboomspruit in 1910. One year later, Barney Reichman opened a store across the road from Cohen. One of the oldest pioneers of Potgietersrus was Leib Levin Schmahman, who came to South Africa in 1895. He and his wife Minna opened a shop at Slypsteendrif, west of Ellisras [Lephalele] on the Botswana border. They had 11 children. Mr F D Cohen was one of the account holders in the first three months of the existence of Barclays Bank in Potgietersrus in 1904. He farmed near Potgietersrus and was a produce dealer. He married a non-Jewess from St Helena, and was nicknamed ‘Schwarze Cohen’ by the community, as his wife was a coloured woman.6 Salli Kahn was a prospector who came from Germany to Haenertsburg in 1890. Julius Heimann was already in Haenertsberg by 1888, where he owned several properties. He was also a diamond miner. He died in the veld of a fever, alone except for a servant who returned to Sarah Norden, his widow, saying ‘Massa dead, I bury’.7 Many prospectors were buried where they died and no record of their burial exists.
Jews worked hard to establish themselves in trading stores and hotels until they earned enough money to bring out members of their families. Several large families lived in the northern Transvaal as a result of this immigration. The three largest families came from Latvia. Herman Hirschmann came out from Talsen in Courland, Latvia, receiving his naturalization papers on 12 August 1895.8He established himself in Woodbush, near Haenertsburg, where he owned a farm and a store. He brought out his brothers and sisters and their families to the area. These included the Kallmeyer, Palte, Rakusin, Levy and Perlmann families. Max and Wolf Israelsohn came from Talsen in 1888 to Woodbush and then bought a farm at Turfloop, site of the present-day University of the North. They brought out a very large extended family, which spread to several hamlets, such as Groot-Spelonken and Soekmekaar. The family included members of the Eichholz, Brenner, Miller, Levy and Ellison families. Although several of the Hirschmann and Israelsohn families married people from the Northern Transvaal, including their own cousins or uncles, there was no intermarriage between the two families, except when the two daughters of Rev Levine each married a Rakusin and an Eichholz, thus joining the families.
Another large family in the northern Transvaal was that of the Himmelhochs, who immigrated from Goldinger, Courland, to Louis Trichardt before the 1890s. The Himmelhochs also intermarried with many families in the area. They were related to the Schmahmann and Serman families. The result of these three large families marrying partners that were also living in the northern Transvaal meant that just about everyone in the area was related to each other.
A large number of Jews were farmers who opened stores on their farms. Some divided their farms into plots to establish new towns. The Pulerewitz family divided their farm and sold off the plots to establish the town of Roedtan. Charles Whyte founded the hamlet of Settlers on his farm. Meyer Kahan came from Belarus in 1901. He had his farm surveyed by his friend Herman Manaschewitz (who also surveyed parts of Pietersburg and Tzaneen), and established the town of Soekmekaar. He named the streets after his family – Pearl for his wife, and Feigele, Adelaide and Maxim for his children. There was even a Restoration Street, named for the hope of the restoration of the Jews to the land of Israel. The Kahan family later made aliyah, where Max Kahan became Police Commander of the northern district of Israel.9
The earliest Jewish settlers of Pietersburg included William ‘Patsy’ Cohen, who first settled in nearby Smitsdorp. He came via Ireland, hence the name Patsy. He then moved to Mara, near Louis Trichardt, where he bartered his farm from a black chief.10In 1921, he laid the foundation stone of Pietersburg’s first synagogue. In 1888 Barney Herman, from Weksne, Russia, came to New Smitsdorp as a prospector. He moved to Pietersburg, where he became mayor, president for 34 years of the Pietersburg Hebrew Congregation and chairman of almost every society in the town.
Max [Marcus] Rosenberg was an Austrian-born Jew, who had a general dealer’s store in Pietersburg from 1893. The first minyan in the northern Transvaal – the Rosh Hashanah [New Year] service – took place in 1893 at his home, with Rosenberg officiating.11 At first, they could only assemble nine men and were about to abandon their attempt at a service, when the local blacksmith, who was not known to be Jewish, arrived with a machzor to make up the tenth member of the minyan.
Pietersburg Market Square 1890s [courtesy: Zoutpansberg Review]
A Jewish deputation, led by Patsy Cohen and Barnard Herman, came to President Kruger, when he visited Pietersburg in 1896 to ask him for a plot of land for a Jewish cemetery.12 The Landdrost [magistrate], Senator Munnik,13 reported that Kruger asked, “Why can’t you lie among the rest of my people when you are dead?” Patsy replied that certain ceremonies had to be performed at a building at the gate. The President then asked Munnik how big the Christian cemetery was and he answered four morgen. The President said, “Instruct Surveyor Devenish to measure off two morgen for them, and send up the diagram and I will issue title.” When Patsy asked why they were getting a cemetery half the size of the Christian one, Kruger replied: “Because you believe in half the Bible.” After much protestation by Cohen, Kruger gave in and allocated four morgen because ‘I acknowledge that you Jews are good and law-abiding citizens wherever you fix your abode, so I will give you four morgen also”.
The Zoutpansberg Hebrew Congregation was established in 1897. It consisted of both the Pietersburg and Louis Trichardt congregations until Pietersburg broke away in 1912, calling itself the Pietersburg Hebrew Congregation (PHC). The Potgietersrus Hebrew Congregation was established in 1927 and the Messina Hebrew Congregation only in 1937. The PHC constitution was adopted on 22 November 1925. Pietersburg and Louis Trichardt were the only two communities to build synagogues. The foundation stone of the first Pietersburg synagogue was laid on 19 June 1921 at 23 Jorissen Street; the building was completed in October 1921. However, the congregation grew so rapidly that another larger synagogue was built. It was opened on 12 July 1953. The original synagogue was turned into a communal hall, named after Rev J I Levine.
Pietersburg synagogue, opened 12 July 1953 [courtesy: Pietersburg collection]
In 1933 Aron Berman, who lived in Louis Trichardt, ceded land in his will to the Zoutpansberg Hebrew Congregation and in 1938 a synagogue was built there on the corner of Krogh and Devenish Streets. While ground was allocated to the Potgietersrus and Messina communities by their municipalities, the number of congregants were never enough to warrant the building of synagogues. Potgietersrus eventually returned their allocated ground to the town council in 1977, as they could no longer afford the high assessment rates and the Klaff family sold the ground in Messina, giving the money to various charities. The Brenner family sold the Louis Trichardt shul and donated the money to charity.
Louis Trichardt synagogue [courtesy Rabbi M Silberhaft]
Following his first pastoral tour of the Jewish communities of the British Overseas Dominions from Pretoria to Rhodesia in 1922, Chief Rabbi Dr J H Hertz reported that he had “found Jewish hearts throbbing with enthusiasm for all forms of Jewish endeavor, and nowhere more so than in many a wayside station with its two or three inhabitants”.14Nevertheless, many of the traders found that they had to keep their shops open on Saturdays to make a living. They also found it hard to keep kosher as they were far away from sources of these foods. According to Jocelyn Hellig,15 the level of religious affiliation of the Jews of South Africa is ‘non-observant Orthodox’, meaning that they were affiliated to Orthodox synagogues but did not necessarily follow the requirements of Orthodoxy. This was true of the Jews of Pietersburg and its surrounds, as almost every Jew was a member of the synagogue, but only a small number attended synagogue regularly or kept kosher. The synagogue became the center of their communal identification.
Services in the country towns were held in a hall or private houses. Sometimes, services on Friday nights alternated between Potgietersrus and various small towns. High Holy Days were celebrated by importing family members or yeshiva [Talmudic college] boys to make up a minyan. All the children attended some form of Hebrew class in the afternoon, be it from a Hebrew teacher, a visiting Rabbi or by mothers using the SA Board of Deputies (SAJBD) Mother-Teacher scheme.16 Eventually, children from the small towns were sent to school in Pietersburg or Johannesburg to get a Jewish education.
No mikveh (ritual bath) was ever built in the Northern Transvaal; the idea was investigated by the PHC committee, but proved to be too expensive. The ministers’ wives had to travel to Pretoria or Johannesburg once a month. In the event of a bris, a mohel (person who performs circumcisions) was brought from Johannesburg. Kosher meat was obtained from a shochet (ritual slaughterer) in Pietersburg or came by rail from Johannesburg. Every community had a Zionist society and a large percentage of northern Transvaal Jews made aliyah. The SAJBD encouraged the formation of regional committees, with Pietersburg as the centre, in order to strengthen ties between the Jewish communities as well as the SAJBD. Regional conferences were held, as well as family days, with communities coming from all over the northern Transvaal.
The Pietersburg congregation employed ministers from 1914 until 1992. The smaller towns only had one or two ministers for a short while. The minister had to be a jack-of-all-trades – he had to conduct services and give sermons, perform at funerals and weddings, teach Hebrew classes to the children and be a shochet. He also had to travel to the surrounding towns to teach the children. Most ministers did not stay very long, as they were either found to be unsuitable or they used Pietersburg as a stepping stone to better-paid jobs elsewhere. One such example was when a PHC member brought a complaint to the committee against Rev M M Levy in 1928.17 It was alleged that Rev Levy had overheard a conversation at a Shabbat night service between two members of the congregation regarding certain mining ventures. One of the latter alleged that Rev Levy went behind their backs and obtained the mineral option for himself on the Shabbat afternoon, leaving them out of the deal. In his defense, Rev Levy said that he had done the deal on a Sunday and that he intended including the others in it. He was asked to resign.
Chief Rabbi C K Harris described an ideal Rabbi as a “dynamic preacher… conscientious teacher…congregational manager…energetic youth leader… regular visitor of the aged and infirm at home and at hospital…tactful communal diplomat…skilled marriage and bereavement counselor. He must show approachability, educate his congregation, care and inspire”.18 Pietersburg was very fortunate to employ such a minister in Rev J I Levine from 1931 to 1963. Dearly loved by his congregants, he was the epitome of a community minister. Rev Levine encouraged his congregation and pupils to follow Jewish law, despite their resistance, and was involved in Zionist youth activities. He was so well regarded by the general community that out of concern for his health as he grew older, the town council installed better lighting and a bench between the synagogue and his home for him to rest on when he walked on Shabbat. He not only ministered to his own congregation but also instituted a regional ministry in the surrounding Northern Transvaal towns, with Pietersburg at its centre. This so impressed Chief Rabbi Rabinowitz that he instituted the same idea in Potchefstroom and Windhoek, South West Africa.19
After Rev Levine retired, Pietersburg had great difficulty in employing any minister for more than three years, as the congregation had monetary problems and ministers did not want to work in a remote area with few Jewish facilities or observant Jews. The community eventually imported several ministers from Israel in the 1960s and 1970s but there were numerous problems, mostly monetary. The country community Rabbis tried their best to find a solution for the problem of finding ministers and teachers but were sorely tried in this endeavor.
Jews began moving away from isolated areas into Pietersburg because of the growth of the co-operatives, who gave clients a longer time to pay so that the small shopkeeper could not compete. Due to improved roads and transport, customers could reach the towns much quicker and there was no longer a need for isolated shops and hotels. They also wanted a better education for their children, which they could get in the smaller towns. Most Jews who moved from the smaller centres to Pietersburg participated fully in the Jewish community, becoming members of all the Jewish organisations. They were amongst the founders of the PHC, and included Patsy Cohen, S Frenkel, M Rosenberg, B Herman, Joseph Kallmeyer, Herman Hirschmann, Max and Wolf Israelsohn, Jacob Hirschmann, Adolph Israelsohn and Herman Eichholz.
Jewish cemeteries existed in Pietersburg, Potgietersrus, Louis Trichardt and Messina. The Pietersburg Chevrah Kadisha (burial society) travelled to the outlying areas to prepare the bodies for burial. Wally Levy was its chairman for forty years. He and the treasurer, Morris Wiener, would visit the cemetery every Sunday morning to see that everything was kept to their satisfaction and would pay for its upkeep out of their own pockets. Wally was always at odds with the PHC committee as they would not allow him any independence. They interfered with his charges for funerals and when the Chevrah Kadisha eventually had a surplus of money, they appropriated it for the congregation. In 2002, the gravestones in the Pietersburg, Messina and Warmbaths cemeteries were laid flat to prevent vandalism.
The Pietersburg Chevrah Kadisha was a voluntary organization that did not charge when it was called to work in towns outside Pietersburg. On 18 January 1968, Wally Levy and Harold Levin travelled to Messina to conduct the burial of Raphael Berman.20However, they found that they were unable to bury him in the old Jewish cemetery as they had hit bedrock and were unable to dig a grave. As there was no consecrated ground in the new cemetery, they decided to consecrate the ground themselves. Being far away from any halachic (Jewish legal) authority and uncertain of the accepted ritual, hey made up their own ceremony. Harold recited a short prayer he composed himself: “In the name of G-d I hereby consecrate this piece of ground as a final resting place for departed souls, Amen.” Wally then walked around the grave seven times. After that the deceased was buried. The minister from Pietersburg came at a later date to consecrate the ground in the correct manner.
In 1956 Hubert Esakow, a renowned boxer from Potgietersrus who wore a Magen David on his trunks, was killed in the ring, aged 21, by Willy Toweel. Hubert’s father, a Jew, had married a non-Jewess, meaning that Hubert was not halachically Jewish and could not be buried in Potgietersrus’ Jewish cemetery. However, the Christian community took it for granted that the burial would take place there. Chief Rabbi Rabinowitz was approached for his advice and gave permission for Hubert to be buried in the Jewish cemetery. Wally Levy recalls that Rev Levine performed a token bris on the body before the burial, which is not halachically accepted.21
For many years, women were not allowed to vote on the PHC committee. Attempts were made every Annual General Meeting, starting in 1921, to change this, but success was only finally achieved in 1948. In the same year, Mrs Palte formed the Pietersburg Jewish Women’s Guild. As well as catering to the Judaic needs of the congregation, they raised money for the new synagogue. The society was always struggling financially and had to rely on the congregation to assist them, but in later years they made a large profit by catering functions in the communal hall. In the early days, kashrut standards were not high, but with each new minister, improved catering facilities and better transport from Johannesburg, standards rose to a high level.
Northern Transvaal Jews were strong supporters of Zionist causes, especially as most inhabitants had come from a Lithuanian/Latvian background, where Zionism was strongly supported. The Pietersburg-Zoutpansberg Zionist Society was established as early as 1905.22 In contrast to the Women’s Guild, women were already elected onto the committee from 1914. The Pietersburg and District Women’s Zionist League was formed in 1932, after many arguments with the original committee. They organized numerous functions and fundraising drives, which enabled them to reach their annual quota almost every year. The Northern Transvaal was known as one of the largest donors per capita to Zionist causes in South Africa. Several young men volunteered to fight in Israel’s wars.
Pietersburg was mostly a center for right-wing politics. It had a strong Afrikaanse Weerstand Beweging (AWB) following and it was not unusual to see men walking down the main street in their AWB uniforms. Despite this, there were not many antisemitic incidents, aside from some discrimination in business dealings or a shout of “Vang die Jood” (Catch the Jew) at rugby matches. There was a sharp rise in antisemitism during the Second World War years, especially in Tzaneen, where a large number of Germans had settled. Pietersburg Jewry mostly supported the United and Progressive Parties, although there were a few who supported the Nationalist Party. In Nylstroom, Dr Bernard Morris was deputy mayor as well as leader of the United Party. Nylstroom was a National Party hub, breeding such leaders as J G Strydom, F H Odendaal and J de Klerk, father of South African President and Nobel Peace Prize winner F W de Klerk.
Arthur Goldreich, who grew up in Pietersburg, became a front man for the communist underground movement during the Apartheid years. His parents supported Zionism and Arthur served as a volunteer in Israel’s War of Independence. It was in Israel that he learned how people were prepared to fight for their freedom and independence.23 This influenced him to support armed resistance in South Africa. In 1963, he was arrested, together with other leaders of Umkhonto we Sizwe (a r med wing of the by then banned African National Congress) at Liliesleaf Farm, the group’s secret headquarters in Rivonia, Johannesburg. Together with Harold Wolpe and two other prisoners, he escaped from Marshall Square Police Station in Johannesburg and fled to Swaziland. Wolpe had relatives, the Fainbergs, in Pietersburg and their house was watched for some time by the police in case he sought refuge with them. Goldreich settled in Israel and Wolpe in England.
The PHC always had financial problems and had to approach individual members to contribute to its upkeep. From a high of 120 families in the 1950s, the congregation had decreased to 24 families by 1990 due to the general movement towards the cities for better educational and social opportunities. The last minister left in 1992 and the community had to forge on without any steadying hand. With the congregation continuing to decrease, it was decided in 1994 to sell the communal hall to the Moolman Group, which then built a smaller communal hall attached to the back of the synagogue. This hall was named after Wally Levy, who had led the Chevrah Kadisha for many years. As there were five Sifrei Torah (Scrolls of the Law) in Pietersburg, it was decided to donate two of them to the Shiftei Yisrael Synagogue in Ra’anana, Israel. A Hachnasat Torah ceremony (ceremony to welcome a new Sefer Tora h to a synagogue) was held in Ra’anana and attended by about thirty ex-Pietersburgers living in Israel.
As the country communities continued to disappear, the SAJBD became concerned that any synagogue property would accrue to the State if there were no Jewish members left in the town. They therefore suggested that the remaining members of the community sign consent for a Trusteeship Constitution, whereby the SAJBD would administer a trust for the community when it was no longer able to administer its own affairs. At a special general meeting held on 6 November 1997, the 28 PHC members present unanimously voted in favour of the new constitution. It made provision for the demise of the congregation and the conditions for forming and administering the Pietersburg Trust.
Although the congregation was now financially secure, the dwindling numbers did not warrant the hiring of a minister, which meant that there was no steading force or arbitrator in the community. The country communities Rabbi assisted whenever needed for a ceremony or festival. Due to the small number of members, high officials tended to stay in office for many years on all the committees, leading to stagnation and dissention. Several points of contention that could not easily be resolved led to a split in the congregation. Dissention arose when the community wanted to use congregational money to fund trips to Israel by members. Other problems arose when non-Jews started attending services, leading to a member complaining and refusing to come to services. This led to there being no minyan on a Shabbat. Some of the members supported the non-Jews as they were their friends. As there was no religious leader, it was difficult to come to a compromise, so member turned to the Beth Din for a ruling. After some time, the non-Jews were asked to stop coming every week but the matter only added to the split in the community.
The congregation continued to decrease until only nine men were left for services. The treasurer brought a proposal to the PHC committee to sell the synagogue building to the Moolman Group, who had first option, and then to ship the contents of the synagogue and the memorial stones to Tel Mond in Israel, where they would be incorporated into a new synagogue that was to be built there. A memorial wall to the PHC would be incorporated into the entrance of the synagogue in order to perpetuate the memory of the community. A special general meeting of the congregation was called in February 2002, when some members raised an objection to selling the synagogue. Another special general meeting was held in March 2002, but no other viable proposal had been found. The matter became heated as a few members did not want to face the fact that the time had come for change. Tempers were raised, which led to the treasurer being assaulted by one of the dissenters and pandemonium resulted. In the end, the treasurer’s proposal was accepted unanimously.
The consequences of this evening was that the treasurer sued the member for assault. The matter was settled out of court with a large settlement that the treasurer donated to charity. Another consequence was that the chairman of the congregation and his wife, the secretary, resigned from the committee and the small congregation split in two. Friday nights, saw two services being held – one in the synagogue and one in a private house – neither having a minyan.
A de-consecration service for the Pietersburg synagogue was held on Friday night, 31 January 2003, with Country Communities Rabbi Moshe Silberhaft officiating. Many ex-members of the congregation travelled from Johannesburg to attend. The minute books and marriage register were taken by Rabbi Silberhaft for the SAJBD archives and the contents of the communal hall kitchen donated to the Selwyn Segal hostel.
The Pietersburg Trust, as laid out by the constitution, was brought into being to secure the assets of the community. A Board of Trustees was formed consisting of two members from Pietersburg and two from the SAJBD. Stipulations were made as to the distribution of the interest on the money. Ex-members of the congregation were to be looked after, as well as the cemetery and specific Jewish charities.
In 2013, the Mevaseret Zion Synagogue was opened in Tel Mond. It contained the seats, bimah and pulpit from the Pietersburg synagogue. A wall in the entrance features the foundation stones and plaques from the Pietersburg building, as well as a timeline of the history of the Pietersburg congregation. In 2015, the Mevaseret Zion congregation had enough money to replace the uncomfortable seats with exact replicas, although sumptuously padded. The old seats were donated to the Kaplan Yeshiva in Safed, where they were enthusiastically received.
The Jewish community in the Northern Transvaal survived for over a hundred years before disappearing. Today, its memory is perpetuated in Israel, in history books, the cemeteries and in the hearts of all those who lived there.
.
Charlotte Wiener has a BSc (Pharm) from Rhodes and a MA degree in Judaica from UNISA. She is the author of The History of the Pietersburg/Polokwane Jewish community (2006). Her latest book Jewish Country Communities of Limpopo/northern Transvaal will be out shortly. She now lives in Netanya, Israel.
NOTES
- Dutch-speaking sheep and cattle farmers who moved into the interior of the Cape from the end of the 17th Century.
- Elazar, D J, and Medding, P, Jewish communities in frontier societies: Argentina, Australia, and South Africa. Holmes and Meier: New York, 1983, p191.
- Wiener, Charlotte, The History of the Pietersburg [Polokwane] Jewish Community, University of South Africa, 2006, p7.
- Changuion, Louis. Pietersburg: Die eerste eeu 1886-1986, V & R Printers Pty Ltd: Pretoria, 1986, p35.
- Wiener, C, op cit, p50.
- Interview with Estelle Joffe in Israel, 2001.
- Interview with Hazel Dakers, Julius Heimann’s great-granddaughter, 2002 in Pietersburg.
- South African National Archives Reference R6457/95
- Interview with Maxie Kahan in Haifa, Israel, 2002.
- Interview with Patsy Cohen’s niece Hannah Levy, 2003.
- Herrman, Louis, A History of the Jews in South Africafrom the earliest times to 1895, South African Edition, SA Jewish Board of Deputies, 1935, p272.
- Wiener, C, op cit, p119.
- Munnik, the Hon G G, Munnik: Memoirs of Senator The Hon G G Munnik, Cape Town, 1916.
- SA Jewish Board of Deputies paper read before the Jewish Historical Society of England 13 June 1922 and appeared in Volume X of the Society’s transactions.
- Hellig, J, ‘Religious Expression’, in South African Jewry: A contemporary survey, edited by M Arkin: Oxford University Press: Cape Town, 1984, pp 95-116.
- A home study course in ‘Judaism for country children’, material compiled for Jewish mothers to teach their children in rural communities. It consisted of gramophone records, books and work books. SAJBD Archives: country communities Rabbi’s reports: Letter from Rabbi E J Dushinsky, country communities Rabbi to rural communities, 17/1/1966.
- PHC committee minutes, 11/7/1928.
- Harris, C K, ‘Leaves from a Rabbi’s Diary: The Ideal Rabbi’ in Jewish Tradition Vol. 40 No 1 April 1995, p27.
- Rabinowitz, L I, ‘The Problem of the Country Communities’ in SAJewish Times Rosh Hashanah, September 1947, p6.
- Interviews with Wally Levy and Harold Levin.
- Wiener, C, op cit, p122.
- South African Jewish Year Book 1929, 5689-90, M De Saxe (ed), SA Jewish Historical Society: Johannesburg, 1929, p281; SAJBD Archives file S, p352.
- Interview with Arthur Goldreich in Israel, 26/6/2001.
