Jewish Affairs

Menu

What we learn from ‘Nusach Anglia’: South Africa and its threatened Anglo-Jewish heritage

Author: Published on: Published in: Judaism in SA

(Author: David Sher, Vol. 69, No. 1, Pesach 2014)

Judaism has a largely heterogeneous array of prayer rites. These are distinguished primarily by different liturgical traditions such as the composition of the thrice-daily services and the Amida (the primary Jewish silent devotion). However, alongside these rites has developed numerous customs and supplications. Note the formality and dignity of most Germanic ‘Yekke’synagogues following the Nusach Ashkenaz rite, compared with the unbridled spontaneity of the Hassidic shtieblach as they uproariously entreat through their Nusach Sefard rite. One cannot help but be captivated by the moving convivial tunes developed by those following Nusach Edot Mizrach or be stirred by the heartening hymns of Nusach Ashkenaz, led by a Chazzan more often than not clad in striking robes and cantorial hat.

Arguably, the most famous rite is Nusach Ashkenaz, originally of Germany and later of other European and English-speaking lands. Its counterpart Nusach d’Frankfurt am Main, styled by the illustrious Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, is also renowned. Nusach Edot Mizrach is that of the Sephardim who lived across the Arabian Peninsula and North Africa. The Hasidim of Galicia and most of Poland modelled their own rite, confusingly named it Nusach Sefard (not to be confused with Nusach Edot Mizrach). There is even a Nusach Italki, reflecting Italy’s rich Jewish heritage.

A less well-known rite is that of Nusach Anglia, which reflects the long and colourful history of Jews in the British Isles; it is steeped in tradition axiomatic with cantorial convention and boasts imposing magnificence. It is particularly relevant to the Jews of South Africa, whose history was for so long dominated by the UK influence.

Jews lived in England from early medieval times until their expulsion in 1290 by Edward I. They had already begun to trickle back by the time Rabbi Menasseh ben Israel led his famous deputation to the devout Oliver Cromwell in 1656, when he urged that Jews be allowed back into the country on the basis that the Messiah could only arrive when the Scriptural injunction of their being ‘scattered throughout the lands’ had been achieved. Today’s magnificent SefardiBevis Marks Synagogue in London, constructed in 1701, is a direct descendant of the first post-Expulsion synagogue, which was situated on Creechurch Lane and opened in 1657.1 In 1722 Ashkenazim, arriving from Germany in increasing numbers, constructed their own majestic synagogue in London’s Dukes Place. This colonnaded, galleried, ornate edifice was entitled the Great Synagogue, known informally as Britain’s ‘Cathedral Synagogue’. It was to profoundly shape the destiny of the Jewish religion in South Africa until the present day.

By 1802, the synagogue had begun to diverge significantly from Germanic Nusach Ashkenaz norms. In that year the new Rabbi, Dr Solomon Hirschell Q.D.C., was recognized as the ‘Chief Rabbi’ of London, and his brief would in due course include guiding the nascent communities of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa2. Chief Rabbis were unknown in Germany, where there were only communal rabbis of the various districts. In addition, the requirement for rabbis to possess academic degrees was unique to the Nusach Anglia scene and reflected the desire of the congregation for greater Anglicisation. The anglicised state of the Dukes Place Synagogue is further attested to by the Rules of the Congregation, published in 1827. Rule 148 declared that the Chief Rabbi would deliver two Sermons, the first discourse on the ‘Great Sabbath’ before Passover and the second on the ‘Sabbath of Penitence’. In terms of Rule 165, ‘two readers and a clerk’ (chazzanimand shamash) would have to be present in the synagogue, ‘arrayed in their proper costume’. Rule 166 announced that if the chazzan failed to read the prayers, he would be promptly fined!3

This weekday wearing of ministerial vestments was observed by Cantor Vigoda, who succeeded Joseph Rosenblatt at OhabZedek in New York. Of his a visit to London, he wrote, “At the ‘Great’ the chief Cantor alternated with the second Cantor in conducting the daily services, mornings and evenings all year round, both Cantors garbed in their ceremonial robes and hats, and the sextons in their ‘Prince Alberts’ and silk hats…”4 Such was the prominence of the synagogue in English society that three Royal Princes, sons of H.R.H. George III, known as the Dukes of Cambridge, Cumberland and Sussex, visited it one Friday evening on 14 April 1809. A special Order of Service was compiled and printed on silk; the Parochet of crimson had been presented by Nathan Meyer Rothschild. As the Royal Dukes descended from their carriages, their path was strewn with flowers: “The ‘High Priest’, Rabbi Hirschell, was dressed in a robe of white satin of considerable value that had been ordered expressly for him… A space between the pulpit and the ark had been appropriated for the Princes and nobility who stood on a rich platform with four Egyptian chairs.”5 By this time, rich English tradition had permeated the services; puritanical preaching was introduced and magnificent choirs joined distinguished cantors in leading lengthy services at what would become the flagship house of worship of the United Synagogues of London, an institution established by Act of Parliament in 1870.

As time progressed and the British Empire grew in size and importance, numerous English Jews began to relocate to lonely colonial outposts, bringing with them their own unique style of prayer. South Africa was no exception and synagogues there were from the first modelled on the Great Synagogue of London. In 1841, Benjamin Norden and his cohort of mainly English co-religionists founded the congregation ‘Tikvath Israel’ (‘Hope of Israel’, a homophonous reference to the Cape of Good Hope) in Cape Town. The first synagogue was built in 1861, in Gardens. The congregation followed the Nusach Ashkenaz rite and maintained the British aura of dignified services. The congregation later built a larger edifice, unoriginally entitled the Great Synagogue, in 1904. It was constructed by the British architects Parker and Forsyth in 1904 in Egyptian Revival Style. The Great Synagogue’s immense horseshoe-archway before the Ark apse was exactly the same style employed at Britain’s foremost Jewish houses of worship – at Singers Hill in Birmingham, Princes Road in Liverpool, New West End in London and Garnet Hill in Glasgow.

As at the Great Synagogue, the ministers of the Cape Synagogue were eventually entitled ‘Chief Rabbi’. The services were choral, sermons were introduced and cantors and ‘readers’ were ‘men of the cloth’ in the literal sense. The ministers of the Gardens Great Synagogue, notably Rev. A P Bender and Rabbi Israel Abrahams, were all from Great Britain, and this further moulded South African Jewry’s approach to anglicised Judaism. Back in London, “children walked in single file to the Great Synagogue from the Jews Free School”6 and annual military services were held; in Cape Town, “Jewish girls in neat taffeta dresses from the Christian boarding schools made a procession towards the Gardens Great Synagogue every Saturday”7 and military services were likewise frequently held.

Memorial service for Yitzchak Rabin held in the Gardens Synagogue, Cape Town, 1994

In 1889, the first synagogue in Johannesburg, located on President Street, was opened by a conglomeration of English and German Jews, headed by the British Rev Mark J Harris. Johannesburg’s first truly eminent cantor was Rev Manne, who responded to an advertisement placed in London. In 1914, an almost identical constitution as the one instituted at Dukes Place Synagogue was adopted at the galleried Park – later Great- Synagogue on Wolmarans Street. Here, too, Rabbi Dr J L Landau was Chief Rabbi. He needed to “…attend Divine Service on Sabbaths and Festivals in his official robes” with his clergy of readers, beadles and cantors to “appear on all necessary occasions in their clerical dress.”8Numerous special military services and services for the British Sovereign were held by the United Hebrew Congregations, an organisation for all purposes modelled on the United Synagogue of Great Britain. As the Johannesburg community gained national prominence, so did its Chief Rabbis, who were all from Britain (although, in Rabbi Landau’s case, Galician-born). Manchester, which boasted its own Great Synagogue, provided South Africa with two of its Chief Rabbis – Rabbi Landau of the North Manchester Congregation and Rabbi B M Casper of the Higher Broughton Congregation9.

For an extended period before this, the content of Judaism in South Africa had been prescribed by the Chief Rabbi in Dukes Place; this was eventually met with resistance by the Congregation in Johannesburg. Despite this, the renowned cantor of the Dukes Place Great Synagogue, Rev. Simcha Koussevitzky – who had been so popular in London that policemen had to control the crowds at the gates (and the ladies gallery was given over in part to the men)10- eventually moved to Johannesburg, bringing Britain’s finest cantorial tradition to South Africa.11 In 1913 Rabbi J H Hertz, who had first been exposed to the spirit of Nusach Anglia whilst in Johannesburg’s Witwatersrand Old Hebrew Congregation – became Chief Rabbi of the British Empire. His appointment was largely due to his rapport with the British High Commissioner of South Africa, Lord Alfred Milner, something that came about through his support for the Uitlander cause and passionate support for English values.12Rabbi Hertz guided South African Jewry from the Imperial Capital and in South Africa proper when he conducted the first pastoral visit of a British Chief Rabbi across Britain’s vast Empire, to Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the Union of South Africa, in 1920. In his commentary on Ethics of the Fathers, he declared that the saintly Talmudic luminary Rabbi Tarfon, who allowed his mother to tread on his hands because her ‘sandals split’, “outdid Sir Walter Raleigh in his chivalry”.13 This typical observation is evidence of the potent imprint made on his work and exegesis by Nusach Anglia.

Interior of the Park Synagogue, Johannesburg, draped in black as a sign of mourning on the death of King Edward VII, May 1910.

Although by the turn of the century East European Jews constituted the majority of Jews in South Africa, there emerged a synthesis of the two traditions, characterised as the “pouring of the Litvak spirit into Anglo Jewish bottles”.14 Even the East European breakaway synagogues in both Johannesburg and Cape Town – the Beth Hamedrash Hagodel and Beth Hamedrash – eventually became conventionally anglicised in their own right (a typical phenomenon in England). The Beth Hamedrash Hagodel eventually joined the United Hebrew Congregations when it merged with the Sandton Hebrew Congregation.15 One consequence was that most Jews left their traditional Lithuanian way of pronouncing Hebrew for the anglicised pronunciation (which, amongst other things, rendered the Hebrew cholam vowel not as ‘ai’ but as ‘oh’ as in ‘go’).16 In the vast majority of South African synagogues, English influence meant that wedding ceremonies were held before the Ark as opposed to on the Almemar, as was the custom of Rabbi S R Hirsch17, and as opposed to having solemnisation outside as was the custom in many Eastern European congregations.18 Some synagogues were so anglicised that they earned the name the ‘EnglischerShul’. This was the case with the Western Road Synagogue in Port Elizabeth19. Unfortunately, not all these effects were so innocuous; the anglicising spirit often led to the devout newcomers becoming laxer in their religious observance.

The exterior domes of the old Saint Andrews Road Synagogue in Durban bear a striking resemblance to the Great Synagogue of Manchester, constructed in 1857. Regarding the marble, turreted Assyrian ark of the Kimberley synagogue, with its large dome and two small spired domes facing it, there is no doubt that these were modelled on the virtually identical arks constructed at Rev. Simeon Singer’s New West End Synagogue in St. Petersburg Place, London, and the Princes Road Synagogue in Liverpool (both by the architect George Audsley).20 The Gardens Great Synagogue’s pulpit, positioned to the side with a sweeping staircase, is an almost replica of that at the Manchester Great Synagogue. These synagogues were intended to inspire awe in congregants; the architect and historian H. A. Meek once said of Princes Road, “He who has not seen the interior of Princes Road Synagogue has not beheld the glory of Israel.21 The Kimberly Synagogue has been described in a recent novel as having “an English service”, which made an East European newcomer feel ‘uncomfortable’.22The fact that at many synagogues – including the Great Synagogue in Johannesburg – Royal Family prayer boards flanked the Ark is an obvious indication of the influence of the Anglo-Jewish tradition. As may be observed in any London United Synagogue today, such prayer boards are given prominent position on either side of the Aron Kodesh.23

Interior New West End Synagogue, London

South African Jewry’s liturgical style was irrevocably changed with the introduction of the Authorised Daily Prayer Book of the United Hebrew Congregations of the British Empire by the celebrated minister Rev. Simeon Singer of the New West End Hebrew Congregation. Published in 1890, this was modelled on S. Baer’s Abodath Israel, and featured a majestic, high-Victorian English translation. Declared Singer in the preface, “No pains have been spared to render the work of permanent value and worthy of its place as the Authorised Prayer Book of the United Hebrew Congregations of the British Empire.”24Thereafter, all South African synagogues used the Singer Prayer Book, and they are still in use today.

So far as Festivals were concerned, the fledgling congregations in South Africa initially used the Machzor of Isaac Levy of London (published 1807). Later the Routledge Machzor, published in 1906, was used across the country. Published with the sanction of Chief Rabbi Nathan Adler and modelled on Wolf Heidenheim’s famed Rodelheim Machzor of 1800,25 the Routledge reflected the changes that had taken place in Anglo-Jewry with regard to liturgy.

This included Chief Rabbi Adler’s 1847 regulation that the Ark be kept open for the duration of the Yom Kippur Amida repetition and the allowance made in 1892 by Chief Rabbi Hermann Adler to omit the first YekumPurkan.26These were used in the flagship synagogues of South Africa such as Cape Town’s Gardens and Johannesburg’s Great Synagogues, along with all the large Hebrew congregations of South Africa.27 Moreover the Hertz Pentateuch, Chief Rabbi JH Hertz’s commentary on the Torah and Haftarot first published in 1936, became the staple synagogue and school Bible of South African Jewry and is from Pretoria to Sea Point to this day. The moving service composed by Chief Rabbi Adler for the Setting of a Tombstone, unknown in Eastern European tradition, is still used by officiating rabbis in Great Britain and South Africa and the prayer he composed for a barmitzvah boy was recited in South Africa for a century. Clear-cut translations of the Selichottexts were unavailable to South African Jews until Rev Abrahams published his Selichot Prayerbook, modelled on Selichot Manuscript texts found in London’s British Museum and the Bodleian Library of Oxford (published 1956). Many copies of these were dispatched to South Africa and are still in use, the Artscroll alternative having only recently become available.28

All mainstream South African synagogues have Yigdal and Adon Olam sung at the conclusion of Friday evening services, and the termination of the Sabbath morning service respectively. This is a direct consequence of NusachAnglia tradition; these hymns are not sung in many Nusach Ashkenaz synagogues at the times mentioned.29Nusach Anglia continues to publish its own siddurim (the latest Singer’s Authorised Daily Prayer Book appearing in 2006) and machzorim,keeping alive the “centuries old tradition that is Minhag Anglia”. Much of this work was conducted under the expertise of Dayan Ivan Binstock of the London Beth Din and minister of London’s principal synagogue, St John’s Wood (where Chief Rabbi C.K. Harris once ministered).30

The Chief Rabbi of Britain continued to guide the destiny of a large proportion of South African Jewry as is evident from correspondence from Rev Bender to Rabbi Landau in the Transvaal: “I for one will never approve of a scheme which shall provide for a separate Chief Rabbi for South Africa”. Bender posited, explaining this was because “…I consider this country to be an integral part of the British Empire which is nominally under the spiritual jurisdiction of a recognised Chief Rabbi”31 In addition to Rabbi Hertz, South Africa’s contribution to the British Chief Rabbinate continues, with Johannesburg-born Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis elected Chief Rabbi of the British Commonwealth and assuming office in September 2013.

Of course, over time South African Jews modelled Nusach Anglia to their own tastes. The institution of a lengthy Friday night service with large attendances is unique to the South African scene, as is the congregants’ custom to leave their seats and crowd around the scroll and kiss it when the procession makes its way to the Almemar, distinct from the British custom to ‘bow solemnly’ to the Torah from their pews. Rabbi Cyril Harris found this custom ‘delightful’ when he witnessed it in South Africa. Moreover, the custom for the Almemar to be displaced towards the back of the synagogue, even though the synagogues are not Sephardi, is unique to South Africa, something Chief Rabbi Harris also noted on his arrival.32Incidentally, it was Rabbi Harris who broke with the tradition of wearing canonicals for all services; he discarded this apparel for Sabbath services shortly after his arrival, although he continued wearing them for High Holy Days. The decline in the wearing of clerical dress amongst the general rabbinate in South Africa is less pronounced in Britain, where the practice continues in many synagogues.33 Nonetheless, the time-honoured custom of wardens donning top-hats and tail-coats has been preserved in Johannesburg’s Great Park Synagogue.34

On one point alone can it be said that South Africa has fallen short so far as the NusachAnglia heritage and its accompanying values are concerned, namely that of protection for religious immovable heritage (halachically, a point of fundamental importance). In the UK, through the devoted efforts of individuals such as the Catholic Bill Williams and the Jewish Dr. Sharman Kadish, the Jewish Heritage UK charity was established to safeguard Jewish architectural sites across the country. The organization provides independent professional support to trustees, congregations and organisations in their quest to maintain their historic buildings and sites, promoting work of the highest conservation standards, whilst also advising funding applications to grant-making bodies. As a rule the Jewish Heritage UK monitors synagogue closures, seeking sympathetic alternative uses for redundant synagogues and encouraging the recycling of synagogue fittings in a last resort situation. The organization protects disused Jewish cemeteries by encouraging the sharing of the financial burden on a citywide and regional basis and enlists the support of agencies outside the Jewish community to help maintain the sites. Appreciation of Jewish heritage is developed inter alia through research, publications and special touring British Heritage Open Days. The organisation works in partnership with Britain’s heritage societies and local planning authorities to ensure that there is a sustainable future for Britain’s Jewish architectural heritage35. Conversely, it is a most unfortunate fact that when desecration of our magnificent Anglo-influenced synagogues in South Africa occurs, it is generally met without protest.

Being a community which has always sedulously observed the highest standards of religious requirements, it is important that South African Jewry take into account the halachic injunctions regarding safeguarding the sanctity of religious architectural heritage. The Jewish Code of Law (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim, 153:9) prohibits the sale of a synagogue to any group or individual who would demean its standing. Moreover, it is a halachically established fact that “to sell a synagogue to a place of levity and immodesty or to a gentile is prohibited and even more so is the severity of selling it to be used as a gentile place of worship.” This ruling is upheld by such halachic luminaries as, amongst others, the Minchas Yitzhak authored by the Av Beth Din of Manchester and later Eda Haredith, Jerusalem, Shaarei Yosher,and Rabbi Moshe Feinstein.36 Although certain leniencies could be applied in a case whereby the synagogue remained in an exclusively gentile area, these do not apply to selling it for the purpose of a gentile house of worship37. Such sources are expressly mentioned in the Talmud (Yevamoth), where the worry of retribution for a synagogue being abandoned to gentile worship and heathenism is also emphasised.38

One high-profile example: In 1998, due to increasing crime, the architecturally vital Wolmarans Street Great Synagogue in Johannesburg was sold and subsequently used for a fashion catwalk studio. It was visionary for the congregation to relocate to Oaklands, but many in the community felt the abandonment of the old building to be a travesty as it could easily have remained within the Jewish community and be used for a constructive purpose39. If synagogues are too far away to walk to on Shabbat, they may still be used for weekday prayers, weddings and even as centres of help for the underprivileged. None of this would entail driving on Shabbat, whilst the integrity of the synagogue design would be maintained.

Any religious individual would be perturbed at the stunned expression in the general press that the “Wolmarans St Synagogue is planned to be sold for commercial purposes…without protest.” It is disheartening indeed to any Jew when our prime synagogue is reported by the Business Daynews outlet as having been “sold for a song…One of Johannesburg’s best-known landmarks, the Wolmarans Street Synagogue, was knocked down for R850 000 in a ‘blind bid’ at a lively Citynet auction this week”.40 Thus our principal house of worship came to be handed over to a Christian domination, its exterior disfigured by chicken takeaways and inside a Christian motif painted over the Ark, beneath the Shiviti sign, without a word of reproach from any quarter. It is essential that we now prove that as a community, we value our single most important religious landmark more than the comparatively meagre sum of a new motorcar – a sum that could easily be raised within the community.

Worshipers gather for a church service outside the former Great Synagogue, Johannesburg, 2013.

The South African Jewish community has already taken positive steps regarding other cases. The Lions Synagogue in Doornfontein, remembered fondly by so many, was valued enough by its members for it to be maintained to the present day. The community of Brakpan refused to allow their synagogue to be relegated to the realm of history; innovative tactics are employed and the synagogue is maintained. Defying naysayers, the South Eastern Rosettenville Congregation, over a century old, continues to function, declaring that the surrounding decay will not affect G-d’s sanctuary. The Ark at Outsdhoorn has been rescued and placed in the town museum; the synagogue in Worcester has been converted into a museum and preserved its appearance. The Jeppe Hebrew Congregation, for so long situated in an area of terminal decline, had congregants who were not defeatist in their attitude and who ensured that the synagogue remained in use long after most Jews had moved out of the area. The problem of Sabbath desecration was nobly avoided by holding a convivial service every Sunday, when driving is permitted. Nonetheless, that edifice still lacks civil protection, which could easily be implemented through the efforts of a SA Jewish Heritage Society.

Elsewhere, other flagrant breaches of the integrity of our traditional sites have occurred. The rounded Western Road Synagogue in Port Elizabeth (constructed 1877) was not preserved; neither was the Fox Street Johannesburg Beth Hamedrash protected. It is therefore understandable that a prominent member of the Johannesburg Council informed the author that in his opinion “the Jewish religious authorities have given scant regard to their rich heritage”41. Despite the Poswohl Synagogue on Mooi Street being proclaimed a national monument, it has now been left to rot with televisions housed in the Aron Kodesh. Are we really prepared to allow a last memorial to the destroyed Jewish community of Poswohl, Lithuania, to slip into oblivion? Once the innovative president of Poswohl Synagogue offered brides transportation to the shul in a Rolls Royce were they to have their wedding in the synagogue42; now we are the custodians of a heritage that is at risk. How ironic that Temple Israel of the Reform community in Hillbrow should continue to operate. Whilst detractors would suggest that community is viable because its members discount the Sabbath restrictions, the Temple largely survives as an upliftment centre to help the underprivileged, something that any Orthodox congregation could undertake during the week. The German Lutheran Church in Hillbrow, just two years older than the Great Synagogue, has been preserved. The point must be made: “If German Lutherans can keep their Hillbrow site, what an embarrassment it is that we Jews appear not to care about our shul”.43 Moreover, having a synagogue that doubles as a Jewish Museum is hardly something unique in the Jewish world, where such sites are situated in areas that, like the CBD of Johannesburg, are devoid of Jews.44 The false impression has been created that the Great Synagogue has been irreparably desecrated. In reality, it remains completelyintact, down to the memorial tablets and Ark design. Only the Claim and Smit Street elevations have had extensions added, to house a restaurant and takeaway.

When the Jewish community reacts in fury to the desecration of the Bloemfontein Jewish cemetery, this is encouraging. As a community, we found intolerable the unlicensed destruction of our two ohelim – the Kevura Shtiebl Ohel in Brixton and the one in Braamfontein. The Brixton Cemetery is now completely secure – vagabonds cannot reach it – and it was therefore utterly unnecessary to destroy the ohel. Fortunately, those responsible have since been taken to task and the community will no longer accept such wanton destruction. Kavod Hameth, honouring the dead, is even more deeply rooted in Jewish tradition than preserving sacred architecture, and the least we can expect is secure burial grounds for our forefathers; efforts must be made to also secure the Braamfontein cemetery.

It is my hope that this essay will serve as a catalyst of our protest against the erosion or destruction of our precious heritage, in no way less resplendent than that of Great Britain. Will the easily re-purchasable Great Synagogue be left to be despoiled? Will we allow the Jewish community’s most historically significant building in Johannesburg to be changed beyond recognition, so that even when, the Johannesburg CBD, through the efforts of the JHB Development Agency, regenerates there will be nothing left to reclaim? The contravention of halacha may yet be corrected and our heritage may be ours once more, but only if unity is achieved and if we follow the superb example set by heritage protection societies in the UK and elsewhere in the Jewish world. A body to protect our architectural legacy is sorely needed in our proud community.

 

David Sher is a student at Shaarei Torah Yeshiva in Manchester. His article ‘Johannesburg’s Mother Synagogue – 126 Years Young’ appeared in the Rosh Hashanah 2013 issue of Jewish Affairs.

 

NOTES

  1. These sites are all marked by plaques and Bevis Marks welcomes visitors.
  2. See commentary on Yizkor Service for Departed British Chief Rabbis, Chief Rabbi Lord J. Sacks, Yom Kippur Machzor, Koren: Jerusalem, 2012 p752
  3. Rules of the Congregation, published by the Synagogue in Duke’s Place: London (1827)
  4. Vigoda, S, Legendary Voices, published by Rev Vigoda: New York (1981).
  5. Paul Renton, The Lost Synagogues of London, Tymsder Publishing: London,(2005), p34.
  6. Ibid p35.
  7. Interview with Mrs S. Wittert (Kaler), former student at a Cape boarding-school (June 2013) .
  8. Constitution and Byelaws: United Hebrew Congregation of JHB, 13/6/1914, Authors Private Collection.
  9. Bill Williams, Manchester Jewry- An illustrated History, Breedon Books: Derby (2008) p121.
  10. Renton, The Lost Synagogues of London, p38.
  11. He served at Johannesburg’s Greenside Hebrew Congregation and moved to South Africa in 1947.
  12. Hertz was exiled from the Transvaal due to his fiery pro-Uitlander speech delivered at the Wanderers Hall in Johannesburg. He endured a brief exile in Cape Town, then under British control.
  13. See Dicta of the Fathers, p43, published separately but also incorporated into the Hertz Authorised Daily Prayer Book (1945), London.
  14. Gus Saron and L Hotz, The Jews in South Africa, Oxford University Press, 1955.
  15. Anglicisation noted by adoption of choir and a gallery with no obstructive mechitzah.
  16. Interview with UHC Council members.
  17. Rabbi S R Hirsch’s responsa, Shemesh Merapeh (Hebrew) Artscroll-Mesorah: New York, 1992, pp96-7.
  18. The Polish custom was largely based on the advice of the Re’ma, who advocated outdoor solemnisation “under the heavens” as a “siman tov” [positive omen].
  19. The Jews in South Africa, Fieldhill Publishing Co: Johannesburg (1965) p53.
  20. See Kadish, Sharman; ‘Jewish Heritage in England-An Architectural Guide’, English Heritage publication, Jewish Heritage UK; Swindon: 2006.
  21. From pamphlet issued by the Liverpool Old Hebrew Congregation. (Princes Road).
  22. G. Gordon, South African Journeys, Jerusalem Publications: Jerusalem (2002) p63.
  23. For example, author’s visitation to St John’s Wood Synagogue, Sandys Row Synagogue, Marble Arch Western End Synagogue, Manchester Great and New Synagogue and innumerable others.
  24. Authorised Daily Prayer Book of the British Empire, Rev. S. Singer’s Introduction, London: (1890).
  25. This was a staple of South Africa’s Adath Jeshurun Community and is used by Germanic Congregations worldwide to this day.
  26. Dayan Ivan Binstock, Rosh Hashana Machzor, Chief Rabbi Lord J. Sacks, Koren Publishing: Jerusalem (2011) p xiii.
  27. Based on interview with former United Hebrew Congregation officials regarding the synagogal rite and authors visit to several U.H.C. synagogues including the Oxford and Great Park Synagogues, which use the Authorised Daily Prayer Book. Singer’s Prayer Books were used at the Berea North Synagogue and Great Synagogue. The Artscroll Prayer Book only recently became fashionable. See also order of service quoting the Singers Prayer Book in the Great Synagogue Golden Jubilee Commemorative Brochure, United Hebrew Congregation: Johannesburg (1964), SAJBD Library, (Johannesburg).
  28. Authorised Selichot for the Entire Year, I, Abrahams, London: 1956.
  29. As evident in all large congregations in the South African Republic and in the much diminished congregations of former Rhodesia including Bulawayo and Harare (Salisbury).
  30. See Rosh Hashanah (2011) and Yom Kippur (2012) Machzorim: Chief Rabbi Lord J. Sacks; Koren Publishing: Jerusalem, 2011, 2012.
  31. Landau archives, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Archive 40°798/43/C Also quoted by John I Simon in Mendel Kaplan, Founders and Followers, Vlaeburg Publishing Cape Town: 1991 p193.
  32. For Heaven’s Sake The Chief Rabbis Diary, C.K. Harris, Goodwood: Western Cape, 2000, p157.
  33. Chief Rabbi Harris’s choice of clerical garb was explained in a discussion with communal activist and friend Mr I Reznik (July 2013) Many British Rabbis and other members of the ministry still wear canonicals, including at the Manchester Higher Crumpsall and London New West End Synagogues. Chief Rabbis Mirvis and Sacks were clad in such robes for the latter’s induction shortly before Rosh Hashana 5774.
  34. Such synagogues include the Sephardi Lauderdale Road Synagogue; the custom of wearing top-hats in the Great Park Synagogue is a consequence of the protocol in the Wolmarans St Synagogue.
  35. Communication and appeal brochures released by Jewish Heritage UK..
  36. See, for example, Piske Teshuboth, Ch.153:17,See the Halachic Responsa (Orach Chaim Section of Shulkhan Aruch) in: Imre Yosher Vol.2,Ch.32, Iggereth Moshe (Rabbi Moses Feinstein) Vol.2 Ch.44 and 45, Minchath Yitzhak, (Dayan I J Weisz) Vol.1 Ch.120.
  37. Rabbi Moses Feinstein, maintaining once again maintains selling it for such a use is an immensely great ignominy. Igroth Moshe Vol2 Ch45.
  38. See Tractate Yebamoth, Babylonian Talmud, page 96a, incident regarding Rabbi Yose ben Kismo.
  39. See Eli Goldstein, ‘When Pragmatism Trumps Prosperity’, correspondence page in SA Jewish Report, 15 February 2013 distress at the fact that the synagogue has still not been preserved.
  40. See Businessday South Africa: Historic Synagogue Sold for a Song, 4 March 2005.
  41. Communication with a City of Johannesburg heritage official, 2013.
  42. ‘The Pretoria Women’s Zionist League go Touring’, Pretoria Jewish Chronicle, August 1988.
  43. See Jewish Community Must Buy Back Wolmarans Street Shul Building, SA Jewish Report, 28 June 2013.
  44. For example the Manchester Jewish Museum in Cheetham Hill, an area now primarily Muslim, and the Princes Road Synagogue in Liverpool’s Toxteth, where Jews no longer reside.

You may also like