History of the Jews in South Africa

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South African Jews
Suid-Afrikaanse Jode
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Jewish community in the world, and the largest on the African continent. As of 2020, the Kaplan Centre at the University of Cape Town estimates 52,300 Jews in the country. The South African Jewish Board of Deputies estimates that the figure is closer to 75,000.[2]

The history of the Jews in South Africa began during the period of

developed countries in the English-speaking world, such as the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand, as well as a significant number emigrating to Israel.[8]

History

A painting by Charles Davidson Bell depicting Jan van Riebeeck's establishment of a colonial settlement of South Africa; a number of Jews came to the colony in the following decades.

Portuguese exploration

The first Jews involved in the history of South Africa were explorers, cartographers and astronomers who were employed by the Portuguese Crown. These men were employed in attempts by Portugal to discover a sea route to the Indian subcontinent. Jewish cartographers in Portugal, many of whom were member of the Portuguese upper class, assisted explorers Bartolomeu Dias and Vasco da Gama who sailed around the Cape of Good Hope to India in 1488 and 1497, respectively.[9]

Dutch colonial era

In 1652, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) established a colonial settlement at the Cape of Good Hope under the direction of Jan van Riebeeck. Among the settlers in the colony were a number of non-practising Jews who lived in Cape Town. The first records of Jews living in the colony were a baptism record of two Jewish settlers living in the Western Cape on Christmas Day, 1669. Despite this, Jewish immigration to the colony remained small in number due to the VOC requiring all its employees and settlers to be Protestant. In 1803, the Dutch colonial authorities granted religious freedom to all inhabitants and prospective migrants; when the British invaded and occupied the colony in 1805, they issued a confirmation of this policy the next year.[9]

British colonial era

Jews did not arrive in any significant numbers at Cape Town before the 1820s. The first

Disraeli, too, he early left the ranks of Judaism
. At the same time, the Jews faced substantial
Catholics from military posts, from the positions of president, state secretary, or magistrate, from membership in the First and Second Volksraad ("parliament"), and from superintendencies of natives and mines. These positions were restricted to persons above 30 years of age with permanent property and a longer history of settlement. As a consequence of the fact that Boer republics were only in existence from 1857 to 1902, unfortunately many residents of the Boer republics had limited access to positions in the upper echelons of government. All instruction was to be given in a Christian and Protestant spirit, and Jewish and Catholic teachers and children were to be excluded from state-subsidised schools.[citation needed] Before the Boer War
(1899–1902), Jews were often considered uitlanders ("foreigners") and excluded from the mainstream of South African life.

However, a small number of Jews also settled among and identified with the rural white

Afrikaans-speaking population; these persons became known as Boerejode (Boer Jews). A measure of intermarriage also occurred and was generally accepted.[10]

The South African gold rush began after 1886, attracting many Jews. In 1880, the Jewish population of South Africa numbered approximately 4,000; by 1914 it had grown to more than 40,000.[11] So many of them came from Lithuania that some referred to the population as a colony of Lithuania; Johannesburg was also occasionally called "Jewburg".[12]

Second Boer War

Jews fought on both sides during the

Transvaal and South African Republics and held citizenship rights were conscripted along with other residents of the republics (known as burghers), though other Jews volunteered.[13] Jews fighting on the Boer side participated in many of the major engagements of the war, and continued to fight in the guerrilla phase of the conflict as bittereinders; 12 Boerjode are known to have been killed in action, while 80 were captured by the British. Captured Boerjode were held in prisoner-of-war camps in South Africa, Ceylon, Saint Helena, Bermuda and India.[14]

Union of South Africa

Although South Africans Jews were granted equal rights after the Second Boer War, they again became subject of persecution in the days leading up to the

Grayshirts" and the pro-Nazi Ossewabrandwag were openly antisemitic. In the South African Parliament, the opposition National Party argued that the Aliens Act was too lenient and advocated a complete ban on Jewish immigration, a halt in the naturalisation of Jewish permanent residents of South Africa and the banning of Jews from certain professions.[17]

After the war, the situation began to improve, and a large number of South African Jews, generally a fairly Zionist community emigrated to the State of Israel. South African Jews in Israel number around 20,000 in the 21st century.[3][18] During this time, there were also two waves of Jewish immigration to Africa from the island of Rhodes, first in the 1900s and then after 1960.[19][20]

In this period, Jewish activism in South Africa also included attempts to secure the position of Jews overseas. In 1933, following the rise of the Nazi Party in Germany, a correspondent for the South African Medical Journal reported on the systematic oppression of Jewish medical professionals in Germany. These actions included denial of graduations for Jewish medical students, employment bans, forced resignations, raids on a Jewish medical association, and violent attacks on individual doctors. The report concluded that the actions of the Nazi regime likely had the tacit support of the German medical establishment and ended with the request that South African doctors protest the actions.[21]

Apartheid era

Abba Eban, born in Cape Town, was Foreign Minister of Israel from 1966 to 1974.

When the

D. F. Malan, became the first foreign head of government to visit Israel though the trip was a "private visit" rather than an official state visit.[22] This began a long history of cooperation between Israel and South Africa on many levels. Elements of the South Africa Jewish community through such bodies as the South African Zionist Federation maintained a cordial relationship with the South African government even though it objected to the policies of apartheid being enacted. South Africa's Jews were permitted to collect huge sums of money to be sent on as official aid to Israel, despite strict exchange-control regulations. Per capita, South African Jews were reputedly the most financially supportive Zionists abroad.[23]

Despite the anti-semitism of the ruling National Party, Jewish people were considered as white under the law and shared the same privileges as the Afrikaners. After the

Rivonia trial in which Nelson Mandela and several co-defendants, some Jewish, were sentenced to life in prison, the Apartheid government praised Yutar and held him as a 'savior of the country.'[24] The Afrikaner National Party government also collaborated with the Israeli government who sold them arms and anti-rioting equipment to suppress Black communities.[25] While the apartheid government also secretly worked with Israel to develop a nuclear program.[25]

South African Jewish opposition to apartheid

This section is an excerpt from Internal resistance to apartheid § Jewish resistance.[edit]

Many Jewish South Africans, both individuals and organisations, helped support the anti-apartheid movement. It was estimated that Jews were disproportionately represented (some sources maintain by as much as 2,500%) among whites involved in anti-apartheid political activities.[26] Much like other English-speaking white South Africans, Jews supported either the Progressive Party or the United Party. One organisation, the Union of Jewish Women, sought to alleviate the suffering of blacks through charitable projects and self-help schemes. Fourteen of the 23 whites involved in the 1956 Treason Trial were Jewish and all five whites of the 17 members of the African National Congress who were arrested for anti-apartheid activities in 1963 were Jewish.

Some Jewish university students vehemently opposed the apartheid movement. A large number of Jews were also involved in organisations such as the Springbok Legion, the Torch Commando and the Black Sash. These anti-apartheid organisations led protests that were both active (e.g. marching through the streets with torches) and passive (e.g. standing silently in black). Two Jewish organisations were formed in 1985: Jews for Justice (in Cape Town) and Jews for Social Justice (in Johannesburg). They tried to reform South African society and build bridges between the white and black communities. The South African Jewish Board also passed a resolution rejecting apartheid in 1985.[27]

In addition to the well-known high profile Jewish anti-apartheid personalities, there were very many ordinary Jews who expressed their revulsion of apartheid in diverse ways and contributed to its eventual downfall. Many Jews actively provided humanitarian assistance for black communities. Johannesburg's Oxford Synagogue and Cape Town's Temple Israel established nurseries, medical clinics and adult education programs in the townships and provided legal aid for victims of apartheid laws. Many Jewish lawyers acted as nominees for non-whites who were not allowed to buy properties in white areas.[28]

In 1980, South Africa's National Congress of the Jewish Board of Deputies passed a resolution urging "all concerned [people] and, in particular, members of our community to cooperate in securing the immediate amelioration and ultimate removal of all unjust discriminatory laws and practices based on race, creed, or colour". This inspired some Jews to intensify their anti-apartheid activism, but the bulk of the community either emigrated or avoided public conflict with the National Party government.[29]

Moderation and liberalism

South African Jews have a history of political moderation and the majority supported opposition parties such as first the

Houghton, home to many wealthy Jewish families at the time. Harry Schwarz, a refugee from Nazi Germany, also played a key role in national opposition to Apartheid and later became South Africa's Ambassador to the US during its transition to democracy. The Progressive Party (later renamed the Democratic Party and then the Democratic Alliance) was later led by Jewish politician, Tony Leon and his successor, Helen Zille
. Zille is of Jewish descent: her parents separately left Germany in the 1930s to avoid Nazi persecution (her maternal grandfather and paternal grandmother were Jewish).

In 1980, after 77 years of neutrality, South Africa's National Congress of the Jewish Board of Deputies passed a resolution urging "all concerned [people] and, in particular, members of our community to cooperate in securing the immediate amelioration and ultimate removal of all unjust discriminatory laws and practices based on race, creed, or colour". This inspired some Jews to intensify their anti-apartheid activism, but the bulk of the community either emigrated or avoided public conflict with the National Party government.[30]

The Jewish establishment and the majority of South African Jews remained focused on Jewish issues. A few rabbis spoke out against apartheid early, but they failed to gain support and it was not until 1985 that the rabbinate as a whole condemned apartheid (Adler 2000). The South African Union for Progressive Judaism took the strongest stand of any of the Jewish movements in the country against apartheid. It opposed disinvestment while women in the movement engaged in social work as a form of protest. This includes the Moses Weiler School in Alexandra founded by Rabbi Moses Cyrus Weiler, where for generations the school has been funded and led by women from the Progressive movement, even in opposition to the Bantu Education Act, 1953 (Feld 2014).

Today

Although the Jewish community peaked in the 1970s (at around 120,000

Progressive community, especially in Cape Town. The nation's Progressive communities are represented by the South African Union for Progressive Judaism. The current Orthodox chief rabbi, Warren Goldstein
(2008), has been widely credited for initiating a "Bill of Responsibilities" which the government has incorporated in the national school curriculum. The chief rabbi has also pushed for community run projects to combat crime in the country.

Ivan Glasenberg, CEO of Glencore

The community has become more observant and in Johannesburg, the largest centre of Jewish life with 40,000 Jews, there is a high number and density of

kosher restaurants and religious centres. In politics, the Jewish community continues to have influence, particularly in leadership roles. Currently, the sole national Jewish newspaper, with a readership of about 40,000, is the South African Jewish Report.[31] In 2008, a Jewish radio station, ChaiFM, commenced broadcasting in Johannesburg, and also broadcasting on the internet to the large South African "diaspora".[32] Despite a fall in number, since 2003 the number of South African Jews has stabilised.[5]

The 2016 Community Survey mini-census conducted by Statistics South Africa found the largest numbers in the following municipalities: Johannesburg 23,420; Cape Town 12,672; Ethekwini (Durban) 3,599; Ekurhuleni (East Rand) 1,846; Tshwane (Pretoria) 1,579; Nelson Mandela Bay (Port Elizabeth) 623; Msunduzi (Pietermaritzburg) 600; Mangaung (Bloemfontein) 343; Stellenbosch 316; Buffalo City (East London) 251; Mbombela (Nelspruit) 242.[33]

Kosher certification in South Africa play a significant role in the Jewish community in South Africa. Currently, there are three agencies operating in the country, namely the Union of Orthodox Synagogues (UOS) Kosher Division, Kosher Certified South Africa (KCSA), and

MK Kosher. These agencies provide certification and supervision services to ensure that food products meet the strict dietary requirements of Jewish law.[34][35]

Lemba people

Main article: Lemba people

The Lemba or Remba are a southern African

Y-DNA analyses in the 2000s have established a partially Middle-Eastern origin for a portion of the male Lemba population.[41][42] Research in the mid 2010s argued that DNA studies do not support claims for a specifically Jewish genetic heritage.[43][44]

Jewish education in South Africa

Beth din of Johannesburg

Traditionally, Jewish education in South Africa was conducted by the

Lithuanian Jews who venerated Talmudic scholarship, the community did not establish schools or yeshivot
for several decades.)

An important change took place in 1947, when

Umhlanga Jewish Day School (subsequently renamed), was opened in January 2012, to cater for Jewish children in the greater Durban area.[47] In total, nineteen Day Schools, affiliated to the South African Board of Jewish Education, have been established in the main centres.[48]

The first religious day school, the Yeshiva College of South Africa, was established in the mid-1950s, drawing primarily on the popularity of the Bnei Akiva Religious Zionist youth movement. As an institution with hundreds of pupils, Yeshivah College is today the largest religious school in the country, with Torah studied alongside the national curriculum.

Other educational institutions sharing this same Religious Zionist /

Mizrachi, Johannesburg, and the Yeshiva of Cape Town, a Torah MiTzion kollel. Cape Town also has the Phyllis Jowell Jewish Day School and Cape Town Torah High
, both schools integrating Torah studies.

Rabbi

Avraham Tanzer, Rosh Yeshiva at Yeshiva College for over 50 years, is credited with the growth of that school and its associated institutions,[49] but more broadly, with the "massive sea change for the South African Jewish community and for its spiritual development".[50]

In parallel to the establishment of Yeshiva College, and drawing on the same momentum,

"Telshe" educational model, although accommodates students from across the spectrum of Hashkafa. See also Orthodox yeshivas in South Africa
.

This era also saw the start of a large network of

Chabad Houses
, Cape Town two and Kwazulu-Natal one, all of which offer a variety of Torah classes and adult education and informal children's education programmes.

The 1970s saw the establishment of a

Boruch Grossnass
for over 40 years.

There are today several

Toras Chaim) in 1996 – as well as a midrasha;[55] it also runs a bet midrash in Cape Town. Aish HaTorah emphasizes student-focused programming – lectures and retreats, as well as various group trips to Israel – and also runs a community synagogue for singles and young marrieds.[56]

The Progressive Movement maintains a network of supplementary Hebrew and Religious classes at its temples. These schools are all affiliated to the SA Union for Progressive Judaism. Rabbi Sa'ar Shaked, congregational rabbi of Beit Emanuel is currently involved in efforts to establish a Rabbinic Academy and Higher Education Institution in Gauteng.[57]

Masorti's presence in South Africa is limited to one synagogue in Johannesburg.[58]

Limmud was introduced to the country in 2007. The Limmud South Africa conferences are held in August/September each year. South Africa's Orthodox rabbis do not participate, unlike the UK's Orthodox Rabbinate part of whom have taken part in Limmud UK; see Limmud § Relationships with Orthodoxy in Britain.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The Jews of South Africa in 2019 (PDF). Cape Town: Kaplan Centre, UCT. 2019. p. 23.
  2. ^ a b SA Jewish history South African Jewish Board of Deputies. Retrieved on 18 December 2023
  3. ^ a b "Immigration and absorption - The Council of Immigrant Associations in Israel - מועצת ארגוני העולים בישראל". mio.org.il (in Latin). Archived from the original on 7 August 2018. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  4. ^ Goldberg, Dan (10 December 2013). "South African Jews in Australia Recall Life in the Shadow of Apartheid". haaretz.com. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  5. ^ a b c d e Rebecca Weiner, Rebecca Weiner, ed. (2010), South African Jewish History and Information, Jewish Virtual Library, retrieved 13 August 2010
  6. ^ "P.W. Botha felt Israel had betrayed him". The Jerusalem Post. 2 November 2006. Archived from the original on 6 July 2013. Retrieved 2 November 2006.
  7. ^ Racial Unrest Spurs White Emigration From South Africa Washington Post. 14 May 1977
  8. ^ "World Jewish Population - Latest Statistics". simpletoremember.com. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
  9. ^ a b "South Africa Virtual Jewish History Tour". www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org.
  10. ^ "African Journals Online (AJOL)". Archived from the original on 2 September 2020. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
  11. ISBN 978-0-7992-2315-6
    .
  12. ^ Martin Gilbert, The Jews in the Twentieth Century, (New York: Schocken Books, 2001).
  13. ^ "Three South African "Boerejode' and the South African War". The South African Military History Society (Military History Journal – Vol 10 No 2). 21 November 2006.
  14. ^ Saks, D.Y. (9 January 2005). "Jews on Commando". Southern Africa Jewish Genealogy. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  15. ^ Malherbe, E.G. (1939). Official Year Book of the Union of South Africa and of Basutoland, Bechuanaland Protectorate, and Swaziland. Vol. 20. Pretoria: Union of South Africa. p. 1047.
  16. ^ "Cape Town Holocaust Centre". ctholocaust.co.za. Archived from the original on 13 November 2007. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  17. ^ The Rise of the South African Reich – Chapter 4 Archived 3 November 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  18. ^ The Columbia Gazetteer of the World: P to Z - Page 3471, Saul Bernard Cohen - 2008
  19. ^ Hirschon, Renee. "Jews from Rhodes in Central and Southern Africa" (PDF). Wayback Machine. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2021. (Encyclopedia of Diasporas, Vol 2)
  20. ISBN 9781851098736
    .
  21. hdl:10520/AJA20785135_6777
    .
  22. ISBN 9781850430698
    . Retrieved 5 April 2016.
  23. ^ Chris McGreal (7 February 2006). "Brothers in arms – Israel's secret pact with Pretoria". The Guardian.
  24. ISSN 0261-3077
    . Retrieved 13 January 2024.
  25. ^
    ISSN 0261-3077
    . Retrieved 13 January 2024.
  26. ^ "Legendary Heroes of Africa - Stamps to Commemorate Jewish anti Apartheid South African Liberation struggle". Legendary Heroes of Africa. Archived from the original on 5 March 2011.
  27. ^ "South Africa Virtual Jewish History Tour". www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org.
  28. ^ "South African Jews Against Apartheid". Archived from the original on 28 March 2013. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  29. ^ "The Jews of Africa -- the Jews of South Africa". Archived from the original on 25 April 2005. Retrieved 6 July 2005. The Jews of Africa
  30. ^ "The Jews of Africa -- The Jews of South Africa". mindspring.com. Archived from the original on 25 April 2005. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  31. ^ "South African Jewish Report". Wayback Machine. Archived from the original on 31 March 2010.
  32. ^ "ChaiFM". Chai FM. 4 December 2020. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  33. ^ "Statistics South Africa census and survey datasets and metadata". Nesstar WebView. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  34. ^ Feinberg, Talia (11 November 2021). ""The consumer is the ultimate winner," MK Kosher says as it expands in SA". South African Jewish Report.
  35. ^ Miltz, Nicola (27 January 2022). "New hechsher stirs the kosher pot". South African Jewish Report.
  36. ^ Parfitt, Tudor and Trevisan-Semi, E. (2002). Judaising Movements: Studies in the Margins of Judaism. London: Routledge Curzon.
  37. ^ Parfitt, Tudor (2000). Journey to the Vanished City: the Search for a Lost Tribe of Israel. New York: Random House.
  38. ^ le Roux, Magdel (2003). The Lemba – A Lost Tribe of Israel in Southern Africa?. Pretoria: University of South Africa. pp. 209–224, 24, 37.
  39. doi:10.1163/157430199X00100
    .
  40. ^ van Warmelo, N.J. (1966). "Zur Sprache und Herkunft der Lemba". Hamburger Beiträge zur Afrika-Kunde. 5. Deutsches Institut für Afrika-Forschung: 273, 278, 281–282.
  41. PMID 8900243
  42. ISBN 978-1-930143-89-0
    .
  43. PMID 25431579
    .
  44. ISBN 978-0-12-420195-8
    .
  45. ^ "King David School Linksfield (Secondary)". 14 November 2018. Archived from the original on 14 November 2018. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
  46. ^ "King David School Victory Park (Secondary)". 14 November 2018. Archived from the original on 14 November 2018. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
  47. ^ Shapiro, Lauren (18 January 2012). "Umhlanga Jewish day school opens". MyShtetl. Archived from the original on 2 September 2013. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  48. ^ "The South African Jewish Board of Deputies". shemayisrael.co.il. Archived from the original on 12 February 2007.
  49. ^ Shaun Zagnoev (2020). Rabbi Tanzer leaves magnificent legacy, sajr.co.za
  50. ^ Ilan Preskovsky (2020). A tribute to Rabbi Avraham Tanzer, jewishlife.co.za
  51. ^ "SA-SIG - Southern Africa Jewish Genealogy: Youth Movements". Retrieved 5 April 2016.
  52. ^ "List of Approved Yeshivot, As of June, 2007" (PDF). www.rabbis.org. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
  53. ^ "Machon L'Hora'ah". Machon L'Hora'ah. 21 May 2008. Archived from the original on 21 May 2008. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  54. ^ "South African Jewish Report" (PDF). sajewishreport.co.za. 9 October 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 October 2011. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  55. ^ "Ma'ayan Bina". Ma'ayan Bina. 11 December 2014. Archived from the original on 11 December 2014. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  56. ^ aish.org.za
  57. ^ SOLOMON, MONICA (November 2019). "SAUPJ-WUPJ-REPORT" (PDF). South African Union of Progressive Judaism (SAUPJ). Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  58. ^ "Shalom Independent Congregation - Masorti Olami". masortiworld.org. Archived from the original on 23 December 2010. Retrieved 8 August 2021.

References

External links

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Religious institutions

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