South Africa's Jewish History
In America, they thought
the streets were paved with
gold. But in South Africa,
they were sure of it.
Once word of South Africa's
endless minerals spread to
Europe, the Jewish im-
migrants began the long trek
to South Africa, dreaming of
gold and diamonds.
Many of these Jews, who
had arrived in South Africa
with little in their pockets,
did find gold, moving up from
the sheds of the shtetl to
manors and mansions in less
than a generation.
The first Jews of South
Africa found their way here
some 200 years ago, usually
arriving by Dutch ships in
Cape Thwn, South Africa's
oldest city. At that time,
however, they could not open-
ly practice their Judaism, as
the ruling Dutch East India
Company's rules required all
who were in their service in
the Cape to adhere to the
Reformed Christian religion.
Only in 1803, when freedom
of religion was introduced to
the Cape under the Batavian
Republic, was it possible to
openly profess adherence to
the Jewish faith.
From those early days in
the 1800s, Jews began trickl-
ing in, mostly from England
and Germany. Some remain-
ed, but according to literature
distributed by the South
African Jewish Board of
Deputies, more eventually
returned to their home
country.
In 1841, seventeen Jews
organized the first Hebrew
Congregation in Cape Town.
They named it Tikvat Israel,
(the hope of Israel).
By the end of the 1860s,
several hundred Jews were
living in South Africa,
already actively involved in
the country's cultural and
civic life.
It wasn't only the beauty of
the land, nor the wide open
spaces that attracted the ear-
ly Jewish pioneers here. It
was gold and diamonds. Jews
were among the founders and
developers of these mining in-
dustries. Their achievements
gave them status and in-
fluence beyond their
numbers.
The big influx of Jews to
this southern tip of Africa
began in the early 1880s.
From 1882 to 1912, some
40,000 Jews, mostly Lithua-
nians, immigrated to South
Africa. And for the next forty
years, 25,000 more arrived
from Lithuania, Latvia and
England. A further 8,000
came from Nazi Germany in
the 1930s.
"Since most of South
Africa's Jews come from
Lithuania, we're a very
homogenous community,"
said Aleck Goldberg, ex-
ecutive director of the South
African Jewish Board of
Deputies.
In the last two centuries,
the size of South Africa's
Jewish community swelled to
more than 100,000. (The last
census, done in 1980, reported
120,000 Jews.)
But now they are a
diminishing community. The
young generation is leaving
and there's no influx making
up for the loss.
"Jews don't come here
anymore," said Goldberg, "ex-
cept for a few from Israel who
reckon they can make a de-
cent living here and have
done so!'
Roughly half of South
Africa's Jews live in and
around Johannesburg. About
30,000 live in the Cape and
the rest are spread out around
the country.
When asked why Jews
would come to South Africa,
a country with a long history
of racial troubles, Goldberg
quickly responded, "The Jews
didn't know what this coun-
try would be like; they just
wanted to get out of Eastern
Europe and come to a country
where they could make ends
meet. Physically it's not a bad
country to make a life:' he
said, pointing to the winter
sunshine outside his
downtown Johannesburg of-
fice window.
"It's a fantastic country if
you have white skin;' he add-
ed in a whisper, as if telling
a secret. "Once you settle
here, you don't just pull up
your roots and move out!'
But that's exactly what the
younger generation is doing.
Some estimate that as many
as 20,000 have already
uprooted, leaving this closely-
tied community, which
centers around its
synagogues and Jewish day
schools.
"Jews here are much more
active than in the States,"
said Gary Zolty, 21, a dental
student at the University of
the Witwatersrand in
Johanessburg. "That's why so
many of us go to Israel!'
"There's been a revival here
of Orthodox Judaism;' said
Dr. Stephen Cohen, deputy
director of the Jewish Board
of Deputies. "And there's very
little dropout rate. Even those
who aren't observant attend
services and send their kids
to Jewish day schools!'
The Jewish day school is
doubtless a major source of
the community's strength
and Jewish identity. There
are 20 such day schools in the
main centers. The largest is
likely King David, a school in
Johannesburg boasting four
campuses and more than
3,000 elementary, junior high
and high school pupils.
— L.O.
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NEWS
Israeli Wins
Moscow Race
'Tel Aviv (JTA) — Mazal
Shalom, Israel's champion
long-distance runner, won the
15-kilometer "Moscow Peace
Race" through the streets of
the Soviet capital last week.
Her time was 53.36 minutes.
Shalom was the first Israeli
athlete to compete in the
Soviet Union since Moscow
broke diplomatic ties with
Israel in 1967. She is a
member of the Hapoel sports
club in Beersheva.
The race was sponsored by
Trud, the Soviet trade union
newspaper. Shalom par-
ticipated under an agreement
reached in April between
Hapoel and the Soviet sports
syndicate.
The Israeli woman beat
runners from 20 countries, in-
cluding Russians who are ex-
pected to be members of the
Soviet Olympic team in
Seoul, South Korea.
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THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
27