South Africa

February 24, 2016

Jeppestown Walking Tour

Ishvara Dhyan’s walking tour of Doornfontein two weeks ago was fabulous – a highlight of my visit to South Africa.

I will be posting my photographic memories of it shortly

Ish is leading another tour this weekend. I am not sure if there are places available, but email him at:

ancientsecrets@absamail.co.za

This is what he says:

The Jeppestown Walk ~ on Saturday 27^th Feb 2016

..will begin at 10 am

we are meeting at the HOUSE of BAOBAB No 20 Kruger St

at the Maboneng Precinct near Arts on Main –

there is secure parking in the surrounding streets.. the walk ends at the same place at approx 13h30

Jeppestown is Johannesburgs oldest residential suburb. (1889)

We will visit many places of historical & cultural interest on the walk, including :

* the mosaics at Maboneng Precinct by artist Hannelie Coetzee
* the Jooste & Bryants Building ( Victorian Beauty)

* the Mentis Building ( Art Nouveau )
* the Jozi Mall ( Somali shops – designed as a result of xenophobia )
* old Jewish shops & homes of Jeppestown
* the scenes of the 2008 xenophobic attacks
* the Anglican Church – Joburgs oldest (still functioning) church
* the restaurant used in the movie “ Long Walk to Freedom “
* traditional herbalist shops of Zulu Inyangas
* scene of the Jeppestown massacre 2006

* the first Lithuanian Shul 1903 – 1926
* the Main Jeppestown Synagogue 1926 -2002
* Salisbury House – Philosophy school 1903
* St James Preparatory School 1905

We return to the Maboneng Precinct for an optional lunch at your own expense

( Senegalese buffet ) at ” The House of Boabab ” restaurant.

Cost : R150-00 per person

February 20, 2016February 21, 2016

Claremont Shul, Cape Town

My Litvaks on the Move talk took place at Claremont Shul last Sunday night.

An audience of about 80, mostly of Litvak heritage, attended the presentation.

Question time was held afterwards. Discussion centred around finding ones shtetl.

Thanks go to Rabbi Matthew Liebenberg and Steven Sherman for organising this most successful event.

[huge_it_slider id=”48″]

Images of the evening’s talk

[huge_it_slider id=”49″]

The main synagogue

[huge_it_slider id=”50″]

[huge_it_slider id=”53″]

The small shul

[huge_it_slider id=”51″]

Walls covered with the history of both Claremont and Wynberg Shuls

[huge_it_slider id=”52″]

[huge_it_slider id=”54″]

Images from the archives at the Kaplan Centre, UCT.

My thanks to the librarian, Juan-Paul Burke, for his assistance and allowing me to use this amazing material housed at the Kaplan Centre.

Jerry Zinn’s barmitzvah photo in 1953. Jerry is not in the photo!

February 12, 2016April 29, 2016

Herzlia – Atzalyno Bridges

[iframe src=”http://bridges2015.weebly.com/students-south-africa.html” width=”100%” height=”1000″]

My Litvak Powerpoint slides

►

February 10, 2016February 10, 2016

Litvak Hangout with Cape Town & Kedainiai: A Unique Event!

On 11 February 2016, a unique event will take place!

Two quite different schools on opposite sides of the world, will link up in a Litvak Hangout.

A joint session between students of Herzlia, the Jewish Day School in Cape Town, South Africa and those of Atzalyno Gimnazija, a high school in Kedainiai, Lithuania will be held at 11am South African and Lithuanian time.

Eli Rabinowitz will make some introductory comments about Jews of Lithuania and South Africa and how the Litvaks got to SA.

Three of the Lithuanian students will talk about the Jewish history, the importance of Kedainiai and the Jewish sites in the town.

Three Herzlia students will talk about their Lithuanian heritage, their family shtetl, and when and how their family came to SA.

And then we will talk about the future!

Click here for the link to watch this event live on YouTube:

http://youtu.be/dvnv7q6arAY

Several people around the world have been working hard to make this event happen:

Laima Ardaviciene, the English teacher at Atzalyno in Kedainiai

Mark Helfrich, Curriculum Head at United Herzlia Schools, Cape Town

Steve Sherman, Chief Imagination Officer at Living Maths, Cape Town

Eli Rabinowitz, Perth Australia.

Read more about Eli’s bond with Atzalyno:

http://elirab.me/australia/my-bond-with-atzalyno-gimnazija-a-school-in-kedainiai-2/

February 8, 2016

My Talk At Claremont Wynberg Shul, Cape Town

February 4, 2016

Rabbi Coleman and the Bloemfontein Reunion

The choir in 1982 – thanks to Marc Kopman, top row middle.

A Bloemfontein reunion Shabbat dinner will be held in Johannesburg on Saturday February 20.

Last night in Perth, Australia, Rabbi Shalom Coleman reminisced about his years as the Jewish spiritual leader in Bloemfontein from 1949 to 1959

Those of you who do not know Rabbi Coleman, he has the most phenomenal memory, and recently celebrated his 97th birthday!

Rabbi Coleman with his book: Life Is A Corridor which includes photos and stories from his time in Bloemfontein.

Here is the video clip in which Rabbi Coleman talks about Bloemfontein:

Visit the Bloemfontein KehilaLink. If you have photos and stories connected to Jewish Bloemfontein, please email me at eli@elirab.com

http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/bloemfontein

[iframe src=”http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/bloemfontein” width=”100%” height=”500″]

More about Rabbi Coleman

http://elirab.me/jewish/spiritual-treasure-book-launch-at-the-perth-hebrew-congregation/

January 28, 2016

Five New KehilaLinks

I am pleased to advise that I am now working on five new KehilaLinks.

I compile and manage these Jewish websites as a volunteer for Jewishgen.org, the world’s largest Jewish genealogical organisation.

JewishGen should be the first stop in the journey of discovery of your family history.

If you have roots in these towns, please contact me at eli@elirab.com

I hope you are able to share your family’s story and photos of Jewish life in these places.

Lithuania:

Ziezmariai (Zhezhmir)

Ukmerge (Vilkomir)

Latvia

Jelgava (Mitau)

Benoni

Graaff Reinet

Have a look at the list of KehilaLinks I manage:

http://elirab.me/litvak-portal/kehilalinks/

Thanks

Eli

January 21, 2016January 22, 2016

A Journey Through The Jewish Shtetl Of Doornfontein

On Sunday the 7^th February 2016 at 10 am

… we will walk through the old Jewish neighbourhood of Doornfontein Johannesburg.

Some of the highlights include :
* the Lion Shul : 1906
* Yiddishe Arbeiter Klub : the Jewish Workers Club : 1928
* the Alhambra Theatre
* the Yiddishe Altesheim : Jewish Old Age Home
* Beit Hamedrash Hagodel : the Sherwell St Shul
* the first Greek Orthodox Church in Joburg : 1913
* the Beit St shops – Wachenheimers , Nussbaums etc
* the Ottoman Embassy : home of Henri Bettelheim
* the University of Johannesburg Campus
* the Jewish Govt School : IH Harris Primary
* the Hebrew High School : Talmud Torah
* the old Victorian homes on Sivewright St
* the Great Synagogue on Wolmarans St : 1914

Times : 10h00 till 14h00

R150-00

If you wish to attend, please confirm that there is available space by sending an email to :

ancientsecrets@absamail.co.za for banking details and further instructions

Space is limited – so confirmation is essential

Please note : men please bring a yarmulke for entering the synagogues and women please dress modestly.

Visit the Lion’s Shul on the Johannesburg KehilaLink

January 20, 2016

In Your Pocket Jewish Sightseeing

In Your Pocket is Europe’s leading provider of urban information, supplying locally produced, practical information for over one hundred cities all over the region. Vilnius In Your Pocket was launched in December 1991.

A number of the In Your Pocket websites have Jewish themes and I have embedded some for you here.

Lithuania

Vilnius

[iframe src=”http://www.inyourpocket.com/vilnius/Jewish-Vilnius_73607f” width=”100%” height=”450″]

………………

Kaunas

[iframe src=”http://www.inyourpocket.com/kaunas/sightseeing/jewishkaunas?#h” width=”100%” height=”450″]

…………….

Klaipeda

[iframe src=”http://www.inyourpocket.com/klaipeda/sightseeing/jewishklaipeda” width=”100%” height=”450″]

…………….

Poland

Wroclaw

[iframe src=”http://www.inyourpocket.com/wroclaw/Jewish-Wroclaw_73963f” width=”100%” height=”450″]

…………….

Warsaw

[iframe src=”http://www.inyourpocket.com/warsaw/Jewish-Warsaw_73755f” width=”100%” height=”450″]

…………….

Tarnow

[iframe src=”http://www.inyourpocket.com/tarnow/Jewish-Tarnow_73670f” width=”100%” height=”450″]

……………

Katowice

[iframe src=”http://www.inyourpocket.com/Katowice/Jewish-Katowice_71266f” width=”100%” height=”450″]

…………..

Gdansk

[iframe src=”http://www.inyourpocket.com/gdansk/Jewish-Gdansk_73665f” width=”100%” height=”450″]

…………..

Krakow Kazimierz

[iframe src=”http://www.inyourpocket.com/krakow/Kazimierz_70207f” width=”100%” height=”450″]

……………

Krakow Ghetto

[iframe src=”http://www.inyourpocket.com/krakow/The-Jewish-Ghetto-in-Krakow_73758f” width=”100%” height=”450″]

…………….

Krakow Plaszow

[iframe src=”http://www.inyourpocket.com/krakow/Plaszow-Concentration-Camp_73759f” width=”100%” height=”450″]

……………..

Germany

Berlin Jewish Museum

[iframe src=”http://www.inyourpocket.com/berlin/Judisches-Museum-Berlin_23093v” width=”100%” height=”450″]

…………….

South Africa

Johannesburg

[iframe src=”http://www.inyourpocket.com/johannesburg/Johannesburg-Holocaust-and-Genocide-Centre_140496v” width=”100%” height=”450″]

…………………

Search

[iframe src=”http://www.inyourpocket.com” width=”100%” height=”450″]

Website:

http://www.inyourpocket.com/static/aboutus.html

January 4, 2016

The Last of The Ochberg Orphans in SA

From David Solly Sandler:

3rd January 2016

Dear fellow Arcs and friends

Greetings from Western Australia and I hope you are all well.

This week we share with you the sad news of the passing of Solly Jossel, the last of the Ochberg Orphans living in South Africa.

Arc-Correspondence-3rd-January-2016---final----About-Solly-Jossel-3

Max Goldman emails from Johannesburg and speaks for us all:

So sorry to have to give you the very sad news of Solly Jossel’s passing.

Solly was surely one of the true legends of The Arc and the Ochberg story!

What a rough start he had in life……his father being murdered in cold blood in Russia by some brigands while trying to assist a young woman who was being harassed by them……all this while his mother was pregnant with Solly.

In Solly’s last years he was very frail and his hearing and eyesight were quite poor, yet it was always a pleasure to be in his and Sylvia’s presence.

They say that your face tells your story…….. reveals your character…….looking into the faces of Sylvia And Solly I could only ever see one thing…………..GOOD!!

Solly will be much missed!

Sincere condolences to Sylvia and all of Solly’s family.

MHDSRIP

Best to you

Max and all Old Arcs and Ochberg descendants