Shabbat Nachamu

Maftir and Haftorah at the Nozyk Synagogue and related stories
Back From the Polish and Litvak Diaspora

I am pleased to advise that for those of you arriving early in Warsaw for the IAJGS Conference, I will be reciting / singing my barmitzvah Maftir and Haftorah at the Nozyk Synagogue on 28 July 2018 – Shabbat Nachamu.

My barmitzvah was held on 14 August 1965 – 16 Av 5725 at the Waverley Shul, Bramley in Johannesburg, South Africa.

My good friend Phillip Levy’s barmitzvah book  – our barmitzvahs were on the same day on 14 August 1965. We didn’t know each other yet!

Books as gifts

My zaida, Rev Nachum Mendel Rabinowitz

This is a significant milestone for our family both historically and genealogically speaking. My zaida, Rev Nachum Mendel Rabinowitz, left Poland in 1905 for Jerusalem, and then in 1911 for South Africa. I have sung in shul choirs in South Africa and Australia since 1960, but this will be the first time since 1905 that the voice of one of our Rabinowitz family will be heard in a shul in Poland! My zaida, my father and my uncle were all cantors.

In 2011 in Orla, I played a recording of my zaida from Johannesburg made in 1961

Video

Nachum Mendel Rabinowitz in the Orla Synagogue

Nachum Mendel sings in Orla Synagogue, Poland

Source: youtu.be/vvXPavvJPNo

Now in 2018, I return not to play a recording, but to sing in the only synagogue in Warsaw that survived the Holocaust – a return to my roots!

My lecture at IAJGS: Back From the Polish and Litvak Diaspora: Virtual Journeys That Connect Us To Our Roots, is on Thursday 9 August at 4-5pm.

 

A repeat of my barmitzvah was held in Perth in 1992 – the invitation

 

Nozyk Synagogue 2018

Send-off from Noranda CHABAD Thursday 26 July 2018

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Cantor Jakub Lichterman

The last cantor at the Nozyk before the Holocaust

 

The visit of the Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman, the Ponevezh’s Rav to Cape Town in 1953. My zaida – Rev Nachum Mendel Rabinowitz – seated third from the left. Cantor Jakub Lichterman 2nd from the bottom right. 

Pinelands Cemetery, Cape Town

Vredehoek Shul Closing 1993

Video

Vredehoek Shul Closing

8 August 1993 Cape Town South Africa – edited speech

Source: youtu.be/RGsYvLVsSpc

Full video here (1 hour 19 mins)

https://youtu.be/37lR9uqODOk

Cape Town Kehilalink – Vredehoek Shul

Richard Shavei Tzion

Celebrating the 50th anniversary of his barmitzvah at Camps Bay Shul, Cape Town 

28 July 2018

Richard Shavei-Tzion Thanks so much Eli for posting the Sefer story. Hereโ€™s the continuation: 70 Years after its consecration and 20 years after I first came across and read from it, with HHโ€™s permission I hope to borrow it for a Shabbat. Cheryl and I and our 3 daughters will be spending Shabbat Nachamu, 27-28/7/18 at the Camps Bay Shul, celebrating the 50th anniversary of my Barmitzvah. once again a special connection- the Sefer was installed just weeks after the founding of the State of Israel, now to be used by Jerusalem family with all the significance attached to the number 70 in Jewish tradition. All Blochs-Saevitzons-Sloans-Wienburgs invited to the Brocha after Shabbat morning service. 
Richard Shavei-Tzion
 
Richard in 1968

Audio

The Bloch Sefer Torah

The Bloch Sefer Torah

More about Aphraim and Chava and the Bloch & Cynkin Families: Source: kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/mir/Bloch_Cynkin.html The visit to Cape Town from Israel by Beverly Jacobson and her children on โ€ฆ

Source: elirab.me/bloch-torah/

     

With Miriam and Ivor Lichterman 2018

The Cape Town Holocaust Centre

Herzlia School 2018

Miriam and Ivor Lichterman at Highlands House 2018

With Cantors Ivor Lichterman & Joffe at Cafe Rieteve 2018

The Global Partisan Song Project 2018

Video

The Global Partisan Song Project

Every year on Yom Hashoah รขย€ย“ the Day of Remembrance of the Holocaust and Heroism, Holocaust survivors and Jewish communities sing the song Zog Nit Keynmol (รขย€ย˜W…

Source: youtu.be/tnaCtuqVBgg