History of Johannesburg Jews

Nine year’s after its establishment in 1886, 6,000 Jews lived in Johannesburg. Jewish immigrants hailed from Britain, Germany and Eastern European Jews, mainly from the Baltics and Russia. Many came in search of wealth in the gold fields. Both the Witwatersrand Goldfields Jewish Association and the Witerwatersrand Old Hebrew Congregation were founded in 1887. The former bought two plots of land for the first synagogue in Transvaal, which later became known as the President Streets Synagogue. Mendelssohn served as its first president, as well as its chairman during various periods.

Four years later, President Paul Kruger of South Africa dedicated the Park Synagogue to the Johannesburg Hebrew Congregation. Another synagogue, the Great Synagogue, opened in 1914; the Great Synagogue is modeled after Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia mosque. Johannesburg’s other major synagogue, the Mooi Street Synagogue, founded by Lithuanian immigrants, has recently been declared a national landmark.

During the late 1800's and early 1990's, many of Johannesburg’s Jewish institutions were created. Charitable organizations, such as the Hevra Kadisha (burial society), a Jewish soup kitchen, Jewish Ambulance Corps, Bikkur Holim Society and a Jewish Ladies Benevolent Society, were formed to take care of the new immigrants and the poor members of the community.

A Jewish Hospital was built in 1896 to administer to Orthodox Jews who insisted on kosher food and who felt more comfortable with Jewish doctors and nurses. Eventually the Jewish Hospital became part of the Johannesburg General Hospital and, today, it still offers kosher meals.

Social clubs were also founded in this period, including a Jewish Dramatic Society and the Jewish Guild. Johannesburg’s first Jewish school opened in 1890 and served as a forerunner to the National Jewish Day School movement. Jewish education transformed over the years and is rarely carried out by the traditional cheders (one-room classes).

Johannesburg is home to many Jewish institutions and organizations, including the Jewish Board of Deputies, a Jewish library and a Jewish museum, which contains African-sculpted stones mezuzas, two Torahs from Maputo (found in Mozambique) and other interesting memorabilia from the South African Jewish community.

In the suburbs of Johannesburg, one can find the Johannesburg Bet Din and the Etz Chayim Synagogue, which houses a Holocaust memorial.

Another Holocaust-related site is a sculpture found at the entrance to the Westpark Cemetery. Created by artist Herman Wald, it features thee hands, each holding a shofar and the three shofars spiral inwards.

Today, Johannesburg has a Jewish population of approximately 50,000 people, the largest in all of South Africa.

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