Another chapter in the saga of South African Jewish country
life came to an end on Shabbos Parshas Mishpotim, with
the formal closure of the Pietersburg Hebrew Congregation.
Pietersburg, a medium-sized town in the northern part of the
country, has had an organized Jewish community since 1897 and
until recently was one of the last active Jewish
congregations outside of the main urban centers. The closure
of the shul marks yet another episode in the gradual
disappearance of South African Jewish country life, a process
that has been going on for at least fifty years.
Rabbi Moshe Silberhaft, spiritual leader to the Country
Communities, officiated at the valedictory service and
"deconsecration" ceremony for the shul building, which
has served the community since 1953. In attendance were some
45 Pietersburgers past and present, their ages ranging
between 10 and 88 years. Many were seeing each other for the
first time in over forty years, something which added to the
bittersweet atmosphere of the occasion.
Rabbi Silberhaft emphasized how the synagogue had been more
than just a building for the Pietersburg community, but
rather an instrument whereby the sacred mission of the Jewish
people could be continued. For nearly 50 years it had
"invited all Jews to prayer and reflection, to moral duty and
ethical mandate," summoning them to reaffirm the faith of
their ancestors and to renew the covenant of Israel.
"These walls are steeped in Torah and tefillah. Each
seat has its own story to tell. These memories are precious
because they help define our own Yiddishkeit and
personal attachment to our faith," Rabbi Silberhaft said.
The Pietersburg community has been more resilient than most
of the country congregations. It was only in 1992, for
example, that the services of a rabbi had to finally be
dispensed with. The congregation nevertheless continued to
function until 2002 when minyanim were no longer
possible. It was then that the painful decision was made by
the remaining members of the congregation to finally close
the shul.
During the ceremony, messages of good will from former
residents of the town who could not be present were read out.
Many of these were sent from overseas, including Israel,
where a high proportion of ex-congregants have since
relocated.
Arrangements have been made to ensure that at least part of
the century-old community lives on. Within a few weeks, the
foundation stones, furniture and accoutrements will be sent
to Tel Mond in Israel, where a new shul is being
built. The shul will incorporate the foundation stones
and plaques, as well as a wall in memory of the members of
the Pietersburg Hebrew Congregation. Tel Mond is a young,
active and growing community that includes many ex-South
African families.
The contents of the shul's hall and kitchen in the
Wally Levy Hall were presented to the Selwyn Segal Hostel, a
Johannesburg-based charitable organization for the Jewish
handicapped.
After Shabbos a rededication ceremony was held at the
cemetery, where over 160 tombstones had been laid flat on
their bases in a bed of concrete so as to protect them from
vandalism. The old and damaged sifrei kodesh were
buried the following day.
Jews have been an integral part of Pietersburg almost from
its inception, amongst other things producing four mayors and
two deputy mayors. Pietersburg was not only the
administrative and commercial center of the Northern
Transvaal, but also the center of all Jewish affairs. The
Jewish residents of the neighboring towns like Louis
Trichardt, Messina, Tzaneen and Potgietersrus, as well as the
smaller villages, all looked to it for spiritual guidance and
other Judaic needs.
The first Jew to settle in the Pietersburg district is
believed to have been W E [Patsy] Cohen, who arrived in the
mid-1880s and lived on the farm Koedoesvlei, near Mara in the
Louis Trichardt district. He and Barney Cohen were part of
the delegation to visit President Paul Kruger to ask him for
a burial ground for the Jewish community. They were said to
have been offered only 2 morgen instead of the usual 4 morgen
granted to the Christians for their cemeteries, on the
grounds that the Jews "only believed in half the Bible"
(after much arguing the grant was changed to 4 morgen).
This well-known anecdote is usually claimed to have involved
one of the early Johannesburg congregations, but was recorded
as having happened in Pietersburg by Senator Munnik in his
memoirs as far back as 1896.
