Grahamstown

Activities page

Jewish organisations

• A Chevra Kadisha was probably established when the first cemetery was begun, in 1843. It was re-established in 1917 as a sub-committee of the Grahamstown Hebrew Congregation.
• A Students' Jewish Association (SJA) was established at Rhodes University College by Professor Jack Alexander, in 1913, as a study group devoted to Jewish matters.
• Grahamstown Young Orphanage Society affiliated to the Cape Orphanage in Cape Town. It was active in 1923, when it and the Grahamstown Young Israel Society held a dance on 31 May.
• Grahamstown Jewish Ladies Society was in existence by 1924.
• Grahamstown Jewish Benevolent Society in 1938 donated £50 towards the purchase of a communal hall for the community.
• A Union of Jewish Women was founded in November 1945, with Mrs C Ossher serving as the first president.
• The SA Jewish War Appeal was active in the town in 1946.
• A Council of Jewish Women was established by 1948.

Other organisations were known to be in existence but little is known about them; for example:

• Habonim was dissolved in 1953 but nothing is known about when it began.
• The Grahamstown Women's Zionist Society Records show activity in the 1950s.
• The Grahamstown Jewish Youth Society was in existence in 1953, with Noel Finkelstein in the chair.
• The Grahamstown Ladies' Synagogue Guild was in existence in 1971, with Mrs Sylvia Kaplan as chairman.
• The Grahamstown Young Israel Society was probably established towards the end of 1919 or in early 1920 and was reorganised in May 1938. The names Grahamstown Junior Zionist Society and Grahamstown Zionist Youth Society were used interchangeably to refer to it.

Jewish Studies at Rhodes University

Jewish life and scholarship at Rhodes University have deep roots, closely tied to the Grahamstown Jewish community.

• Building a Jewish home on campus
  The local congregation was active in supporting Jewish students, many of whom studied far from home. By 1960, a dedicated hub — Hillel House — was opened for Jewish cultural, religious, and social life. At its inauguration, Chief Rabbi Prof I Abrahams affixed a mezuzah to the door, symbolising its role as a true Jewish home away from home. Within a year, Hillel House hosted the first dedication service for Jewish students, held at the synagogue and attended by the rector, professors, and students.


• Academic life and Judaica at Rhodes
  In 1952, Rhodes created a Chair of Semitic Languages, funded by the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD). In 1969, parents of Jewish students raised funds for a Chair of Jewish Studies. Jewish student advisers included Dr Bernard Steinberg (PhD, London), Rev Perla, and David Cohen, who also lectured in the Department of Judaic Studies. That same year, the SAJBD helped establish a Judaica section in the Rhodes Library. In 1970, Rhodes introduced a one-year course in Post-Biblical Jewish Studies, later renamed Judaica and taught in the Department of Divinity. Dr Steinberg, Rev Perla, and David Cohen were among the lecturers. The course, however, ended in the early 1980s.


• Student life and challenges
  The Students’ Jewish Association (later SAUJS) worked with the congregation to provide meals, Shabbat services, and a social circle for Jewish students. In 1980, SAUJS formally complained to the Students’ Representative Council about anti-Israel propaganda distributed on campus, showing how Jewish students often had to navigate political tensions.


• Preserving history and heritage
  In 1992, the Grahamstown Jewish Gallery — a small museum dedicated to local Jewish history — was opened at Hillel House. By 2000, Hillel House was the last functioning Jewish organisation in town, hosting around 20 students for Shabbat meals. With declining numbers, it was sold in 2002, and the SAJBD moved student activities to rented premises in Beaufort Street. Friday night dinners continued until at least 2004.


• A lasting legacy
  In 2004, as part of Rhodes University’s centenary, Rabbi Moshe Silberhaft led a delegation of alumni and community members to present three memorial plaques for the Centenary Walk Wall — honouring the SAJBD, Rhodes Jewish students, and the Grahamstown Jewish community.

Economic contribution of Jews in Grahamstown

From the very beginning, Jews played a central role in Grahamstown’s economic life.

• Early pioneers
  The first Jewish settlers quickly left their allotted farms and became merchants, opening up trade along the eastern frontier. By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Jewish residents were active as ostrich-feather traders, general dealers, and farmers. The town even had a Jewish fishmonger - Mr Fisher, appropriately named!
• Professional life
  With the founding of Rhodes University College in 1904, Jewish academics became part of the staff and governing council. Grahamstown’s role as a judicial centre attracted Jewish lawyers and judges, while others entered medicine, teaching, business, and estate management. Jewish entrepreneurs ran theatres, shops, and other enterprises that boosted the town's cultural and economic profile.
• The hotel trade
  Jews were especially prominent in Grahamstown’s hotel industry:
• The Graham Hotel: run by the Goldberg and Gelvan families.
• The Carlton Hotel (High Street): owned by the Suttners.
• The Victoria Hotel (New Street): first managed by the Singers, later Elias and Daisy Cohen, then Louis Trapido, and eventually Leon and Juliette Reich. The Reichs went on to own the Grand Hotel, run with Henry and Peggy Cohen in the 1980s.
• The Cathcart Arms (Market Square): owned by the Gluckman family.
• The Royal Hotel (pre-1917): run by Morris Brenner.
• Lappan’s Hotel (later renamed The Victoria): managed by Samuel Hyman Cohen from 1922–1930.
• Fort Brown Hotel: operated by Benjamin and Dora Levinsohn.