Next Events, Presentations and Projects
New activities you may be interested in
6 May 2025: Share Your Stories
You are all invited to a 'Share Your Stories' Zoom session on Tuesday, 29th April at 13:00 New York time; 18:00 UK; 19:00 South Africa; 20:00 Israel.
The subject is a continuation of our last session with two writers telling about the books that they have just published. What led them to undertake the project, what it means to them and how they overcame personal and other obstacles along the way to achieve their aim!
So, prepare yourselves for a super session with Merle Levin of Stanford in the Cape and Emanuel Derman in New York.
The link to the session will be sent to the mailing list nearer the time. (Write to gail@chol.website to register for the link.) Wishing you all a Happy Pesach!
Best, Gail
From 7 May for ten weeks: Debating SA Jewish History – with Professor Richard Mendelsohn
I am delighted to tell you that Professor Richard Mendelsohn is running a 10-session course for Midrash on Wednesday evenings online at 19.30 South African time, starting on Wed 7th May.
We were thinking that many of you might be interested to join him. He will cover the immigrant experience; orthodoxy and Reform in South Africa; antisemitism; Jews and apartheid; gender and South African Jewry and SA Zionism and its critics.
To book your place contact Lauren Snitcher, lauren@snitcher.org or +27828802257.
April 2025
Next CHOL Projects – 2025
These are the subjects of the next CHOL investigations and presentations. If you have information and/or would like to participate, please write to info@chol.website
- Seeking to find out about library collections
- Jewish innovations in South African agriculture
- South African Jewish music in performance and research
1. Can you help find collections?
Do you know of any libraries or unofficial even individual collections of materials (books, papers, photographs, videos etc) pertaining to South African Jewish communities?
CHOL is setting out on a scoping mission to find out where there are such collections scattered about the world. We want to find out where they are, what they contain; who owns and manages them; and whether they are accessible to others. When we find out, about these collections, they will be listed on the CHOL website as resources for research and discovery.
If you know of any such collection of South African Jewish interest, please contact Jeremy Hodes who is managing this scoping study for CHOL to give him any information you may have or ask any questions. You can download the questionnaire (Word file), complete it and send it to Jeremy.
2. Do you know of any Jewish innovators in South African agriculture?
Were your parents or grand- or great-grandparents or family members involved with farming or agriculture in South Africa? There are so many amazing Jewish innovators in this under-researched area of South African Jewish history.
For our next presentations professor Richard Mendelsohn is inviting those with stories about their family experience in agriculture to get in touch to discuss how to tell the story. Off the top of our heads there are the following. If you know of others let us know at info@chol.website or directly to Professor Richard Mendelsohn at richard.mendelsohn@uct.ac.za.
- The Shlesingers and their citrus estates in Zebediela
- The Sarembocks and soft fruit in Ceres
- The Zettlers with strawberries in Stellenbosch
- The potato kings
- Onion kings of Botrivier and Caledon
- Michael Eliastam’s father was a pig farmer around Springs/Devon
- The Isakow family created farm equipment
- Jews were very involved with milling – there were a couple of our members corresponding about that
- Smouse and algemene handelaars bought farmers' produce and sold them seed and fertiliser – probably introduced better strains and gave them better prices and credit
- They bartered goods for livestock
- Jews were cattle speculators in the pioneering days of Rhodesia
- The irrigation entrepreneurs
- Ostrich farmers and dealers
- Sammy Marks – Professor Richard Mendelsohn will talk about Sammy Marks
3. Do you like South African Jewish music?
CHOL will be supporting potential research and performance projects in South African Jewish music between the South African Jewish Music Centre, the Kaplan Centre and Stellenbosch University, which already houses Fay Singer's collection of recordings books and manuscripts. To find out more contact me at geraldine@chol.website.
November/December 2024
New Research on South African Jews
Three sessions: Wednesdays 6 and 27 Nov and 4 Dec 2024, 7.00pm South African time
- 6 November: Reviva Hasson
Topic: The Paradox of South African Jewish Emigration - 27 November: Gavin Beinart-Smollan
Topic: Finding Displaced Relatives: how South Africans found their missing loved ones during and after the Second World War - 4 December: Professor Shirli Gilbert
Topic: Who is researching What, about South African Jews these days?
South African Jewish community history offers so many topics for in-depth study. The CHOL community fulfils a great role in eliciting and organising personal family stories and primary research documents for our communities. But we are eager to hear what subjects have been chosen for current dissertations for higher degrees and by leading research scholars. In this series curated by professors Shirli Gilbert (UCL) and Adam Mendelsohn (UCT) we are offered a window into the academic world of South African Jewish research.