CHOL – Community History On-Line

A forum for those involved in preserving the footprint of Southern African Jewish community life in digital form

Community History On-Line Recorded Presentations

On this page we list the recorded presentations made by the CHOL community, with links to where you can read about or see them.

By clicking the 'Category' link you can see the recorded session, and if there is a link in the 'Topics' column you can read more about the session

Clicking on the title cell of any column sorts the table by that column (clicking again reverses the sort order).

No. Date Category Topics Speakers
38 2024: Dec 4 Community Who is researching what about South African Jews these days Professor Shirli Gilbert, UCL
37 2024: Nov 27 Community Finding Displaced Relatives: how South Africans found their missing loved ones during and after the Second World War Gavin Beinart-Smollan
36 2024: Nov 20 Stories Two writers with South African links who have recently written and published crime fiction books talk about their books and their back story Orna Sandler Klein, born in Israel to South African parents, and Natalie Conyer, who grew up in Bellville and now lives in Sydney, Australia
35 2024: Nov 6 Community The paradox of South African Jewish emigration since the end of apartheid Reviva Hasson, social scientist at the Kaplan Centre
34 2024: Sep 24 Community The Jewish community of Parow: a microcosm of Jewish life in South Africa Professor Richard Mendelsohn
33 2024: Sep 15 Community 100 years of Jewish life in South Africa 1880 – 1980 Geraldine Auerbach MBE
32 2024: Sep 10 Community Jews and diamonds in Kimberley Geraldine Auerbach MBE
31 2024: Sep 10 Military South African Second World War veterans' role in the fledgling State of Israel Naomi Schamroth Rapeport
30 2024: Apr 2 Medicine Dr Hannah-Reeve Sanders (1928-2024), the first female Chief Medical Superintendent of Groote Schuur Hospital (1976-1986) Leila Bloch (courtesy of the Friends of the Cape Medical Museum)
29 2024: Apr 4 Community Legends and Legacies film series, #3 of 3: focuses on painters, sculptors, drama producers and dancers Introduced by producer Mark Wade, researched and narrated by Alan Swerdlow
28 2024: Mar 28 Community Legends and Legacies film series, #2 of 3: focuses on academics, including academic rabbis, scientists, doctors and lawyers who have made their mark nationally and internationally in Jewish studies, medicine, the law and social justice Introduced by producer Mark Wade, researched and narrated by Alan Swerdlow
27 2024: Mar 21 Community Legends and Legacies film series, #1 of 3: focuses on engagement with civic society; Jewish mayors and representatives in Parliament; financiers and magnates; service in the Boer and British armies; references to community health; the Holocaust; and Zionism Introduced by producer Mark Wade, researched and narrated by Alan Swerdlow
26 2024: Mar 10 Stories Tokolosh, Linda Frysh; The Jews of South Africa, Mark Wade; The Letter, Karine Schomer; Some Days, Jodi Neelin; Stompie, Harry Friedland Linda Frysh, Atlanta, Georgia; Mark Wade, Johannesburg; Jodi Schneider Neelin, Portland, Oregon; Karine Schomer, San Francisco; Harry Friedland, Cape Town
25 2024: Feb 4 Community Demonstration and Blessing of the Kimberley Virtual Jewish Cemetery Family of those buried in Kimberley as well as Geraldine Auerbach, Larry Galansky, Rabbi Moshe Silberhaft and Barney Horwitz, Chairman of the community
24 2023: Dec 5 Music From Kroonstad to Victor Hugo via Fleet Street: the musical journey of Herbert Kretzmer (Session not recorded. Hear one of Herbert’s songs from Les Mis as a prayer to bring home the hostages) Danielle Lockwood (Chichester)
23 2023: Dec 5 Music The story of the Johannesburg Jewish Male Choir Evelyn Green (Johannesburg)
22 2023: Nov 28 Music King Kong – the all-black musical and its all-Jewish production team, 1959 Mark Wade and Alan Swerdlow (Johannesburg)
21 2023: Nov 28 Music Collecting Jewish Music at (DOMUS) Stellenbosch University Dr Santie de Jongh, Special Collections Librarian (Stellenbosch)
20 2023: Nov 21 Music The musical Rabinowitz family in South Africa – from cantors to the concert stage Eli Rabinowitz (Perth, Australia)
19 2023: Nov 21 Music At my Wits end and other beginnings – a woman composer of international acclaim Professor Jeanne Zaidel-Rudolph (Johannesburg)
18 2023: Nov 14 Music How does a girl from Kimberley get to meet the Queen – a journey in Jewish music Geraldine Auerbach MBE (London)
17 2023: Nov 14 Music The King of Violinists in the Land of Gold – Heifetz in South Africa, 1932 Dr Michael Brittan (Denver, Colorado)
16 2023: Sep 3 Stories Dealing with deafness, discovering a family member, personal search for a grave, apartheid SA Beulah Gross / Gail Loon Lustig, Solly Kaplinski, David Bass, Raphael Shevelev / Karine Schomer
15 2023: Jul 11 Community Parow and Durbanville communities, SA Jewish soldiers in WWII, bibliography of SA Jewry, Malmesbury website Richard Mendelsohn, Vicky Scher, Naomi Schamroth Rapeport, Veronica Belling, Steve Albert
14 2023: Apr 16 Stories Psychiatric illness, political experiences in apartheid SA, unloved family member Sheila Swartzman, Karine Schomer, Harry Friedland
13 2023: Mar 14 Community Creating a Community Website - Example: Stellenbosch Geraldine Auerbach (chair), Dave Bloom (Zimbabwe), Eli Rabinowitz (many sites), Gary Sussman (Vryburg), Bramie Lenhoff (Upington), Katie Garrun (Kaplan Centre), Gail Loon Lustig (Bellville), Gerald Potash (Stellenbosch)
12 2023: Mar 08 Community The small Jewish communities of Brandfort, Ceres, Stellenbosch and Beaufort West Faisia Shaskolsky, Jos Kahn, Gerald Potash and Natie Finkelstein
11 2023: Feb 19 Stories Miners’ strike, death, poetry, military, and bagels David Kaplan, Fonda Dubb, Sheila Swartzman, Harris Green, Raphael Shevelev / Gail Lustig
10 2023: Jan 22 Stories A tribute to Anthony Fagin, who died suddenly in 2022, by friends and family who read his story Vredefort
9 2022: Oct 24 Stories Personal essay, narration, memoir Stanley Loon, Glenda Levitt, Harry Friedland, Basil Porter, Anthony Fagin
8 2022: Sep 21 Community New CHOL website, Share your Stories, Jewish-Afrikaner relations, SA Jewish cookbooks, German refugees newsletter, SA Kehilalinks Geraldine Auerbach, Gail Loon Lustig, Ivan Kapelus, Gavin Beinart-Smollan, David Lewin, Eli Rabinowitz
7 2022: Aug 22 Stories Personal memoirs, true stories, fiction Solly Kaplinski, Sheila Swartzman, Lynette Karp, Glenda Levitt, Richelle Shem-Tov
6 2022: Apr 13 Community Wits med grads, GPs in N Subs Cape Town, Old Jo'burg Geraldine Auerbach, Gail Loon Lustig, Marc Latilla
5 2022: Apr 6 Community Upington, SA-SIG, Small communities, Film archives Bramie Lenhoff, Roy Ogus, Rabbi Moshe Silberhaft, Sean O'Sullivan
4 2022: Mar 30 Community Pros and cons, UJW, Starting a family archive Gwynne Schrire, Karen Kallman, Leila Bloch
3 2021: Aug 11 Community Zimbabwe, Virtual cemeteries, Kaplan Centre archive Dave Bloom, Eric Berger, Katie Garrun
2 2021: Aug 4 Community Vryburg, Muizenberg, Woodstock/Salt River Gary Sussman, Rabbi Ryan Newfield, J-P Burke
1 2021: Jul 28 Community Kimberley, JewishGen, SA Jewish Museum archives Geraldine Auerbach, Eli Rabinowitz, Leila Bloch

Share Your Stories

See more about this project on the Stories page.