South African Jewish Museum

The South African Jewish Museum is a museum of South African Jewish life, history and identity. The museum is situated in the downtown neighbourhood of Gardens in Cape Town. It is located in the grounds of Gardens Shul, and is in the same complex as the Cape Town Holocaust & Genocide Centre and the Gardens Jewish Community Centre (which houses the Jacob Gitlin Library). It is also close to the Iziko South African National Gallery and Houses of Parliament[1]. The museum was founded by the late philanthropist, Mendel Kaplan. It documents the community's historical roots in Lithuania and elsewhere. Thereon it documents the role of South African Jewry in South African society and their contributions to a number of diverse fields.

South African Jewish Museum
Established2000
Location88 Hatfield Street
Gardens
Cape Town
Coordinates33°55′47″S 18°25′01″E
FounderMendel Kaplan
DirectorGavin Morris
Websitewww.sajewishmuseum.co.za

History

In 1996, philanthropist Mendel Kaplan made the decision to establish a national museum about the South African Jewish community, funding the project through the Kaplan Kushlick Foundation. The foundation commissioned a new purpose-built museum building, while repurposing the original Old Shul (the oldest synagogue in Southern Africa) as the museum's entrance[2][3]. Since 1958, the Old Shul housed a smaller Jewish museum[1]. The new museum was opened by president, Nelson Mandela in 2000, and he was accompanied by Helen Suzman and Mendel Kaplan[4][1]. The Old Shul was the recipient of a grant from US State Department’s Ambassadorial Fund for Cultural Preservation for its renovation[5]. It reopened in 2023, in a ceremony attended by Reuben Brigety, United States ambassador to South Africa[5].

Exhibitions

Permanent exhibitions include a reconstruction of a Lithuanian shtetl, showing the life and conditions of the Jewish migrants before their arrival in South Africa[4][1].

In 2010, the museum staged an exhibition about Muizenberg, a beach town in the Western Cape that was once a premier travel destination among South African Jews as well as home to a synagogue and 600 Jewish families[6] The exhibition, ″Jiving with Madiba″ by cartoonist, Zapiro opened in 2011[7]. A 2012 exhibition, ″The Jews of District Six: Another Time, Another Place″ focused on the Jewish resident population in District Six before its destruction[8]. In 2015, the museum showcased the exhibition ″Helen Suzman: Fighter for Human Rights″, chronicling her anti-apartheid activism[9]. In 2020, the museum opened an exhibition, ″Ground Breakers: A History of Progressive Judaism in South Africa″ about the history and role of Progressive Judaism (Reform) in the country[10]. In 2021 a new exhibition opened, ″The Life of Ali Bacher: From the Cricket Field″, charting the life of the Jewish cricketer, Ali Bacher from Johannesburg[11].

References
  1. Memory Going Global: The Jewish Museum and Holocaust Centre in Cape Town AJS Perspectives. Spring 2010
  2. A global compilation for the Jewish culture vulture The Jerusalem Post. 2 February 2017
  3. The Future of Jewish South Africa Tablet Mag. 22 March 2023
  4. Mandela: New Museum Will Record Jews’ Contribution to South Africa Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 18 December 2000
  5. US government funds restoration of SA’s oldest shul South African Jewish Report. 1 June 2023
  6. Memories of Muizenberg The Jerusalem Post. 4 April 2012
  7. Zapiro: Jiving with Madiba Art Times. July 2011
  8. Memory, reconciliation and the Jewish history of District Six Dafkadotcom. 15 February 2022.
  9. Opening of Helen Suzman: Fighter for Human Rights exhibition at the SA Jewish Museum Cape Jewish Chronicle. 4 February 2016
  10. Ground Breakers: A History of Progressive Judaism in South Africa World Union for Progressive Judaism. December 2020
  11. Cricket legend Ali Bacher is the star of SA Jewish Museum’s summer exhibition IOL. 7 February 2022
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