By Ivor Kosowitz Originally. ( Reblogged after some editing)
I have been reminded by other ex-Cape Townians that there was much more to write down about the Vredehoek and Schoonder Street Shul. As we were members of the latter, my recollections relate mostly to that, although I am sure that it applied to the former as well.
I grew up on the lower slopes of Table Mountain in a South African Jewish Orthodix Community. Shul in the morning followed by the Beach. My Grandparenst started lower down the Mountain in the Hope Street / District Six neighbour and as their social economic situation improved moved higher up Table Mountain..At Pesach time, many of us kids went to shul, mainly because our parents said we had to. Once there I doubt that many of us actually went inside. So the big event, outside of course, was to play "marbles" with hazel and walnuts. Who said we were supposed to eat them! The walnuts were the "goonies" and the hazel nuts were the "marbles". I recall that this was really big at the Vredehoek Shul as it had an enclosed courtyard at the front.
Succot was another special Chag. A large curved succah was built at the back of the "Round" Shul. After every service, large trays of delicious sponge cake were brought out. You could have wine and salty herring in addition to the cake. Some of us kids thought the cake was great, so we stuffed our tallis bags full of the stuff, to take home!
As we became barmitvah, we were invited to attend Gemorah classes after service on Shabbat mornings. The teacher was a Mr. Kooperman. As he mainly spoke Yiddish, and as the Gemorah is mainly in Aramaic and Hebrew, we kids never actually learned much. However we were introduced to "Bob". No not a person, but a Jewish dish made from broad beans.
Other mainly delicious foods which we grew up with were Taigelach, Imberlach, Pretzelah, Petcha (made from calf's hooves), Perogen, Kreplach, Henzel, Herring and Chopped Herring, Chopped Liver, Gefilte Fish, Kneidelach – boiled and baked, Bagels, Babkes, Bulkas, Hammantashen and Kichel. Some of these we still enjoy today. Only in South Africa, Challah is called Kitke. No one seems to know the origin and why this unique to SA.
Many maid servants became Kosher Cooking experts, and this was very desirable if they wanted to work in a Jewish home. Almost all Jewish homes kept kosher.
The Saturday night Slichot Service was the highlight of the year especially if you were in the choir. We arrived at about 8pm. A 16mm black and white movie was shown, usually a B-rate western "flick". We had to hire a projector in those days, and the movie was on large reels of celluloid. After that, a large spread was put on for us by the Ladies Guild.
As Shlichot is at midnight it was an effort to keep the sopranos (boys under 12) awake, and in any event they were tanked up with sugar so it was extremely difficult for the choir master, Jeff Koussevitsky, to keep them under control.
One Slichot service, my friend and I smuggled a cassette tape recorder into shul and put it under the bimah. This way we recorded the service which was full of amazing choral pieces. My friend, in Sydney, and I still have this recording today, about 43 years later. So the only two copies in existence, are in Australia!
When Rosh Hashana came around, the shul were full to overflowing with standing room only. I remember that every year, the Shamash, Mr Rivkin, blew the Shofar. Except for once, when our Rabbi decided to try. Well, he should have thought otherwise.
He could not get one note out properly. We, in the choir loft, above him could not contain ourselves, and just cracked up laughing ... actually rolling on the floor! What an embarrassment.
The choir was great, not the best though. The best choir was at the Gardens Shul.Othger's would argue The Mair Road Synague had the best Choir lead by Philip Badash and Michael Cohen, later the chazan at the Claremont Synagogue who died tragically in a yachting accident. in a storm off Cape Agulhas .
We had the best chazzan, Cantor Simcha Koussevitzky. Anyway, we used to get paid for rehearsals and services. Two long serving tenors were Jackie Shwartz and Les Wexler. Mr. Herrison sang bass.
One person I almost forgot to mention, was Cantor Immerman also known as the "Blind Chazan". He held the position of Chazan Sheini. Sadly, he was blind from a very early age but was blessed with an incredible gift. He Memories the entire Tanach and Siddur including the vowels and accents.. He also taught many their barmitzvah portions, and could tell your name just by listening to your voice.During the week he roamed the hall ways of Herzlia High school interrupting classes to give kids a taste of Parashat Hashavua. He truly had lived to 96.
It was interesting that in the 50 to 80's 's, the "Gabbais" ( the Synagogue Chairman or Warden ) all wore top hats and the Shamash wore canonicals. This was a "hangover" from the English roots of Cape Town Jewry. Such hats are still worn in some of London's oldest shuls, even today.
Those were the wonderful days that we were privileged to have experienced.
Ivor Kosowitz.
11 April 2008.
I grew up on the lower slopes of Table Mountain in a South African Jewish Orthodix Community. Shul in the morning followed by the Beach. My Grandparenst started lower down the Mountain in the Hope Street / District Six neighbour and as their social economic situation improved moved higher up Table Mountain..At Pesach time, many of us kids went to shul, mainly because our parents said we had to. Once there I doubt that many of us actually went inside. So the big event, outside of course, was to play "marbles" with hazel and walnuts. Who said we were supposed to eat them! The walnuts were the "goonies" and the hazel nuts were the "marbles". I recall that this was really big at the Vredehoek Shul as it had an enclosed courtyard at the front.
Succot was another special Chag. A large curved succah was built at the back of the "Round" Shul. After every service, large trays of delicious sponge cake were brought out. You could have wine and salty herring in addition to the cake. Some of us kids thought the cake was great, so we stuffed our tallis bags full of the stuff, to take home!
As we became barmitvah, we were invited to attend Gemorah classes after service on Shabbat mornings. The teacher was a Mr. Kooperman. As he mainly spoke Yiddish, and as the Gemorah is mainly in Aramaic and Hebrew, we kids never actually learned much. However we were introduced to "Bob". No not a person, but a Jewish dish made from broad beans.
Other mainly delicious foods which we grew up with were Taigelach, Imberlach, Pretzelah, Petcha (made from calf's hooves), Perogen, Kreplach, Henzel, Herring and Chopped Herring, Chopped Liver, Gefilte Fish, Kneidelach – boiled and baked, Bagels, Babkes, Bulkas, Hammantashen and Kichel. Some of these we still enjoy today. Only in South Africa, Challah is called Kitke. No one seems to know the origin and why this unique to SA.
Many maid servants became Kosher Cooking experts, and this was very desirable if they wanted to work in a Jewish home. Almost all Jewish homes kept kosher.
The Saturday night Slichot Service was the highlight of the year especially if you were in the choir. We arrived at about 8pm. A 16mm black and white movie was shown, usually a B-rate western "flick". We had to hire a projector in those days, and the movie was on large reels of celluloid. After that, a large spread was put on for us by the Ladies Guild.
As Shlichot is at midnight it was an effort to keep the sopranos (boys under 12) awake, and in any event they were tanked up with sugar so it was extremely difficult for the choir master, Jeff Koussevitsky, to keep them under control.
One Slichot service, my friend and I smuggled a cassette tape recorder into shul and put it under the bimah. This way we recorded the service which was full of amazing choral pieces. My friend, in Sydney, and I still have this recording today, about 43 years later. So the only two copies in existence, are in Australia!
When Rosh Hashana came around, the shul were full to overflowing with standing room only. I remember that every year, the Shamash, Mr Rivkin, blew the Shofar. Except for once, when our Rabbi decided to try. Well, he should have thought otherwise.
He could not get one note out properly. We, in the choir loft, above him could not contain ourselves, and just cracked up laughing ... actually rolling on the floor! What an embarrassment.
The choir was great, not the best though. The best choir was at the Gardens Shul.Othger's would argue The Mair Road Synague had the best Choir lead by Philip Badash and Michael Cohen, later the chazan at the Claremont Synagogue who died tragically in a yachting accident. in a storm off Cape Agulhas .
We had the best chazzan, Cantor Simcha Koussevitzky. Anyway, we used to get paid for rehearsals and services. Two long serving tenors were Jackie Shwartz and Les Wexler. Mr. Herrison sang bass.
One person I almost forgot to mention, was Cantor Immerman also known as the "Blind Chazan". He held the position of Chazan Sheini. Sadly, he was blind from a very early age but was blessed with an incredible gift. He Memories the entire Tanach and Siddur including the vowels and accents.. He also taught many their barmitzvah portions, and could tell your name just by listening to your voice.During the week he roamed the hall ways of Herzlia High school interrupting classes to give kids a taste of Parashat Hashavua. He truly had lived to 96.
It was interesting that in the 50 to 80's 's, the "Gabbais" ( the Synagogue Chairman or Warden ) all wore top hats and the Shamash wore canonicals. This was a "hangover" from the English roots of Cape Town Jewry. Such hats are still worn in some of London's oldest shuls, even today.
Those were the wonderful days that we were privileged to have experienced.
Ivor Kosowitz.
11 April 2008.
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Friday, April 25, 2003 | return to: obituaries
South Africa’s ‘blind chazzan,’ 96, just held his 3rd bar mitzvah
by MOIRA SCHNEIDER, Jewish Telegraphic Agency
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CAPE TOWN -- It's "not nice" to die on one's birthday, Abe Immerman used to say; it's better to wait a day or two.
Immerman, who became a legend as South Africa's "blind chazzan," took his own advice: Three days after he turned 96 -- and two days after having his third bar mitzvah -- Immerman passed away.
Despite his lifelong disability, Immerman knew the Bible and prayers by heart and had trained generations of South African boys for their b'nai mitzvah.
Immerman's exceptional memory was first recognized by a pastor who taught him when he was a child growing up in Zastron, in the Free State area of South Africa.
He subsequently was sent to the Worcester School for the Blind, where teachers felt he would do well as a basket maker or a piano tuner.
But Immerman had ideas of his own, despite his family's objections.
"I was determined to become a chazzan," or cantor, he recalled in later years.
In the early days, Immerman earned a living by leading prayers in the various villages where Jews had settled in South Africa and working out yahrzeit dates for their deceased family members.
He eventually reached the rural town of Oudtshoorn, where he stayed for a number of years, giving bar mitzvah lessons and traveling to various rural communities around South Africa to lead holiday services.
After Immerman moved to Cape Town some 60 years ago, his first job was at the Ponevez shul.
"His fame spread, and after that he got a job at the Woodstock overflow shul," said lifelong friend Morrie Marcus.
Immerman later worked at Cape Town's Herzlia Jewish Day School, teaching bar mitzvah lessons and music, while still traveling the country to lead prayers on the High Holy Days.
One of the high points of Immerman's life was a trip to Israel on his 80th birthday, Marcus said.
"He was feted and treated like royalty by all his South African friends and former pupils," he said. "The highlight of that trip was when he went into Heichal Shlomo -- the seat of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel -- on Shabbat morning. He walked in, they cleared the decks and gave him the Maftir and Haftarah.
"They literally carried him off the bimah," Marcus said. "They had never experienced anything like this before, that a blind man can walk cold into shul and perform so wonderfully."
On the occasion of his third bar mitzvah, Immerman was called up for an aliyah at a special Shabbat morning service at the shul of Highlands House, the home for Jewish elderly where he spent the last few years of his life.
Solly Alpert, Immerman's first bar mitzvah pupil when he arrived in Cape Town, chanted the Maftir and Haftarah.
The uncanny thing about the time of Immerman's death was his own saying about choosing the right time to die.
On April 7, he reportedly asked his nurse for "a drink of water before I go,'' had a sip and then slipped away quietly.