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Sydney Baker 29th November,1934 -29th November,2013

Sydney Baker 29th November,1934 -29th November,2013

South Africa’s ‘blind chazzan,’ 96, just held his 3rd bar mitzvah

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.

Recollections of the Cape Town Orthodox Hebrew Congregation Vredehoek Shul

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.

Jews and the ANC

In the early 1940s, at a time when it was virtually impossible for a South African of color to secure a professional apprenticeship, the Jewish law firm Witkin, Sidelsky and Eidelman gave a young black man a job as a clerk. It was among the first encounters in what would become a lifelong relationship between Nelson Mandela and South Africa’s  bustling liberal  Jewish community, impacting the statesman’s life at several defining moments — from his arrival in Johannesburg from the rural Transkei region as a young man to his years of struggle, imprisonment and ascension to the presidency. Mandela, who died Thursday at 95, wrote of the early job in his autobiography, “Long Walk to Freedom,” and acknowledged the disproportionate role that Jews played in the struggle against apartheid. Lazer Sidelsky, one of the firm’s partners, treated him with “enormous kindness” and was among the first whites to treat him with respect. “I have found Jews to be more broad-minded than most whites on issues of race and politics, perhaps because they themselves have historically been victims of prejudice,” Mandela wrote.  When Nelson Mandela visited Israel in 1997 he specifically asked to meet , Lazer Sidelsky’s son, Rabbi Sodelsky. and Stephen Drus ( Stephen Darori after he Hebrewaized his surname ) the nephew of Professor Ethel Drus both of whom had immigrated to Israel in the 80′s . Rabbi Sidelsky for ideological Zionist reasons and Stephen Drus , ” I was the last of my family in South Africa and after been detained without trial repeatedly and hassled by the South African Security Police , I simply folded , gave up and  joined the Struggle to Release Mandela, in the South African Diaspora”. Professor Ethel Drus, was a renown UCT Educated Historian, who won three Alexander Prizes for History awarded by the Royal Society of Historians ( the equivalent of the Fields Prize in Mathematics)   . Professor Drus Chaired the Committee of Twelve who drafted the Freedom Charter , the Central African National Congress Document of commitment.  The committee of Twelve consisted of Three Blacks ( Mandela, Tambo and Mathews ) and Nine Jewish Academics and Civil  Rights Lawyers that included Ethel Drus, Ruth First, Abie Sachs, Joe Slovo ( Ruth’s  Husband) , the Bernsteins, Helen Joseph,  and Helen Suzman). They agreed to disagree on the question of Nationalization and the Redistribution of Land that Oliver Tambo and Nelson Mandela felt appropriate for inclusion then but agreed to reevaluate their position in the future and after he became the first Black President, Nelson Mandela chose not to make either central to the philosophy he followed. Mandela here top Harry Oppenheimer ( born Jewish ) advice an rather than antagonize all the Whites and Indians  pursued an affirmative action program while Harry Oppenheimer and other Jewish Business Leaders accelerated the transition of Blacks into Big Business in south Africa by  adding them to the Board of directors of JSE companies and even giving them management control of major JSE Groups like JCI – Johannesburg Consolidated Investment. Stephen Drus was active in the Progress Federal Party that became the Progressive Federal Party in Parliament and the Official Opposition. It is the Democratic Alliance today . Stephen Drus served as both Chairman of the Progressive and then Progressive Federal Party Youth Organisation in both the Western Cape and then Nationally. He was a founder and treasurer of first the short lived Mass Democratic Movement ( banned) and then the United Democratic Front and was the financial connection between the UDF  and major South African businessmen that included Harry Oppenheimer, Mendel Kaplan, Donald Gordon, Sol Kerzner , Susman of Woolworths, Ackerman of Ackermans , Mauberberger and many other leading Jewish businessman in Cape Town in particular.   Professor Ethel Drus then Emeritus Professor of History at Southampton University in the United Kington who was an authority of South African banned organisations and the legislation that did so, instructed her nephew Stephen Drus to insist that no leadership was elected to the United  Democratic  Front. And so it was .Without leadership, the union of over 400 Anti Apartheid Organisations ( both large and small) that all called for the Release of Mandela , technically did not exists and could therefore not ne banned. And so it was. the UDF  led the campaign thereafter for the Release of Mandela  and then evolved into the grassroots organisation of the African National Congress after Nelson Mandela was released from the Victor Vester Prison  on February 11th, 1990 at 2.30 pm. The Democratic Alliance, the liberal opposition in the new South African Democracy Parliament was led by Tony Leon  for thirteen years and currently by Helen Zille who has Jewish Grandfathers. South Africa’s Jews remembered Mandela, the country’s first democratically elected president, as a close friend, one with deep ties to prominent community figures and a partner in the decades-long effort to end apartheid. “I was extremely privileged to lead the community during his presidency,” said Mervyn Smith, who was chairman and later president of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies, the community’s representative body. “We met with him on many occasions and the talk was direct and open.” For Mandela, who rose to prominence as a leading opponent of the discriminatory racial regime known as apartheid, Jews were vital allies. Jewish lawyers represented him in multiple trials, and Jewish activists and political figures played leading roles in the fight. But Mandela’s ties to prominent South African Jews were personal as well as political. The former president’s second marriage, to Winnie Madikizela in 1958, took place at the home of Ray Harmel, a Jewish anti-apartheid activist. Harmel made Winnie’s wedding dress at Mandela’s request, according to David Saks’ history “Jewish Memories of Mandela.” When Mandela married again, in 1998, he invited Chief Rabbi Cyril Harris to offer a private blessing on the nuptials that were scheduled to take place on Shabbat. “After a warm exchange of greetings, Rabbi Cyril spoke quietly to them and blessed them,” Cyril’s wife, Ann, wrote later. “They stood through the blessing holding hands and with eyes closed. One could almost imagine the huppah.” Nelson Mandela salutes the crowd at the Green and Sea Point Hebrew Congregation in Cape Town on a visit shortly after being elected South Africa’s president in 1994. Joining Mandela, from left, are Rabbi Jack Steinhorn; Israel’s ambassador to South Africa, Alon Liel; Chief Rabbi Cyril Harris; and Mervyn Smith, chairman of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies. (SA Rochlin Archives, SAJBD) Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born in 1918 in the village of Mvezo, in the southeastern part of the country. As a young lawyer he was active in the African National Congress, which was beginning to challenge laws it considered unjust and discriminatory. In the 1950s, Mandela was tried for treason. He was acquitted with the help of a defense team led by Israel Maisels. Several years later, when he was accused of attempting to overthrow the apartheid regime during the Rivonia Trial, Mandela was defended by several Jewish lawyers. On the flip side , Percy Yutar was the Senior Prosecutor of Mandela and other Rivonia Defendants .He later wrote in his biography that it was the most distasteful thing he had to do in his life. The Rivonia Far, where Nelson Mandela was hidden was owned by Arthur Goldreich .All the Rivonia Whites arrested with Mandela were the practicing Jews Denis Goldberg, a Cape Town engineer and leader of the Congress of Democrats. Lionel “Rusty” Bernstein, architect and member of the South African Communist Party Bob Hepple Arthur Goldreich Harold Wolpe, prominent attorney and activist James “Jimmy” Kantor, brother-in-law of Harold Wolpe. The defence line-up for the majority of the accused was: Vernon Berrangé (advocate) George Bizos (advocate) Arthur Chaskalson (advocate) Bram Fischer (advocate, lead counsel) Harold Hanson (advocate) Joel Joffe (attorney) Chaskalson, Fischer, Hanson and Joffe were Jews. Bizos was a partner in a Jewish Law Firm and a family in Greece fought with Jewish Partisans in the Second World War. Three of his grandchildren have married into the Jewish Faith. Berrange  was a founder of the South African communist Party with Bram Fischer who he met as a law student at the University of Cape Town. Mandela was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison in 1964. He served most of his sentence on Robben Island, a former leper colony off the coast of Cape Town. The legendary, feisty Jewish parliamentarian Helen Suzman visited him there. Another prison visitor was the journalist Benjamin Pogrund, who worked frequently with Mandela in the 1960s. In a 1986 visit at Pollsmoor Prison, Pogrund informed Mandela that his son would shortly be celebrating his bar mitzvah. Afterward, the boy received a personal note from the future president. “From a man serving a life sentence — and at that stage with no idea when he might be released — it was a kind and thoughtful action for a youngster he had not even met,” Pogrund said, according to Saks. Mandela was released after 27 years, in February 1990. Four years later he was elected president. Among his appointees was Arthur Chaskalson, a member of his defense team during the Rivonia Trial, as the first president of the new Constitutional Court; he later became chief justice.  Abie Sachs who lost an eye and a arm in the parcel bomb that killed Ruth First in her Lorenzo Marques office  was also appoint to this Court as a Justice. Mandela’s deep ties to the Jewish community continued during his political career. On the first Shabbat after his election, he visited the Marais Road Synagogue in Sea Point. “Almost his first celebration was with the Jewish community,” Smith told JTA. In 1994, at the opening of an exhibition on Anne Frank, Mandela recounted how a handwritten version of her diary had inspired him and fellow prisoners on Robben Island. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat meeting with Nelson Mandela in an undated photo. (Palestinian Authority via Getty Images) On Israel, Mandela’s relationship with the Jewish community was not free of controversy. His African National Congress cultivated close ties with the Palestine Liberation Organization and Mandela warmly embraced its leader, Yasser Arafat. Qaddafi of Libya gave Mandela and the ANC , $100 million in 1991 and in giving lip service  to that donation, Mandela’s relationship with the State of Israel was vacillated in ambivalence .   Confronted with Jewish protests, Mandela was dismissive, insisting that his relations with other countries would be determined by their attitudes toward the liberation movement. “If the truth alienates the powerful Jewish community in South Africa, that’s too bad,” Mandela was reported to have said, according to Gideon Shimoni, author of “Community and Conscience: The Jews in Apartheid South Africa.” Shimoni also recounts a 1990 encounter at the University of the Witwatersrand with a Jewish student. “Your enemies are not my enemies,” Mandela said. According to Saks, Mandela stressed his respect for Israel’s right to exist even as he defended his relationships with Palestinian leaders. It was perhaps illustrative of his policy of inclusivity that Mandela accepted an honorary doctorate from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in 1997 when many in his party remained opposed to any ties with Israel. On a visit to Israel in 1999, Mandela invited Harris to join him. “He made us proud to be South Africans,” Smith said. “His presence at any communal occasion was electrifying. The Jewish After serving as the first President of South Africa , Nelson Mandela retired  Qunu  , his ancestral home in the Transkei that had during his Presidency been redeveloped  for the Nelson Mandela Foundation by Louis Karol Architects ,  a leading Jewish firm of Architects  in Cape Town. Nelson Mandela . The Giant of Moral Tolerance . Avery Great Man,died   on Thurday , 5th December 2013. Rest In Peace  Utata  Madiba. Further Reading http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela#Withdrawing_from_politics http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-22892784 http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/08/world/africa/in-nation-remade-by-mandela-social-equality-remains-elusive.html?_r=0 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25256818 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-10524587 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-25250082 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-20735685 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-25245262 http://www.forbes.com/sites/mfonobongnsehe/2013/12/06/20-inspirational-quotes-from-nelson-mandela/ http://www.forbes.com/video/2902411356001/ Mandela’s Relations with the Jews(stephendaroriinzion.wordpress.com)

• Nelson Mandela, 95, first democratic president of South Africa, was close to country’s Jews (jta.org)
• Former South Africa president Nelson Mandela dies(thejc.com)
• From the Archive: Nelson Mandela and the Jews(jta.org)
• “I Will Soon Be Greater Than Nelson Mandela, I’m Already Worshiped Around The World” – Kanye West(ameborepublik.wordpress.com)
• Mandela’s jailer praises the anti-apartheid icon(pottsmerc.com)
• Czech PM ‘dreading’ Mandela funeral(heraldsun.com.au)
• Nelson Mandela was close to Jews, resolutely loyal to Palestinians (timesofisrael.com)
• Nelson Mandela Was A Communist Terrorist Backed By Zionists (blacklistednews.com)
• From the Archive: When Nelson Mandela went to shul(jta.org)