{"id":8128,"date":"2014-11-20T13:31:51","date_gmt":"2014-11-20T13:31:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jda.dev.griam.co.za\/?p=8128"},"modified":"2018-08-24T13:34:34","modified_gmt":"2018-08-24T13:34:34","slug":"commemorating-temple-israels-role-in-joburg-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jda.org.za\/archived\/commemorating-temple-israels-role-in-joburg-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Commemorating Temple Israel’s role in Joburg history"},"content":{"rendered":"

Established in 1936, the synagogue continues to serve a small but active congregation.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Temple Israel in Hillbrow has recently been accorded heritage status, and the temple’s blue heritage plaque will be unveiled on Saturday, 22 November.<\/p>\n

Situated on the corner Claim and Paul Nel Streets in Hillbrow, Temple Israel is the oldest Progressive Synagogue in South Africa. Established in 1936, the synagogue continues to serve a small but active congregation.<\/p>\n

Temple Israel is a contemporary institution, a home for Jews from a variety of backgrounds, and a welcoming space for visitors. The synagogue engages with its neighbouring Churches and local community, and is committed to the ongoing improvement of the area. It holds services weekly.<\/p>\n

The chairperson of the synagogue, Reeva Forman, expressed her gratitude to the Johannesburg Heritage Foundation for their decision to confer heritage status on the building.<\/p>\n

Forman said Temple Israel represented a genuine commitment to Johannesburg’s inner city, while preserving the early history of progressive Jews in South Africa and holding important memories for its congregation.<\/p>\n

“Our first Rabbi, the late MC Weiler, was a great proponent of human rights and believed that the essence of Judaism is a commitment to others,” Forman said.<\/p>\n

“Under his leadership the congregation established a primary school in Alexandra, now known as the MC Weiler School, and continued to grow and support the school throughout the dark days of apartheid.”<\/p>\n

Weiler was also deeply committed to women’s rights, and was the first South African Rabbi to promote the equal involvement of women in all aspects of Jewish practice<\/p>\n

On Saturday, the morning Shabbat service will be led by Lael Bethlehem – the former head of the Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA) – at 10.30am, after which the heritage plaque will be unveiled with remarks from Forman, Flo Bird of the Johannesburg Heritage Foundation, and Eric Itzkin of the City of Johannesburg.<\/p>\n

For more information on the unveiling, contact Lael Bethlehem on 082 464 4254.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Established in 1936, the synagogue continues to serve a small […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media-releases-2014"],"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jda.org.za\/archived\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jda.org.za\/archived\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jda.org.za\/archived\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jda.org.za\/archived\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jda.org.za\/archived\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jda.org.za\/archived\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8128\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jda.org.za\/archived\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jda.org.za\/archived\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jda.org.za\/archived\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}