It's A Small Jewish World

We attended shabbat services in 3 different shuls in Cape Town - 2 progressive, 1 orthodox. Our 1st visit was to a shul in the nearby suburb of Wynberg where we immediately met Amely Wiseglass, who is a friend of friends in Glasgow (Michael & Adele Conn & Paul Edlin)! She & her husband Phil were extremely hospitable during the course of our stay. They took us out for a sightseeing trip over the Helshoogte Pass, to see more of the beautiful countryside that surrounds Cape Town & we enjoyed lunch together at Hillcrest Berry Orchard, out on a patio with fabulous views.They also invited us for an abundant & delicious Friday night dinner - our 1st shabbat braai! We discovered that a comedian, Nik Rabinowitz, whose stand-up show we had been to see at the Obz Cafe Theatre (one Man, One Goat!) was a close friend of the Wisegalss' son Stuart. When we had spoken to Nik after his show, he had told us that Scots Jews he'd met at a wedding in England (Stuart's wedding, it turned out) wearing kilts & tartan kippot had nearly featured in his act - the Scots Jews in question were, of course, friends of ours! Joel - you were nearly famous in Cape Town!

We also attended a shul in another suburb, Milnerton, where one of the founding members told us that he was expecting friends of Howard's mother (Alice & Albert Tankel) to stay in a few days! The shul's cantor had been married by the father of one of Glasgow's Rabbis (Bokow) & the visiting cantor had been at school with Rabbi Bokow.

Need we say more?