Jewish Cape Town

There are about 20,000 Jews in cape Town, the vast majority originating from Lithuania (like Howard's family & many other Glasgow Jews). Certainly the people looked & sounded familiar! We found out about some of their history by visiting the Jewish Museum, part of which is in the 1st synagogue built in the city in the 19th C. An extension was recently added & the new building was opened by Nelson Mandela. A display is dedicated to his links with the Jewish community & to the Jewish involvement in the struggle against apartheid. It's a very attractive, small museum, simply but effectively laid out - it even has a reconstruction of a Lithuanian shtetl set up in the basement. In our expert seen-the-real-thing way, we felt it was a bit too smart, too clean & just too sanitised. We had a kosher lunch in the restaurant at the museum, which is obviously popular with the local community - but it was the worst service we've had in all our time here, sad to report.

Jewish time was also in operation at the cantorial concert that we attended in the Great/Gardens/"mother" synagogue (designed by a Scottish firm) - it started rather late, partly because it was a slow process to get the crowd to their seats. All thoughts of impatience, however, vanished as the singing began. There were 5 cantors taking part & their performances were wonderful. It was a memorable occasion. We were so taken with their neshama (soul) that we went to an orthodox service the following shabbat, at which 2 of the cantors were davening. Truly inspirational.