The Two Dedication Ceremonies in Piketberg

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In the small town of Piketberg which is in the Swartland of the Western Cape, north east of Cape Town, we attended two very moving and meaningful dedication ceremonies in memory of our family members who had lived in Piketberg in the 1930’s and 40’s.

In 1922 a beautiful synagogue in the Dutch gabled style was built. At that time there were about 30 Jewish families living in Piketberg and the surrounding areas.

In 1929 when there was a terrible drought in the Cape area. It was the Jews who lent the Afrikaans farmers money with no interest. The Jews were those who brought electricity and electric street lighting to the area and built the first cinema and public swimming pool.

The community also looked after the cemetery and in 1970 the synagogue was sold to the municipality who rented it to a furniture store till 1997. By this time there were no longer any Jews living there.

The relations between the Afrikaners and the Jews were always very good and the Afrikaners have never forgotten what their Jewish friends did for them. 

 In 2004 the Piketberg Municipality turned  part of the synagogue into a  Jewish Museum. This was the side where the Holy Ark stood and our family, the Shaers, helped with the restoration. Max the youngest brother made the casings for the Torah Scrolls and Phina , the eldest, repaired the covers of the scrolls and the Ark curtain. Harry, the elder son donated two glass cabinets to display many historical artifacts associated with the Shaer family . Amongst these items there are a pair of shabbat candlesticks that were assumed to have belonged to their mother, Esther Gilman, with an explanatory plaque which she had made in memory of her parents and brother, Harry who had died at a very early age. Since then Phina has worked hand in hand with Roche Du Toit, the curator who always cooperated untiringly. There is another municipal museum on the same grounds next to the Synagogue building.

In 2004 there were centenary celebrations and due recognition was given to the town’s early Jewish settlers. There was also an olive tree planting ceremony. About 200 people from South Africa and all over the world came to celebrate and a stone with the word ‘Shalom’ was placed on the outer wall of the synagogue.

The Ten Commandments above the ark had been erased with the passing of time and so the Hoberman, Goldberg, Barnes and Shaer families decided to replace them in memory of Max Shaer, their youngest brother who passed away in 2008.

Phina Hoberman worked tirelessly, designing the tablets of The Ten Commandments, as well as the Crown above them. Phina was the liason between the printers, the builders and the curator of the museum.

On February the 17th 2011, many people attended the two ceremonies. Some were family members who had come from Cape Town, Johannesburg and Israel. Others were friends and family of some of the original Jewish families who had also come from far and wide.

First a large new headstone was put up at the entrance to the cemetery in memory of the Gilman family, grandparents and uncle of the Shaer siblings in whose memory the candlesticks had been donated. Due to weather conditions and disrepair some of the graves were now unmarked and no records had been kept of where people had been buried. The municipality had erected a new fence around the cemetery and cleaned it up and a large awning was put up for the ceremony and chairs were placed near the stone. Rabbi Silberhaft officiated. Harry Shaer, Max’s older brother who had been named after his uncle Harry, said Kaddish and made a short speech and Rabbi Newman sang El Ma’aleh Rachamim in his beautiful operatic voice. It was a very moving ceremony.

From there we all went to the Museum for the consecration of the Ten Commandments.

The Mayor, Mr. Liebenberg spoke. Two representatives of the Jewish Board of Deputies from Cape Town, Harry and the librarian of the Museum also made speeches. Harry presented the Museum with a framed certificate which the Israeli Defense Forces had given Max when he served as a Sergeant Major in the Israeli Army from 1958- 1960. As it happens Rabbi Newman had served together with Max.

A large and very tasty lunch was beautifully prepared by the A.C.V.V.  (The ladies of the Church). They had also taken the trouble to learn from the internet how to prepare felafel and hummus,  two typical Israeli foods which by chance were Max’s favourite foods.

There was a wonderful atmosphere of harmony, warmth, tolerance and love between two different peoples and religions. At this moment in Time where in the world Anti-Semitism is so rampant, it was more than heartwarming to see how much honour and respect was bestowed on the Jews who settled in this area in the 1920’s and 30’s, despite the fact that no Jews have lived in that area for the past 40 years.

I believe that if people commit positive acts, ripples are caused which eventually turn into waves and this brings the hope that there will be more understanding between different peoples of the world as we are all equal in the eyes of God. Hopefully this will make the world a better place to live in.