Rosh Hashanah 2009 - South African Jewish Board of Deputies

JEWISH AFFAIRS ROSH HASHANAH 2009adapt to a foreign land. The Orphanage might notalways have been the warmest place, akin to a realfamily, but what was never lacking was a sense ofresponsibility and identification with the children, asbeing among their own, as eygene, as members of theJewish community, who would under nocircumstances be abandoned even after they had leftthe Home. To quote from the Minutes: “our childrenwere not treated as orphans but were happy in theirhome.” All in all the children were, “no worse and nobetter than the average child in decent homes.” 129The war years proved to be a watershed for theOrphanage, as it was for the community. Theimmigrants began to prosper, becoming moreestablished in their new homes. The Orphanagebecame less and less of a home for orphaned childrenthan a place of refuge for children from brokenfamilies. In due course, it became better known as theOranjia Jewish children’s home than as the CapeJewish Orphanage. Today, its official title is theOranjia Jewish Child and Youth Centre.NOTES1 Eric Rosenthal, The Story of the Cape Jewish Orphanage:Commemorating the Fiftieth Anniversary of Oranjia, CapeTown: Oranjia, Cape Jewish Orphanage, 1961, pp. 1-42 Minutes, 24 October 1911, Oranjia, Cape Jewish Orphanage,BC 918, Manuscripts and Archives, U.C.T. Libraries.3 Minutes, 17 October 1911.4 Minutes, 24 October 1911.5 It seems as if Elias regretted his initial offer as he progressivelyincreased his stipulations, and finally under the apparentinfluence of a Johannesburg committee member, even seemsto have questioned the need for an orphanage in Cape Town.Minutes, 3 January 1912.6 Minutes, 24 October 1911.7 Eric Rosenthal, 1961, p. 7.8 Minutes, 11 January 1914.9 Minutes, 1 June 1913.10 Minutes, 1 February 1914.11 Eric Rosenthal, 1961, p. 8.12 Minutes, 13 November 1918.13 Minutes, 13 July 1919.14 Minutes, 25 January 1920.15 Minutes, 12 February 1921.16 Minutes, 14 November 1911, 31 January , 14 February, 28February, 18 August , 31 October 1912, January 1913, 16January 1916, 25 June, 9 December 1917.17 Minutes, 20 March 1912.18 Minutes, 3 January 1912.19 Minutes, 22 September 1912, 4 May 1913.20 Minutes, 19 September 1920.21 Minutes, 27 May 1930, 1.4,22 Minutes, 29 July 1930, 29 December 1932.23 Minutes, 6 July 1913, 21 March 1920.24 Minutes, 4, 29 May 1933.25 Minutes, 20 December 1911, January 31, 1912, Also 24November 1912.26 Minutes, 10, 27 April, 1 May, 15 June 1919.27 Minutes, 8 February 1912.28 Minutes, 16 January 1916.29 Minutes, 21 August, 28 November 1928, 26 February 1929.30 Minutes, 6 April 1917.31 Minutes, 18 April 1920.32 Minutes, 16 June 1912 and 15 June 1919.33 Minutes, 31 May, 22 September 1912 and 15 August 1926.34 Minutes, 28 April 1931.35 Minutes, 30 November and 13 April 1913.36 Minutes, 6 April 1917.37 Minutes, 1 March 1913.38 Minutes, 31 March 1930.39 Minutes, 8 March 1932.40 Minutes, 19 September 1920,41 Minutes, 8, 19, 22, August 1920.42 Minutes, 12 January 1921,43 Minutes, 18 December 1921.44 Minutes, 19 June, 21 August, 1, 4, September 1921.45 Minutes, 19 June, 21 August, 1, 4, September 192146 Minutes, 24 January 1922.47 Minutes, 14 May 1922.48 Minutes, 12 May 1922.49 Minutes, 18 June 1922.50 Minutes, 9 September 1921.51 Minutes, 17 November and 18 December, 1921.52 Minutes, 27 October 1931.53 Minutes, 28 June 1932 and 31 January 1933.54 Minutes, 29 September 1936.55 She was also accused of sending the children out on messages,and not reporting a robbery that had been committed at theorphanage to the committee. When asked to resign she hadput her case in the hands of solicitors. Minutes, 27 March1912.56 Minutes, 31 October 1912.57 Minutes, 19 May, 16 June 1912.58 Minutes, 26 January 1913.59 Minutes, 16 June 1918.60 Minutes, 11 January 1914, 17 December 1916.61 Minutes, 26 March, 1934.62 When in April 1936, three boys who were due to celebratetheir barmitzvahs were found to be so unprepared that theirbarmitzvahs had to be postponed, it was unanimously decidedto dismiss the Hickmans. Minutes, 27 April 1936.63 Minutes, 19 October 1913.64 Minutes, 29 March 1914.65 Minutes, 24 September 1925.66 Minutes, 19 September 1926.67 Minutes, 29 March 1914.68 Minutes, 29 September 1936, 3 November 1937.69 Minutes, 22 September 1912.70 Minutes, 12 April 1925.71 Minutes, 13 January 1918.72 Minutes, 16 August 1926, 10 April 1927.73 Minutes, 11 January 1914.74 Minutes, 1 December 1912.75 Minutes, 13 April 1913.76 Minutes, 27 September 1914.77 Minutes, 19 February 1912.78 Minutes, 15 February, 8 March 1914.79 Minutes, 24 September 1925.80 Minutes, 25 June, 20 July 1929. A grocery investigationlater that year revealed that only 14lbs of meat a day wasbeing consumed for 72 people, that was considered to begrossly insufficient, 14 November, 1929.81 Minutes, 16 June 1912.82 Minutes, 27 December 1914.26