ROSH HASHANAH 5783 – THE JEWISH NEW YEAR 2022
Beginning with the New Year known as Rosh Hashanah on the first day of the Hebrew Month of Tishri, which this year falls on the 26th September 2022, and ending with the Day of Atonement on the 10th of the month, the Jewish year’s most solemn and awe inspiring days are observed.
It is expected of every adherent to desist from work and to attend Synagogue on the first two days (26th September 2022 and 27th September 2022) and the tenth day (5 October 2022), a twenty-five hour penitential fast.
It is a time when we collectively and individually come closest to G-d, reflecting on our life in the past year, the way we have lived it, where we need to improve where we need to reach out to others to redress wrongs and where we need to go in the year ahead.
This year it has added significance for the Community in Kimberley since it is exactly 120 years since our synagogue opened its doors on 14 September 1902 in an elaborate ceremony presided over by the Reverend Harris Isaacs.
It is generally considered one of the most attractive synagogues in South Africa. It was designed by local architect Daniel Greatbatch in Byzantine style. Long thought to be based on a synagogue in Venice, Italy, in recent years credible evidence has emerged that it is actually a virtual replica of the Semper Shul which stood in Dresden, Germany from 1842 to 1938.
Outstanding features of the Synagogue include its stained glass windows, the magnificent dome rising 13 metres from ground and the Holy Ark (or Aaron Kodesh) which is capped with a ceiling depicting a blue sky with shining stars.
In its 120 years the community worshipping there has produced three Members of Parliament - Colonel Sir David Harris, Sir Ernest Oppenheimer and Harry Oppenheimer - and six mayors of Kimberley - William Sagar (1906 – 08), Sir Ernest Oppenheimer (1913 – 15), Bernard Cohen (1931 – 32), Gustave Haberfeld (1953 – 55, 1966 – 67), Lionel Jawno (1959 – 61) and Cecil Sussman (1964 – 65).
Countless weddings of people who would later achieve prominence in business life have taken place there. Exactly 75 years ago on 28 September 1947, the late Phillip Joseph, the founder of the Exclusive Books Store Chain, married Pamela Horwitz of Kimberley there and in the modern era as recently as 15 September 2019 the same Pamela Horwitz’s great niece, Ida Horwitz, married Zach Lieberman there.
Worshipping in this beautiful house of worship is not only a spiritual experience but a great privilege.
Here’s wishing all who live in our city, province, country and the world, a wonderful year filled with happiness, prosperity, harmony and security. L’shana tova tikvah tevu – may you all be inscribed in the Book of Life for a good year.
ADRIAN HORWITZ