Next Events, Presentations and Projects
Announcing 4 CHOL seminars: June/July 2006 – 7:30pm South African time
Starting on Tuesday 23 June under the broad title
Then – and Now?
Tuesdays 23 and 30 June, 7:30pm SA time:
Professor Gideon Shimoni will talk about Zionism – Then and Now
Tuesdays 7 and 14 July, 7:30pm SA time:
Dave Bloom will talk about Rhodesia Then – and Zambia/Zimbabwe Now
Make a note of the dates to join us at 7:30pm (SA time) each Tuesday (6:30 UK / 8:30 Israel and various times in America)
Write to info@chol.website for the link to the sessions.
Two distinguished speakers, both born and brought up in southern Africa, both very active in Habonim and who both made aliyah, will look at how things have changed since they, and probably we, were teenagers.
Gideon (Gidi) Shimoni was born and raised in Johannesburg. He is a Professor (emeritus) of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's Department of Jewish History and Contemporary Jewry, where he also was the first incumbent of the Shlomo Argov Chair in Israel-Diaspora Relations. His research interests, lectures and publications are in the field of modern and contemporary Jewish history, particularly the history of Zionism and Israel, and contemporary Jewish communities. His academic publications include, most notably, a comprehensive work titled The Zionist Ideology, published in both English and Hebrew versions, and Community and Conscience: The Jews in Apartheid South Africa. After retirement, he served as Chief Academic adviser of ANU: The Museum of the Jewish People.
Dave Bloom was born and raised in Zimbabwe, where he was the head of Habonim during the early 1970s (as Rhodesia) and made aliyah to Israel in 1973. He served in the IDF's Nahal brigade. Dave joined Reuters News Agency in Tel Aviv in the late 1970s and in 1989 was posted to Zimbabwe as CEO for Reuters East and Southern Africa. He and his family spent 5 years based in Harare and then three years at Reuters headquarters in London. Over the years he has volunteered with various non-profit organisations in Israel, including as Chairman of Telfed (SA Zionist Fed - Israel). He currently heads World Machal. After leaving Reuters he was a partner in a software company in the fintech industry for nearly 25 years. He has nearly three decades of experience preserving family and community histories. As the founder of the Zimbabwe and Zambian Jewish Community web site, he has documented Zimbabwe and Zambia's Jewish communities along with an active social media presence and over 100 video clips on a ZJC YouTube channel. He retired two years ago and earlier this year Dave spent two weeks in Zimbabwe including Harare, Bulawayo and other parts interviewing and recording the current situation of the Jewish Communities.
Session 1: Tuesday 7 July, 7:30pm South African time
From Frontier Congregations to Flourishing Communities: Jewish Life in Southern and Northern Rhodesia
This presentation explores the origins and growth of Jewish life in Southern and Northern Rhodesia, from the arrival of early Jewish traders, professionals, and pioneers to the establishment of synagogues, schools, welfare organisations, Zionist societies, cemeteries, and vibrant communal institutions. It tells the story of how small Jewish communities helped shape the commercial, economic, civic, and cultural life of Rhodesia while maintaining strong religious and family networks across Bulawayo, Salisbury, Gwelo, Livingstone, Lusaka, Ndola, Kitwe, and the Copperbelt. Against the backdrop of British colonial rule, migration, war, economic opportunity, and deep ties to South Africa and Britain, the lecture will bring to life a remarkable chapter of African Jewish history.
Session 2: Tuesday 14 July, 7:30pm South African time
After Independence: Memory, Migration, and the Jewish Legacy of Zimbabwe and Zambia
This lecture follows the dramatic changes that came with independence in Zambia in 1964 and Zimbabwe in 1980, examining how political transformation, economic uncertainty, emigration, and generational change reshaped once-thriving Jewish communities. It will look at the decline in numbers, the closure or transformation of institutions, the preservation of cemeteries and records, and the continuing emotional connection of former Rhodesian, Zimbabwean, and Zambian Jews living across the world. More than a story of disappearance, this lecture asks how memory, heritage, archives, and family stories keep these communities alive – and why their contribution to the wider Jewish and African story still matters today. It will also reflect on Dave's recent two-week visit to Zimbabwe and encounters with the tiny but resilient communities.
If you want to join these free talks presented by CHOL – Southern African Community History On-Line, email info@chol.website to be on the mailing list to receive the Zoom links.
Check out the CHOL website to see if your community is listed on the Communities page and to read some of the nearly 200 original stories by South African writers.
November 2025
Welcome to our talks this November on South African, 20th century, Jewish
Agricultural Innovators and Entrepreneurs
Make a note of the dates now to join us at 7:30pm (SA time) each Tuesday in November; more details are below. Looking forward to seeing you.
| Date November 2025 |
Topic | Speaker |
|---|---|---|
| Tuesday 4 7:30pm SA time |
IW Schlesinger: THE FORGOTTEN MOGUL | Ted Botha |
| Tuesday 11 7:30pm SA time |
DRINKS: Ginsburgs and Rooibos Tea plus Bashew Brothers and Cool Drinks | Boris Gorelik and Gail Lustig |
| Tuesday 18 7:30pm SA time |
SHORTS on Jews in agriculture in the old country / Deciduous fruit / Citrus/ Milling / Forestry | Nick Sayers, Zara Aginsky, Allan Wollman, Charlotte Wiener and Ralph Cilevitz |
| Tuesday 25 7:30pm SA time |
SMOUSE, the OSTRICH KINGS and SAMMY MARKS | Richard Mendelsohn |
Write to info@chol.website for the link to the sessions.
Tuesday 4 November, 7:30pm South African time
Chair: Geraldine Auerbach
IW SCHLESINGER, THE FORGOTTEN MOGUL, by Ted Botha
This presentation is on the maverick, largely unknown man, and some of the crazy, exciting projects he got involved in. As well as his wide-ranging endeavour across countless enterprises, agriculture, banks, insurance, advertising, radio, shipping and movies, two of his oddest investments had to have been trying to create the biggest orange estate in the world, in South Africa - and his own version of Hollywood in Johannesburg.
Ted Botha is a best-selling author and journalist who has written for a number of newspapers and magazines across the world. His nonfiction books include "Mongo, Adventures in Trash" (Bloomsbury), "The Girl with the Crooked Nose" (Random House), "Daisy De Melker" (Jonathan Ball) and "Hollywood on the Veld" (Jonathan Ball). He splits his time between Cape Town and New York.
Tuesday 11 November, 7:30pm South African time
Chair: Gail Lustig
DRINKS
A Ceylon of the Cederberg: The Jewish Contribution to the Commercialisation of Rooibos Tea, by Boris Gorelik
How rooibos became one of South Africa's national drinks thanks to Benjamin Ginsberg, a migrant from Russia in the Cape, and his descendants. This Jewish family helped to transform a local beverage into a globally recognised product.
A talk by Boris Gorelik, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Sub-Saharan Africa, Institute for African Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow
The Bashew Brothers: Cooling the British Army
Gail Lustig talks on one of South Africa's leading mineral water concerns.
Tuesday 18 November, 7:30pm South African time
Chair: Geraldine Auerbach
SHORTS: Short presentations on various subjects
- Jews in agriculture in Latvia/Lithuania: Nick Sayers
- Deciduous fruit: Allan Wolman
- From Naishtot to Nelspruit: Crocodile Valley Citrus Estate owned by the Solomons: Zara Aginsky
- Sir Lionel Philips: Farming in the Northern Transvaal at the turn of the 20th century: Charlotte Wiener
- Jewish millers: Ralph Cilevitz
Tuesday 25 November, 7:30pm South African time
Chair: Gail Lustig
The Smouse, the Ostrich Kings and Sammy Marks, by Professor Richard Mendelsohn
Sammy Marks became one of the first entrepreneurs, playing a significant role in mining, industrial and agricultural development in the country.
Richard Mendelsohn is former head of department of Historical Studies and Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, University of Cape Town. He is the author or co-author of several books about South African Jewish history, including a biography of Sammy Marks (pictured left).
June 2025
Do join us for a 'story' session on Tuesday 17 June. Gail writes:- Sally Cranswick, author, book coach, creative mentor and lecturer in creative writing at the University of Cape Town's Department for Extra Mural Studies, where she hosts writing courses on all aspects of creative writing, will be joining us. The topic of Sally's talk: Turning a Life Thread Into A Memoir Essay. To elaborate a little; the memoir essay is a very popular life-writing genre. In this session, Sally will be holding an informal discussion on how you can take one thread of your own life journey and structure it into a memoir essay.
For the second half of our meeting, we will be joined by
- Merle Levin, whose book, 'The World According to Merle', has recently been published. Merle grew up in South Africa, spent a major chunk of her life in Canada and then a few years back, returned to the land of her birth, where she settled in Stanford, Western Cape. (Merle's joining us in our session has been rescheduled from our last meeting, which she unfortunately couldn't attend.)
Please note on your calendars - Tues 17th June at this time: UK 18:00 / South Africa 19:00 / Israel 20:00 / New York 13:00
For Zoom link write to info@chol.website
Meanwhile: Check out the 167 original stories that have already been posted on the Stories page.
So it remains to extend a warm invitation to you all, and remind you that I'm always happy to hear from you and discuss thoughts, ideas you might have regarding your project.
Warm wishes, Gail
May 2025
6 May 2025: Share Your Stories
You are all invited to a 'Share Your Stories' Zoom session on Tuesday, 29th April at 13:00 New York time; 18:00 UK; 19:00 South Africa; 20:00 Israel.
The subject is a continuation of our last session with two writers telling about the books that they have just published. What led them to undertake the project, what it means to them and how they overcame personal and other obstacles along the way to achieve their aim!
So, prepare yourselves for a super session with Merle Levin of Stanford in the Cape and Emanuel Derman in New York.
The link to the session will be sent to the mailing list nearer the time. (Write to gail@chol.website to register for the link.) Wishing you all a Happy Pesach!
Best, Gail
May 2025
From 7 May for ten weeks: Debating SA Jewish History – with Professor Richard Mendelsohn
I am delighted to tell you that Professor Richard Mendelsohn is running a 10-session course for Midrash on Wednesday evenings online at 19.30 South African time, starting on Wed 7th May.
We were thinking that many of you might be interested to join him. He will cover the immigrant experience; orthodoxy and Reform in South Africa; antisemitism; Jews and apartheid; gender and South African Jewry and SA Zionism and its critics.
To book your place contact Lauren Snitcher, lauren@snitcher.org or +27828802257.
April 2025
Next CHOL Projects – 2025
These are the subjects of the next CHOL investigations and presentations. If you have information and/or would like to participate, please write to info@chol.website
- Seeking to find out about library collections
- Jewish innovations in South African agriculture
- South African Jewish music in performance and research
1. Can you help find collections?
Do you know of any libraries or unofficial even individual collections of materials (books, papers, photographs, videos etc) pertaining to South African Jewish communities?
CHOL is setting out on a scoping mission to find out where there are such collections scattered about the world. We want to find out where they are, what they contain; who owns and manages them; and whether they are accessible to others. When we find out, about these collections, they will be listed on the CHOL website as resources for research and discovery.
If you know of any such collection of South African Jewish interest, please contact Jeremy Hodes who is managing this scoping study for CHOL to give him any information you may have or ask any questions. You can download the questionnaire (Word file), complete it and send it to Jeremy.
2. Do you know of any Jewish innovators in South African agriculture?
Were your parents or grand- or great-grandparents or family members involved with farming or agriculture in South Africa? There are so many amazing Jewish innovators in this under-researched area of South African Jewish history.
For our next presentations professor Richard Mendelsohn is inviting those with stories about their family experience in agriculture to get in touch to discuss how to tell the story. Off the top of our heads there are the following. If you know of others let us know at info@chol.website or directly to Professor Richard Mendelsohn at richard.mendelsohn@uct.ac.za.
- The Shlesingers and their citrus estates in Zebediela
- The Sarembocks and soft fruit in Ceres
- The Zettlers with strawberries in Stellenbosch
- The potato kings
- Onion kings of Botrivier and Caledon
- Michael Eliastam’s father was a pig farmer around Springs/Devon
- The Isakow family created farm equipment
- Jews were very involved with milling – there were a couple of our members corresponding about that
- Smouse and algemene handelaars bought farmers' produce and sold them seed and fertiliser – probably introduced better strains and gave them better prices and credit
- They bartered goods for livestock
- Jews were cattle speculators in the pioneering days of Rhodesia
- The irrigation entrepreneurs
- Ostrich farmers and dealers
- Sammy Marks – Professor Richard Mendelsohn will talk about Sammy Marks
3. Do you like South African Jewish music?
CHOL will be supporting potential research and performance projects in South African Jewish music between the South African Jewish Music Centre, the Kaplan Centre and Stellenbosch University, which already houses Fay Singer's collection of recordings books and manuscripts. To find out more contact me at geraldine@chol.website.
November/December 2024
New Research on South African Jews
Three sessions: Wednesdays 6 and 27 Nov and 4 Dec 2024, 7.00pm South African time
- 6 November: Reviva Hasson
Topic: The Paradox of South African Jewish Emigration - 27 November: Gavin Beinart-Smollan
Topic: Finding Displaced Relatives: how South Africans found their missing loved ones during and after the Second World War - 4 December: Professor Shirli Gilbert
Topic: Who is researching What, about South African Jews these days?
South African Jewish community history offers so many topics for in-depth study. The CHOL community fulfils a great role in eliciting and organising personal family stories and primary research documents for our communities. But we are eager to hear what subjects have been chosen for current dissertations for higher degrees and by leading research scholars. In this series curated by professors Shirli Gilbert (UCL) and Adam Mendelsohn (UCT) we are offered a window into the academic world of South African Jewish research.