Solly Krok – the man who made charity cool

Strong and sprightly until only recently, Solly Krok, the 95-year-old larger-than-life legend, has now rejoined his beloved wife, Rita, and his dear identical twin brother, Abie, in the world above. Solly was besotted with his late wife, Rita, his children and grandchildren. Naturally, things weren’t quite the same after her passing.

The funeral on Sunday, 9 February, was deservedly huge, and Solly was laid to rest next to Rita and Abie in the place of honour at Westpark Jewish Cemetery. Family and friends, rabbis, and business colleagues all came in their hundreds to pay tribute to a man who believed in giving rather than taking, and to whom our community is indebted for his philanthropy, generosity, deep love, and genuine concern.

We have been blessed to have many philanthropists over the years who have contributed to the vibrancy of Jewish life in South Africa. But Solly, in partnership with Abie, played a critical role in making tzedakah popular. Back in the 1980s, they produced a hilarious original Mock Wedding, which became a popular theatrical success. Solly was the groom and Eric Ellerine the bride. Chazan Ari Klein, Oshy Tugendhaft, and the Sydenham Shul Choir provided live wedding music for the simcha. It became a huge hit in the community. It was a fun and creative way of raising a lot of money for good causes. Then there was their Millionex Charity Raffle which predated the national Lotto by decades.

Together, these projects conveyed to the community how important it was to give tzedakah. In fact, it popularised tzedakah and made giving charity cool!

So passionate was he about tzedakah, I recall him once declaring to me in absolute sincerity, “Yossy, we just have to make more money. We need to be able to give more tzedakah!” There was no self-consciousness whatsoever. It was his pure and heartfelt wish.

Solly and Abie were a perfect counterbalance to each other. Solly, though he was an accountant was the dreamer, forever concocting business schemes and community projects that he hoped would change the world. Abie, the pharmacist, kept him grounded. Together, their imagination and due diligence led to many huge successes and only few setbacks. That Solly died on Abie’s yahrzeit can only be an incredible heavenly testament to their identical and inseparable twin lives from beginning to end.

Some of their more famous acquisitions were Gold Reef City, which became a premier centre of entertainment, and Summer Place, famous for its exquisite events in a beautiful garden setting.

Solly’s often flamboyant enthusiasm for sport led them to buy Mamelodi Sundowns Football Club in the 1980s. Subsequently, they sold the club to Patrice Motsepe in 2004. Indeed, Patrice, his wife, Precious, and the Motsepe family were prominent attendees at the funeral.

Solly supported almost every cause under the sun. I’m personally familiar with but some of his fortunate beneficiaries. The Shul @ Hyde Park was housed at Summer Place for quite a few years. The Torah Academy schools were close to his heart, and I know he was very helpful to my wife, Rochel, when she ran Women of the World. Solly was involved in Cyrildene Shul for many years, and was also one of the early benefactors of the Yeshivah Gedolah; Ohr Somayach; and Aish HaTorah in South Africa. He was committed to the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, and in 2001, the Kroks opened the Apartheid Museum. Solly was also closely affiliated with Bar Ilan University and various yeshivas in Israel. And I know for a fact that he personally helped many families and individuals suffering hard times. All these acts of kindness are unknown to the wider community. No doubt the list could go on and on.

Never one to shy away from a party, Solly’s annual Sukkos luncheon was a firm fixture in the calendar of hundreds of people over the years.

Quite remarkably, well into his 90s, Solly was still thinking of new enterprises and projects to save the world. Whether it was to fight global antisemitism or to alleviate poverty in South Africa by “keeping the wolf from the door”, he was passionate and involved and constantly “on the boil”. His Touchdown Challenge was to encourage senior citizens to touch their toes to stay healthy and mobile.

Ever appreciative that G-d gave him longevity and health, he would frequently wax dramatic and proclaim for all to hear, “I am blessed! I am blessed!”

In his eulogy at the funeral, Rabbi Mendel Lipskar, the head of the Lubavitch Foundation and rabbi at The Shul @ Hyde Park said, “For Solly, prince and pauper were equals, and he treated them both with the same respect and dignity. I encourage Solly’s family and friends to carry on his extraordinary, inspirational legacy of love and generosity. May we all learn from Solly’s example!”

• Rabbi Yossy Goldman is life rabbi emeritus at Sydenham Shul and the president of the South African Rabbinical Association.