Letters/Discussion Forums
Are there still Afrikaans-speaking Jews left in SA?
I remember receiving, some 50 years ago, a duplicated magazine issued for country Jewish children. I think it may have been called “Dayenu”, authored perhaps by Rabbi Duschinsky.
Jonathan Ossher
What stands out most in my memory is that it included letters written in Afrikaans by the rabbi to Afrikaans-speaking Jewish children, presumably in the (then) Orange Free State. I don’t know whether they were more comfortable in Afrikaans, having grown up in that environment, or whether they were descendants of the Boerejode from Anglo-Boer War days.
What I would be interested to know is what happened to those children. While, I presume, most of them would have migrated away during the general Jewish (and non-Jewish) depopulation of the platteland, some of them may well have remained. I think they would be between 50 and 70 years old now.
Can anyone supply any information about this modern-day lost tribe? Are there any Jews that still speak Afrikaans as a first language?
Uitenhage
Izak Mentz
March 4, 2015 at 7:23 pm
‘Good question. I’m from Humansdorp (which you’ll know well given where you’re from and for context); I now reside in Johannesburg. Here I was confronted with Jewish culture, which I did not even know of growing up (regte platteland). I often ask the same question as you have. I live in Norwood (historically a suburb with a very strong Jewish presence) and one day randomly came across an old Afrikaans couple in Woolies who converted to Judaism. Apparently there are about 7/8 of these families. I haven’t seen them since.’
Rita Boshoff
October 27, 2018 at 3:11 pm
‘I am looking for a Afrikaans Shul in Johannesburg? I heard there is one in Genesis Centre but could not find it on google. ‘