Walking in their grandparents’ Klerksdorp footsteps

OWN CORRESPONDENT

Their great-grandparents originate in Klerksdorp, so they went for the weekend to get a taste of what their predecessors’ lives had been like. “They took over the shul and gave the existing members a lift by making the shul services lebadik,” said Marlene Waks of the Klerksdorp congregation.

It was Klerksdorpian Phillip Sacks who had hatched the plan for the trip, with the catalyst being his best friend, David Frame who still lives in the North Western town.

Phillip had arrived in Klerksdorp in 1956 with his two siblings, Mervyn and Linda, and their late grandmother, Lee. The patriarch of their family, the late Joe Sacks, went there a year earlier to take up a business opportunity.

It was here that the family enjoyed great Jewish and country community life.

Phillip, who like most of the family left Klerksdorp, has kept close ties with the community. A call was made to his best friend of 60 years, David,  to tell him of this plan to visit with the whole family.

They even spent Shabbos at their grandparents’ old home in Andrew Street, which is now a B and B.

The family was welcomed with open arms by the community, and the youngest generation of Sacks descendants led the davening and leining.

Around a special community brocha, they reconnected.

The current shul is a shadow of its beautiful predecessor that was opened on 11 September 1966. And the country community has aged and dwindled in size. But its members remain committed to keeping the light of Yiddishkeit and Jewish life burning.