Durban Jewish Club, also known as Durban Jewish Centre, is an arts, culture and entertainment venue, an educational facility and a social and community hub in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. It was first established in 1931, and for a time it was the only country club in Durban that admitted Jews.Distinguished architect turns 100 The Canadian Jewish News. 27 August 2008 It is also home to a number of Jewish organisations such as Beit David (formerly Temple David), a Reform synagogue.New Beit David shul consecrated in Durban The South African Jewish Report. 13 December 2018 It is also the site of the Durban Holocaust and Genocide Centre, which has sister centres in Johannesburg and Cape Town, Cape Town Holocaust Centre and Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre.Durban Jewish Club KZN: A Photographic and Historical record. Retrieved on 31 October 2024
History Talks to establish the club began in earnest in 1919. The club was subsequently built and opened on 4 May 1931 partly in response to antisemitism in South Africa. Jewish benefactors supported the project as Jews were mostly barred at the time from the Durban Country Club and similar clubs. When Aaron Klug, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, was growing up in Durban, his father, Lazar, regularly played chess at the club.
During the Second World War, Allied servicemen were invited to make use of its facilities such as its canteen, shower rooms, billiards, tennis, writing and reading rooms. An estimated two million soldiers and sailors of diverse nationalities and faiths are reported to have visited the club.Durban Jewish Exhibition South African Jewish Board of Deputies. 26 July 2017
In the 1950s, Israel Goldstein, the American-born Israeli rabbi, author and Zionist leader addressed several Jewish groups at the club. Goldstein wrote about his visit in his memoirs: "The Durban Jewish Club, located near the seafront, was a large and impressive center of activity." Tony Leon, former leader of the opposition has been a guest speaker at the club on a number of occasions since 1990.The two South Africas Politicsweb. 23 July 2013
The Goldene Medina celebrates "175 Years of Jewish Life in South Africa" was a special exhibition staged at the club in 2017. Part of the exhibition also includes the club itself and its historical role in bringing together Durban Jewry.Goldene Medina exhibition lands in Durban The South African Jewish Report. 3 August 2017
Holocaust centre
In March 2008, the Durban Holocaust and Genocide Centre opened at the club. It expanded in size three years later and stayed on the campus of the club, occupying a remodeled part of the building to the rear.Bagels, blintzes and the best cheesecake in Durban The Daily Maverick. 11 February 2022 The centre is also home to The Circle Café, Durban's only kosher-kitchen restaurant.
Reform synagogue The Durban Progressive Jewish Congregation (DPJC), also known as Beit David (formerly Temple David) is a Reform congregation that was established in 1948. It was based at its purpose-built synagogue in Morningside since 1950, before relocating to the club in 2018, where it had created a new sanctuary.
Talks for the congregation began in November 1947, with Rabbi Moses Cyrus Weiler addressing a meeting at the home of Mervyn Gild.Founding of the Durban congregation Progressive Jews. Retrieved on 31 October 2024 In May 1948, Weiler visited again to address a larger inaugural meeting at the Jewish club, where Gild was elected president of the new congregation. In December 1949, a plot was purchased on Ridge Road in Morningside. The foundation stone was laid in August 1950 and for the next twenty years the congregation was served by rabbi Meyer Miller, who was from Brooklyn in New York City and a graduate of the Jewish Institute of Religion.JEWISH INSTITUTE GRADUATES 4 RABBIS; Prof. Albright Sees a Revival of Historic Studies Which Will Stimulate Peace The New York Times. 1 June 1936 Miller was succeeded by Temple David's long-term rabbi, Isaac Richards. Richards was originally from Liverpool in England and raised under Orthodox Judaism. He served with the British Army during World War II and was one of the liberators of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.USC Shoah Foundation Institute testimony of Isaac Richards United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Retrieved on 31 October 2024Liberator Isaac Richards Testimony | USC Shoah Foundation YouTube. 20 April 2012
The professional surfer, Shaun Tomson, was raised in Temple David with his family and had his Bar Mitzvah there.Wise words to buoy you through life, encouraging a path of purpose, hope and faith IOL. 5 December 2022 Following the death of his son in 2006, Tomson returned to his familial shul and reconnected with his faith.
See also Durban United Hebrew Congregation Umhlanga Jewish Centre
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