The Marais Road Shul, formally, the Green & Sea Point Hebrew Congregation (G&SPHC) is a notable Modern Orthodox synagogue in Sea Point, a seaside suburb of Cape Town. The congregation was first established in 1926, and the synagogue was completed in 1934. It had initially intended to become a branch of the Gardens Shul in the City Bowl, but opted for independence, and became the larger of the two. It is the largest Jewish congregation in South Africa, and by 1994, it had become the largest in the South Hemisphere. The Sephardi Hebrew Congregation, established in 1960, also operates a shul from the G&SPHC's Weizmann Hall on Regent Road in Sea Point.
History
Origins, Union of South Africa (1910–1948) The congregation was first established in Sea Point in 1926 at Monreith, Hall Road, the home of Mr and Mrs Gutman. A meeting took place at their home to advance “representations of a number of the younger members of the Community for the purpose of electing a strong working Committee to go into the question of the proposed new Synagogue”. A constitution was drawn up, establishing; “the congregation shall function as an Orthodox Hebrew congregation and shall be known as the Green & Sea Point Hebrew Congregation, the holy congregation, the House of Jeshurun.” In the meantime, the Gutman family hosted services at their home, before the congregation hired premises at the Old Sea Point Town Hall.
The architect, J Lonstein was hired to design a new synagogue for the congregation and the building was completed in 1934, with Jan Smuts laying the cornerstone on April 18. The building is octagonal in shape and it was the first purpose-built synagogue on the Atlantic seaboard and was built to accommodate over nine hundred people. It was originally fitted with hard wood seating (upholstered in red leather), an Aron Kodesh panelled in teak and lighting that took the form of fluorescent tubes in the shape of a Magen David. The building was officially opened in September 1934 by Cape Town's Jewish mayor, Louis Gradner and it was consecrated by Rev. AP Bender, spiritual leader of Gardens Shul. Rev. P Rosenberg was the first spiritual leader of the newly built synagogue.
Shortly after its opening, a decision was made to establish a choir and the following year, Cantor Morris Katzin, from Riga, Latvia was appointed. The synagogue also had an organ and use of electricity was permitted on Shabbat and Jewish holidays. However, Rev Rosenberg's appointment was short-lived. He had been ordained at Jews' College in London and was dissatisfied with the Orthodox character of the congregation. He wrote to Lily Montagu, who had tasked Rabbi Moses Cyrus Weiler with bringing Reform Judaism to South Africa, and distanced himself from Orthodoxy. He supported the arrival of a Reform synagogue in Cape Town, anticipating it to have good chances of success. Rosenberg subsequently served both Reform and Orthodox congregations after his departure from Marais Road. Dr Herman Kramer, a long-time G&SPHC president later became president of Cape Town's first Reform congregation, Temple Israel. Rabbi Dr IH Levine succeeded Rev Rosenberg in 1936 and stayed on until 1940, after getting his doctorate. The congregation also established the Talmud Torah, which had 103 students and offered Junior Certificate and Matric classes in Hebrew by 1943. Rabbi Abe Tobie Shrock was appointed as the congregation's new spiritual leader in 1944, he was a graduate of Jews' College in London and had been the principal Jewish chaplain to the South African Defence Force, Acting Head of the Department of Hebrew at the University of Witwatersrand and rabbi of Yeoville Synagogue. Temple Israel was excluded from the induction ceremony for Rabbi Shrock. Rabbi Abrahams of the Gardens Shul only agreed to conduct the induction service on the condition that he alone would perform the ceremony. The congregation also donated a Sefer Torah to the SA Jewish War Appeal that was transported to Paris to be used by Jewish refugees in a DP camp.
Apartheid era (1948–1994)