The Birth Of A Community: A History of Western Province Jewry

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LYTTON STRACHEY once declared with the firm finality of an expert that the rules of historiography are few and — obvious: ‘a capacity for absorbing facts, a capacity for stating them and a point of view’. These seemingly simple rules presuppose however, close and diligent research, a sensitive and subtle appreciation. of the facts and especially a capacity for interpreting them. A writer of history in truth requires the accuracy of a mathematician coupled with the imagination of an artist. All these qualities, the author, who has a fine reputation for scholarship, has shown to a marked degree in this book. On a canvas stretching almost over a century he has painted his figures boldly, strikingly and with great sym- pathy: Joel Rabinowitz, A. F. Orustien, A. P. Bender — great clerical leaders — who dominated the scene and stimu- lated the spiritual growth of the com- munity. Nor has the author neglecte4 to trace the economic development of his people. The names of old families some of whose descendants are alive today, stand out In relief as rugged pioneers of Commerce and Industry who were proud of their origin and gloried in their faith. The nexus between Jew and Gentile with all its vicissitudes, often cordial but sometimes disquieting, is described with singular objectivity and impartiality. The whole narrative is a substantial contribution to the historical literature of the Jews in South Africa up to the turn of the century. In this work the author traces, with a wealth of detail, the history of Western Province Jewry from earliest times to the end of the South African War. In effect, however, it comprises an account of the salient events in the early settlement and development of South African Jewry as a whole; for during the nineteenth century the Mother Hebrew Community in Cape Town was the focal point of local Jewish life, and its story was in essence that of the entire Jewish community. The book, which covers the first epoch of the history of the Jews in South Africa, is complete in itself. It is, nevertheless, marked as VOLUME I, because it is the intention of the writer to publish, in due course, a second volume, which will record the events of the last fifty years.

LYTTON STRACHEY once declared with
the firm finality of an expert that the
rules of historiography are few and —
obvious: ‘a capacity for absorbing
facts, a capacity ..

Author:Israel Abrahams
Type:Hardcover
Condition Rating:3
Binding:Hardcover

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The Birth Of A Community: A History of Western Province Jewry

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