STALWARTS OF GEORGE JEWRY HONOURED - 22 DECEMBER 2008

Lawrence Miller, Myron Rabinowitz and Rabbi Moshe Silberhaft in front of the newly-dedicated Aron Kodesh

 

The celebration of Chanukah in George on 22 December took place in tandem with a dedication ceremony of the congregation’s new Aron Kodesh between Mincha and Maariv. The Aron Kodesh was endowed in the name of two stalwart members of the community in years gone by, Solly and Sophie Miller, and bears a plaque recording their contribution both to Jewish life and local public life. Their son, Lawrence, and members of his family were amongst those present.

Local resident Jack Rubin and Lexie Comay, a niece of the late couple, reminisced about Solly and Sophie and the role they had played in Jewish communal and broader local affairs. Rubin described them as high principled people of great dignity who could always be relied on and who were excellent ambassadors for the wider community.

Comay spoke about the George Jewish community, of which she had been a part for most of her life. Typical of other country communities, it had been “very traditional” and regularly fundraised for Israel. Jews had always been recognised and accepted in the town. Miller, who is a long-serving member of the SAJBD Cape Council, reminisced about his younger days in George, where he had his Bar Mitzvah and matriculated.

Rabbi Moshe Silberhaft, on behalf of the SAJBD Country Communities Department, also used the occasion to pay a surprise tribute to the congregation’s president, Myron Rabinowitz. In addition to his efforts on behalf of his own community, Rabinowitz was the prime mover in the establishment last year of the Garden Route Jewish Association, encompassing the various communities located within the Mossel Bay-Plettenburg Bay-Oudtshoorn triangle. A plaque was unveiled in appreciation of his “efforts and devotion in fostering Jewish communal life in George and the Garden Route Region”.

Rabbi Silberhaft said that without Myron Rabinowitz, the Southern Cape region as a whole would be much the poorer from a Jewish point of view.

“He is always willing to be of assistance and shares the vision of the SAJBD’s Country Communities Department to maintain Judaism in the country communities” he said.