RABINOWITZ, JOEL

RABINOWITZ, JOEL (1828–1902), one of the first Jewish ministers in South Africa. Born in Lublin, Poland, Rabinowitz was second minister to the synagogue in Birmingham, England. He came to Cape Town in 1859, when the congregation was struggling to keep alive. Largely as a result of Rabinowitz' efforts, the congregation was able to erect its first synagogue in 1863, which still stands. Taking the small Jewish communities scattered over the whole *Cape Province and beyond as his parish, Rabinowitz corresponded with outlying families and traveled long distances by post-cart to officiate at marriages or circumcisions, thus contributing greatly to the preservation of Judaism. He was also a tireless collector for charitable causes, Jewish or non-Jewish, at home and abroad.

After serving the Cape Town community for 23 years he returned to England, but was back in Cape Town in 1886. His modest investments having failed because of a depression at the Cape, he took a course in metallurgy at the South African College in Cape Town and opened an assay laboratory on the Witwatersrand. He remained involved in communal life, raised funds for building the first synagogue in *Johannesburg and officiated at High Holy Day services. Two years later ill health forced him to retire to Cape Town, where he continued to devote himself to communal affairs. Rabinowitz wrote a series of articles about the early Jewish settlers in South Africa for the London Jewish Chronicle (1895).

bibliography:

L. Herrman, History of the Jews in South Africa (1935), index; G. Saron and L. Hotz, The Jews in South Africa (1955), index; I. Abrahams, The Birth of a Community (1955), index. add. bibliography: J. Simon, The Reverend Joel Rabinowitz, and Other Adventures of a Library Chairman (1996).

[Lewis Sowden]