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Eli Rabinowitz

Born in Cape Town, Eli emigrated to Perth Australia with his wife Jill and family in 1986. An active member of IAJGS for many years and now a member of the Board, Eli, has researched many families and has created and manages 90 Kehilalinks websites for towns in Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Belarus, Germany, Russia, China, Mauritius, Mocambique, South Africa and Australia. He has travelled to many Jewish centres where he engages with the locals and writes and photographs things of Jewish interest. He has created effective projects for primary school children across the world such as the ‘WE ARE HERE! foundation.’ Eli is a co-founder of CHOL – for Southern African Community History On-Line. https://about.me/elirab

Geraldine Auerbach MBE

Born in Kimberley with a BA with fine Art from Wits, Geraldine came to London with her husband Ronnie in 1962. After teaching art, she established Jewish music performance and teaching programmes which culminated in her being the founder Director the Jewish Music Institute which is now based at the London University. She has been instrumental in also creating Jewish Music Centres as far afield as South Africa and Brazil. Since retiring in 2012, she has co-founded the European Cantors Association the International Ernest Bloch Society as well as CHOL – Community History On-Line.

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Some background��Litvaks en-route to South Africa

Between 1881 and 1920 approximately 40,000 Jews mainly single men from Latvia and Lithuania made the journey to the isolated tip of Africa, seeking a better life for their families and escaping poverty, lack of opportunity, fear and harassment.

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Arriving in a wide-open agricultural land, they spread out across the country. Supported by landsleit, they plied their trades as in the old country as itinerant salesmen, traders, shopkeepers and farmers. Or they serviced the mining industries. In the early 1900s they formed viable, intensely Jewish and Zionist communities in hundreds of small towns and settlements in all parts of South Africa. �They flourished– but by the 1970s and 80s these country communities had vanished …………………… �as their children and grandchildren left for the big cities – or emigrated once more.

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How could one preserve the footprint and the life of each town and village?

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Eli meets Geraldine

Eli Rabinowitz from Cape Town, maker of dozens of kehilalinks for Eastern Europe and South Africa lives in Perth –
Geraldine Auerbach, of London wanted to make a website for her hometown of Kimberley

Eli and Geraldine met ten years ago in 2013

KIMBERLEY website established in 2014�

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The Role Model��for how one could preserve the footprint of a community ��on a Website!�

Dave Bloom

had created a website recording the history of the Zimbabwe and Zambian Jewish Communities early in the 2000s

www.zjc.org.il

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Upington Jewish Community Website �created by Bramie Lenhoff in 2014

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Pietersburg Jewish Kehalilinks Website �Eli Rabinowitz 2016

Includes: MA Thesis of CHARLOTTE WIENER, UNISA 2006

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Springs Jewish Community�Established 2017

by Eli Rabinowitz
and Lynette Douglas

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Cape Town: Chassidishe Shul to Arthur’s Road

This (and many other kehilalinks) Established by Eli Rabinowitz in 2017

In large cities individual web spaces can be established for communities within the city such as a congregation, profession or locality

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Jewish Journeys in the Western Cape �Steve Albert ‘s Blog �2013 - 2020

In 2004/5 Steve Albert travelled through 30 towns in the Western Cape, Almost every small town in the country had some sort of Jewish presence. I was interested in what had become of these structures that were once the spiritual and social heart of these communities.

UNIONDALE CALEDON & RIVERSDALE DARLING OUDTSHOORN CALVINIA �

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Vryburg Jewish Community Created by Gary Sussman 2020

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The South African Friends of Beth Hatefutsoth (SAFBH)

Established in Johannesburg in 1982
Exhibition of Jews in big cities
Researching small communities
1550 places, including towns villages, railway sidings and farms.
Published 6 volumes
7^th and final volume out soon
museum@beyachad.co.za

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Time to collect everything together … in one place

CHOL Community History On-Line �is born

Geraldine and Eli establish Community History On-Line in 2020 together with Professor Adam Mendelsohn of the Kaplan Centre and Gavin Morris, SAJM Director under the auspices of the of the �Kaplan Centre for Jewish Studies, UCT�and the South African Jewish Museum

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CHOL aims and Activities

Bring together all those already working in the field
Learn from their experience
Highlight and connect
Encourage others to participate and initiate projects
Develop standards and protocols
Avoid duplication by sharing information
Encourage initiatives and activity
Hold regular meetings, refine and develop initiatives
Establish an email discussion list
Hold public physical and virtual meetings
Compile and circulate a newsletter

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A story and a memoir………….

Gail Loon Lustig set up a project ‘Share Your Stories’ enabling South Africans everywhere to celebrate their creativity online �(next live session 3 September) that led to the question of how to publish these stories.

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��

www.chol.website created by Bramie Lenhoff�Finding everything in one place

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www.chol.website

Already has:

15 presentations/ seminars
22 Memoirs
38 communities
82 stories (next story reading 3 Sep)

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Template for a Jewish Community Website��

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“The online archiving of family and community history such as CHOL is a modern blessing, one which our children and grandchildren will hopefully appreciate when they - as we did - develop that deep-seated need to know more about their origins.”
David Bass 2023 re Malmesbury �

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Leave your town’s footprint

Preserve the footprint of what was built and nurtured by our forebears who left their homes for a new life in Southern Africa – many of whom have moved on again
connect with South Africans everywhere
receive written contributions
rejoice in the warmth of memory
Recognize and uncover your story
Make it available to your children and grandchildren
All in one place and easy to navigate

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What you need to create your own virtual community:

A driver

A database

Communication

Template

Platform

webmaster

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If you need help – or just to have a look, go to �www.chol.website

If you wish to remain informed: �Join the CHOL email discussion group

to pose questions, offer information and learn about what is happening in the group.

Join by sending an email to listserv@jiscmail.ac.uk

Leave the subject line BLANK and in the message say: SUBSCRIBE CHOL followed by your First name and your Last name only (please delete any automatic signatures). �(this information is on the homepage of the website)

Or email info@chol.website for help.

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www.chol.website

“I do want you to know how much I appreciate your amazing efforts to preserve all this – for myself and my family and for my town. I am relieved that thanks to you and the CHOL initiative, all this rich material and history, presently squirreled away in my files and my head, will not be lost.”

Colin Robinson – re Malmesbury

This presentation can be delivered in preson or on zoom. Write to

info@chol.website

The end of this presentation - thanks for watching.

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