The High Holidays:

Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur were also important communal gatherings. The local families, some from the wider district, came to shul and there was a real sense of community, accentuated by a communal dinner. Prior to the construction of the Synagogue, services were held in 1916 in the Masonic Hall. Reflecting on the 1940s, Henry Wald quips: "The atmosphere at yomtov time was always a joyous occasion." Shelley Skudowitz notes: “I remember that the Vryburg Jewish Ladies Society catered for some holidays and the whole congregation would eat in the Shul Hall. Those were special evenings.” In the 1980s there were communal Rosh Hashanah dinners and breaking of the fast meals at one of the members houses. Perhaps, by then, our parents were prudent not to have dinner in an empty Hall and be reminded of a greater past and underscore the waning.

 

Ruth (Jocum) Tyfield recalls: "The High Holidays spent in Vryburg is a wonderful memory, staying overnight at the Grand Hotel, communal dinners with so many families: the Rohloffs, Sussmans, Lieberthals, Katz, Schechter, Rauff and others I am not remembering right now. Everyone would make a dish or two for these dinners, always great food and lots of laughs."

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In the 1950s community members were involved in the High Holiday services: Maurice Joffe recounts that Uncle Max Cohen – the communal maven had “an extraordinary voice.....I can still hear him singing Kol Nidre and also Adonai, Adonai when the Scrolls were removed from the ark.” Phil Toube’s father Charlie was the shamash and blew the shofar. Eddie Shapiro's father later fulfilled this role. Phil Toube relates a hilarious occasion. “I was about ten years old and my Dad went on to the bimah to blow the shofar. The kids all were excited to hear it blown, but that certain day he could not get a sound out of it. I was getting agitated and shouted to him. 'For Christ sake, Dad take the other one.' as he had two. Suddenly all the congregants broke out in laughter.” 

 

The shofar blowing was a highlight for us as kids in the 1980s. An excitement that seems to span several decades. Reminiscing on Rosh Hashanah, Lorna Toube (Mendelow) relates: “we kids used to stuff hankies into our mouths to keep from giggling while the Shofar was being blown.  Why we thought it was funny I have no idea but somehow it brought on lots of giggles.”

 

The mid 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s signaled the decline of the community with numerous families leaving. In some cases, the departure of the children to larger cities to pursue higher education precipitated the parents departure. The decline of the Platteland communities also reflected a wider trend whereby Jews migrated to the large communities.

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As the community declined maintaining a minyan for High Holidays became a challenge for the bitter einders. For a while, Victor Ressman from Bloemhof conducted services. Victor's involvement followed the demise of the Bloemhof minyan. We were most fortunate to benefit from Victor's knowledge, voice and spiritual leadership for five years. I vividly recall the years that Victor lead services and my efforts before my Barmitzvah to fast throughout. Victor's son, Alan Ressman, reminded me that Harold Scheckter used to refer to Victor as the Chief Rabbi of the Kalahari.

 

After the Ressman family left for Johannesburg, the Vryburg families joined the Mafeking minyan for the High Holidays for a few years. We then doggedly re-constituted a Vryburg minyan for the High Holidays in the early 1980s. Yeshiva students ran the prayers and all the kids came home to make sure we had a quorum. It was, ultimately, a futile last stand. Two of the Yeshiva students who conducted services were Selwyn Wacks and Larry Brown.

 

One year an important Curry Cup rugby game coincided with Yom Kippur. Janice Sheckter retells  that the timings of the service were planned in advance with the Yeshiva bocher so as to allow the men to watch the game. The Yeshiva boys, usually a pair, stayed at the Grand Hotel. This era also signaled less involvement by the community members in services. The last maven was Harold Scheckter. The rest of us were obtuse in matter Jewish. The inclusion of the Delareyville Joffe’s and Jan Kempdorp based Sussman's made this last stand possible. It was a case of all hands on deck and a noble stand. But it was also a lost cause. By 1992 there was no minyan for the High Holidays.​

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