Tag Archives: South Africa

The Life and Times of Solly Chesler

By Jennifer Chesler Rubin, Ramat Efal, Israel (Adapted from an essay by Muriel Chesler on the occasion of Solly Chesler’s 75th birthday.) This is the story of my father, the late Solly (Sholem) Chesler, a self-made man, who arrived in … Continue reading

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The Printed Version

Much of the material on this website got here via a project initiated several years ago by David Solly Sandler, a native of Johannesburg and Litvak descendent, who has compiled an impressive print library of material on Lithuanian Jews, there … Continue reading

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A Golden Jubilee in Johannesburg

Published in the 50th anniversary booklet of the Keidan Sick Benefit and Benevolent Society. Jewish emigration from Keidan to South Africa began as far back as before the Boer War, and at the turn of the century several immigrants from … Continue reading

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Keidan’s Mutual Aid Societies

By Aryeh Leonard Shcherbakov and Andrew Cassel Jews have always been absorbed with problems of ethics and morality. Both before and during the diaspora, proper behavior and relations within the family and community have been major concerns, particularly concerning treatment … Continue reading

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The Keidaner Association in South Africa

Published, in English, in the 1977 Keidan “Sefer Zikaron” (memorial or yizkor book) By Max Rochin After World War I, immediately after the liberation of Lithuania, the Lithuanian government granted the Jews a certain autonomy. A Jewish National Council was … Continue reading

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Among the Ruins

By Chaim Ronder The text of a letter sent to the Keidaner Society of Johannesburg by Chaim Ronder, a partisan during the German occupation. POGEGEN (Pagėgiai, Lithuania) 7 November, 1946 Warm brotherly greetings to you, Jews of Johannesburg – born … Continue reading

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The Destruction of Keidan

By David Wolpe (Johannesburg) Originally published in the Yiddish journal, “Fun Letstn Khurbn” in Munich, 1948; and in English in 1950 by the Keidaner Sick Benefit and Benevolent Society of Johannesburg. By June 24, within days after Germany launched its … Continue reading

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Rabbi Avraham Halevy Sochen

By Dr. Mordechai Sochen (Minneapolis) My father, Rabbi Avraham Halevy Sochen (may he rest in peace) came to Keidan at the end of the last [19th] century, and married my mother (may she rest in peace), Feyge, daughter of Reb … Continue reading

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Looking Back

By Sholem Dat (Johannesburg) First published in “Lita,” (p. 1475) by the Jewish-Lithuanian Cultural Society Inc. 1951.  Keidan is one of the oldest cities in Lithuania, and her Jewish community was also one of the first. Keidan was originally a … Continue reading

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Fire in the Town, 1914

By Yitzhak Wolpe, as told to David Wolpe First published in the 1950 anniversary book, Keidan Sick Benefit & Benevolent Society of Johannesburg. 1. It was 1914, late spring, just a week after the holiday of Shavuot. The air in … Continue reading

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