Vredehoek Shul
The Vredehoek Shul, formally the Cape Town Hebrew Congregation, was a Modern Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, located in Vredehoek in Cape Town, South Africa. The synagogue was completed in 1939 and closed in 1993. The Art Deco-style building is a protected South African Heritage Resources Agency site and currently operates as Private Collection, an antique furniture showroom.
The Vredehoek Shul was one of a number of synagogues in the City Bowl, along with the country's oldest synagogue, the Gardens Shul in Gardens.
History
During the first half of the twentieth century, many Jewish immigrants from Europe, especially Lithuania settled in Cape Town. Rabbi Moses Chaim Mirvish came from Lithuania in 1908 and was the first fully qualified rabbi in the Cape Colony, becoming minister of the Cape Town Orthodox Hebrew Congregation on Constitution Street in District Six. A number of Jewish immigrants living in District Six began to buy and build homes in Vredehoek. As Mirvish' congregation moved, a decision was made to relocate and build a new Art Deco-style building designed by John Joseph Ingber in 1939. Mirvish also founded the Cape Beth Din. Mirvish died on the steps of the synagogue on 17 August 1946 after officiating at a wedding. Following his death, the Cape Town City Council renamed the street alongside the shul Rabbi Mirvish Avenue.In 1951, its cantor, Jacob Lichterman assisted with a historic court hearing in Cape Town's Supreme Court. Jack Ryback requested an order declaring his wife and son dead. His family were last known to have been living in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1942.
The City Bowl was the hub of Jewish life, but in the second half of the twentieth century, many Jewish residents began to move to the Southern Suburbs and Sea Point.