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Moses Cyrus Weiler
Moses Cyrus Weiler (23 March 1907 – 4 December 2000) was a Latvian-born South African rabbi and founder of Reform Judaism in the country. He was Chief Minister of the United Jewish Progressive Congregation (later the South African Union for Progressive Judaism) and served as rabbi of Temple Israel in Hillbrow, Johannesburg, the mother synagogue of the country's Reform movement. He is credited with growing the movement, with 25 congregations established during his tenure. He made aliyah to Israel in 1958, where he spent the second part of his life. Early life Weiler was born in Riga, Latvia to Zalman Dov Ber Weiler and Hannah Weiler (née Hurwitz). He came from a long line of Orthodox rabbis, his father, grandfathers and great-grandfathers were all rabbis. His father emigrated to Mandatory Palestine and in the absence of finding suitable work as a rabbi, went into business. He noticed the lack of readily available chocolate in the country and decided to start a chocolate fact ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Temple Israel (Johannesburg)
Temple Israel is the oldest of eleven Progressive synagogues in South Africa. It is a provincial heritage site, built in the Art Deco style by architect Hermann Kallenbach. It is located in the Johannesburg suburb of Hillbrow. It is an affiliate of the South African Union for Progressive Judaism (SAUPJ), which is part of the World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ). Temple Israel officially opened on August 23, 1936, as the mother synagogue of Progressive Judaism in the country. Johannesburg mayor Maurice Freeman, a member of the Jewish community, laid the cornerstone on September 22, 1935. The founding rabbi was Moses Cyrus Weiler. Progressive Judaism The progressive streams of Judaism began during the Enlightenment in 18th-century Europe, and was brought to South Africa in the 1930s by Jews fleeing persecution in Central and Eastern Europe. Progressive Judaism aims to strike a balance between modernity and tradition. Progressive Judaism has given prominence to the mor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cyrus Adler
Cyrus Adler (September 13, 1863 – April 7, 1940) was an American educator, Jewish religious leader and scholar. Early years Adler was born to merchant and planter Samuel Adler and Sarah Sulzberger in Van Buren, Arkansas on September 13, 1863, but in the next year his parents removed to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and soon he attended the public schools there, and in 1879 he entered the University of Pennsylvania, where graduated in 1883. He afterwards pursued Oriental studies in Johns Hopkins University, was appointed university scholar there in 1884, and was fellow in Semitic languages from 1885 to 1887, when he gained the first American PhD in Semitics from the University,Schwartz 1991, pp. 14–15. where appointed instructor in Semitic languages and promoted to be associate professor in 1890. He taught Semitic languages at Johns Hopkins from 1884 to 1893. Career In 1877 he was appointed assistant curator of the section of Oriental antiquities in the United States National ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Liberal Judaism (United Kingdom)
Liberal Judaism (until 2002: Union of Liberal and Progressive Synagogues) is one of the two WUPJ-affiliated denominations in the United Kingdom. It is smaller and more radical in comparison with the other one, the Movement for Reform Judaism. It is considered ideologically closer to American Reform Judaism than it is to the British Reform movement. As of 2010 it was the fourth largest Jewish religious group in Britain, with 8.7% of synagogue-member households. Belief and practice The beliefs of Liberal Judaism are outlined in ''The Affirmations of Liberal Judaism'', authored in 1992 by Rabbi John D. Rayner, the most prominent of the movement's later theologians. Like Liberal Judaism founder Claude Montefiore, Rayner shared the ideals of worldwide Reform Judaism, also known as Progressive or Liberal Judaism. Rayner affirmed a personal God; an ongoing (or "progressive") revelation allowing all to form their own views of religiosity; mandating a critical understanding of sacred ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Union For Reform Judaism
The Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), known as the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC) until 2003, founded in 1873 by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, is the congregational arm of Reform Judaism in North America. The other two arms established by Rabbi Wise are the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and the Central Conference of American Rabbis. The current president of the URJ is Rabbi Rick Jacobs. The URJ has an estimated constituency of some 880,000 registered adults in 831 congregations. It claims to represent 2.2 million, as over a third of adult U.S. Jews, including many who are not synagogue members, state affinity with Reform, making it the largest Jewish denomination. The UAHC was a founding member of the World Union for Progressive Judaism, of which the URJ is the largest constituent by far. Belief and practice Reform Judaism, also known as Liberal or Progressive Judaism, embraces several basic tenets, including a belief in a theistic, persona ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920s and 1930s. Through styling and design of the exterior and interior of anything from large structures to small objects, including how people look (clothing, fashion and jewelry), Art Deco has influenced bridges, buildings (from skyscrapers to cinemas), ships, ocean liners, trains, cars, trucks, buses, furniture, and everyday objects like radios and vacuum cleaners. It got its name after the 1925 Exposition internationale des arts décoratifs et industriels modernes (International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts) held in Paris. Art Deco combined modern styles with fine craftsmanship and rich materials. During its heyday, it represented luxury, glamour, exuberance, and faith in socia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Park Synagogue (Johannesburg)
The Great Park Synagogue is an Orthodox synagogue situated in Houghton, Johannesburg. The present building was consecrated in 2000, after the congregation vacated their long-time home, the Great Synagogue on Wolmarans Street, Hillbrow in 1994, after eighty years. The Wolmarans Street synagogue came to be known as the city's mother synagogue and "the crown jewel of Orthodox Judaism in South Africa." All large-scale Jewish events in Johannesburg were held in the building, and throughout its existence it was the seat of the country's chief rabbi. Northward migration by congregation members led to the synagogue closing its doors in 1994. The relocated synagogue was built on the model of the Great Synagogue, whose own architecture in turn was inspired by the Hagia Sophia. Great Park Synagogue was also the original name of the synagogue on Wolmarans Street before it became the Great Synagogue. History On July 10, 1887, a year after the city's founding, the Witwatersrand Goldfields Jew ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Herman Kallenbach
Hermann Kallenbach (1 March 1871 – 25 March 1945) was a Lithuanian-born Jewish South African architect who was one of the foremost friends and associates of Mahatma Gandhi. Kallenbach was introduced to the young Mohandas Gandhi while they were both working in South Africa and, after a series of discussions, they developed a long-lasting association. Early life Kallenbach was born in 1871 in Žemaičių Naumiestis, Lithuania (then part of the Russian Empire) as the third eldest out of seven children. His father, Kalman Leib Kallenbach, was a Hebrew teacher and, later, a timber merchant. Hermann's childhood centered on education, sports and friendships with the village youth. He would later study architecture in Stuttgart and Munich. In 1896, he went to South Africa to join his uncles in Johannesburg, where he practiced as an architect and became a South African citizen. A skilled ice-skater, swimmer, cyclist, and gymnast, and successful architect, Kallenbach acquired conside ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parktown
Parktown is a wealthy suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa, the first suburb north of the inner city (both chronologically and geographically). It is affectionately known as one of the Parks, others including Parkview, Parkwood, Westcliff, Parktown North, Parkhurst and Forest Town. Parktown is one of Johannesburg's largest suburbs, neighbouring Hillbrow, Braamfontein and Milpark to the South; Berea and Houghton to the East; Killarney and Forest Town to the North, and Westcliff, Melville and Richmond to the West. Originally established by the Randlords in the 1890s, Parktown is now home to many businesses, hospitals, schools, churches and restaurants, whilst still maintaining quiet residential areas. It is also home to three of the five campuses of the University of the Witwatersrand including the education campus, medical school and Wits Business School. Parktown is now divided into Parktown and Parktown West with Jan Smuts Avenue forming the dividing line. It is l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abraham Zevi Idelsohn
Abraham Zevi Idelsohn ( he, אַבְרָהָם צְבִי אידלסון ''Avrohom Tzvi Idelsohn'' in Ashkenazi Hebrew; middle name also rendered ''Tzvi'', ''Zvi'', ''Zwi'', or ''Zebi''; June 11, 1882 – August 14, 1938) was a prominent Jewish ethnomusicologist and composer, who conducted several comprehensive studies of Jewish music around the world. Idelsohn was born in Feliksberg, Latvia, then part of Russian Empire and trained as a cantor. He worked briefly in both Europe and South Africa before emigrating to Palestine in 1905 and establishing a school of Jewish music there in 1919. In 1922 he moved to Cincinnati, Ohio to take a position as professor of Jewish music at Hebrew Union College. He died in Johannesburg, South Africa, where he also supported the establishment of South African Progressive Judaism. He is the maternal grandfather of Joel Goodman Joffe (Baron Joffe).More evidence of the relationship between Idelsohn and Joffe is provided ithis family tree ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lily Montagu
The Hon. Lilian Helen "Lily" Montagu, CBE (22 December 1873 – 22 January 1963) was the first woman to play a major role in Progressive Judaism. Life Lily Montagu was the sixth of 10 children born to Ellen Cohen Montagu (1843–1919) and Samuel Montagu (1832–1911). Her father, founder of the merchant bank that bore his name, was a self-made millionaire by 1871. He was a Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1885 to 1900 as the MP for Whitechapel, a poor district of the East End of London. In 1907, Montagu was raised to the peerage as Baron Swaythling. She grew up in a pious Orthodox Jewish home, in an ethos of privilege and philanthropy, devoted to helping the poor and advancing Jewish institutions. Her eldest brother, Louis, was also a financier and political activist, founding the League of British Jews to lobby against the creation of the state of Israel. Another brother was Edwin, the Liberal politician, who married Venetia Stanley. Two cou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seminary
A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, in academics, or mostly in Christian ministry. The English word is taken from the Latin ''seminarium'', translated as ''seed-bed'', an image taken from the Council of Trent document ''Cum adolescentium aetas'' which called for the first modern seminaries. In the United States, the term is currently used for graduate-level theological institutions, but historically it was used for high schools. History The establishment of seminaries in modern times resulted from Roman Catholic reforms of the Counter-Reformation after the Council of Trent. These Tridentine seminaries placed great emphasis on spiritual formation and personal discipline as well as the study, first of philosophy as a base, and, then, as the final crown, theology. The olde ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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