On July 10, 1887, a year after the city's founding, the Witwatersrand Goldfields Jewish Association was founded at a gathering in B. Wainstein's shop. The Association's original purposes included maintaining the Jewish cemetery and offering services to the Jewish residents of the city. On September 19, 1887, the first
Rosh Hashanah service was held in the
Rand Club, attended by 500 people. Several months after the association's foundation, its name was changed to the Witwatersrand Hebrew Congregation. In January 1888 the congregation purchased two plots of land on President Street to build a synagogue. The sanctuary had a capacity to seat 1400 people (800 men and 550 women). In 1948 the pronunciation shifted in services from the
Ashkenazi, Litvak standard to
Sephardi (or Modern Hebrew). The building was badly damaged in January 1961 when the eastern part of the building was blown up, causing considerable damage to the interior. Those responsible for the blast were never found, despite extensive police investigations. In September 1963, Rabbi
Bernard M. Casper was inducted as
Chief Rabbi of South Africa, and began serving the Great Synagogue. Casper was inducted after his predecessor, Rabinowitz made
aliyah to Israel. In 1988, Rabbi
Cyril Harris was the last
Chief Rabbi to be inducted at the Wolmarans Street location.
Relocation Debate about relocating the synagogue began in the 1980s as
urban decay became an issue in
Hillbrow and as Jewish families deserted the inner city for the northern suburbs. The Ark and
women's gallery seating remain intact. However, the sale and current use of the building has attracted some controversy. David Sher wrote in
Jewish Affairs: "our principal house of worship came to be handed over to a Christian domination, its exterior disfigured by chicken takeaways and inside a Christian motif painted over the Ark, beneath the Shiviti sign, without a word of reproach from any quarter." The current Chief Rabbi
Warren Goldstein was inducted at the
Sandton Shul rather than Great Park as the former has greater seat capacity. In 2013, Great Park formally celebrated its 100th birthday as the successor to the Great Synagogue. ==Notable members==