The congregation was founded in Green Point in 1944 by founding rabbinic couple,
Rabbi Dr David Sherman (z”l) and Bertha Sherman (z”l). Rabbi
Moses Cyrus Weiler (z”l) founded the Reform movement and led the movement's mother synagogue, also called
Temple Israel, in Hillbrow. Although Weiler had been tasked with establishing a national Reform movement, he resisted establishing other congregations outside Hillbrow during his first ten years. He felt that it was more important to build a significant membership in Johannesburg before expanding nationwide. In 1943, he relented and agreed to help set up the first progressive congregation in Cape Town, and was able to call upon Sherman, his friend and Hebrew Union classmate. Sherman led Temple Israel in Green Point for the ensuing decades, seeing exponential growth with 25% of Cape Town Jewry affiliating themselves with the Reform movement. In comparison, the percentage of Johannesburg Jews affiliated to the Reform branch has always been under 10%. The profile of the local Atlantic Seaboard Jewry differed from the Yiddish-speaking Jewish migrants that settled in
District Six and
Woodstock, Cape Town generations before. They were usually South African-born and spoke English in the family home. They mostly attended local government schools rather than Jewish schools (
cheders or
yeshivot). They were usually more affluent than their migrant parents and they abandoned many religious practices, favouring modern dress and haircuts and sometimes anglicizing their names. In Johannesburg, Weiler had faced backlash for introducing
Confirmation at age 16, requiring students to study for an exam and then lead a service. In the 1940s and 1950s there was a Johannesburg-Cape Town cultural split when Temple Israel in Green Point rejected a proposal for the creation of the position of Chief Minister under which all Progressive congregations would fall. The appointee would have been Rabbi Weiler, who was based in Johannesburg. Weiler had sent Victor Brasch as his emissary to Cape Town to assure the community of the need for central control, based in Johannesburg, and ensuring that each congregation follow the same formula. However, Cape Town wanted a looser federation where each city made its own decisions and pushed back against the notion of a Chief Minister, arguing that it was against the democratic principles of Reform Judaism. In 1951, Cape Town quit the South African Union for Progressive Judaism and refused to return until 1963. Dr Herman Kramer, a long-time president of the Orthodox
Marais Road Shul in Sea Point, later became president of Temple Israel. The congregation had more cordial relations with Rabbi
David Rosen, who led the Marais Road congregation between 1975 and 1980. Rabbi Rosen conducted a
Bat Mitzvah service with the participation of the Temple Israel choir and the two synagogues worked together to set up a facility in the area to provide cheap meals for vagrants. In 1982, the Marais Road Shul president accepted an invitation to attend the induction service of a Reform rabbi at Temple Israel, with the Cape
Beth Din determining that there was neither reason nor
halachic grounds to refuse to attend or for an Orthodox rabbi not to attend a
chuppah under which a Reform rabbi participated. In 1971, to mark Sherman's 25th anniversary with the congregation, the David Sherman Lecture was established. Each year, a prestigious speaker would be invited to give the lecture. The congregation has invited figures such as the Israeli politician
Aryeh Eliav The congregation has also been addressed by
Nobel Prize winners,
F. W. de Klerk,
State President of South Africa and
Desmond Tutu, the Anglican bishop. On other occasions, figures such as Dr.
Alon Liel, Israel's ambassador to South Africa addressed the congregation and
Tony Leon,
leader of the opposition have addressed the congregation. In 1965, a second temple was opened in
Wynberg to serve congregants in the Southern Suburbs. The most recent congregation was formed in 1998 in
Milnerton. The original Temple Israel in Green point was a much larger building that was later demolished. Part of the land was developed for apartments and a smaller synagogue was rebuilt to better meet the needs of the community. Between 1994 and 1997,
Dana Evan Kaplan, an American rabbi, led the congregation. During the
COVID-19 pandemic, the congregation live-streamed services, an option that was unavailable to Orthodox congregations. Online attendance for services such as
Yom Kippur was especially high and much greater than Temple Israel's combined membership. Temple Israel in Green Point also houses, Czech Memorial Scroll 128, a
Sefer Torah. As the Nazis invaded
Czechoslovakia, some of the artefacts such as the Torah scrolls were rescued and stored in a warehouse in Prague. Donors from
Westminster Synagogue bought 1 564 scrolls from the Czechoslovak government in 1964. The scrolls were restored and many have been sent to congregations around the world, including Temple Israel. ==Clergy==