Temple Israel was built in 1936 on the corner of Claim and Paul Nel Streets when the Jewish population of Hillbrow amounted to around 800. The interior maintains much of the original features such as wood panelling and parquet floors. The bimah has twin gold columns and menorah shapes going up the wall. There is also an egalitarian three-sided gallery that runs around the main seating area. The idea to build the synagogue was sparked by a visit in 1929 of Prof.
Abraham Zvi Idelsohn (1882-1938) who was visiting family in Johannesburg at the time. He held forth on
Jewish music and the origins of Progressive Judaism, as Reform was also called. Idelsohn encouraged his brother Jerry to found a Reform group in the Gold City. After beginning to hold services in private homes in 1930, Jerry founded the South African Jewish Religious Union for Liberal Judaism (later the
South African Union for Progressive Judaism). Jerry made contact with
Moses Cyrus Weiler, at the time a student of the elder Idelsohn's at the
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. After he was ordained in August 1933, Rabbi Weiler came to Johannesburg to found a Reform congregation. His first service was held in the Freemason's Hall at Clarendon Place at the edge of Hillbrow. After Weiler's arrival, a plot was purchased on Empire Road,
Parktown and Weiler hired Herman Kallenbach to build a grand synagogue with lush gardens and where Weiler would serve as rabbi. However, just as building work was set to commence, a neighbourhood petition circulated against plans for a synagogue in a residential area. Eventually a decision was made to sell the plot and buy a smaller plot on Paul Nel Street in Hillbrow, where there were already synagogues such as the
Great Synagogue and Poswohl Synagogue. Kallenbach used the same Art Deco design that he and his partners A.M. Kennedy and A.S. Furner had prepared for the Parktown site, but scaled it down according to the smaller plot size. Weiler was keen to replicate a trend in American Reform Judaism, where the
Bar Mitzvah at age 13 was replaced with
Confirmation at age 16, requiring students to study for an exam and then lead a service. However, in South Africa there was instant backlash to the Christian-sounding name of Confirmation and because of the ingrained rite of passage that a
Bar Mitzvah held for Jewish boys and men. Weiler quickly reintroduced the Bar Mitzah and any dedicated students that were committed to Conformation did so under the guise of Hebrew names such as
Bnei Emunah. Jews began emigrating from South Africa in the 1970s and by the 1990s most of the Jewish population of Hillbrow had migrated to the northern suburbs or emigrated. In 1994, the SAUPJ hired a rabbi from
London to lead the congregation. The rabbi felt that with the exodus of Jewish residents and changes in the neighbourhood, a synagogue in the location was no longer viable. He recommended that the synagogue be closed and the property sold. At Temple Israel's 80th anniversary celebration in 2016, a permanent exhibition was launched delving into the evolution of the Reformed Movement in South Africa and the history of the synagogue, the Heritage Centre. In 2017, only 50 attended regularly, although 300 attended on
High Holy Days. == Activities ==