On Monday 9 September a new exhibition opened at the South African Jewish Museum.

The exhibition, entitled Echoes of Parow – The Story of a South African Jewish Community, is a creative audio-scape that tells the story of the small, tight-knit Jewish community of Parow.

The full story of this community is told in a new book by historian Professor Richard Mendelsohn. The Jews of Parow charts the rise, evolution, and ultimate migration of Parow’s Jewish community. It is a little-known fact that much of Parow’s development is closely intertwined with the small Jewish community of the area. The book and exhibition explore this (until now) untold history.

But the exhibition is more than just that, as the story it tells is not unique to Parow. The Jewish history of Parow could just as easily be the story of any one of the small-town Jewish communities across South Africa that played a major part in the development of their towns. A century or more later, the impact of these communities has mostly been forgotten. The exhibition may be about Parow, but its themes are much broader. It is the story of community, of an emerging South African Jewish identity, and a story of South Africa’s development in the 20th century.

The dusty main road of Parow in the early 20th century was home to many Jewish businesses. These general dealers, butchers, drapers, innkeepers, and others were the first generation of Jews, mostly immigrants from Eastern Europe, who made the village of Parow their home.

As the prosperity of the area grew, so did that of the community. By mid-century, the now tarred Voortrekker Road housed not only those early Jewish traders, but also the businesses of their children. This second generation, raised and educated in South Africa, were now professionals, making the most of opportunities that were historically denied their forebears in Eastern Europe. Jewish doctors’ home surgeries and industrialists’ growing concerns were now also recognisable features along Voortrekker Road.

Subsequent generations would eventually move on from Parow. The community’s upward mobility led them to seek homes in Cape Town’s more established neighbourhoods. They left in search of better educational or economic opportunities, a trend that was evident in small- town Jewish communities across South Africa.

By the late 20th century, the Parow Jewish community was well past its heyday. The community’s rabbi had returned to Israel and in 1993 its synagogue was deconsecrated and sold. That historic moment, overseen by then Chief Rabbi of South Africa, “Mandela’s Rabbi” Cyril Harris, marked the end of Jewish life in Parow.

The community may have left, but its impact lives on.

Echoes of Parow – The Story of a South African Jewish Community is on show at the SAJM until the end of February 2025.

The Jews of Parow by Prof Mendelsohn is available for sale in the SA Jewish Museum gift shop.

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​The exhibition has been sponsored by Cape Gate, a Parow-founded business, to mark the Company’s 95th Anniversary.

 

The book and exhibition, along with a dedicated website, were developed as part of a celebration to mark Cape Gate’s 95th anniversary.