| Building Name: | Cape Town Orthodox Hebrew Congregation |
| Location: | 16 Vredehoek Ave, Vredehoek, Cape Town, South Africa |
| Coordinates: | -33.9369°N 18.4191°W |
| Religious Affiliation: | Orthodox Judaism |
| Rite: | Ashkenazi |
| Functional Status: | Closed (1993) |
| Architect: | John Joseph Ingber |
| Architecture Type: | Synagogue |
| Architecture Style: | Art Deco |
| Year Completed: | 1939 |
| Specifications: | no |
The Vredehoek Shul, formally the Cape Town Hebrew Congregation, was a Modern Orthodox synagogue in Vredehoek in Cape Town. It was established in 1939 and closed in 1993.[1] It was one of a number of synagogues in the City Bowl, along with the country's oldest synagogue, the Gardens Shul in Gardens. The Art Deco building is a protected South African Heritage Resources Agency site and currently operates as Private Collection, an antique furniture showroom.[2]
During the first half of the twentieth century, many Jewish immigrants from Europe, especially Lithuania settled in Cape Town. Rabbi Moses Chaim Mirvish came from Lithuania in 1908 and was the first fully qualified rabbi in the Cape Colony, becoming minister of the Cape Town Orthodox Hebrew Congregation (Beth Hamedrach HaChodesh) on Constitution Street in District Six. A number of Jewish immigrants living in District Six began to buy and build homes in Vredehoek.[3] As Mirvish' congregation moved, a decision was made to relocate and build a new Art Deco-style building designed by John Joseph Ingber in 1939. [4] Mirvish also founded the Cape Beth Din. Mirvish died on the steps of the synagogue on 17 August 1946 after officiating at a wedding.[5] Following his death, the Cape Town City Council renamed the street alongside the shul Rabbi Mirvish Avenue.[6]
In 1951, its cantor, Jacob Lichterman assisted with a historic court hearing in Cape Town's Supreme Court. Jack Ryback requested an order declaring his wife and son dead. His family were last known to have been living in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1942. According to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency: "The description of the end of the ghetto was presented by Jacob Lichterman, who had himself lived in Warsaw until 1943 and who had witnessed the destruction by fire of the ghetto. In an affidavit presented by Mr. Ryback, Mr. Lichterman, cantor of the Vredehoek Synagogue, stated that during 1945 and 1946 he had assisted the Central Committee of Jews in Poland with the compilation of a list of the few survivors of the holocaust and that the name of Ryback had not appeared among the survivors. He added that he believed that the Rybacks had either died in the ghetto or had been removed earlier to be exterminated in a death camp."[7]
It was one of two synagogues in Vredehoek, the other being the Tifereth Israel Synagogue (Schoonder Street Shul), also known as the “round shul”. It was designed by architect Max Policansky and opened in 1952 and was demolished in 2001.[8] [3] The City Bowl had been the hub of Jewish life, but in the second half of the twentieth century, many Jewish residents began to move to the Southern Suburbs and Sea Point.[9]