The Montagu Jewish Cemetery

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About The Montagu Jewish Cemetery

The Montagu Jewish Cemetery

A little known landmark in the town of Montagu is the Jewish cemetery which is owned and maintained by South African Jewish Board of Deputies’ Country Communities Department. At the time of writing 2019 Rabbi Stuart Serwator Regional Country Communities Rabbi based in Cape Town is responsible for this and a number of other Jewish Country cemeteries in the Western Cape.

Montagu Jewish Cemetery

Cemetery Entrance

Inscription on plaque mounted in wall at entrance

Inscription on plaque mounted in wall at entrance

Barnett Buirski one of the early Jewish pioneers to settle in Montagu established the Jewish cemetery in 1894. This cemetery was dedicated on 25 Tammuz 5655 – 17 July 1895 by the Montagu Jewish community.

According to the date on the oldest tombstone, 1909, this cemetery stood vacant for 14 years from the time it was inaugurated, and has not been used since the last funeral in 1941. Based on visible graves the community used seventeen graves altogether.

The Montagu Jewish Cemetery is situated in Buitekant Street, Montagu Western Cape. It is enclosed with a stone wall and gate. There are a few graves with no headstones or visible markings to identify who is buried there.

There are two interesting historical stories attached to this small cemetery.

The cemetery has genizah.

Jewish Law requires the burying of old broken religious books, damaged, discarded and sacred relics in a grave on a Jewish cemetery or synagogue. The genizah (Hebrew: storage-place.) at the Montagu cemetery was built into the cemetery-wall, unusual in South Africa, for the convenience of visitors.

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The geniza can be seen on the right hand side of the entrance gate.

the geniza built into the cemetery boundary wall

A close up of the geniza built into the cemetery boundary wall.

In 1987, Rabbi Shalom Zaiden at the time National Director South African Jewish Board of Deputies Country Communities Department buried unusable old prayer books and other religious articles from the Robertson cemetery in the Montagu cemetery genizah. In February 1998, his successor Rabbi Moshe Silberhaft made arrangements to seal this genizah permanently due to vandalism.

Plaque erected in 2019 on the geniza wall

Plaque erected in 2019 on the geniza wall by the South African Jewish Board of Deputies’ Country Communities Department as part of the restoration of this cemetery.

Possible resting place for Jewish soldiers from the Boer War

The late Philip Stein whose father is buried in the cemetery states the following in his autobiography: Jewish soldiers who were part of the British army died while camped in Montagu during the Boer and are buried in the cemetery. Unfortunately there are no headstones to validate the story. Further research has also not been able to find corroboratory evidence.

Unmarked graves which could be the last resting place for Jewish soldiers

Unmarked graves which could be the last resting place for Jewish soldiers

 

Click here to read more about the Jewish Presence in Karoo Towns  Compiled Rabbi Stuart Serwator Country Communities Dept, S A Jewish Board of Deputies

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