The Reb and the Rebel: Jewish Narratives in South Africa, 1892-1913

There is a vast and varied literature on the formation of 19th-century Jewish diasporic communities worldwide. Now, added to this are the previously unpublished autobiographical works of two members of the Schrire family, which form the core of The Reb and the Rebel, mainly covering the period 1892-1913. They comprise a diary, a poem and a memoir. The first two, written by Reb Yehuda Leib Schrire (1851-1912), chart his journey through a number of countries, including Lithuania, Holland, England and South Africa. The third is by his son, Harry Nathan (1895-1980). The social history within these documents paints a lively picture of South African Jewish communities at the turn of the 19th century. They reveal tiny details of shipboard life below deck; major issues of religious belief and practice in Lithuanian shtetls, Johannesburg goldfields and District Six homes; and global issues of mass migration, pandemics and war. They show how community formation in Cape Town replicates the orthodoxy of der alte heym, even as the new generation is integrated into a life undreamed of in the Old Country. Analyses of the contexts and authors, together with Appendices which include a genealogy, glossary and catalogued artworks, combine here to make the South African Jewish past come alive.