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Elka Arelisky Harold Cohen Esta Dekel Elka Arelisky (was Back)
Maitland was
made up of the Shul, Chedar, Bnei Akiva, Grand Bioscope, Charity evenings,
annual school concerts, bop party at the Talmud Torah hall every summer. We lived at 7
Langham Road and our neighbours were the Langs, with their big coal trucks,
Taviansky, Dr. Zieff and the Jacobsons on the corner of Station Road. My parents had a store on the Main Road
called “Back's Rejects Outfitters” - today it would be called a Factory Shop. Maitland Public
School with Mr. Ross the Principal, Mr. Meintjies the (Deputy) and the one we
were all scared of, Mr. Engelbrecht.
I'm sure we all had Tickey (Mrs. Trainer) (Std. 5) and the Std 4
teacher Doreen Mathews (Miss Lines) for those who are a little older than me
who wasn't shy to throw the blackboard duster if you were not listening. Then there was
the annual school concert at the Maitland Town Hall and what an event that
was. Every age group
had a 'crowd' to hang around with. It
was a community of togetherness, the chedar, Shul and charity evenings. There was of
course the notorious chedar which we all had to attend and where we got into
lots of trouble, we used to wear shorts and were thrown out of
class....that's the way we planned it and it worked. Then the annual
Bnoth Zion Bazaar where everybody helped pack for the sweet stall. We always congregated at Katie Zagnoiev's
home where we used to pack the homemade fudge and coconut ice, and then off
to the City Hall where we watched our parents decorate the stall in blue and
white and win prizes for the best stall. Yomtov with all
the furs and finery and the kids playing five stones and goosey goosey gander
on the steps outside. Simchas Torah
when all the engaged couples of that year were given huge box of chocolates
handed to them by the then younger generation and slabs of Cadbury's dished
out to the rest of the congregation and all wanting seconds as this one was
sick, that one was away, etc., etc. Of course Adams
Fruiters....how could anyone forget.
The Grand Bioscope, 7 pence and a ticky for Messaris chips and
sweets. And don't forget the disease
pond, the nickname for the swimming pool in which we had to attend with our
class for swimming lessons...I still can't swim. Springbok
Bazaars, Herman the Barber with the red and white pole, Meltz Grocery Store,
Pinky the Butcher, the Glue Factory, free unroasted peanuts, Koeberg
Fisheries, Barrons Chemist, we shopped a lot in Maitland. The Handy House, Cuthbert Shoes. I enjoyed my
childhood in Maitland and would not have had it any other way. I'm still in
Maitland everyday as our business is there and sometimes I drive through the
streets on a nostalgic trip. Harold CohenMy name is
Harold Cohen. I was born in 1936 and
my first place of residence was 5th Avenue.
Not 5th Avenue New York, but 5th Avenue Kensington, where there were
several Jewish families that I grew up with.
There were the Ostrins, Peltzs, Rosenblooms, Shumans, Mendelsons,
Elkins and Karks. I may have left out
a few names as it was a long time ago.
Most of the families who stayed in Kensington had the houses next to
their businesses. I was very happy
in Kensington, and grew up there during the war years. After the war, when the Nationalist
Government got elected, the Group Areas Act was introduced, and Kensington
became a colored area, and all the whites had to move out. The Jewish families who lived in
Kensington were very poor, having arrived in this country with just their
clothes on their backs. With a bit of
help from Jewish wholesalers like M. Bloch & Son, Sacks Futeran, Blumnerg
and Kleinman, and by dint of hard work, they scrimped and saved to give their
children education and improve their living conditions. We never had a car, and my first school
was the Convent in Coronation Road, where I went to pre-school. My dad used to take me on his bicycle to
school, as we could not afford a car.
The natural progression out of Kensington was to move to Maitland,
where my dad bought a house (I think) for ₤200, and we moved into 32
Spencer Street when I was about ten years old. It was actually
sad what apartheid did to the friends and families that I grew up with, as we
lived very naturally amongst the colored people. There was absolutely no racial tension whatsoever. After 1948, the coloreds were made aware
that they were different and so that division was created. My parents never
ever came to watch me play sport, as they were always working. I was lucky in that my father loved the
outdoors, and in my youth, I spent many happy hours on Table Mountain, and
camping around the country. We never
had a car, and our means of transport was either the bicycle, or bus or
train. In summer, we used to schlep
to Muizenberg, taking the train via Salt River Junction. My first school
in Maitland was the convent in Coronation Road, which was a pre-school. I was almost a good Roman Catholic. Then I went to Maitland Primary - I am
sure you remember the Principal, Mr. Ross - and then Maitland High, where the
principal was Mr. Wahl. The curse of my
youth was going to Cheder. This
interfered with my sporting activities in the afternoon, and I could not wait
for my Barmitzvah, which allowed me to quit Cheder. The Cheder was a wonderful building, as besides having two
class rooms, it also had a nice size hall which we was used for youth
activities, like Bnei Zion and Habonim.
We used to have the most wonderful social events in the hall with
teenagers coming from all over the peninsula to participate in our dance
evenings. Now I come to
the Maitland boys. One of the
peculiarities of Maitland was the number of boys in proportion to the
girls. There always seemed to be a
mob of us boys and we used to do everything together. Whether it was playing cricket in Jeff
Margolis’s back yard, or at the Bub oval in front of the school, or soccer on
the school fields. There was always a
crowd of us. We used to go to camp
together and eventually we went to parties together. For some reason we never got invited to
parties but that never deterred us. I don’t know if
you ever remembered the south easter - how it used to blow the smell of the
abattoirs through Maitland. My
favorite story is the one with the late Harold Taviansky who came to me in
order that I could teach him how to ride a bicycle. There was a raging south easter and I got him up and pushed him
away. The wind got hold of him and
off he went wobbling down the road.
The only problem was Spencer Street came to a dead end on Royal Road,
and we shouted “Turn!”, except he could not turn and he ran straight into the
fence. Fortunately he was not hurt. What do you have
to do to qualify as a Maitland Boy? you had to be born in Maitland you had to go to Maitland Primary School you had to go to Maitland High School you had to go to the Cheder in Maitland you had to belong to Bnei Zion you had to be able to play soccer, cricket
and handball Who remembers
the chairs in the Cheder, which the teachers used to break and hit us with? Who remembers our
Madrich at Bnei Zion, Sydney Braude, whom we worshipped? Who remembers
getting expelled from Bnei Zion (cant remember why)? Who remembers
chasing away the substitute Madrich from Maitland? Who remembers
standing on the Bimah in Shul on Simchat Torah with the flag sticks, and
hitting the kids doing the Hakafot? Who remembers
the school concerts at the Maitland Town Hall, with the Levitt twins singing
and doing their tap dancing routines? Those were the
days. Esta Dekel (was Back) First I would
like to say Hi to everyone who is attending this reunion. I really would have loved to been with u
all to share this memorable evening, but unfortunately even though I am not
there I will be thinking of all the old Maitlanders remembering the past
(that is if they can after so many years), and all my old acquaintances from
the good ole days. Maitland then was
really a very close knit community. Well here goes
of what I can remember being so many years ago. I'm sure I have missed out many people, so please don't be
offended, and can't seem to remember everything. I am Esta
(changed the spelling from Esther), Dekel, before known as Esther Back of
Maitland. I am now living
in Israel and have been for the past 35 going on 36 years. My English is really not that good
anymore, as I now think in Hebrew. I
met my husband Shlomo in Cape Town in 1969.
He was one of the guys on the Israeli Ships that used to visit South
Africa in those days. I left for Israel
that same year and we got married here in Haifa in 1970. Our son Ronen was born in 1974. He now lives in Canada and last year got
married. Soon we are going to be Saba
and Safta. I remember the
good old days when I used to go to Heder which I hated, but was forced to go
by my late father. The late Mr
Smulansky and I were never on par, and he always used to shout at me as I
used to fall asleep in the class.
What with going to school, having to do homework and then to
Heder. Now when I think of it, I
should have been more attentitive. I
started my days at the Maitland Primary School, I never liked going to
school, what with all the homework etc.
But it was good fun especially when we used to watch the boys from the
Maitland High School playing rugby and amongst us girls (even at that young
age) trying to figure out which one we liked. Batya Ozinsky,
formely Bessie Berger, and I have been friends since school days. We used to go together to Good Hope
Seminary (which we used to call Good Hope Cemetery), a nickname which has
stuck with the 2 of us for many years.
I also remember the days, how I used to rush in the morning, through
the Maitland Park to catch the train, going under the subway trying to figure
on which platform the train would be arriving from Belville. Bessie always used to look out for me, but
I for most of the time always missed the train. I was always so scared at that time to go down the subway, it
was dank and dark. Then had to catch
a bus to School, always getting into trouble for being late. Bessie used to
come to Maitland often to visit me, when we used to have the Dances and I was
always the wallflower sitting waiting and hoping that someone would come and
ask me to dance. All the guys that I
fancied would look me over and just walk past. Boy have they missed out now.
Does anyone remember the days when we celebrated Yom Ha'atzmaut at the
Goodwood Showgrounds. Someone shoved
a "doekie" on my head to make me look like a Russian woman, being
the "'fatty" that I was, it sure fitted me to be like one. Isaac Karpas whom we used to know as
"Sakkie" married now to my cousin Yvonne Horowitz, the 3 of us used
to attend Young Israel, I was in all of them, Habonim, Benei Akiva, u name
it, I was there. Always shy, but
trying to come out of my shell. Since living in
Israel, I have completely forgotten how to speak Afrikaans, but somehow or
other still remember small sayings.
Gosh how time has flown by. If
anyone at the re-union remembers me, it would be nice to hear from them. My e-mail address is
homes@barak-online.net. Also remember
going to Shul during the Holidays and then going out to play "five
stones" with the peach pips, this was the fun of going to shul. My late father used to take me to Rabbi
Efron to "Shoichet" the chickens, boy I hated that, but then when I
came home used to sit with the "Shiksha" plucking out all the
feathers, this I used to luv, how "yukky is that. I remember Lois
Lazarus and Rachel Groll, Lois used to live around the corner from me and I used
to go there often we used to play rummy with her and her late Mother. Rachel Groll and I used to go 3 times a
week to the Maitland Bioscope as there was really nothing else to do in those
days, not having any TV and got tired of listening to the radio. We used to look to see in the newspapers
what movie was showing as they normally used to repeat the movies on Fridays
to Saturdays. Alec Maisel and I used
to play tennis at the Maitland Tennis Club, don't even know if that club
exists anymore, we also once went to play a game on Robben Island, and he got
a little seasick. I used to be into
lots of sports. But now, am an
internet aholic, i.e. what I call myself. Wishing everybody Hag Sameah for Hunnaka, and have an enjoyable evening and for the others, Happy New Year. Norman Klein
I only recently
heard of this website so I am a little late in responding with my memories of
Maitland. I believe I was
6 or 7 years old when we left Cambridge Road for Milnerton, my late sister
Miriam insisting that we had to move, possibly because of the proximity of
the Panther Shoe Factory which was located in the same road. On reflection, she possibly felt the need
to have a better reception for the many boyfriends that paid court to her,
for she was a truly beautiful girl. My father and
mother, Isaac and Sarah Klein, ran a dress shop on Voortrekker Road for as
long as I can remember, next to Velve Margolis' fish shop and the corner
cafe, where there was a poolroom in the basement. You could find my father there many times during the week,
unless he was at the Salt River market buying boxes of apples or
peaches. I think Laing had a butcher
shop right next door to the Margolis' and then Barron's pharmacy. So really, one
had everything one needed - great stockfish and chips wrapped in newspaper
with plenty of vinegar at Margolis' generous hand - if you got sick you could
get something at Barron's, talk bull with the Buchinsky's, watch the women
primping in my mother's shop, and read comics at that corner cafe. It would have been a perfect life if not
for Rev Efron's cheder where I spent as little time as possible to get that
Barmitzvah we all felt was so necessary, looking for the elusive fountain
pen. Of course,
taking the bus from Milnerton and walking down Coronation Street on a windy
summer's day to Shul or cheder was never a cheerful prospect, except for the
great kids who were there, and particularly the pretty girls, for which
Maitland was well noted. It was even
worth enduring that short 2x4 that our gentle rabbi carried with him in the
event we muffed our Chumash. I find myself
gazing at my son, Trevor, who just celebrated his Barmitzvah, and revel in
his joyful leading of the Saturday morning service and his Hebraic eloquence,
thanks to 10 years at the Hebrew Academy here in Virginia Beach. Of course, now that he is a declared
atheist and in public middle school, checking out the blonde beach girls of
Virginia, I can relax knowing he has a warm Jewish foundation and eventually
will find the right shikse of his choice. Enough of the
nostalgia of which there is much more, suffice to say not necessarily for
public viewing, as those baby boomer cheder boys will no doubt wryly
remember. I have two wonderful
daughters - Laura completing her graduate degree in Fine Arts (movie making -
finally doing something Jewish) and Wendy, starting her architectural career
in NYC. It's enough to make one
verklempt. In case someone
was wondering, all from one beautiful Newlands mother, Carol, who passed away
10 years ago, and as someone in Milnerton once said, was worth 10 of me. I more than agreed with him. Any more to this
story will have to wait for the movie. I wish you all
well and I certainly miss those Sunday night poker games. |