Windhoek synagogue might shut down

THE only official place of worship for Namibia’s small Jewish community may soon be closed and eventually sold off.

The Namibian has learned that the synagogue, located on a valuable piece of land on Mandume Ndemufayo Avenue near the Windhoek city centre, could be sold if suggestions to that effect are accepted.

Synagogue officiant Zvi Gorelick on Monday could not confirm or deny this, but said that “a suitable statement will be made in due course”.

The chairperson of the Windhoek Hebrew congregation Laurence Pieters also said a statement will be issued today “with relevant information and full facts”.

The fate of the synagogue will be discussed this Sunday, for the second time within three years.

A source told The Namibian that Gorelick, who is said to be the leader of the sales initiative, was of the opinion that the synagogue was a Jewish Orthodox place of worship and should only be used for Orthodox worship. Orthodox Judaism is a branch of Judaism which teaches strict adherence to rabbinical interpretation of Jewish law and its traditional observances.

Due to the absence of Orthodox Jews in Namibia it has allegedly been suggested that the synagogue should be closed and sold.

However, most of the non-Orthodox Jews in Windhoek are against the sale because of historic, religious and cultural reasons.

The Windhoek Hebrew Congregation was officially formed in 1917. Though very small – with only about 20 families in 1917 and about 130 families at its peak in the 1960s – the congregation was well-organised from the outset. The Windhoek Synagogue was built during 1923-24 and officially opened in 1925, according to the book ‘Jewish Life in South West Africa – A History’, which was published last year.

Namibia’s Jewish community has been experiencing dwindling numbers over recent decades. In 2005, a leading member of the community, the late Harold Pupkewitz, put the number of Jewish people in Namibia at about 50, which included about 10 Jewish families in Windhoek.

With the publication of ‘Jewish Life in South West Africa’ last year, it was stated that the Jewish community consisted of only about seven families, a number of individuals and intermarried families. One of the biggest Jewish communities used to live at Keetmanshoop, where a synagogue was built in 1927. With the number of people in the Jewish community at Keetmanshoop – and also in Windhoek – having dwindled after World War II, the synagogue at Keetmanshoop was closed in 1973 and sold two years later.

The Windhoek synagogue was at a purchase offer of N$19 million three years ago.

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