Founding of the Durban congregation
The Durban congregation began when Rabbi Moses Weiler addressed a small meeting in November 1947 in the lounge of Mervyn Gild, who would become the driving force behind the congregation. Six months later, Weiler returned to address a much larger inaugural meeting at the Durban Jewish Club, at which Gild was elected president of what would become Temple David.
Services on major festivals were initially conducted by Jerry Idelson, Benny Stalson or the newly arrived Reverend Isaac Richards, all on loan from Johannesburg. In December 1949 the congregation bought a one and a half acre plot in Ridge Road, and in August 1950, the first rabbi, Meyer Miller, arrived from New York, just in time for the laying of the foundation stone. He stayed 20 years. His successor was Richards, who went on to be the longest-serving minister in the Reform movement.
Many of the photographs in this gallery are from the personal albums of Paddy Meskin, former Hebrew teacher at Temple David, frequent head of the Sisterhood and its honorary Life President. The pictures were selected and scanned by Walter Gammage.
The interior with the Ark opened to show the torah scrolls
Mervyn Gild, left watches as his wife says a blessing at the laying of the foundation stone at Temple David in August 1950, with the SABC in attendance
A view of the same ceremony as the previous picture, but from the opposite side of the grounds, showing the large crowd seated between columns that will soon hold up the walls and roof. Note the flags above: the Union Jack, the old South African flag and the Israeli flag.
The newly arrived Rabbi Meyer Miller recites a prayer at the foundation stone laying. In the centre is the president, Mervyn Gild, alongside Mayor Percy Osborn and his wife. Mrs Gild is next to the mayor and alongside her, in the black hat, is Rabbi Moses Weiler.
An expectant crowd gather under the columns. The temple is not quite finished – see the ladders still in place at right – so this may perhaps be the roof wetting.
Brick layers at work on the Hebrew school behind the main Temple, which can be seen in the rear of this picture
The four ministers of the Reform movement together at the foundation stone laying. Reverend Isaac Richards at left, recently appointed to Port Elizabeth; the newly-arrived Rabbi Meyer Miller of Durban; Rabbi Moses Weiler of Johannesburg and Rabbi David Sherman of Cape Town
The synagogue as seen from the street, with the main entrance to the left
The ornate interior of Temple David. The rabbi on the platform may be Rabbi Richards
Rabbi Meyer Miller with a class of girls dressed for their confirmation ceremony in white dresses and gloves. The hairstyles suggest that the photograph was taken in the early sixties
A group of children, some wearing their school blazers, light the candles on the festival of Chanuka
A barmitzvah boy, unnamed, recites his portion from the Torah while his father – or an older brother – looks on
Rabbi Meyer Miller with a class of girls dressed for their confirmation ceremony in white dresses and gloves. The hairstyles suggest that the photograph was taken in the early sixties