Visit to the Isaac Ochberg Memorial Park
Isaac Ochberg - the largest ever single donor to the Jewish National Fund
A brief background to the life of a humanist and philanthropist
Essential reading to fully appreciate the report of the tiyul to the Ochberg Memorial Park
Isaac Ochberg was born in May 1878 in the town of Uman in the Kiev Province of the Ukraine, the third of six children. In common with many other Eastern European Jews searching for an escape from persecution and a lack of opportunity to better themselves, the young Isaac left Ukraine for South Africa in 1895, to join his father Aaron who had left for South Africa in 1893. Despite the inherent potential dangers including military conscription in the Russian Army, he returned to Uman in October 1899 to assist his mother and siblings who were in dire straits. He managed to evade military conscription and as fate played its hand, he met Pauline Woldiner, known as Polly, whom he married on 28 June 1900.
He returned to South Africa four weeks later, leaving his bride, mother and siblings behind, determined to earn sufficient money to bring them all to South Africa. Polly arrived in South Africa almost a year later on 23 June 1901 and by 1903 Isaac and his father had succeeded in bringing the whole family to South Africa where they settled in Cape Town. Isaac showed an exceptional aptitude for business and within a short time made several very profitable investments becoming a successful and leading Cape Town business personality.
Ochberg actively involved himself in Jewish communal affairs becoming an executive member of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies while at the same time being a benefactor to various Jewish and other charitable organisations. His two major interests in the communal sphere were in Zionism and the care of underprivileged children which resulted in his becoming a foundation member of the Cape Jewish Orphanage.
The end of the First World War heralded horrific anti Jewish pogroms and other atrocities in Eastern Europe which left many young Jewish children as orphans. With the single minded purpose of rescuing as many of these children as he could, Isaac Ochberg returned to Ukraine, again in the face of terrible danger to do what he could. The result of this endeavour was the rescue of two hundred orphaned Jewish children, many of them still very young toddlers, who were placed in the Cape Jewish Orphanage and the Arcadia Jewish Orphanage in Johannesburg after their arrival in South Africa. This amazing act of bravery on the part of Isaac Ochberg no doubt saved the lives of many of these children who grew up, many of them to become useful members of the South African Jewish community.
His Zionist activities resulted in him becoming Chairman of the Dorshei ZIon in 1928 and shortly after that he made a donation £1000, a large sum at that time, to the Hebrew University for scholarships. This was followed six years later by a donation of £10,000 for the establishment of a Chair of Agriculture at the university. Ochberg died in 1937 and in terms of the provisions of his will, the J.N.F. (KKL) and the Hebrew University received over £250,000. This bequest was the largest that had ever been made to Palestine as it then was. A portion of he money was used for the building of a centre for the Faculty of Science at the Hebrew University which was named after Isaac Ochberg.
The J.N.F used the funds from the bequest to purchase a large tract of land about 30 kilometers southeast of Haifa on which the Kibbutzim Gal’ed and Dalya were established. The Ochberg Memorial Park which was facilitated by the Ochberg Heritage Committee under the chairmanship of Bennie Penzik was established by the J.N.F. in 2011 and is fittingly situated close to Kibbutz Dalya on land purchased with the bequest from Isaac Ochberg.
Telfed Ochberg Tiyul
A busload of South African Israelis left Raanana at eight thirty in the morning on 18 May 2016 with great anticipation for the day that lay ahead of us. The very fact that all the tour participants arrived early meant that we were able to depart five minutes earlier than planned speaks for itself.
The tour which was a combined project of Telfed and the Isaac Ochberg Heritage Committee can only be described as having been an unqualified success in all respects. The planned itinerary of a first stop at Kibbutz Gal’ed (Even Yitzhak) with a prearranged programme, from there to Kibbutz Dalya and finally to the Isaac Ochberg memorial Park went like clockwork.
The bus journey commenced, as always with the Tefillat Haderech prayer read by Monty Nussbaum who has become our unofficial tiyul chaplain. We were pleased to have the current Chairman of Telfed, Maish Isaacson and his wife Jocelyn, as well as past Telfed chairmen Hertzel Katz together his wife Lola, Dave Bloom and Dave Kaplan with us on the bus. Hertzel Katz is the vice chairman of The Isaac Ochberg Heritage Committee while Dave Kaplan is a committee member.
Dave Kaplan is a veritable fountain of knowledge about Israel and the South African contribution to the Israeli scene over the years and together with Peter Bailey they kept the tour group informed about the route and the many moshavim and kibbutzim we passed on the way to Gal’ed. Keeping very much to the schedule we arrived at Gal’ed in time to be met with a scrumptious spread of drinks, hot and cold, and a variety of confectionery delights and fresh fruit. At Gal’ed we were joined by our guest of honour, Cissie Harris, the only surviving Ochberg Orphan who would be celebrating her 98th birthday with us.
Suitably refreshed we were entertained with a talk by Amnon Lahav who was born and brought up on Kibbutz Gal’ed. He announced the entrance of a number of the children from the kibbutz nursery school who had come to make a presentation of flowers to the 98 year old birthday girl. Amnon, who admitted to a total lack of any knowledge of Isaac Ochberg, then took us through his own ignorance about the original name of the kibbutz which was Even Yitzhak and his voyage of discovery as to who Isaac Ochberg was and why his name, Yitzhak, was given to the kibbutz. We viewed a documentary on the life of Isaac Ochberg and the invaluable work he had done to rescue orphaned victims of the pogroms and then transport them to South Africa where they were housed in two groups, one in the Oranje Children’s Home in Cape Town and the other group in the Arcadia Orphanage in Johannesburg. A number of the survivors at the time the documentary was made reminisced on their lives and the horrific events that led to them becoming orphans. By the time the documentary ended I don't believe that there was a dry eye in the entire audience, so touching and heart rending were some of the recollections we saw and heard.
Leon Segal,whose mother had been an Ochberg Orphan and a member of the Isaac Ochberg Heritage Committee, related some of his life story and how none of this would have come to be had Isaac Ochberg not have rescued his mother. Together with his family now runs a successful business, Bendaplast, in the Golan and is the largest employer in the Golan area.
The next important matter was the lighting of the candles on the birthday cake that Rob Hyde of the Telfed Tiyul Committee had brought along. Cissie duly blew the candles out in time honoured fashion assisted by family members who were with her. The tour group then sang Happy Birthday in what was a really emotional occasion.
Back on the bus we were off to Kibbutz Dalya, our next stop where we were met by Esther Elnekaveh who guided us to the kibbutz dining room where we enjoyed a really tasty lunch with something to satisfy every taste. Cissie Harris then cut her birthday cake which was enjoyed by all while we were entertained to a rendition of Yom Yom Holedet for Cissie led by choirboys Maish isaacson and Dave Kaplan. After lunch we moved to the Isaac Ochberg Centre on the kibbutz which includes a small park and a plaque honouring his memory. We were given a background of the centre and how it had fallen into disrepair over the years, but had subsequently been refurbished and was once again a functional part of daily kibbutz life. We again viewed a documentary filmed in 1951, this time watching a clip in which the then Chairman of the United States JNF spoke about Isaac Ochberg and the outstanding bequest that he had made to provide funding for the benefit of Palestinian Jewry after his death. This bequest remains the largest single bequest of that nature to have have been made to the Jewish National Fund.
Ochberg grandchild Mervyn Kruger who brought two grandchildren along for the tour related the story of how he had never known that his father had been an Ochberg Orphan and had found out by accident. He has now dedicated himself to finding out all he can about the wonderful man that rescued his late father and the other Ochberg Orphans.
Hertzel Katz gave a short a speech during which he emphasised the importance of honouring the memory of Isaac Ochberg, the man and his deeds. Sadly, Hertzel related, most South African Jews are currently totally ignorant with regard to Ochberg, a situation which needs to be redressed as a matter of urgency. He related how certain officials at the JNF office in Johannesburg said that they had never heard of Isaac Ochberg despite him being the biggest single donor ever to the Jewish National Fund.
Bennie Penzik, Chairman of the Isaac Ochberg Heritage Committee then addressed us and he has the unique distinction of being the son of two Ochberg Orphans. Although they had both arrived in South Africa as young children with Isaac Ochberg, Bennie’s late mother was raised in Cape Town and his late father in Johannesburg and they then met fortuitously, the rest is history and Bennie the result. Bennie was the driving force behind the establishment of the Isaac Ochberg Memorial Park.
We then took a short walk to Isaac Ochberg Memorial Park where short speeches relevant to isaac Ochberg and the Memorial Park were delivered by a representative from the JNF, by the Head of the Megiddo Regional Council and by Telfed Chairman Maish Isaacson. The memorial park consists of a small oval shaped hillock that has been created which has plaques bearing the names of all the Ochberg Orphans strategically placed on the slope around the perimeter of the hillock. The plaques have their names as they were in Europe, their date of birth as well as the names by which they were known in South Africa and provide a moving and visible record of a great historicl event in South African Jewish life.
The Isaac Ochberg Memorial park which was consecrated in 2011 has a number of trees that were planted at the time of the consecration and another tree planting ceremony took place. Trees were planted on behalf of Telfed by Maish Isaacson, Cissie Harris, Hertzel Katz, Dave Kaplan, Leon Segal, Mervyn Kruger, and Bennie Penzik. Note was made of the fact that Cissie Harris, at 98 is the only surviving Ochberg Orphan as well as the only Ochberg Orphan ever to plant a tree in the Memorial Park.
The event at the memorial park ended with an impromptu reciting of the memorial prayer by Morris Marcus, a recent nonagenarian Oleh from Cape Town, followed by a communal Kadish led by Morris. The tour group then sang Hatikvah to bring the visit to the Isaac Ochberg Memorial Park to a fitting end.
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