Some Ruminations on the love of Israel, Judaism Hebrew studies as instilled by the Silberman's.

.This preamble says it all

There is absolutely no one from the 50's to the 80's who grew upon Pretoria , attended the big Shul
on Pretorius street, the Talmud Torah on South Street, the Adath Synagogue at Carmel school,
(before it degenerated to plain Crawford College bereft on any Jewish aspect) the daily and
Saturday children's services who did not encounter Siggie or Rose Silberman in one or all these
.places. The Silbermans were and remain a Pretoria and Carmel institution

From here, Bet Knesset Hod V'Hadar in Kfar Saba, Israel on Friday 8 June 2007, Kaf Bet b'Sivan
Tashs"av (22 the dual pillars of the Silberman's) I send 90 year birthday greetings to Rose, "she
tihye briya v'chazaka ad meia v'esrim", her daughter Carmel and "brachot l'ilui nishmato" shel
Siegbert Silberman, who was so instrumental in the Hebrew and Jewish education of those of us
who've made our homes and lives in Israel, others spread over the four corners of the world and
.those who remained in south Africa. The common denominator of Judaic values joins us all

We were young "hooligans" in many ways and on behalf of those who did not always appreciate
the devotion of Siggie to the Hebnrew language, Tanach and Jewish studies (I was one of the
goodie goodies in Hebrew as it was my favorite subject but also added to the "rorking") humbly
.ask Siggie to forgive us and be proud of the heritage he and Rose left

So many of us know how to "daven," chant from the torah and feel at home in any synagogue due
.to Siggie's ministrations and labor of love

I am sure many of you here today, like me, remember with fondness the renowned children's
service in the longitudinal and quite small hall annex to the big shul. We ran the service from start
to finish, Siggie was the torah reader but on many occasions it was the youngsters who read with
him at our sides. The daily service at Carmel, in the basement of the Adath , where we were
obligated to attend as part of the curriculum. We laid tefillin, read the Torah portion Monday's and
Thursdays. We heard divrei torah and some even prepared a drasha standing them in good stead for
later years. Even some of the Carmel "goyim" attended if they wanted to. The Germiston boys of
soccer fame, the Chinese pupils who were conversant in Hebrew, the sons of Indian green grocers
and one or two ambassadorial black sons who sought out the best school for their children. It was
the height of the odious apartheid system and Carmel a small island of sanity and tolerance as we
were a private Jewish school. They too probably have good memories of Judaism, and the Jews
.from their Carmel and Siggie days

Towards matric I developed many extra curricular interests, photography, philately, selling and
buying stamps and first day covers to sell to the other kids, girls (though I was still one of the "shy"
ones) and of course Habonim which took up most of my time. Studies and matric played a
secondary and even tertiary role in the great manner of things. From an outstanding student I
became mediocre and passed with a just OK matric but the love of Hebrew and Judaism remained
and was fired by Siggie. I achieved distinction in Hebrew because of him. English too I think but
that was the home environment. When I went on aliya in 1970 after machon, the Hebrew that
Siggie taught was sufficient to jump me three University mechina classes. That stood me in good
.stead for years to come and throughout my life in Israel

.Thank you Siggie and Rose. May you be blessed

Dov Bernard Randel

Carmel Pretoria 1959-1970