United Herzlia Schools

The United Herzlia Schools is an organisation that manages the delivery of separate Jewish education in Cape Town in South Africa.

One of the earliest Jewish schools was the Hope Mill Hebrew Public School which was located at the top of Government Avenue, close to the Cape Town Hebrew Congregation. By 1901 it had about 350 pupils. The school received state assistance from the Cape school board and the school gradually lost its Jewish character.

A Talmud Torah school was established in District Six in 1899 and by 1903 it housed 100 pupils. In 1919, the United Hebrew Schools of Cape Town were established. The school was housed at 101 Hope Street under the principalship of Mr Joseph Homa.

With the arrival of Rabbi Abrahams as Chief Rabbi of the Cape Town Hebrew Congregation, the idea of the Jewish Day School was given new impetus. The first class, which was housed at 101 Hope Street, Cape Town, opened in January 1940.

The first parent committee was established in August 1940 to help stimulate parental support. Thus began the long tradition of active commitment on the part of the parents.

In 1945, it was decided to give the morning school a separate identity from The Hope Street Talmud Torah. It was subsequently given the name Herzlia By 1948, with 225 on the roll and six standards, the problem of space prompted the committee to purchase four and a half acres of land in Highlands Estate but building only began many years later.

In 1955, the school went up to Std 9 with 423 pupils and Myer Katz was appointed Head of Herzlia. Construction began on the Highlands plot. In 1956, the four foundation stones were laid by; Chief Rabbi Professor Abrahams, Max Rabie, Ben Wilder and the fourth (in memory of the late Jacob Gitlin) by Meyer H Goldschmidt.

On 29 April 1957, 560 Herzlians assembled in the new school hall for the first time, The number of pupils soon approached 1000 and a new preparatory school block was built as well as a hostel (currently Highlands Primary) that enabled the country pupils to obtain a Jewish education. They came from as far afield as Upington and Zambia.

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