Number 46: My parents Hackey and Fanny Edelstein were involved in many ways in the Jewish Community of Cape Town. One of the various projects they took on was to Jointly Chair the Jerusalem Day 25th Anniversary celebrations of the victory of the  6 Day War in Israel.

This kind of communal function requires many aspects to be “pulled together” to create the overall celebration. There would typically be Israeli dancing, communal singing; a philatelic / stamp collection display;  Israeli food to buy and many other stalls to walk about and celebratory activities.  

One area usually ignored is the Fine Art Section. When we lived on Kibbutz Tuval I initiated giving people squares with a consistent theme. We then erected a wall hanging at the entrance to the communal dining  room. So l pitched this idea to my parents and the project was initiated. My Mom arranged for many people, mainly women, to be given squares and once complete they were all eventually sewn together. The two wall hangings are to this day, (now 28 years later and counting!) at the entrance to the Jewish Community Centre and the Cape Town Genocide and Holocaust Centre.

Reflected in this photograph are my Dad Hackey, who also made a square and Yair who is pointing to his square. Yair was the youngest participant in this project.   Maya is holding the hand of her grandfather!

My Dad was very involved with Highlands House, the home in Cape Town for the Jewish Aged. He subsequently had a similar wall – hanging made by community members which also still hangs at the entrance of Highlands House.