- Sara Sharon Werner 1947 - 1997
- Bernard Isaac Werner 1949 -
- Maxine Werner 1953 -
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PUBLISHED: January 22, 1988
WEST PALM BEACH — Rabbi Oscar Werner has seen many contrasts in his five months in the United States.
He was installed on Sunday as the new rabbi for the Orthodox Congregation Aitz Chaim one day before the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. Where he came from, racial tension abounds.
He comes to South Florida where the Jewish community thrives. Where he came from, Jews are a minority.
For 16 years before coming here, Werner was the spiritual leader of one of the largest Orthodox congregations in South Africa.
“There is no anti-Semitism there,” Werner said of South Africa. “They’ve got their own problems there, and there was an uneasy feeling, no doubt about it. Things aren’t as peaceful as they used to be. But there was no panic. The Jewish people were treated very well.”
On the whole, they were treated well, but young Jews who joined student protests against the government and apartheid were given up to 180 days of detention, Werner said.
In South Africa, Jews account for less than 1 percent of the total population. The first Jews arrived with the earliest Portuguese, and a community was organized at Cape Town in 1841. By 1950, there were approximately 200 Jewish communities with their own synagogues.
The Protestant church prevails in South Africa, more specifically through the Dutch Reformed Church.
In contrast, there are 100,000 Jews in the population of 21 million. Some 60,000 Jews live in Johannesburg. Orthodox Judaism claims 85 percent of the Jewish population. Werner was the head of a 500-family congregation.
Werner was born in Hanover, Germany, and fled to England before the start of World War II. He studied at and graduated from the Yeshiva Talmudical College in Liverpool.
His Polish parents died in the Holocaust.
“My first wife was Liverpool-born. An uncle of hers lived in South Africa. After going through the rigors of wartime, we looked for greener pastures. It was either going to Canada or to South Africa. Because of the connection with her uncle, we went to South Africa,” Werner said.
It was 1951 when Werner began his rabbinical career in South Africa, leading the Parkview Greenside Orthodox Synagogue for 16 years.
Werner held many positions in South Africa. Favoring what he calls “modern Orthodoxy,” his study groups were not limited to men, but open to women and children as well. He was the principal of the Hebrew School and also was a mohel, someone who does ritual circumcisions.
He also served as the chaplain of a mental hospital and served as honorary chaplain of the Jewish members of the South African defense force.
The Orthodox rabbi also was the vice chairman of the Rabbinical Association of South Africa.
Werner came to the United States to be closer to his two daughters, who live in New York.
“After the U.S. started posing economic sanctions in South Africa, it became more difficult to visit here. The flights were diverted to Europe,” he said.
Congregation Aitz Chaim was eager to have Werner as its first rabbi, but Werner had problems getting permission to come to the United States.
The U.S. Consulate had no vacancies for interviews and the waiting list was long.
But through the efforts of U.S. Rep. Tom Lewis, R-North Palm Beach, Werner was granted an exit visa in July 1987. He had to prove he was a rabbi and show evidence that he had no police record since he was 16 years old.
Werner is the first rabbi the Orthodox congregation has had in its 15 years of existence because until recently, it did not have the money to pay for a rabbi. As is the case with many fledgling congregations in South Florida, Congregation Aitz Chaim began in people’s homes and branched out to bigger meeting places, such as a model home in Century Village.
Before the construction of the synagogue building at 2518 N. Haverhill Road, the congregation’s last meeting place was in the Century Village clubhouse.
Werner said he wants to introduce “enlightened Orthodoxy” to the community here.
“The people should be happy in their Judaism. They should understand it, not follow it blindly,” he said. “Orthodoxy is not just the cultural side, but the ethical side of Judaism should be stressed and understood in light of modern problems without changing the basics.” (South Florida Sun Sentinel, 22 January 1988)
TRIBUTE TO RABBI OSCAR WERNER by Leon Chonin
Rabbi Werner was born in Hanover, Germany but fled to England before the start of World War II. He studied at and graduated as a reverend from The Yeshiva Talmudical College in Liverpool. His Polish parents died in the Holocaust. Rabbi Werner’s first wife, Leah was born in Liverpool. After going through the rigors of war, they looked at emigrating to greener pastures. Their choice was either Canada or South Africa but because his wife had an uncle already living in South Africa they decided to emigrate to the latter. He started his rabbinical career in 1951 in the Free State, South Africa. He then moved to Kimberley around 1957 and soon after his arrival he completed his rabbinical smicha (ordination) to become a Rabbi in Israel. Rabbi Werner then transferred to Johannesburg in around 1970 to become the Rabbi of the Parkview Greenside congregation where he remained until 1987 when he emigrated to the United States to become the new Rabbi for the Orthodox Congregation Aitz Chaim in West Palm Beach in Florida so that he could be close to his daughters. Another motivating factor for his emigration was the US economic sanctions applied against South Africa leading to the difficulty in visiting the USA when flights were diverted through Europe making travel to his children extremely cumbersome and exhausting.
Rabbi Werner could be described as a modern orthodox Rabbi as he allowed his congregation freedom of practice not insisting that they should abide by the strict halachic rules of Judaism. He was only too happy to see his congregants at shul and doing the odd mitzvah.
Soon after his arrival in Kimberley, Rabbi Werner taught me my barmitzvah in 1958, and persuaded me to conduct the Friday night service before my barmitzvah. From my recollection only two of us ever did that namely Jock Awerbuck and myself. My grandfather, Lipi Weinstein and Rabbi Werner were extremely close because of my grandfather’s love of Judaism and his ability to conduct any religious service. My grandfather knew many of the halachic rules and would assist Rabbi Werner with the davening (leading the prayers) which certainly was a helping hand during the long Yom Kippur service. Rabbi Werner also married my cousin at one of his first officiating simchas at the Parkview Greenside shul.
I can recall Rabbi Werner assisting my family when the Jewish landlord of the building where my parents had their outfitting business, Astra Outfitters on the Market Square wanted to evict my parents from their premises so that he could lease it to the tenants next door who had a motor spares business. My parents had nowhere to go and it would have meant the end of my parents’ livelihood. They appealed to Rabbi Werner to intervene who approached the landlord who then agreed to postpone the lease termination for a period. He was a compassionate Rabbi who cared for his congregants and served as the chaplain of a mental hospital and as honorary chaplain of the Jewish members of the South African Defence Force.
Rabbi Werner took over the rabbinical leadership of the Griqualand West Hebrew Congregation from Rabbi Cecil Bloch who moved to Potchefstroom in the Transvaal while Reverend Matzner became the spiritual leader of the community when Rabbi Werner moved to Johannesburg.
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Milton Jawno adds:
Rabbi Oscar Werner and Rebetzin Leah were close family friends of my parents Lionel and Lily. The Rabbi acted as my dad's chaplain when he was Mayor of Kimberley. Believe it or not I was once the babysitter to the Werner kids when their parents went away for a few days. The kids Sharon, Bernard and Malka were very well behaved and gave me no problems. I have a medallion in my home in Jerusalem that the Rabbi gave my father Lionel in November 1966, as a memento of the rabbi's visit to Israel.
Another personal memory is going to the Werners after shul with my parents on Shabbat and getting delicious ginger cake from the Rebetzin Leah's mother who lived with the Werners in the old Shul house. My boyhood friend Colin van Zyl, now in Ireland, (who also receives the ex-pat news) reminded me that he used to drive the Rabbi to Colin's poultry farm Kameelhof outside Kimberley to "schact" the chickens for our community. ------------------
Tribute to Rabbi O M Werner By his son Bernard Werner, posted October 2019
He worked tirelessly for the welfare of the whole community, dealing with every aspect of religious life. The fundamentals were taught to the children in the Cheder most afternoons and Sunday mornings. In addition to Aleph Bet, all aspects of a Torah Jewish life were introduced, for example daily prayers, personal behavior, business dealing, Shabbos and Festivals.
The Batmitzvah group of 1959: Pearly Goldenbaum, Shelley Hotz, Delia Brown, Jose Shapiro, Madeline Hammer, Sharon Werner, Brenda Frank in the foyer of the Kimberley Shul.
In addition to preparing every boy for their Bar Mitzvah, Rabbi and Mrs Werner celebrated the Bat Mitzvah for girls. The first group that he worked with, which unusually included girls aged 12 to 14years, had their ceremony in 1959. (NB Gwynne Robins (nee Schrire) has written that the very first Batmitzvah in Kimberley was her own, solo in 1955 with Rabbi Bloch.)
On Shabbatot (Saturdays) in addition to delivering the sermons, he was the chazzan and also leined (read the portion of the Torah). On Shabbos afternoons between Mincha and Maariv he taught a Talmud study group.
Rabbi Werner performed all the brittot (ritual circumcisions). They were meticulously recorded in the large Schul Bris Book.
Sundays were often a roller-coaster day dealing with the full life-span during just one day; of funerals and consecrations in the mornings after cheder, followed by a Bar Mitzvah party in the afternoon and a wedding at night.
In addition to visiting the sick and incarcerated, Rabbi Werner was always ready and available to counsel troubled souls of all ages and mediate conflicts including marital ones.
For the congregation to enjoy the highest quality meat, Rabbi Werner would be at the abattoirs by daybreak a few times a week when the herds would come in. He would choose the best of the day for Shechita (ritual slaughter). If any question arose on examination after shechita, he would discard that animal and shect another one. The outcome was a two-fold advantage: The people of Kimberley ate Glatt kosher and the Moslems often enjoyed kosher-killed meat!
When the new army training camp was established, there was a demand for more kosher meat. Rabbi Werner was the Jewish Army Chaplain too.
The preparing of a would-be convert was invariably done with the educating of the Jewish partner as well. The joy was great at home when the conversion proceedings were completed and authorized by the Beth Din. Sadness prevailed at home when a divorce could not be avoided.
During those years there were many formal civic duties as Mayor's Chaplain. Mayors, Sussman and Haberfeld come to mind.
In all spheres my Father was very ably assisted by my Mother Leah.
May their Memory be for a Blessing.
Residence
