Moses Cyrus Weiler (23 March 1907 – 4 December 2000) was a Latvian-born South African rabbi and founder of Reform Judaism in the country.
[2] He emigrated to South Africa in 1933 at age 26 after being hired by Lily Montagu and Abraham Zevi Idelsohn to found the country's first Reform congregation.
[2] The Zionist Record, a local Jewish periodical, distanced themselves from an alignment with Reform Judaism, yet described a speech by Weiler as “the most outstanding literary lecture that has ever been delivered in Johannesburg”.
[2] However, in Johannesburg, there was instant backlash to the Christian-sounding name of Confirmation and because of the ingrained rite of passage that a Bar Mitzvah held for Jewish boys.
Weiler quickly reintroduced Bar Mitzah and any dedicated students that were committed to Conformation did so under the guise of Hebrew names such as Bnei Emunah.
[5] Weiler also made it compulsory for men to wear a kippah and tallit in services, likewise he expected women to cover their heads too.
[2] Shortly after his arrival in South Africa he instructed women members to form a Sisterhood that would take charge of catering, care of the sick, and charitable outreach.
[2] He also introduced a strong emphasis on Zionism, his congregation started the first local services where Hebrew had Israeli-style Sephardic pronunciation rather than Ashkenazic.
[2] He attempted to advance a free membership model whereby the synagogue would be entirely funded by the city's wealthiest Jewish individuals such as mining magnates.
[5] Weiler had sent Victor Brasch as his emissary to Cape Town to assure the community of the need for central control, based in Johannesburg, and enuring that each congregation follow the same formula.
[2] However, Cape Town wanted a looser federation where each city made its own decisions and pushed back against the notion of a Chief Minister, arguing that it was against the democratic principles of Reform Judaism.
[12] He also enrolled in advanced Jewish studies in Jerusalem and in 1962 was involved in establishing and chairing a new, independent and egalitarian congregation, Mevakshei Derech.
[13] Further to this, he lectured at Hebrew Union College – Jerusalem, was an emissary abroad for the United Jewish Appeal, and he accompanied Menachem Begin when he made his historic peace trip to Egypt in 1979.
However, a limpet mine exploded outside the synagogue, four hours before State President Marais Viljoen and Weiler were scheduled to attend the anniversary ceremony.
Mahommed Iqbal Shaik of the Dolphin Unit of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) later assumed responsibility during the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings and he was granted amnesty.
[2][17] Upon making aliyah to Israel in 1958, the family lived on Kibbutz Usha for two years, before relocating to Haifa and settling permanently in Jerusalem.