SAJM Jewish Digital Archive Project (JDAP)

This digital collection began ten years ago as the Jewish Digital Archive Project (JDAP) which focused on the social and familial history of the Jewish community in South Africa. The brainchild of Romi Kaplan, JDAP started in 2011 at The Kaplan Centre for Jewish Studies at The University of Cape Town (UCT). The aim of the project was to convert to digital format items such as photographs, films and documents from families’ histories. The first collection to be converted was that of Romi’s father, Mendel Kaplan, a renowned philanthropist and the founder of both the Kaplan Centre for Jewish Studies at UCT and the South African Jewish Museum. A prominent member of the South African Jewish community, Mendel Kaplan had an abiding interest in Jewish history and deep love for his community. Over the ensuing decade the archive expanded enormously to document thousands of personal and family narratives.

JDAP has now been incorporated into the larger SAJM Archive to include archival collections of a number of South African Jewish communal organisations and congregations.