A tribute to the first Editor of the Cape Jewish Chronicle, Irma Chait, whose column was called ‘The Way IC it’.
Irma Chait z”l served as the first Editor of the Cape Jewish Chronicle from its inception in 1984 until her retirement in 2010.
Here we share recollections about Irma’s role – as well as the sometimes amusing anecdotes about the role that the Chronicle played in the Chait family’s day-to-day lives.
Irma’s husband, Noah, was pulled in to proofread the publication just prior to it going to print. He relates a particular situation:
“Judge Leonard Hoffman, who grew up in Cape Town and subsequently went to the UK to practise law, was knighted by the Queen. So, the Chronicle reported on the ceremony. Luckily, while checking the proof, I noticed a bad error. The wording was, ‘After the ceremony, Lady Hoffman, the Judge’s wife, was making tea with the Queen.’ It should of course have been ‘taking tea’!” With his eagle eye for spotting errors, a right royal mess was averted!
Noah Chait: “The Chronicle was a big part of our home life. When it got close to the final deadline, we had to eat in the kitchen because the dining room table became the dedicated Chronicle office for checking the proofs.”
Jodi Ramsay (nee Chait): “Often, when my mom fetched me from ballet classes in the afternoon, we’d do a detour before going home. That was because she wanted to stop off at Tricolor Press to check the colour of the proofs before the printers got the machines rolling with a new edition.”
Lisa Chait: “When our sister, Robinne, was due to have her first baby, the date of the birth was determined by the deadline for the Chronicle. My mom wanted to be with her for the birth, but that could only happen if the date of the birth didn’t coincide with a Chronicle deadline. Luckily, it was a caesarean section so Robinne could schedule the birth accordingly.”
Lisa: “My perennial memory of my mom is seeing her sitting up in bed with A3 pages. She would cut and paste articles with Sellotape to fit into the columns.”
Jodi: “The Chronicle team of Irma, Tessa Epstein, Anita Shenker and Desrae Saacks was like a sisterhood. They would laugh a lot and share a great deal!”
Jodi: “Mom and Dad used to go to many community events. We loved being at home without parents there!”
Myra Osrin, the driving force behind the establishment of the Cape Jewish Chronicle, remembers:
“As Chair of the Western Province Zionist Council in the 1980s, I became conscious of how difficult it was to get messages out to the Jewish community of Cape Town. Some of the bigger organisations had their own newsletters, but many did not, so it became clear that we needed a central source of information that all organisations could use to communicate their messages.
At the time, Irma Chait was the editor of the Herzlia Highlights publication, and she seemed an obvious choice to get the new publication off the ground. I bumped into her at the Cemetery one day, and chatted to her about my idea. And so the Cape Jewish Chronicle was born!”
Printing firms have been an integral part of the production of the Cape Jewish Chronicle
Tricolor Press was the Chronicle’s printing firm in the early days, but Kadimah took over more recently.
Since the first issue Kadimah printed in 2012, the firm has had the same team of Rael Kaimowitz, Director, and Suzanne Jutzen, Client Service and Support Manager, working on the publication, at first every month and now quarterly.
According to Rael, ”We explored various formats and paper types over the years. In the end, tradition won and the general format has not changed in essence, but the look and feel changed over the years with the different editors and designers adding their particular flavour.”
Previous Editors recall their work at the Cape Jewish Chronicle
Tali Barnett (now Feinberg) (2011 – 2015)
I pay tribute to Chronicle founder, Myra Osrin, who created something unique, timeless, and loved by an entire community for generations.
I was always aware that the Chronicle is a record of our community’s history. I was incredibly lucky to interact with and learn from great, late communal leaders like Eliot Osrin, Mervyn Smith and Gerald Kleinmann, now no longer with us but part of a generation that made our community so admired and respected around the world.
The team at the Chronicle and my time at the paper taught me that a community is made up of all kinds, that every person matters, and that everyone has a story to tell.
Lindy Diamond (2016 – 2021)
I had the privilege of witnessing the Chronicle’s profound impact firsthand, and coursing uncharted waters at the start of the pandemic. I miss being called ‘lindywithawhy’ – and I remember fondly being stopped at the shops or at shul, with people eager to share their thoughts on my latest column or advice on what to include (or not include) in the next issue.
The Chronicle office was like a microcosm of the world outside and was not spared its own heartaches. I remember fondly those who are no longer with us and recall comforting words and support from a team that was so much more than that.
Desrae Saacks (May 2021 – March 2023)
My time working at the Chronicle spanned 22 years. I first stepped into the CJC offices in January 2001, taking over responsibility for page layout.
Some of the most popular pages in those days were the wedding and Herzlia pages – with community members eager to spot family, friends and acquaintances; Willie Katz’s (aka The Shammas) regular column Honourable Menschen; Hagai Segal’s How the land lies; and of course The Way IC It – Irma’s always entertaining and original editorial.
I am so grateful for my long and deep immersion in the Cape Town Jewish community; and so proud to witness how the Cape Jewish Chronicle continues to thrive in a very different world from the one into which it was born.
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