Two historic synagogues positioned literally next to each other can be found in the attractive and popular Gardens district of Cape Town, an inner-suburb of the city located just to the south of the central business district and within the higher elevations of the City Bowl.   To the north in the distance is the spectacular Table Mountain, which serves as a natural background to this entire site.   The Gardens district dates to the mid-17th century when the first garden was laid out.  Over the years, the gardens have been changed and expanded, and the district became home to a number of important buildings and monuments.   Among these include the Parliament Building down the street on Government Avenue along with the National Library, President’s Residence, South African Museum, National Art Gallery, Michaelis School of Fine Arts, Planetarium, and the Old Gardens and New Gardens Synagogues. 

The Gardens Synagogue, more formally named the Tikvat Yisrael Congregation, got its start in 1841, making it the oldest in South Africa and one of the oldest in the Southern hemisphere.  The name of the congregation, which means “Hope of Israel" in English, could be regarded as fitting reference to South Africa’s greatest natural site, the Cape of Good Hope.  On the eve of Yom Kippur of that year, the first prayer services were held in Helmsley Place on Hof Street, which today forms part of the venerable Mount Nelson Hotel.  It was on this day that the Cape Town Hebrew Congregation was formally founded by seventeen male members.  The congregation grew slowly, and by 1849 the community was able to purchase a modest house that they converted into a synagogue.