Wolf’s legacy reaches far beyond the classroom

The name Jeffrey Wolf will always be synonymous with King David Victory Park. Now, with the loss of this educational icon on 17 August, his legacy lives on in his family, former colleagues, and all the pupils whose lives he touched. 

“Some teachers teach you a subject. A very few leave something of themselves in who you become. Mr Wolf was one of those,” said Michael Kransdorff, a former pupil and now chairperson of the Jewish National Fund South Africa.  

Barbara Wolf, Jeffrey’s widow, said, “Education was not simply his profession. It was his calling.”  

Wolf, and his late twin brother, Elliot, leave behind a legacy of Jewish education that will extend far beyond the 50 years they spent at the helm of King David Victory Park and King David Linksfield, respectively. 

Rabbi Ricky Seeff, the general director of the South African Board of Jewish Education, said, “Together they were the stewards of Jewish high school education. It is impossible to overestimate how they shaped the entire landscape of Jewish Johannesburg. Our entire community, and many others globally, have been built upon the foundations they created.”  

But their legacy was defined not only by their commitment to education; there was also an extraordinary bond between the brothers. This connection remained constant throughout their lives, and they are now buried near one another. 

Elliot’s sudden death at the end of 2021 sent shockwaves through the Jewish community and left Jeffrey heartbroken.  

Said Jeffrey’s son, Graham, “Besides my mother, this was his soulmate. He was happy in the past five years, but he hadn’t been the same since Uncle Elliot left us. And when he was passing away, he said he was ready and he wanted to go to his brother.”  

Raelene Tradonsky, the executive director of the King David Schools’ Foundation, who worked closely with Elliot, said the twins were inseparable.  

“I recall countless times when travelling with Elliot, literally as we would arrive at a place, he would be insistent on letting Jeffrey know that he had arrived and that he was well. They were really inseparably close. And when Elliot died, it had an enormous impact on Jeffrey’s life. He used to joke that they were womb buddies and then room buddies,” Tradonsky said. 

Wolf and his brother grew up in Yeoville, Johannesburg. In 1956, they graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand, majoring in English, Latin, and Hebrew.  

In 1968, Norman Sandler, the former headmaster of King David Linksfield, caught wind of the Wolf brothers and managed to lure them onto his staff, Elliot as head of Latin and Jeffrey as head of English.  

Jeffrey became headmaster of King David Victory Park in 1975, a year after Elliot assumed the position of headmaster at King David Linksfield. Jeffrey was soon joined by his wife, Barbara, and they spent the next 30 years working side by side. “And in all those 30 years, we never had a single disagreement,” said Barbara. “That may sound impossible to some people, but it was simply the way we were. We respected one another, trusted one another, and always wanted the best for each other.  

“He was the kindest, most caring, warm, and generous husband anyone could ever wish for. He was a truly modern man long before his time, a man who believed in equality, who listened, who cared deeply, and who treated everyone with dignity and respect,” said Barbara. 

“He set an example not only for our three children, but for the many thousands of children who were privileged to pass through our school. He had an extraordinary ability to see the potential in every child. He mentored each and every pupil, encouraged them, believed in them, and helped them become the best people they could be,” she said.  

Kransdorff said it was only years after leaving school that he’d realised the influence Wolf had had on the person he became. “Watching The Odyssey recently brought me back to the hours and hours we spent in Latin class translating all 10 years of the endless Trojan War, Mr Wolf regularly scolding me for not having learnt the required vocabulary or confusing the pluperfect tense for the subjunctive. ‘Even the Barbarians knew that,’ he would joke.  

“But he taught me far more than Latin. He instilled a love of learning, an appreciation of ancient history as a window into the timelessness of the human condition, and a deep connection to Israel and Jewish peoplehood,” Kransdorff said. 

Tradonsky said many former pupils credited the Wolf brothers with helping shape their education, careers, and eventual success.  

“Their legacy lives on through the alumni they taught and the enormous impact they had. They instilled a love of Judaism, a love of Jewish education, and a strong sense of pride in Zionism. They were both incredibly proud of Israel and its achievements. I know that today Israel has become a controversial subject in many places, but they were always deeply proud of the Jewish state,” she said. 

Said Seeff, “Generations of alumni were so fond of Jeffrey because he genuinely cared. As the saying goes, no one cares how much you know until they know how much you care. Jeffrey knew each child and their family. He took a real interest in them and their lives and helped them grow and find confidence in themselves – something that lasts long after one leaves high school.”  

Besides all the accolades and achievements, Jeffrey ensured that his family was brought up with the ethos of being a mensch. Said Graham, “He was a patient, warm, loving mensch. His whole life. That’s what he was. 

“We’re proud of him, proud of the legacy he’s left behind and what he instilled in all of his family,” he said. “He taught us not to judge people, but always to look for that little bit of goodness in everyone, even when they might not seem like good people. That’s what he did. He never judged anyone; he simply looked for the goodness in everyone.”  

Said Barbara, “He leaves behind far more than memories. He leaves behind the values he lived by, the lessons he taught, the love he gave, and the countless people who are better because they knew him.”