Morris Alexander

Morris Alexander (1877 – 1946) was a South African Jewish politician. Morris was born in 1877 in Znin, Poland to a German Jewish family. He moved to Cape Town in 1904. He founded the Jewish Board of Deputies for the Cape Colony in that same year. Morris was educated at St. John's College in Cambridge. He married a woman named Ruth Schechter in June 1907. They had three children but divorced in 1935. He later remarried, to Enid Asenath Baumberg. He was a member of the Cape of Good Hope Parliament from 1908 to 1910 and later a member of the Union of South Africa Parliament from 1910 until his death in 1946.

Personal life
Born to a German Jewish family in 1877, Morris moved to South Africa in 1904 at the age of 17. He was educated at St John's College, Cambridge. Morris Alexander was married to Ruth Shechter, the daughter of Solomon Shechter in June 1907. They had two sons and one daughter before they divorced in 1935. He then remarried a woman named Enid Asenath Baumberg.

Political career
Morris first got into politics in 1904 when he founded the Cape Jewish Board of Deputies which dealt with issues of Jewish immigration to the Cape of Good Hope. From 1908 to 1910 Morris was elected to the Cape of Good Hope Parliament.

During this time he led a campaign to have Yiddish reclassified from a Semitic language to a European one allowing Yiddish speakers to emigrate to South Africa without being stopped on the grounds of race. Prior to this many Jewish immigrants to South Africa were rejected on racial grounds. During this time he and his wife both became staunch supporters of Gandhi as they both were united over their support for Yiddish speakers.

He later suggested that a chief officer of Jewish immigration be appointed and on 1 January 1914, Mr. B.S. Hersch was appointed to that role. This was significant as after World War I many Jews immigrated to South Africa. In his later career he worked for the interests of the country's racial minorities, joined the South African Party and became a devotee of the ideas of Jan Smuts, and became a significant Jewish community leader.