The main sanctuary of the Oxford Synagogue Center, in Riviera, Johannesburg, which seats 1,500 congregants. Photo: Oxford Shul.

As many around the world turned out at the weekend for memorial services to honor the iconic human rights leader Nelson Mandela, who passed away at 95 last week, churches, mosques and even synagogues were packed in his native South Africa.

In the leafy Johannesburg suburb of Riviera, hundreds of Jewish South Africans packed the Oxford Shul to perform the mournful yizkor prayer for the dead, the New York Daily News reported.

The Daily News quoted congregant Ada LeBoff, who said she was amazed at the turnout, which she said was bigger than for the Jewish High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur combined. “He cared about all of us,” LeBoff said.

The Oxford Shul‘s main sanctuary, the largest in Africa, seats 1,500 congregants.