Bearing the Chosen Children: Continuity and the South African Jewish Community

by gabriella saven

​communal matters

exploring the concerns of the south african Jewish community

Considering global and local Jewish communal concerns around 'continuity', ​Gabriella Saven argues that we need to encourage dialogue and inclusion when it comes to reproductive experiences, particularly amongst those considered to be on the ‘fringes’ of the South African Jewish community.​

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The JCSSA found the cost of a Jewish education impacts the decision to have more children in 39% of households of school-age children.

Babies are always on my mind. Not because I have any, or plan on having one soon, but because as a young South African Jewish woman whose identity revolves around family and community, conversations around reproduction can feel ubiquitous.

My Honours thesis explored reproductive attitudes in the South African Jewish community amongst self-identifying progressive women. Despite a growing field of reproductive research in South Africa and abroad, there is little research into the intersections of reproduction and religion. I asked how progressive Jewish women in Cape Town reconcile communal expectations around gender and reproduction with their secular and progressive outlooks. 

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