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4/8/2021 7 Comments

How Covid-19 in South Africa helped unearth my family’s Holocaust history

by michalya schonwald moss


​reflections 2020


Michalya Schonwald Moss reflects on how the experience of Covid-19 in South Africa catalysed her search to uncover her family's Holocaust history.
“There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.”
​Leonard Cohen
PictureJolan Vida Schonwald, gassed at Auschwitz when she was 43 years old.
IT was an unimaginable curveball and it landed hard, right in my solar plexus. My husband had just returned from a scouting trip to Israel in March 2020 and we immediately went into quarantine, one week before the rest of South Africa. Being unable to control our circumstances and having to abandon our plans to emigrate, I found myself struggling to navigate this “new normal”. The only context I had to compare our situation to was the Holocaust. As a third-generation survivor, I felt trapped, anxious and afraid. It was then that hairline cracks started to appear, and with inherited transgenerational trauma overshadowing my present reality, I realized that I needed to find the courage to be curious about why a global pandemic had triggered an emotional reaction to a story belonging to my progenitors. 
​My grandfather, Moshe, had never spoken about his life before the war or his wartime experiences. My father and his brother were uncomfortable bringing it up. My uncle, David, described the impact of living with family secrets as having a constant elephant in the room, “and that elephant was death.”  

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3/22/2021 3 Comments

Not all young Jews want to leave South Africa

by ricky stoch


​​communal matters
​
exploring the concerns of the south african jewish community


Contrary to recently released statistics, Ricky Stoch suggests that many young Jewish South Africans have a strong sense of belonging to South Africa and are committed to a future in the country.
THERE is nothing quite like a pandemic in London to remind you how good our lives are in South Africa. I moved to London in 2018 to study and now, while starting my business and getting British citizenship, I commute between South Africa and the UK. When I settle down, I hope to do it in South Africa. 
PictureA Facebook post (19/07/2019) encouraging the community to take part in the JCSSA.
According to the 2019 Jewish Community Survey of South Africa (JCSSA) most respondents (74%) had either a strong or quite a strong sense of belonging to South Africa. However, the survey noted that “feelings of belonging are weakest among respondents aged 25 and younger.” In a recent DafkaDotCom article (24/02/2021), Deena Katzen alludes to this pattern when she writes, “I believe that many young Jewish South Africans will opt for the opportunity that offers them the best quality of life. For most this is no longer South Africa.”

​Like most surveys, the JCSSA is not entirely representative. I was 25 when the survey took place and I found the results surprising as my social circle has a very strong sense of belonging to South Africa. In fact, of those who have left South Africa many hope to return. When I asked my friends about the survey none of them had completed it. In fact, they weren’t even aware that it had taken place. 

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2/24/2021 0 Comments

Is the South African Jewish community out of touch with its youth?

by deena katzen


​communal matters

​exploring the concerns of the South African Jewish community


Looking at the Jewish Community Survey of South Africa, Deena Katzen  reflects on the shifts in thinking amongst young Jewish South Africans and suggests that the Jewish community might be out of touch with how the youth think about and engage with the world around them. 
IN the five years since I’ve been involved in Jewish student organizations, I have been asked countless times, “What does it mean to be a young Jewish person in South Africa today?” I have always found this difficult to answer because of the diverse nature of the thoughts, beliefs and ideas of Jewish youth today. However, despite this complexity, this question is a fundamental and foundational one, and one which is all too often glossed over by communal organizations. 
The way in which young South African Jews think about and experience the world around them has shifted significantly over recent years. The Jewish Community Survey of South Africa (JCCSA), released in 2020, offers some interesting insights into these developments and shifts amongst young Jews. 
"It is clear that as young people we need to continue to build a better future for ourselves, and inspire the push towards a more open, safe and accepting society and community. The question is whether we will continue to do this from within South Africa?"

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1/22/2021 2 Comments

progressive judaism in a time of Covid

by rabbi emma gottlieb


​​​reflections on 2020

 
Rabbi Emma Gottlieb reflects on how the COVID-19 pandemic has allowed for the reimagining of  Progressive Judaism. 
THE year 70 CE was catastrophic for the Jewish people. Jerusalem was under siege, Jewish blood was being spilled in barbaric ways, Jewish leaders were martyred through public torture and execution, and ultimately the Great Revolt against the Romans culminated in the destruction of the Second Temple and the burning and sacking of Jerusalem. It was a dark time indeed. In the absence of seasoned leadership and The Temple, how did Judaism survive? 
​Without Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai, it is likely that it would not have. According to Jewish lore, R. Yochanan had the foresight to escape the siege through a clever ruse that brought him to the Roman general Vespasian. Predicting the general’s rise to Emperor, R. Yochanan was able to secure his safety, and that of his students, who were allowed to relocate with him to Yavneh, a town south of modern-day Tel Aviv. There, they established a new academy, and began the generations-long process of reimagining a decentralised form of Judaism – a Judaism that could survive, even without the Temple; a Judaism that could travel the world as Jews were forced to disperse further and further afield from the Holy Land; a Judaism that could facilitate prayer and ritual in the absence of sacrifice and that could speak to the suffering of their time.
I have often felt a kinship with this generation of radical religious reformers. They understood the urgency of the times. Their willingness to innovate granted all future generations of Jews permission to view Judaism as a living and evolving religion with timeless teachings and truths supported by practices that could change with the times, when necessary. But never have I felt as close to Rabbi Yochanan and his students as I did in 2020. 
"This past year, Jews of all denominations figured out how to adjust in the face of the pandemic."

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12/21/2020 0 Comments

2020: On Reconciliation and Reflection

by stuart diamond


​reflections on 2020​

 
​As we enter 2021, Stuart Diamond reflects on how the South African Jewish community can hold on to the shared sense of purpose that helped it come together and navigate 2020.
OVER the past year, what we have grown to consider ‘normal life’ has been completely upended. From how we understand work-school-home life, to how we socialise, pray and interact as a community, no person has been unaffected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Aside from health concerns and the tragic loss of life, 2020 has also brought economic hardship for many, and economic devastation for others. In South Africa, the number of households facing food insecurity has grown significantly.
​
But 2020 also forced us to pause, reflect and adapt -- as individuals and as a community. 
​The challenges facing the Jewish community in 2020 have been extensive, with the pandemic and lockdown inevitably putting stress on communal resources. Yet adversity also brought out the best of what the Cape Jewish community can be when aligned with a shared purpose. 
​"The challenge now is, how do we hold on to the shared sense of purpose that helped us, as a community, come together and navigate 2020?" 

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11/26/2020 0 Comments

Antisemitism in South Africa: What does the data say?

by prof. karen Milner


​communal matters

​exploring the concerns of the south african jewish community

 
In this article, Prof. Karen Milner looks at what the research suggests about antisemitism in South Africa, arguing that the data shows antisemitism to be relatively low.​
IN 2019 the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), published a report identifying South Africa as the second most antisemitic country in the world. South Africa was second only to Poland and scored well above France, a country in which Jews fear being publicly identified as Jews and in which two elderly Jewish women were murdered in antisemitic attacks in 2017 and 2018 respectively. The ADL report caused a minor furore in the South African Jewish community, and its findings have been roundly challenged by the organised Jewish community (see here and here) and community members.
"... the ultimate test of levels of antisemitism in a country is the extent to which Jews can live their lives openly and authentically as Jews without being harassed, attacked or discriminated against. Anecdotal evidence suggests that South African Jews can and do live openly Jewish lives".  

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10/13/2020 6 Comments

Gender-based violence, language and the South African Jewish community

by rabbi bryan opert


​communal matters

exploring the concerns of the south african jewish community


Drawing on the concept of 'alienation in language', Bryan Opert argues that to effectively engage with gender-based violence, interventions and rhetoric must reflect the specific challenges faced by the Jewish community
ADDRESSING the “surge” in gender-based violence and femicide since level 3 lockdown began in mid-July, President Cyril Ramaphosa recently announced three bills aimed at “help[ing] to restore the confidence of our country’s women that the law is indeed there to protect them”. The 2019/20 crime statistics, which were released on the 31 July, do not include this “surge” as the statistics don’t cover this period. Considering that the crime statistics already indicated a 1.7% increase in both sexual offences and rape, and a 0.6% rise in common assault against women, it is understandable that many would feel that the authorities have been ineffective in protecting victims of gender-based violence (GBV) in South Africa.
In 2012, in response to “the rising incidence of sexual and other forms of abuse in the Jewish Community”, Koleinu SA  –  a helpline for victims of abuse in the Jewish community – was established. Wendy Hendler, co-founder and board member of Koleinu SA, explains: “globally, we know that statistics of GBV within Jewish communities reflect those of the country in which the community is located. This, however, excludes South Africa with its horrific GBV statistics”. Hendler goes on, “while Koleinu SA has dealt with sexual assault, rape and date rape cases, the majority of cases from within the Jewish community are comprised of emotional, verbal, financial and religious abuse”.
"... when a young male from our community reads an article about GBV  does he believe that it is personally relevant to him, or is it as foreign as world hunger? "

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9/10/2020 0 Comments

Never again, but yet again: Why the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre explores the history of the Holocaust and the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda side by side

by tali nates


​communal matters

exploring the concerns of the south african jewish community


In this article, Tali Nates discusses how memorialising the Holocaust and 1994 genocide in Rwanda enables South Africans to grapple with racism and xenophobia in South Africa. 
The Holocaust and Genocide Centre allows us to bring to public attention and keep in public memory the abiding dangers of supremacist thinking, whether based on race as in wartime Germany or on ethnicity, as in Rwanda. The Centre does, and should remind us, daily, how quickly ordinary people can turn from living and learning alongside one another to exterminating each other with deadly justification … may you through this very powerful memorial teach us as South Africans to reconcile rival memories, to recognise the pain of others and, most importantly, to become more fully human”.

Prof. Jonathan Jansen, September 2015, at the JHGC building dedication ceremony. 
In April 1994, while South Africans were jubilantly voting in the country’s first democratic elections, in Rwanda, a mere three and a half hours’ flight away, hundreds of thousands of Tutsi, as well as Hutu who opposed the genocide, were being slaughtered[i].
 
1994. Two countries in Africa. Two very different paths.
Not that South Africa’s transition to democracy has been easy. As xenophobic violence has shown, South Africans too have the potential for horrific violence against an “other”. 

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8/5/2020 4 Comments

outspoken rabbis: Speaking truth to power in apartheid south africa

by gwynne robins


​communal matters
​
​exploring the concerns of the south african jewish community


In this article, Gwynne Robins looks at one particular Cape Town congregation, the Green and Sea Point Hebrew Congregation, where, between 1959 and 1988, four Orthodox rabbis took a stand against Apartheid. 
Irwin Manoim’s DafkaDotCom article (10 May 2020) on Rabbi Andre Ungar pays tribute to a former leader of the Reform community who not only spoke out against apartheid but was expelled from the country for his efforts.
In 1999, the former Chief Rabbi, the late Rabbi Cyril Harris, testified at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) on behalf of the South African Jewish community. Rabbi Harris not only apologised for the collective failure of the South African Jewish community to protest apartheid, but acknowledged how the community had benefited from this system of racial oppression. As Rabbi Harris’ testimony attests, for the most part, communal silence was the norm, both from the pulpit and from communal boardrooms. Context, of course, is crucial. Caution was justified when dealing with a government with a history of antisemitism.
That said, a handful of rabbis, both Orthodox and Reform, publicly condemned apartheid and took part in protests. This article will look at one particular congregation, the Green and Sea Point Hebrew Congregation (Marais Road Shul) in Cape Town, where, between 1959 and 1988, four Orthodox rabbis took a stand against apartheid: Rabbi ES Rabinowitz, Rabbi David Rosen, Rabbi Dr Elihu Jack Steinhorn, and Rabbi Selwyn Franklin. 

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7/5/2020 5 Comments

Black lives matter: The Jewish imperative to support racial justice

By rabbi dr. samuel lebens

In this article, philosopher and Orthodox Rabbi, Samuel Lebens, reflects on Black Lives Matter, progressive politics and the Jewish imperative to support racial justice.
THE murder of George Floyd sent shockwaves through the world. In the United States, Americans of all races and creeds took to the streets to demand racial justice. Globally, protesters gathered in solidarity.
​Many Jews were among those who took to the streets. In so doing, they followed in the hallowed footsteps of multiple generations of Jews who stood shoulder to shoulder with African Americans in their long campaign for civil and economic freedom. And yet, some Jews feel deeply uncomfortable campaigning under the umbrella of the movement for Black Lives Matter. Why?
"I can imagine that many South African Jews will relate to those Jews in America (and elsewhere) who sympathise with the plight of racial minorities but who also feel alienated from their political movements". 

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