DAFKADOTCOM
  • HOME
  • ABOUT
  • OUR VALUES
  • CONTRIBUTOR GUIDELINES
  • CONTACT
  • HOME
  • ABOUT
  • OUR VALUES
  • CONTRIBUTOR GUIDELINES
  • CONTACT
Search by typing & pressing enter

YOUR CART

MANY ISSUES. MORE VOICES.

6/4/2020 2 Comments

To Debate or Not to Debate? The Merits of Debating the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict in South Africa

by charisse zeifert


​​Communal matters

Exploring the concerns of the south african jewish community


In this article, Charisse Zeifert shares her perspective on the advantages and disadvantages of the organised Jewish community engaging in debate with the BDS movement. 
THERE are certain topics South African Jewish communal leaders will never debate. Holocaust Denial is an obvious example. But what about ‘Israel Denial’? Should Jewish communal organisations debate those who do not believe Israel has the right to exist? This is not a theoretical exercise. The South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) routinely engages in public debate with members of the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement who argue that Israel is a racist, Apartheid and colonial state, and should not continue to exist as it has for the last 75 years.

Read More
2 Comments

4/6/2020 5 Comments

The Potential Impact of COVID-19 on the South African Jewish Community?

by Lance katz


​communal matters

exploring the concerns of the south african jewish community


In this article, Lance Katz analyses some of the potential consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on the South African Jewish community. 
I write this during South Africa’s COVID-19 lockdown. At the time of writing this article, so much is still unknown about COVID-19 and its potential long-term impact. Officially, the global pandemic has already infected over 1,2 million people and claimed over 65 500 lives (5.5%). The United States now has the highest confirmed infection count in the world at 300 000. Healthcare systems in European countries such as Italy and Spain are overwhelmed. Thus far, South Africa has just under 1 600 reported cases nationally and only 9 deaths. Israel, which was quick to implement protective measures and which have steadily ramped these up, now has nearly 8 000 reported cases, 46 deaths and 127 people in critical condition. Things are changing so rapidly that by the time you read this article, the above statistics[1] will have altered materially.
​Against this backdrop I was asked to offer some thoughts on the impact of COVID-19 on the Jewish community. For this purpose I have taken Jewish community to mean local, that being the Cape Town Jewish Community. However, of course much of what I write is equally applicable to the Jewish Community of South Africa more broadly and to other Jewish communities globally. Instead of employing my rusty actuarial skills to try and project my own scenario about how COVID-19 is going to play out, I decided that it would be more beneficial rather to share a few reflections and general thoughts on the question of community impact, both currently and going forward.
​"Our fate and fortunes as a Jewish community are perhaps more strongly tied to those of our fellow countrymen than ever before."

Read More
5 Comments

2/28/2020 1 Comment

State Capture and its economic aftermath: Why young Jewish professionals are leaving South Africa

by dan brotman


​communal matters

exploring the concerns of the south african jewish community


In this article, Dan Brotman looks at why so many young Jewish professionals are leaving South Africa and how this might impact the future of the South African Jewish community. 
​IN 2010, I spent my last three months as a student at the University of Oregon conducting research in Cape Town. My project explored whether young Jews in the city saw their future in South Africa following the highly successful FIFA World Cup. Much of my research was a response to the 2005 nationwide survey, on the Jews of South Africa, conducted by the Kaplan Centre for Jewish Studies at UCT. The 2005 Kaplan Centre survey found that 92% of respondents characterised themselves as likely to stay in South Africa over the next five years, which was the highest recorded preponderance of Jews ever wanting to stay in the country. My 2010 thesis concluded that “as long as young Jews feel that there is political stability and promising economic opportunities in Cape Town...they will remain for the foreseeable future, living in cautious optimism...”.
​When I arrived in South Africa ten years ago, I never would have imagined that I would not board my return flight home. Instead I have spent the last decade transforming into a member of the population group I originally interviewed. My transformation from an exclusively American Jew to a hybrid American/South African Jew began in May 2011, when I took up a position as Head of Media & Public Affairs at the Cape SA Jewish Board of Deputies. I then relocated to Johannesburg to take up the position of Executive Director of the South Africa-Israel Forum (SAIF), and eventually co-founded a business called En-novate with Investec in May 2016. I naturalized as a South African citizen in September 2018, and regularly contribute to publications on the state of the nation and the local Jewish community.
Between the 2005 survey and my arrival in South Africa in 2010, a number of noteworthy developments occurred in the country, some perceived as positive and others as negative by the mainstream Jewish community. Positive developments during this five-year period included strong GDP growth, which reached 5.6% in 2006, the Democratic Alliance taking control of Cape Town in 2006 and the Western Cape in 2009, and South Africa hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup. However, a number of worrying developments also began to emerge, including nationwide load-shedding in 2007/08, the 2008 election of Julius Malema as President of the ANC Youth League, and the ascent in 2009 of Jacob Zuma to the Presidency. 
"What distinguishes this latest wave of Jewish emigration from those of the past is that this one is primarily financially-driven, whereas previous waves were largely the result of political uncertainty and crime."

Read More
1 Comment

1/27/2020 0 Comments

THE ROLE OF ARTS & CULTURE IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN JEWISH COMMUNITY: FROM THE VIEW OF AN ARTIST

by leigh nudelman sussman


​communal matters
[from the trenches]

exploring the concerns of the south african Jewish community


In this article, Leigh Nudelman Sussman looks at how art can serve as a medium to help explore and navigate the challenges facing the South African Jewish community. She further argues that art and artists can play a pivotal role in attracting otherwise disengaged South African Jewish millennials back into communal life. 
A recent community survey provides evidence that South African Jewish millennials are becoming increasingly disengaged from community life. Arguably the future of a vibrant and sustainable Jewish community in South Africa resides with the youth. Urgent rethinking about this demographic then must be done to ensure that the community in South Africa carries forward into the future, especially since the survey also reveals demographic decline.
In May 2018, I participated in the South African regional Nahum Goldmann Fellowship (NGF). Here, young Jewish leaders of different religious and political persuasions asked what our role is in South Africa. This question was posed alongside a myriad of internal and external challenges facing the Jewish community. Some of the issues included the challenge of being Jewish and white in South Africa, a chasm between Jews and non-Jews, silos within the Jewish community, the generation gap, engagement around Zionism, the rising cost of kosher food and a Jewish education in a slumping economy, gender inequality, and the disengagement of younger Jewish people from Jewish communal life. With all these difficulties facing young Jews in a complicated society, many, myself included, seemed dispirited.
As someone who cares about the future of the Jewish community in South Africa my gut instinct was to assemble Jewish creative people to continue the conversations started at the NGF. A month later 9th Street was born.
"9th Street’s common goal was asserted from our first meeting: the group could advance the sustainability of the Jewish community through the medium of art." 

Read More
0 Comments

12/16/2019 2 Comments

The Twitter Generation: Understanding young Jewish attitudes towards Israel

By wayne sussman


​communal matters
[trends & prospects]

exploring the concerns of the south african jewish community


In this article, Wayne Sussman analyses the Kaplan Centre Survey of the Cape Town Jewish Community and looks to understand young Jewish attitudes towards Israel. 
IN the past few weeks Joe Biden has stabilised his lead in the polls as the most likely candidate to win the Democratic nomination and challenge Donald Trump in 2020 for the presidency of the United States of America. If one were to spend a few hours on Twitter, it would seem most unlikely that a 77-year-old centrist would be favoured to win the nomination, especially considering there are progressive champions like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren on the ballot. The reality is Biden has the backing of many older Democratic voters, voters who tend to vote in elections, and not spend hours on Twitter. 
"Whereas 60-65% of those who are older than fifty indicated that they are ‘very attached to Israel’, only 36% of respondents in the 16-30 cohort defined themselves as ‘very attached to Israel'."
​Now what does this have to do with the Kaplan Centre Survey of the Cape Town Jewish Community and its findings on the community’s shifting attitudes towards Israel and Zionism? I would argue that just as those in social media ivory towers tend to pay too much attention to the young, woke and sanctimonious on Twitter, the community has probably paid too much attention to the opinions and concerns of older community members when it comes to Israel. Rather, the community should start examining what is causing a generational deviation of the standard mainstream communal attitude towards Israel and Zionism. 

Read More
2 Comments

10/29/2019 0 Comments

Zionist Education and the Jewish Youth of Cape Town: What can we learn?

by ronnie gotkin


​​communal matters
[trends & prospects]

exploring the concerns of the south african jewish community


In this article Ronnie Gotkin analyses the Kaplan Centre's survey of the Cape Town Jewish community with a specific focus on attitudes towards Israel. He further examines what these findings might mean for Zionist education at Jewish day schools. 
IN this article, I will focus on the results of the recent Kaplan Centre survey of the Cape Town Jewish community, pertaining to attitudes towards Israel. My focus is with specific reference to the attitudes of young Capetonian Jews between the ages of 16 and 30.  I further examine the implications of these findings for Zionist education at Jewish day schools.
"One can postulate that an older generation whose lived experience includes the horrors of the Holocaust and the ‘romantic’ era of the struggle for the creation of the State of Israel and its battle for survival would feel more committed to Israel."

Read More
0 Comments

8/27/2019 0 Comments

ANTISEMITISM IN SOUTH AFRICA IN THE ERA OF DEMOCRACY

by David Saks


​communal matters
[trends & Prospects]

exploring the concerns of the south african Jewish community​


​In this article David Saks explores levels of antisemitism in a post-Apartheid South Africa, while looking at comparatives of antisemitism in other countries.  
The 2001 UN World Conference Against Racism  (WCAR) – or strictly speaking, the NGO/civil society component that preceded the official inter-government meeting – is generally considered to be a pivotal event in the evolution of modern-day antisemitism. In addition to arguably marking the launch of the so-called ‘Durban Strategy’, which aimed at isolating Israel in the international arena by depicting it as a racist, apartheid and colonial state, the event frequently spilled over into more explicit manifestations of anti-Jewish hatred.
"The fact that the WCAR took place in Durban ... has created the perception abroad that South African Jewry has been especially affected by the steep rise in global antisemitism... ".

Read More
0 Comments

7/13/2019 2 Comments

South African Jews or Jewish South Africans? Millennials & Identity politics

BY MICHALYA SCHONWALD MOSS


​communal Matters
[trends & prospects]

exploring the concerns of the south african jewish community


In this article Michalya Schonwald Moss argues that one of the greatest crises facing Jewish Millennials in a post-Apartheid South Africa is their struggle to identify strongly as both Jewish and South African. 
THE Regional Nahum Goldmann Fellowship , held in South Africa in 2018, looked to bring together young Jewish leaders to examine their “responsibility to the Jewish community alongside their responsibility to be active citizens in the South African context”. It, however, soon became evident that there was a palpable discomfort in how these young community leaders engaged with their South African identities. Being a Jewish-oriented Fellowship, it was perhaps unsurprising that participants strongly identified with their Jewishness and Jewish heritage. For many, their relationship to South Africa proved to be more ambivalent and complex. 
"...it was the first time I had witnessed Jewish millennials clearly struggling with the dilemma of  ‘how to be Jewish AND South African in a post-Apartheid South Africa?’"

Read More
2 Comments

4/10/2019 2 Comments

The Matter with the Myths – Buthelezi is the obvious ally for the Jewish Community

By dr Ruth Rabinowitz


​COMMUNAL MATTERS
[TRENDS & PROSPECTS]

EXPLORING THE CONCERNS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN JEWISH COMMUNITY


​In this article Dr Ruth Rabinowitz, former Member of Parliament for the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), responds to a recent DafkaDotCom article by Laura Phillips. She argues that Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi has been unjustly characterised, and urges the Jewish community to examine critically the prevailing narratives about the IFP. She further argues that it is in the community’s best interest to foster a deeper relationship with Buthelezi.   
IN a recent DafkaDotCom article by Laura Phillips (13/02/2019), Phillips questions the Jewish community’s association with Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi. Before any debate about whether the Jewish community should identify with, let alone honour such an individual as Buthelezi, it is crucial to have an honest perspective on the facts around which Phillips builds her argument. As a Jewish representative of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), first in the Senate and then the House of Assembly, I spent years challenging the types of allegations Phillips levels against Buthelezi – what I came to term “the matter with the myths”. I tried then, as I do now, to show the chasm between true facts and the falsehoods that have been propagated about Buthelezi.  
"Discovering how easily fake news can be embedded in a populace smitten with an ideology that is served by it, one of my goals here is to present the “Matter with the Myths” about Buthelezi and the IFP."

Read More
2 Comments

2/13/2019 2 Comments

The perils of realpolitik philanthropy

BY LAURA PHILLIPS


​Communal matters
[trends & prospects]

exploring the concerns of the south african jewish community


In this article Laura Phillips argues that the organised Jewish community's philanthropic relationship with Mangosuthu Buthelezi and King Goodwill Zwelithini is problematic due to both being implicated in some of the most brutal parts of recent South African history. She contends that when securing support for Israel is a primary motivation of local outreach efforts, South Africa's Zionists will inevitably find themselves with compromised allies. 
IN a recent article for DafkaDotCom (20/09/2018) Benji Shulman commends the South African Friends of Israel (SAFI) for its close relationship with the Zulu King, Goodwill Zwelithini, and presents SAFI’s initiatives in rural KwaZulu Natal as an example of how the Jewish community should act to advance its own interests when engaging in philanthropic activity. A month after the publication of Shulman’s article, the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) and the South African Zionist Federation (SAZF) paid tribute to Mangosuthu Buthelezi on his 90th birthday. 
"... though Buthelezi and King Zwelithini claim to promote development in rural KwaZulu-Natal, they are implicated in some of the most brutal parts of recent South African history".
​Extending their good wishes to the Zulu Prince, the SAJBD explained they had gathered to celebrate the Board’s long-standing relationship with Buthelezi and their joint development efforts in underprivileged communities. In response, Buthelezi thanked the “Jewish Community” for its good wishes and then lambasted the South African government for downgrading the South African Embassy in Israel. 

Read More
2 Comments
<<Previous

    Archives

    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018

    Categories

    All Antisemitism Anti Zionism Anti-Zionism BDS Black Lives Matter Communal Matters Constitutional Matters COVID-19 Democracy Emigration Freedom Of Expression Hate Speech Identity IFP Interfaith Israel & Global Jewry Israel & Zionism Jewish Art Machloket L'shem Shamayim Migration Social Responsibility South Africa Israel Relations South African Elections The ANC The South African Constitution

    KEEP UP TO DATE

Subscribe to Newsletter
Picture