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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.

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5/13/2020 2 Comments

The hollowing out of Jewish South Africa

By Irwin manoim


​​communal matters

exploring the concerns of the south african jewish community

 
In this article, Irwin Manoim looks at what the recently launched Jewish Community Survey of South Africa (2019) suggests about the future of the South African Jewish community, offering insight into communal trends and the sharp distinction between the Cape Town and Johannesburg Jewish communities.
THE 1991 South African census, the last of the apartheid era, concluded that there were 65 406 Jews in South Africa. The leading Jewish demographer of the era, Dr Allie Dubb, was quick to dispute the figure as implausible. 
​Not only were there technical problems with the survey, he said, there was reason to suspect that in those frightened times, many Jews chose not to divulge their religion. Dubb scratched his way through the census data, and calculated that the actual figure might be 91 859. After consulting other non-census data, he revised that up to 106 000.
"And now we have a major research study, produced by the Kaplan Centre which tells us that by 2019, the Jewish population had fallen to 52 300".

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5/10/2020 3 Comments

In memory of the only rabbi ordered to leave South Africa

by irwin manoim

RABBI Andre Ungar died aged 90 at his home in New York on 5 May 2020 after a long illness. Due to COVID-19 lockdown regulations, only three people were permitted to attend his funeral.
​
Rabbi Ungar, who spent two years in Port Elizabeth during the mid-1950s, has been largely forgotten in South Africa. But as South African Jews continue to come to terms with the apartheid era, Rabbi Ungar deserves a special niche in our local history: he was the only rabbi to enrage the apartheid government to such an extent that they expelled him.
Picture
Eastern Province Herald, 10 December 1956
A Hungarian Jew, Rabbi Ungar spent his childhood hiding from the Nazis in Budapest under false identities in a non-Jewish part of town.  The horror of Nazism, witnessed first-hand, would colour Ungar’s attitudes for the rest of his life and shaped his attitudes in South Africa, where he was offered his first job as a rabbi in 1955, at the Reform synagogue in Port Elizabeth, Temple Israel.
​
Ungar found his new community friendly enough. He was given a bigger house than he’d ever lived in, complete with garden and servants. Ungar started asking his congregants questions about the silent, ubiquitous but invisible host of black servants and labourers in their employ. As he himself put it in an article later: 
How did they live? What were the relationships between them and us? Naively, I voiced such questions before my new-made friends. That, I was told, is a lifetime’s study. You must be born here to understand it. Foreigners can know nothing about it. Besides, it is an unsavoury topic, a communist thing to worry about.

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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."

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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."

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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." 

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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. 

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11/14/2019 0 Comments

What does anti-BDS legislation in the United States mean for UCT?

Editorial 


​israel & global Jewry
​[editorial]

exploring issues related to israel, israeli society & global jewry


​In this editorial, DakfaDotCom looks at what anti-BDS legislation in the United States may mean for the University of Cape Town's proposed boycott of Israeli academic institutions. 
THE adoption by Senate of the University of Cape Town (UCT) of a resolution in favour of boycotting Israeli academic institutions has caused much consternation within the South African Jewish community and has also attracted a great deal of global interest. The issue is still very much alive: the Senate resolution needs the approval of UCT’s Council before it becomes official university policy.
An online petition opposing the boycott has garnered over 65,000 signatories. The petition  speaks of the proposed boycott as “violat[ing] the principles of academic freedom and freedom of speech” and having the possibility of “fan[ning] the flames of anti-Jewish hostility on campus”. And a group of Jewish South Africans have come out in support of the proposed boycott arguing that “[t]his establishes UCT as an adherent to international law and affirms the university as a partner in the struggle for human rights in Israel/Palestine.” Opponents of the proposed boycott have raised concerns as to how a pro-boycott position could impact fundraising and relations with alumni, research conducted by UCT academics and partnerships with scholars and universities abroad, as well as the reputation of the university. The group that supports it have labelled the threat of loss of funding as “backdoor fear-mongering.”
"Such a boycott would take place in a world where lines have already been drawn in the sand over the issue of boycotts targeting Israel."

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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."

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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... ".

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