- SA Jewish Report

THE WOMAN FOR WHOM
A KING ABDICATED / 12
FROM BALLET TO
LATINO-JAZZ / 13
QUINDLEN:
TEMPORAL
NATURE OF
HAPPINESS / 13
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Friday, 15 October 2010 / 7 Cheshvan 5771
Volume 14 Number 38
‘Boycott BGU’ saga: academics
question UJ ties to dictatorships
PAGES 3, 4, 10, 11
EVEN IN SOUTH
AFRICA, CHILEAN
MINERS ARE
RIVETING NEWS...
Yoni Helper owner of Mooz restaurant, Glenhazel and a customer, Aubrey Lapidos watch the rescue of 33 miners from a mine in Chile, broadcast worldwide. (PHOTO: ILAN OSSENDRYVER)
CT imam lauds invite Israeli-Palestinian team
Swastika daubed on
DAVIS: BGU boycott
‘...as a Muslim’ / 2
works on ‘clean water’ / 8 Bloemfontein grave / 8 not ‘progressive’ / 10
YOUTH / 18-19
SPORTS / 24
LETTERS / 14-15
CROSSWORD & BRIDGE / 20
COMMUNITY BUZZ / 7
WHAT’S ON / 20
2
SA JEWISH REPORT
15 - 22 October 2010
PARSHA OF THE WEEK
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BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Stan Kaplan (Chairman)
Issie Kirsh (Deputy Chairman), Marlene
Bethlehem, Russell Gaddin, Norman
Lowenthal, Bertie Lubner,
Benjy Porter, Herby
Rosenberg, Howard
Sackstein, Jason Valkin.
Be like the stars
G-D MAKES the dramatic blessing to Abraham in this week’s
Torah reading that his offspring
will be like the stars.
But are we really as numerous as the stars? There are billions upon billions of stars, far
more than the population of
world Jewry. Where is the fulfilment of G-d’s promise?
A closer look at the blessing
shows that it is not referring to
the quantity of stars, but rather
to the qualities and characteristics of stars.
A Russian-born Israeli scientist, Prof Herman Branover,
once discussed with the Lubavitcher Rebbe the significant
lessons one can learn from stars
and black holes. Black holes are
large, dense celestial masses
that have such a strong gravitational pull that they suck in all
matter around them and even
PARSHAT
LECH LECHA
Rabbi Pesach Fishman
Northcliff Hebrew
Congregation
light cannot escape their pull.
His conclusion was that one
should be like a star, shining and
giving to others and not like a
black hole sapping the energy
from everything around oneself.
There are enough takers in the
world. We should be like the
stars and be givers.
Stars have other noteworthy
qualities. Each appears to be just
a pinpoint of light in the night
sky. Yet, the closer one comes to
a star, the more one sees its
remarkable significance. Its size
and the light it radiates are over-
Lech Lecha
Starts Ends
17:57
18:47
Johannesburg
18:10
19:35
Cape Town
17:48
18:39
Durban
18:07
18:58
Bloemfontein
18:00
19:06
Port Elizabeth
18:03
18:56
East London
G-d with a unique contribution
to those around us and the
entire world. Each person has
unique energy and talents.
There is no such thing as a
superfluous person.
We should act on the blessing to Abraham and each of us
should be unique points of
light in our world.
Wishing you a wonderful
Shabbat!
Reaching out and taking hands
over the many cultural divides
STORY AND PHOTOGRAPH BY
MOIRA SCHNEIDER
CAPE TOWN
IMAM RASHIED Omar of the
Claremont Main Road Mosque has
praised the South African Jewish
Board of Deputies (Cape Council)
at an event held under the banner
of Sukkat Shalom - place of peace to which leaders in politics, business, non-government and faith
organisations were invited.
Referring to Abraham with his
open tent (the event was held in a
Bedouin-style tent) as “the human
paradigm of hospitality towards
strangers”, he said: “I commend
the South African Jewish Board of
Deputies for welcoming me as a
Muslim to share with you the
blessings of the Succot festival. It
is a great gesture of hope in this
time of distress.
“I hope and pray that the day
will dawn when all will feel welcome in the Holy Land and will
live with justice, peace and dignity.”
Cape Town Holocaust Centre
(CTHC) educator Nokuzola Bikwana said there was a challenge
for every organisation and community to ask itself whether it was
inclusive enough and non-discriminatory.
Addressing the subject of xenophobia and other acts of intolerance, she suggested that these
came about “through not being
open enough to learn about and
accept the differences among us,
be it language, culture or tradition”.
The CTHC provided an opportunity for dialogue in this regard to
the groups of learners and adults
who visited it, she said. “We feel
encouraged when virtually all of
them note that having come to the
centre has changed their lives forever, and that from now onwards
they’ll be more respectful towards
others by giving them the respect
and dignity we all deserve.”
Helen Lieberman, founder and
honorary president of social services group Ikamva Labantu, noted
that it was difficult to feel compassion when one was fearful for
one’s safety, one’s children were
hungry and were being abused by
other adults.
It was under those conditions
that the mamas and the tatas, the
thousands of unsung heroes who
were and still are the backbone of
their (township) communities,
had worked to address the suffer-
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kosher. Where no Kashrut mark appears
on an advert, the Jewish Report
assumes no responsibility for the
Kashrut status of that establishment or
advertiser:
K Kosher
Where no symbols appear, consult the
Beth Din Kosher Guide or contact the
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the views of the editors and staff.
October 15/7 Cheshvan
October 16/8 Cheshvan
whelming.
Often, we view people as very
ordinary. “Small people” is the
phrase one former executive
infamously used. However, if
one takes the time, one discovers that there is no such thing as
an “ordinary” or a “small” person. Everyone is significant.
The positive qualities of most
people become larger the better
one gets to know them.
Another point: Have you ever
seen pictures of stars taken
with modern telescopes? Each
star is breathtakingly unique.
There are no two stars that are
identical and each one emits its
own brilliance.
A recent scientific study even
suggested that the rays that
each star emits are unique. “G-d
counts every star and gives each
a name” (Tehillim ch. 147) indicates that each one is important
and unique.
Likewise, each of us is important and a unique creation of
KASHRUT
NK Non-Kosher
SHABBAT TIMES
Imam Rashied Omar of the Claremont Main Road Mosque talks to Simon Jocum, honorary life vice-president of the SAJBD’s Cape Council, at the Sukkat Shalom event.
ing of others.
“They embody ubuntu, sharing
what little they have with others.
Almost all are desperately poor,
yet their compassion and energy
is focused on helping children and
others who would otherwise
endure immeasurable suffering.”
One such example was Florence,
a softly-spoken rural woman, who
had approached Lieberman many
years ago to help her set up a
school in Crossroads, adding that
she would be the principal.
Eleven “driven women” had
held the initiative together, with
some of the children going on to
become university graduates. In
contrast to these stories was the
“disgraceful corruption on the
part of those who have the power
to turn things around”, Lieberman added.
Dr Tim Murithi of the Institute
for Justice and Reconciliation,
described it as a “natural tendency” to want to blame others for
one’s predicament, suggesting
instead: “Each of us has to ask
ourselves: ‘What am I doing to
help promote social justice?’
“This means becoming more
aware of the position others are in,
what their needs are, rather than
pushing your demands on them.
Let us every day seek to do one
good thing to promote social justice,” he urged.
“We not only have a moral duty,
but it is also in our self-interest to
promote peace and social justice.”
Musical entertainment was provided by Ivor Joffe on keyboard
with Khayelitsha group Mambazo,
whose repertoire included a number of Hebrew songs. Grade nine
Herzlia learner Rachel Seraf
played a song of peace on a harp
from Jerusalem that had been
donated for the occasion by a
member of the community.
15 - 22 October 2010
SA JEWISH REPORT
3
Obfuscation makes UJ boycott stance clear as mud
ALISON GOLDBERG
ON THE back of the recent petition
by 200 South African academics
and other prominent people to suspend ties between the University of
Johannesburg and Ben-Gurion
University unless certain conditions were met within a specified
timeline, their whirlwind investigation of ties between other South
African and Israeli universities for
a potential boycott has raised the
spectre of double standards.
Besides the controversial relationship between the University of
Johannesburg and Ben-Gurion
University, now hinging on conditions for its continuation, UJ has
strategic partnerships with universities in such authoritarian countries as Belarus and Zimbabwe.
But the petitioners are quiet on
this.
Equally, as UJ deputy-vice chancellor, Professor Adam Habib
admits, no UJ senator has petitioned the Senate to sever ties with
these institutions, let alone investigate them.
States Habib: “As I have repeatedly said, when senators petition
the UJ senate on institutions other
than BGU, then we will take it up
on a case-by-case basis. The same
principles and approach will apply
in all cases.
“We have received no petition on
either Belarus or Zimbabwe.
Therefore there has been no deci-
The facade of
the Belorussian
National
Technical
University in
Minsk.
Questions have
been raised
with regard to
its links with the
University of
Johannesburg.
Photograph
courtesy wikimedia.
sion made with regards to either of
them. Just as importantly, for
action to be taken against an institution, mere location in an authoritarian state is not good enough.
“The institution must have in its
own polices or in the implementa-
tion of state policies violated the
values that UJ holds as dear.”
University of Cape Town’s
Professor Milton Shain of the
Department of Historical Studies
and Director of the Isaac and Jessie
Kaplan Centre for Jewish Studies
and Research, says: “I would have
thought a more constructive way to
go about the vexed question of relations with international institutions is to devise an ethics agenda
or bottom line, in much the same
way as I understand the South
African government has an ethics
code for arms sales.
“In that way all ties with foreign
institutions can be scrutinised
against a common standard.”
Continued on page 4
4
SA JEWISH REPORT
15 - 22 October 2010
Obfuscation makes UJ boycott
stance as clear as mud
Continued from page 3
SAUJS National Chairman Stephanie
Hodes, has come out in support of a debate
on the criteria against which we should set
up and evaluate UJ’s formal engagements
with academic and other institutions.
“The lack of a forceful and consistent
human rights voice on, for example, atrocities committed throughout Africa and
within our own country against immigrants, is troubling.
“We find it unlikely that they (UJ) would
be willing to review an agreement with
Harvard for example, based on America’s
invasion of Iraq or Britain for its invasion
of Iraq and Afghanistan.”
SAUJS would like to engage with those
academics who are at the forefront of the
calls for a boycott, “in order that we can
better understand each other’s views, and
come to a win-win solution.
“However, to date, our invitations to
debate have been declined. We call on UJ to
be even-handed and consistent in their
approach to human rights. Academic boycotts that single out one institution are discriminatory in nature and erode the very
academic freedom, which they seek to
encourage.”
Of concern on UJ’s campus is SAUJS’
report that “the vast majority of students
at UJ had no idea that a potential boycott of
another academic institution was being
pursued in their name.
“Students were not informed, consulted
or represented adequately. Despite requests by SAUJS, students were denied an
opportunity to make their case heard at
Senate.
“The calls by the SRC in favour of a boycott, show how out of touch they were with
the students. The Coalition for Clean
Water, for instance, backed by a multitude
of student societies, is in favour of the continuation of the partnership between UJ
and BGU.”
While it has not been possible to draw
Habib on whether he personally was or is
in favour of a boycott of BGU, his signing
of a petition to boycott Israeli academic
institutions in December 2005 when he was
executive director of the Human Sciences
Research Council, has raised the question
of his impartiality at the outset in heading
the UJ Senate subcommittee to advise the
Senate on whether or not to cut ties with
BGU.
Says Habib: “I was chosen by the
Senate to chair the task group in my
capacity as deputy vice-chancellor: Research, Innovation and Advancement.
The Senate and the vice-chancellor had
sufficient confidence in me and all other
members of the task group that we would
not allow our personal opinions to colour
our judgement on what is in the best
interest of UJ.
“It is worth bearing in mind that this
task group was not made up of ‘neutral’
individuals. It would be impossible to find
‘neutral’ individuals on the IsraeliPalestinian conflict.
“Rather, the task group reflected a diversity of opinion on this matter, which is why
at the outset it was divided on how to proceed. The final resolution adopted was a
product of an attempt to find a negotiated
common ground.
“It is striking that the final resolution
adopted by the Senate decided not to go forward with a termination of the relationship between BGU and UJ, but rather to
continue with it under certain conditions.
This UJ resolution was therefore not in
accord with the petition I signed while at
the HSRC a number of years ago. Proves
the point, does it not?”
Slanging match between
OSS and Group of 18
MOIRA SCHNEIDER
CAPE TOWN
A NEW Israel advocacy group intended to
mobilise the community, has already had a
run-in with Open Shuhada Street (OSS)
during the course of a protest action by
OSS against Israeli Ahava cosmetic products at the up-market Cavendish Square
shopping centre.
Feelings are running high on both sides,
with a war of words erupting both at the
scene and in its wake.
Last week’s report on the protest at
Wellness Warehouse, referred to “racist
and homophobic taunts” on the part of
Group 18 - who were engaging in a “BuyCott” at the time - towards OSS members.
Alan Fischer of Group 18 describes this
allegation as “absolute lies” and says that
he in fact tried to engage OSS’s Zackie
Achmat “peacefully” and was called “a f—
—-g Zionist” and told to “f—- off”.
Achmat denies this, saying that he asked
the security guard and the shop’s manager
to “please remove this crazy Zionist
because they’re interfering in my political
space - I’m trying to hand over a memorandum”.
“I really believe that I should not have
lost my temper and called anyone ‘crazy’.
Next time I’ll happily sit them down after
the protest and have a chat to them.”
Fischer also says that Achmat “pulled
the middle finger” as he was trying to have
a “civil discussion” with him. “If I did, I
would apologise,” Achmat responded,
“and if I actually can’t remember, I would
apologise.
“If someone took deep offence, it happened under provocation and I should
never have allowed myself to be provoked
like that.”
Fischer says Group 18 was formed
because “people were very frustrated at
the fact that it seemed very little was being
done by the organised community in
responding to things like the Shministim
(Israeli army conscientious objectors who
addressed the community last year), Israel
Apartheid Week, the boycott of Israeli
products, Open Shuhada Street, the (Gaza)
flotilla...
“There was a sense that there was not
enough proactiveness on behalf of the for-
mal Jewish community in responding to
what we see as a broad campaign to delegitimise the State of Israel.”
The group aims to involve individuals in
becoming proactive and in taking up the
issues “in a constructive, intelligent manner and in a way that builds bridges”, he
says.
Formed in June this year, the approximately 35-member Cape Town-based
group has met with the SA Zionist
Federation and the Board of Deputies and
is keen to work together. There is in fact a
joint function with the Federation slated
for mid-October.
Fischer describes the Federation’s reaction to Group 18 as “very positive. I think
they’re happy that people in the community are starting to take ownership of these
issues and are willing to become involved”.
He stresses that it is not attempting to
promote any one particular view of Israel.
“We have people who are right wing, people who are centre and people who are left
wing - we encourage debate.
“What we’re saying is that there are certain red lines: People who in any way
attempt to delegitimise, demonise, boycott,
divest or sanction the State of Israel we’re saying that is what is unacceptable,
not criticism of Israel.”
Fischer describes the boycott of Ahava
products as indicative of a double standard in terms of its “absolute focus” on
Israel. OSS is entitled to fight for human
rights for Palestinians and Israelis as they
profess to do, he says, but their involvement in campaigns involving boycotts,
divestment and sanctions is not acceptable.
“In fact, they’re not even focusing on
Palestinian rights in the Palestinian territories, like gender equality, freedom of
association and gay rights - it’s a terrible
situation (there).
“We’re saying to them: ‘If you are so concerned about Palestinian rights as you
claim, then be involved in supporting
those Palestinians that are oppressed
within their own territories’.”
The group plans to run programmes
and events to “conscientise and educate”
the community. There are said to be
moves afoot to start a similar group in
Johannesburg.
AROUND THE WORLD
NEWS IN BRIEF
JEWISH SUPPORT OF OBAMA IS DROPPING, AJC SURVEY FINDS
WASHINGTON - Jewish approval of
President Barack Obama is dropping, a
new national survey has found.
Some 49 per cent of US Jews approved
of the Obama administration's handling
of US-Israel relations, according to a
just-completed
American
Jewish
Committee survey, the autumn 2010
Survey of American Jewish Opinion,
and 45 per cent disapproved.
An AJC survey conducted in March
gave Obama a 55 per cent approval rating to 37 per cent disapproval.
It was the first time the AJC commissioned two surveys in the same calendar
year.
In contrast, the view of how Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is
handling US-Israel relations has
improved. Some 62 per cent of American
Jews approved and 27 per cent disapproved, according to the new survey. In
March, 57 per cent approved and 30 per
cent disapproved.
Overall approval of Obama's performance as president dropped to 51 per cent,
from 57 per cent in March. Obama captured 78 per cent of the Jewish vote in
the presidential election two years ago.
American Jewish confidence in
Obama's approach to Iran also has fallen, with 43 per cent approving of the
administration's handling of the Iran
nuclear issue compared to 47 per cent in
March. Some 46 per cent disapproved,
up from 42 per cent.
Some 59 per cent supported and 35 per
cent opposed US military action to prevent Iran from developing nuclear
weapons. Some 70 per cent supported
and some 26 per cent opposed Israeli
military action.
A series of questions regarding the
Arab-Israeli peace process yielded
results similar to previous surveys,
showing continuity in American Jewish
views of a Palestinian state, the status
of Jerusalem and West Bank settlements.
Like the March results, the new survey found that 48 per cent favoured and
45 per cent opposed the establishment of
a Palestinian state.
Regarding the dismantling of West
Bank settlements as part of a permanent agreement with the Palestinians, 6
per cent said all should be evacuated,
while 56 per cent said some should and
37 per cent said none should be dismantled.
A majority of American Jew - 60 per
cent - continued to support a united
Jerusalem as Israel's capital, while 35
per cent said Israel should compromise
on the city's status in a peace agreement
with the Palestinians.
American Jews remained nearly
unanimous, at 95 per cent, in supporting
a proposal requiring Palestinians to
recognise Israel as a Jewish state in a
final peace agreement. In March and in
2009, the figure was 94 per cent. (JTA)
15 - 22 October 2010
SA JEWISH REPORT
JWBS’ daunting task: More
work, not enough money...
ALISON GOLDBERG
PHOTOGRAPH SUPPLIED
THE JEWISH Women’s Benevolent Society
faced serious financial challenges this past
year, but with the assistance of the National
Lottery Board, was able to carry on “in a
huge way”.
The Benevolent’s chairman, Linda
Schneier (pictured), added at the society’s
recent AGM that during 2010 the society
opened its doors to many more welfare calls
and continued with its arduous work providing a lifeline to the needy in the Jewish community.
“We need to look to new and exciting ways
to increase our fundraising efforts. Younger
people also need to be encouraged to become
involved in our activities in order to provide
continuity.”
Schneier presented the JWBS’ 117th annual report at Sandringham Gardens, marking
her second year in office and her re-election
to a third term.
The society’s contributions to the
Combined. Jewish Care and to the Jewish
Students Education Fund, both funds
administered by the Chevrah Kadisha, are
essential to its aims and objectives which are
Yomtov in our
small towns and
neighbouring
states
DAVID SAKS
FAR FROM the main Jewish population centres, far-flung pockets of southern African
Jewry came together to observe the High
Holidays and Succot.
With the assistance of the SAJBD’s
Country Communities Department and
African Jewish Congress, both headed by
Rabbi Moshe Silberhaft, volunteers were provided to lead the services in various centres
both inside South Africa and across the border. These included Kimberley, Hermanus,
Oudtshoorn and Plettenberg Bay, Gaborone
in Botswana and Harare and Bulawayo in
Zimbabwe. YomTov services were also held in
Windhoek, Namibia.
All centres recorded high attendances,
averaging well over 80 per cent, by their
respective communities. Plettenberg Bay,
thanks in part to the presence of visitors with
holiday homes in the town and a batmitzvah,
was especially active, reporting their best
attendances in many years.
Whereas previously, the community had
barely mustered a minyan on Succot morning, this time those with their own Arba
Minim alone exceeded 10 people.
In most cases, a communal breaking of the
Fast was held, an event that has become one
of the highlights of the year’s activities within the smaller communities and is the occasion that traditionally brings the highest
number of its members together.
to provide assistance and care to the needy
in the community and allow them to live
with the dignity they deserve.
Financial assistance is provided for shelter, food, medicine, drug rehab and transport through the Combined Jewish Care.
The Jewish Students Education Fund provides deserving applicants the opportunity
to further their education, it provides remedial education for those who require it,
offers pre-primary school education and
makes available any necessary extra tuition.
The JWBS also provides many social services to the needy in the community.
• Its 55 Club takes place twice weekly,
offering three-course meals to its members.
• At the OTC (Occupational Therapy
Centre), its members are actively
involved in making beautiful handcrafted items under the guidance of its
in-house occupational therapist Elaine
and are sold in its BenArc Gift Shop.
• A library serving all residents of
Sandringham Gardens plus all JWBS
members, is run by volunteer Esme
Schay and her assistant, Teddy
Goldstein.
• A tape library is run by David
Drauwotsky.
• The Befrienders’ Group, providing companionship to the lonely, sick and housebound, is supervised by social worker Ros
Usdin.
• The clothing depot is open twice a week
and manned by the society’s volunteers. In
addition, other items such as cots, prams,
blankets, curtains and other household items
are available. Stock is both bought and donated and it includes brand new school uniforms.
The JWBS’ sources of income are manifold
and range from a subscribing membership to
5
the running of its BenArc Gift Shop
under Beth Din supervision. It
includes legacies and income from
The Benevolent Bargains Shop, which
sells all unwanted items from its
donors on a daily basis.
Yerachmiel Kosher Kiddush Wine
sells countrywide; New Year cards are
designed and sold to individuals as
well as to companies; book sales take
place at various shopping centres; the Rosh
Hashanah, Pesach and Chanukah Appeals
bring funds in during the year; the Sunday
Market and Book Fair is an annual event
and always well-attended by the public; and
a gala dinner are other much-anticipated
special events.
The young Pivotal branch, also contributed to the society’s fundraising and
lastly the society’s annual Gresswold Golf
Day and the creation of Mishloach Manot
for Purim by its Gardens branch, are run by
the branches themselves, with very little
assistance from the greater Benevolent.
6
SA JEWISH REPORT
15 - 22 October 2010
JEREMY FELDMAN
JEREMY FELDMAN
SOCIAL SCENE
Vocalists from
the Idan
Raichel Project:
Sudanese
Vograss Vesa
and Cabra
Cassai from
Ethiopia, with
guitarist
Shalom Mor in
the background.
EUGENE GODDARD
JEREMY FELDMAN
JEREMY FELDMAN
Israel’s Ambassador to South Africa Dov Segev-Steinberg and Carol
Brown.
EUGENE GODDARD
JEREMY FELDMAN
Idan Raichel.
Israeli vocalist Maya
Avraham performs with
Idan Raichel.
Sitting on his father’s shoulders, a toddler in the audience joins in the fun.
JEREMY FELDMAN
And the crowd goes wild!
EUGENE GODDARD
Members of the Idan Raichel Project audience, with their Israeli flag.
Transfixed by the Idan Raichel Project, father
and son.
Reeva Forman,
with Yaacov
Finkelstein,
Israel’s deputy
ambassador;
Israel’s
Ambassador to
South Africa Dov
Segev-Steinberg,
with Carol
Brown; and Isla
Feldman, national director of the
Jewish National
Fund and director of the SA
Zionist
Federation.
A project
bound by
the language
of music
REVIEWED BY CHRISTINA KENNEDY
THOUSANDS gathered at Emmarentia Dam in
Johannesburg last Sunday to soak up the sun
and the mellow vibes of Israeli world music act,
the Idan Raichel Project.
They performed at the Rocking the Gardens
concert just a day after captivating Cape Town
audiences during the Rocking the Daisies
Festival in Darling.
Waving Israeli flags, singing along with gusto
and dancing to these uplifting tunes on a baking-hot summer afternoon, the Jewish community came out in huge numbers to witness this
multicultural act that has been praised around
the world for its non-political messages of
peace, tolerance and hope.
It may have been a chilled-out afternoon picnic concert, but it wasn’t long before the dreadlocked Raichel and the 11 members of his
ensemble had the crowd up on its feet, agog at
being able to see this acclaimed outfit that has
performed with the likes of India Arie and Dave
Matthews.
Parents hoisted their young ones on to their
shoulders and even the not so young were spotted swaying along to these infectious folk-pop
tunes - which are sung in languages ranging
from Hebrew to Swahili and are cooked up in a
cauldron of potent musical influences, fusing
mainstream Israeli pop music with the traditional music of other nations.
This invigorating splicing of genres, as frontman, songwriter, producer and keyboardist
Raichel explained to the SA Jewish Report, is
due to the multi-ethnic makeup of the band.
They all live in Israel, but many are immigrants
from countries such as Ethiopia, Uruguay and
Morocco. One is a refugee from the Sudan;
another is a member of Israel’s Yemenite community. All have differing political ideologies but their common language is the music.
Israel is a melting pot of cultures and, by integrating these different sounds, rhythms and
textures into their music, the Idan Raichel
Project aims to “give the world the gift of
acceptance.
“We want to collaborate with more local
artists, and perform anywhere around the
world that we’re asked, including in conflict
areas,” said Raichel, adding that more South
African collaborations are on the cards (they
have already recorded with local artist Bongani
Xulu). “We hope to become a movement - a
movement of the music of the people.”
He added: “I’m proud to be an Israeli, and we
are proud to be cultural ambassadors for our
region.”
Judging by the way audiences enthusiastically immersed themselves in the Idan Raichel
Project’s global grooves over the weekend,
they’ve certainly achieved their aim.
• To find out more about the Idan Raichel
Project’s music, visit www.cumbancha.com
15 - 22 October 2010
COMMUNITY
BUZZ
LIONEL SLIER
082-444-9832, fax: 011-440-0448,
[email protected]
THEUNISSEN
Owen Ogince continues:
“In 1957 when I started school, I
was the only Jew at the school and
soon became acquainted with antiSemitism. Numerous occasions
come to mind when I was singled
out by a fellow or senior learners
about being a Jew and my first
fight at the age of six was against
a classmate who had called me a
bl**** Jew.
“It was also not unusual to see
me being tackled by my own teammates (always in error, of course),
playing rugby. Each time antiSemitism came my way, my parents would remind me that I must
always stand up for my rights and
beliefs and that we are proud to be
Jews.
“With this advice, I somehow
managed to cope, although with a
face bruised and bloodied. I did
manage to arm myself in my own
Jewish way - I became best mates
with the village policeman’s son
and anti-Semitism was no longer a
huge problem for me.
“Eventually, only one Jewish
family remained in Theunissen,
the Ogince family. But, the synagogue continued. Every Friday, it
was cleaned and I remember the
cleaner asking my father why he
had to clean the entire synagogue,
as only two people came to pray
each week.
“His answer was that one day
the synagogue will be full again,
which brought doubt to the cleaner’s as to my father’s mind; it was
not possible.
“Every Friday night, my father
would say: ‘Come my son, it is
Friday, let us go and pray’, and we
would walk the 10 minutes to the
synagogue, passing various families who would be sitting on their
stoeps.
“They would always greet us,
but sometimes with a remark that
was anti-Semitic.
“Kosher food continued. Each
Friday, we would go to the railway
station to collect our box of kosher
meat, which came from Bloemfontein. Major Jewish holidays
were never a problem. The shop as
usual closed for those days and we
were off to Welkom, a city about 30
minutes away, where we would
spend Yomtov.
“In 1962, the Theunissen synagogue was jam-packed. The cleaner could not believe his eyes.
Family and friends came from all
over South Africa to celebrate my
barmitzvah. My mother, who was
a specialist baker, had put on a
spread for that weekend that is
still spoken of to this day.
“Theunissen had an occasion to
remember, but sadly this was the
last time that the synagogue was
full.”
(Written in 2003).
JOHANNESBURG
From “The Flame” by George
Cohen (98), the oldest member of
the Wanderers Club:
“In August 2008, I received a call
from Colin Reed, member liaison
and organiser of Wanderers activities. He asked me whether I would
light the eternal flame. I asked
him what the eternal flame was.
He told me that it was the flame to
celebrate the wonderful 120 years
of the club’s existence.
“I was stunned and just managed to ask him what the lighting
would entail.
SA JEWISH REPORT
“Apparently the athletics section had decided to celebrate the
120 years anniversary by running
from the old Wanderers next to
Park
Station
in
central
Johannesburg to their present
home in Illovo.
“There would be 70 runners and
when they reached the entrance
to the club, I would have a torch in
my hand which would be lit and I
would lead the runners down the
driveway to light a lantern which
would become the eternal flame.
“I was having a problem with
my feet and I would have been
devastated if if I accepted this
honour and failed to walk the
short distance from the entrance
to the lighting of the flame. Just
imagine this in front of 70 athletes
who had run all the way from the
centre of Johannesburg!
“Colin said that I would be
helped if there was a problem. I
thanked him for this once-in-alifetime chance and asked him to
hold the offer open until I came
back to him. How could I perform
this without disgracing myself ?”
To be continued.
7
made, a number of folk were
searching
the
Southern
Transvaal for gold and, Cecil
John Rhodes himself, helped one
expedition.
Joseph Solomon Masur, who
later worked hard for the prosperity of the disappointing
Malmani or Ottoshoop fields,
prospected Doornkop on behalf
of Rhodes during 1885.
Evidently he believed in the
prospects of the Witwatersrand,
for he bought a section of the
Langlaagte farm. Enthusiasm did
not last, since he finally sold out
for 80 pounds sterling!
To be continued
• Isaac (Ikey) Sonnenberg who
became a wealthy man in his own
right, came to South Africa via
the United States to where he
first emigrated from Eastern
Europe.
He was virtually penniless
there and later told the story that
he had been in “the timber business”. He explained that he had
sold matchboxes on street corners.
WITWATERSRAND
KRUGERSDORP
While Africa eagerly hearkened
to the stamp batteries on the De
Kaap goldfield (near Barberton),
some Jews were trying to
prospect another poorer-looking
district. Sent (in 1873) on behalf of
a wealthy Kimberley German,
Siegismund
Neumann,
Carl
Hanau of Victoria West took his
first look at the empty hill
ridge whose twinkling clean
springs gave it the name of
Witwatersrand (White Waters
Ridge).
On this occasion the capitalist
failed to recognise the marvels
hidden below the billowy veld. He
went away and did not return
until a few years later, when the
first overwhelming changes had
taken place.
Twelve months later, in 1885,
another Jew, however, actively
got busy in the district whose
queer rock puzzled the prospectors. With Messrs Green and
Bantjies, Isaac Sonnenberg joined
in the working of our earliest
local mine at Kromdraai near
what is now Krugersdorp.
Before the main reef was found,
a year was fated to expire, but
Jewry has the satisfaction of
knowing that it had representatives at the beginning of it.
Ere Struben’s fateful strike was
Krugersdorp was founded in 1887
by Abner Cohen and an early
suggestion to call the town
“Abnercohendorp” was dropped.
It was then called after the president of Die Zuid Afrikaansche
Republiek, Paul Kruger. It is
known today as Mogale City.
• Abner Cohen was born in
London and arrived in South
Africa in 1881. He came to
the Witwatersrand in 1887 and
started the Homelands Estate
Company in what was to become
Krugersdorp.
Names changed
There is the story of Orelowitz
who changed his name to Smith
and later changed it once again,
this time to Turner. He explained
that now when he is asked what
was his name before it was
Turner, he would calmly say: “It
was Smith.”
Then there was Yankel who
was given a surname by the
immigration officer in Cape
Town. When asked what his name
now was, he could not remember
and replied, “fergessen”. So he
became “Ferguson”.
Source: SA Jewish Yearbook
1925.
Trevor Stamelman: 082-608-0168
Geoff Lees: 082-551-9314
Tel: (011) 885-3742
[email protected]
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8
SA JEWISH REPORT
15 - 22 October 2010
Aiming for
more clean
water - Dr
Moshe
Herzberg
from BenGurion
University.
An Israeli-Palestinian
team to develop clean
water solutions
GILAH KAHN-HOFFMANN
BEERSHEBA
PHOTOGRAPH BY DANI MACHLIS
CLEAN WATER is one of the most
vital resources in water-scarce countries like Israel and the Middle East,
so it’s no surprise that two scientists
- one Israeli and one Palestinian are now working together to
increase the supply throughout the
region.
Dr Moshe Herzberg from BenGurion University (BGU) of the
Negev and Prof Mohammed Saleem
Ali-Shtayeh, from the Biodiversity
and Environmental Research Centre
(BERC) in Nablus in the Palestinian
Authority, have been awarded a MidEast Regional Co-operation (MERC)
USAID $650 000 grant for a joint
water purification project that will
address clean water issues and
increase the clean water supply in
the region as a whole.
Their project addresses the problems of “biofouling” of reverse
osmosis (RO) membranes during
reclamation of secondary wastewater. Herzberg explains: “Biofouling is what happens to any surface submerged in water. Take a
bath toy that’s been in the water for
a few days,” he tells Israel21c,
explaining that the slimy layer that
forms on the surface is the “watersolid interface” that forms where
water meets the surface of an object.
Microbial communities of bacteria
and fungi grow in that interface, also
referred to as a matrix, or biofilm.
Now instead of a bath toy, imagine
a piece of equipment that filters
organic materials and compounds
out of sewage or wastewater. On one
side, the treated water is perfectly
clean, but on the other, active side
that is in contact with the smelly
stuff, a biofilm forms and builds up
over time, adversely affecting performance and necessitating cleaning
and replacement of equipment.
The cleaning cycles that the filters
undergo to remove the biofilm,
reduce their lifespan and the equipment is very expensive to replace.
Reverse osmosis is “the most easily applicable technology for removal
of salts and small organic compounds from water”, rendering it
safe for irrigation and drinking,
adds Herzberg.
The researchers plan to characterise and eventually find novel
ways to eradicate different biofilms
grown on RO membranes.
“If we are able to understand how
the biofilm forms and how to reduce
its formation on reverse osmosis
technology (equipment), we will be
able to operate reverse osmosis units
for a longer time,” says Herzberg.
He is confident that he and AliShtayeh will achieve that understanding, since the research, he
says, is “based on solid hypotheses
that will enable us to come up with
optimised operating and cleaning
conditions for reverse osmosis
plants”.
The reverse osmosis units will
require less maintenance and be
able to operate for longer periods.
Also, the higher performance will
render the whole process more costeffective. “You will need less energy
- membrane build-up and cleanup,
equipment, labour - to get more
clean water,” Herzberg maintains.
“These techniques can be applied
to increase access to clean water
supply in the Middle East, especially in the Palestinian Authority and
Israel. Purified secondary wastewater is an immediate resource for
irrigation and after RO filtration
those waters can be used indirectly
for drinking,” he adds.
They will also have wider application. “Other applications include
any water and wastewater treatment processes that include filtration units such as ultra-micro- and
nano-filtration. Also, ways for biofouling control in other systems
such as heat-exchangers and water
distribution systems could be
improved,” he tells Israel21c.
The MERC Programme funds collaborative research projects between Israel and its Arab neighbours
and has funded activities with participation from Egypt, Jordan,
Morocco, the West Bank/Gaza and
others.
Its goal is to contribute to the
development and improvement of
the quality of life in the Middle East
through the application of research
and technology; while at the same
time contributing to the peace
process by establishing co-operative
relationships like this one.
While the five-year collaboration
is in its early stages, Herzberg says
that “so far it seems to be working
well. We already have a PhD student
from Nablus who will hopefully do
his research at BGU.”
In Israel, Herzberg believes that
the results of the research should
have an almost immediate effect on
increasing the country’s supply of
clean water. Change will take longer
in the Palestinian Authority and the
Gaza Strip, however, he warns.
“First, tertiary wastewater must
be made available from plants that
will be constructed, and there are
many political and bureaucratic
factors to consider,” he explains.
Herzberg predicts that Mekorot
(Israel’s national water company)
will be able to use its data within
months for better operation of its
pilot plants, like the Shafdan Centre
in Rishon Lezion, the biggest wastewater treatment plant in Israel that
treats all the sewage of the Tel Aviv
municipality.
“They have pilot-plants for desalination of wastewater and they have
biofilm problems that our findings
will enable them to reduce.”
In addition to Herzberg and AliShtayeh, the other researchers on
the project are Dr Osnat Gillor
(BGU) and Dr Helen Thanh Nguyen,
a grant adviser and assistant professor at the University of Illinois
Urbana-Champaign. Herzberg and
Gillor are both at the Zuckerberg
Institute for Water Research which
is part of BGU’s Jacob Blaustein
Institutes for Desert Research.
(Israel21c)
Anti-Semitic graffiti
in Jewish graves in
Bloemfontein
DAVID SAKS
VANDALISING and daubing offensive graffiti
on Jewish graves is one of the most common
forms that anti-Semitic activity takes the world
over. South Africa, unfortunately, is no exception as was shown by the recent anti-Semitic desecration of Bloemfontein’s historic Jewish
cemetery.
In the course of visiting the cemetery during
his visit to Bloemfontein, Country Communities
Spiritual Leader Rabbi Moshe Silberhaft, found
that three of the tombstones had swastikas
painted on them while on a fourth the word
“Juden” appeared.
A case has since been opened with the police
and steps taken to remove the graffiti.
Bloemfontein’s Jewish cemetery, which is other-
wise kept in excellent condition, dates back to the
late 19th century. Despite this incident, very few
cases of anti-Semitism have been recorded in the
city for at least the past quarter of a century.
While the vandalising of Jewish cemeteries,
takes place on a regular basis, especially in the
country areas where very few Jews now live,
such overtly anti-Semitic graffiti as Nazi slogans
and imagery, is today something of a rarity. The
last recorded case took place in Kempton Park
about a decade ago, where the handful of Jewish
graves were spray-painted with such slogans as
“Hitler was right”, “6 000 000 lies” and “Juden
raus”.
Occasionally, however, damage to Jewish
graves is accompanied by Satanic symbols, as
happened two years ago in both Nigel and
Kimberley.
One of the
defaced graves
in the
Bloemfontein
Jewish
cemetery.
(PHOTOGRAPH:
MOSHE
SILBERHAFT)
AROUND THE WORLD
NEWS IN BRIEF
AUTHOR GROSSMAN AWARDED PEACE PRIZE
BERLIN - Israeli writer David Grossman has
been awarded the prestigious Peace Prize at
this year's Frankfurt Book Fair.
Grossman, 56, whose latest novel, "To the End
of the Land", came out last summer, was honoured last Sunday for his commitment to building bridges between Israel and the
Palestinians, according to the German
Publishers and Booksellers Association.
The association noted that Grossman continued his efforts despite the fact that his own son,
Uri, was killed by Hezbollah rocket fire during
the conflict with Lebanon in 2006.
In an address praising the author, Joachim
Gauck, a Protestant pastor and human rights
activist from the former East Germany, called
Grossman a "symbol of the peace movement" in
Israel.
The prize is worth about $40 000.
In receiving the prize, Grossman said Israel
should learn from its tragedies and make a
fresh start, according to news reports.
"To the End of the Land" confronts the
anguish of a mother journeying through Israel,
and through the country's past, trying to avoid
receiving bad news about her son, who has reenlisted in the army at the start of the second
intifada. (JTA)
OBAMA WAIVES AID RESTRICTIONS FOR PA
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama has
issued a waiver allowing the transfer of funds
to the Palestinian Authority.
Obama's waiver, published on October 7,
sets aside recent laws requiring strict reporting requirements for any transfer of funds to
the Palestinian Authority.
Obama's predecessor, George W Bush, in the
final years of his presidency raised funding
for the Palestinians from occasional spurts of
$20 million to $400 million annually.
Obama has budgeted $500 million in assistance for the Palestinians. About half goes
directly to the Palestinian Authority, with the
rest directed to nonprofit groups.
Direct funding is usually required to undergo strict congressional oversight, according to
the 2006 Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act.
Obama cited national security concerns in
announcing the waiver, which did not reveal
the amount or its purpose.
The Obama administration is pressing forward with direct Palestinian-Israeli talks, in
part as a means toward containing Iran and
radical groups in the region.
The waiver comes as the Palestinian
Authority suspended the talks, demanding
that Israel extend a partial moratorium on
West Bank settlement building.
PA President Mahmoud Abbas has suggested that the Obama administration is offering
the Palestinians incentives for staying in the
talks, even if Israel does not extend the freeze.
(JTA)
JEWISH CEO SECOND ON FORBES LIST OF POWERFUL WOMEN
NEW YORK - A Jewish CEO has been named the
second most powerful woman in the world by
Forbes magazine.
Several other Jewish women also joined Irene
Rosenfeld, CEO and chairman of Kraft Foods
Inc, on the 2010 World's 100 Most Powerful
Women list released last week.
Rosenfeld was second to US First Lady
Michelle Obama and ahead of Oprah Winfrey.
Rosenfeld in 2009 earned the second highest
salary for women in the United States at $26,3
million.
Mary Schapiro, chairman of the US Securities
and Exchange Commission, was 17th on the list.
US Supreme Court Justices Elana Kagan and
Ruth Bader Ginsburg were No 25 and 31, respectively.
Other Jewish women on the list: actress and
fashion designer Sarah Jessica Parker (45); personal finance expert Suze Orman (61); Facebook
Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg (66);
and fashion designer Donna Karan (96). (JTA)
15 - 22 October 2010
SA JEWISH REPORT
Loyalty oath law - a stir in
Israel, but US Jewish silence
RON KAMPEAS
WASHINGTON
A DAY after Israel’s Cabinet announced
that it would consider making a loyalty
oath mandatory for non-Jewish immigrants, the question put to The Israel
Project’s president and founder was simple
enough.
“How did your organisation react?”
Natasha Mozgovoya, the Washington correspondent for Israel’s daily Haaretz, asked
Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi at a news conference last week announcing an expansion of
The Israel Project’s activities.
“We didn’t put out a press release,” was
all Mizrahi would say.
The story, making headlines in Israel and
around the world, redounded into emptiness in the mainstream American Jewish
establishment even after the Cabinet
approved the oath in a vote last Sunday.
The silence reflected a reluctance to criticise Israel at a delicate period in its negotiations with the Palestinians, and as Israel
gears up for what could become intensified
confrontation with Iran.
The loyalty oath, which must be
approved by the full Knesset to become law,
would require non-Jewish immigrants to
swear allegiance to Israel as a “Jewish and
democratic state”. It was a longtime condition of participation in the governing coalition by Yisrael Beitenu, the party that
helped crown Benjamin Netanyahu as
prime minister in early 2009 by joining his
Likud Party in the government.
A measure that has drawn sharp criticism on the Israeli left, and from some figures on the political right and centre, was
supported by 22 Cabinet members and
opposed by eight - Labour’s five ministers
and three from Likud.
In America, Mizrahi’s Israel Project was
one of the few organisations other than
solidly left-wing ones willing to say anything on the record. Most major centrist
groups, including those that lean toward
liberal, even kept their refusal to comment
off the record.
“The timing is not right,” one official
said, referring to the diplomatic impasse in
the Middle East. Others simply declared
that they were not prepared to deal with the
issue.
The American Jewish Committee said its
staff was busy analysing its latest poll of
Jewish voters, and that it might have a
statement later this week. The AntiDefamation League did not address the content of the oath but said it should extend to
all new immigrants, Jews and non-Jews.
Groups on the American Jewish left
denounced the proposed law in the same
strong terms used by their Israeli counterparts. J Street and the New Israel Fund
even cited prominent Israelis, like
Intelligence Minister Dan Meridor of
Likud, in opposing the oath.
“The proposal would harm relations with
Israel’s Arabs and damage the country’s
international reputation,” NIF quoted
Meridor as saying in its action alert. “Act
now to stand up for Israel and its democratic future,” the alert said, urging supporters
to contact Netanyahu’s office directly.
The law’s defenders frame it as an appropriate and effective way to deal with efforts
to delegitimise Israel.
“Currently, Israel faces the greatest delegitimisation campaign of any nation,”
Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, a
member of Yisrael Beitenu, wrote in The
Jerusalem Post.
“One of the main targets is its national
character. Unfortunately, too many Israeli
Jews have internalised this assault and
have either forgotten, misunderstood or are
actively working against the raison d’être
of the re-establishment of Israel.”
What sticks in the craw of opponents is
making loyalty to the Jewish state a specific attribute requiring the fealty of nonJews. Ayalon and others have defended the
oath as not differing from the US Pledge of
Allegiance required of new citizens. The
At the Israeli Cabinet meeting on October 10, ministers voted 22-8 in favour of a
measure to require non-Jewish immigrants to take a loyalty oath to the Jewish state.
(YOSSI ZAMIR / FLASH90 / JTA)
pledge, however, does not defer to any cultural, religious or ethnic designation.
“It is one thing to require adherence to
the law,” Hagai Elad, who directs the NIFbacked Association for Civil Rights in
Israel, wrote to supporters. “It is another
altogether to demand that free individuals
in a democracy sign on to a specific ideology or identity - and specifically one with
particular religious content.”
Tzipi Livni, leader of the opposition
Kadima Party, depicted the proposed law as
a blunt instrument.
“This law does not contribute anything -
9
the opposite is true,” the Jerusalem Post
quoted her as saying. “It will cause internal
conflicts. This is a bad proposed law that
does not protect Israel as the Jewish national home, and even harms it.”
The ADL’s concern - that the law’s main
fault was in its discriminatory application
to non-Jewish immigrants only - also was
reflected at the Cabinet meeting, where
Yaakov Neeman proposed an amendment
to make it a requirement for every immigrant, regardless of religion. It did not pass.
Ayalon said Jewish immigrants were
entitled to the assumption of loyalty.
“The pledge becomes unnecessary for
those who join us by virtue of their national and historic ties to our land and people,”
he wrote in his op-ed.
“The Jewish state was created to deal
specifically with the issue of the Jewish
people, and the return of any Jew to his or
her land is the fulfilment of this principle.”
(JTA)
10
SA JEWISH REPORT
15 - 22 October 2010
OPINION AND ANALYSIS
FORUM FOR DIVERSE VIEWS
The ‘other’,
beyond the pale
IN THE face of the “boycott Israel” episodes springing up in
various contexts worldwide, we also have our own local examples of how easily people slip into defining Israel - and Jews?
- as the “other”, to be shunned. As South Africans with our
racist history, we should know how extremely dangerous this
is.
A prominent Muslim academic - who vocally vilifies Israel
and signed the recent petition of academics demanding severing ties between the University of Johannesburg and BenGurion University - told a senior Jewish Report staffer a few
days before the 2009 Limmud conference in Johannesburg
that he would be attending.
He admired what Limmud did in the Jewish community
and wanted to experience it for himself. “The Muslim community needs its own Limmud,” he explained.
Alas, when Limmud took place, the Jewish Report was
unable to find him. An explanation was never given, but one
can speculate he had either bowed to political pressure from
peers - some of whom had denounced Limmud for inviting an
Israeli legal adviser to the Israeli Defence Forces to speak,
and the academic played it safe by staying away - or he decided himself that the presence of various “Israeli” voices at the
conference convinced him that he must not attend the event.
Thus an entire group of people, with whom there is otherwise agreement on numerous key issues, were “boycotted”,
essentially defining them as the “other”, beyond the pale,
with whom there should be no interaction in an attempt to
understand their positions.
As long as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains unresolved, Muslim-Jewish interaction will be fraught with obstacles. Generally, the reluctance to engage - at least publicly - is
greater from the Muslim side, for inter alia the reasons which
prevented this academic from attending Limmud.
Jewish academics, organisations and others have tried frequently to foster open Muslim-Jewish dialogue, mostly
unsuccessfully.
Understandably, it is no simple matter for a man to break
ranks with his community’s sentiments and share a public
platform with the “arch-enemy”. In any conflict, things tend
to be seen in black and white terms, with no room for grey
areas. If he is a leader, he risks opprobrium from his supporters.
It is generally leaders with a perception of strength who are
able to engage the other side. A very pertinent South African
example is the writing of the South African Constitution,
which could be successful only as long as the main parties the National Party and the ANC - still presented an image of
strength to their followers.
There was a belief among Afrikaners and other Nat supporters that if discussions collapsed because of ANC intransigence, they had the power to conduct a civil war. Otherwise
they would not have allowed their leaders to “negotiate”.
Similarly, religious leaders can engage across ethnic/religious divides if they have “strength” or “gravitas”, despite
issues like the Middle East conflict and strong followers’ sentiments.
The story on page 2 about Imam Rashied Omar of the
Claremont Main Road Mosque in Cape Town attending a
Sukkat Shalom - place of peace - event under the banner of
the SA Jewish Board of Deputies (Cape Council), to which
leaders in various fields were invited, is illustrative.
He praised the Jewish community for “welcoming me as a
Muslim... It is a great gesture of hope in this time of distress.”
Religious leaders with “gravitas” can also, however, exacerbate alienation between communities. A recent, sad example
is Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu’s and Reverend Allan
Boesak’s support of the petition to boycott Ben-Gurion
University.
Tutu’s unfortunate choice of words in his article in a
Sunday newspaper backing the boycott, was deeply problematic.
He said: “Have our Jewish sisters and brothers forgotten
their own previous humiliation? Have they forgotten the collective punishment, the home demolitions, in their own history so soon? Have they turned their backs on their profound
and noble religious traditions? Have they forgotten that G-d
cares deeply about all the downtrodden?”
The reference to Jews as a group in this way, implying
“they” are callous people of one mindset engaging collectively in punishing innocent Palestinians, not only causes huge
resentment among Jews - including many who work tirelessly to find a just solution to the conflict - but plants in his followers’ minds the idea that Jews are not to be engaged with,
but only censured. After all, if Tutu preaches it, it must be
right.
Ultimately, promoting Jewish-Muslim dialogue is a workin-progress that cannot be allowed to lapse. As the Jewish
sage Hillel said: “You are not required to finish the task; but
neither are you free to absolve yourself from it.”
Boycott reinforces
voices of darkness
MY OLD friend Robert Fine (the Mail
& Guardian of October 8) has, in his
customarily luminous manner, put
the case against an academic boycott
in Israel in the most compelling light.
Briefly stated, Fine argues that proponents of the boycott have essentialised Jewish identity (“the Jews
should know better” or “the Jews
have forgotten their history”) so as to
create yet again a Jewish “other” to
justify a blanket boycott of the Israeli
academy.
By contrast, “progressive” voices
which focus exclusively on Israel,
seem to have contracted political and
moral amnesia as they ignore far
more pernicious regimes.
To be consistent, progressives cannot simply campaign against Israel
and elide over possible boycotts of
Iranian, Sudanese, Zimbabwean or
Burmese institutions.
A progressive political agenda cannot ignore repressive religious, political or homophobic regimes, no matter their stripe. Consistency of principle is surely necessary.
Needless to say, principle is hardly
in generous supply among more conservative elements within the community. They vociferously denounce
the academic boycott while simultaneously assailing the right of critics
of Israel to have any say!
The further argument that Israeli
tertiary institutes are but arms of a
repressive state, has not been accompanied by plausible evidence. To the
contrary, the power of ideas can
prove a far more powerful form of
THE JURY
IS OUT
Dennis Davis
political opposition than the dubious
argument that academic exchange
legitimates a recalcitrant Israeli government.
To take an example: How could a
boycott ever trump exposure to
Shlomo Sands’ “The Invention of the
Jewish People”, a devastating critique
of dominant Jewish and Zionist ideology, written by a member of Tel Aviv
University’s history department?
SA history can prove illuminating
in evaluating this debate. Whereas
financial sanctions proved a powerful
weapon against the apartheid state,
the academic boycott’s major
achievements was to filter out of the
academy many progressive voices
from many foreign universities.
Unlike Israel, many South African
universities were mainly extensions
of the apartheid state but, even then,
the unqualified academic boycott was
a silly ploy generated all too often by
breathless idealists or Stalinist
admirers who failed to grasp the
transformative potential of debate.
A disturbing implication of Fine’s
incisive critique is that the essentialising of Jewish identity runs the danger of promoting anti-Semitism and,
at the very least, lead to attacks
Reject anti-Muslim bigotry
ABRAHAM FOXMAN
BOSTON
IN RECENT months our
society has devolved into
one more and more characterised by polarisation,
rage, stridency and partisanship.
We find ourselves in a
time where people are put
to loyalty tests, where one’s
motivation in disagreeing is
interpreted in the most cynical way
no matter the record of the individual. And it opens one up to hyperbolic charges of one kind of another.
People can’t just have different legitimate opinions anymore — they are
charged with being guilty of betrayals, of conspiracies, of abandonment
of principles, of endangering all our
values.
Most symptomatic is the tendency
to exploit issues associated with an
ethnic, racial or religious group by
reviving or updating stereotypes
about a particular community.
Unfortunately, this is not new to
America. The classic case study is
the treatment of African Americans.
As American Jews we have been
subjected to virulent anti-Semitism,
often with the acquiescence of government or its apathy. Catholics, too,
were victims of religious prejudice.
As recent as 50 years ago, some questioned whether a Catholic should be
president: Would John F Kennedy be
directed by the pope rather than the
American people? Mormons continue to be ridiculed for their religious
beliefs.
Now, as a result of the debate surrounding the mosque near Ground
Zero, we are witnessing a surge in
anti-Muslim bigotry. It is evident
that this surge is taking place with
greater force now than at a time
when one might have expected it,
immediately after 9/11.
At that time we were worried about an explosion of
hatred against American
Muslims, particularly after
there were a few serious
incidents following the terrorist tragedy. As things
turned out, anti-Muslim bigotry did not explode. Yes,
there were incidents, and
even one is too many, but
dire predictions did not
materialise.
But now, nine years later, we are
seeing a surge of incidents. I believe it
is related to the broader trends in
America — the lack of civility, the tendency to see enemies all around and
the reinforcement of prejudicial views
rather than diverse views.
Islam is one of the worldís great religions. But like Judaism and Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism and
others, if it isn’t your religion you
most likely have little knowledge, if
any, of its beliefs and practices.
Ignorance has always been one of the
common denominators of those who
are bigoted against “the others”. And
ignorance can breed fear, which too
easily can become hatred.
The Muslim community in America
is being confronted by ugly, in-yourface religious bigotry and we must
speak out against it, educate against it
and label it anti-American.
Therefore, despite the fact that there
is a serious enmity between the
Children of Ishmael and the Children
of Isaac, despite the fact that the greatest conveyer belt for anti-Semitic
incitement in the world today comes
from the Muslim world in the Middle
East, in North Africa, in Europe and
even in Latin America, and despite the
fact that Hamas, Hezbollah, al-Qaida,
and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his
Iranian regime purport to speak in the
name of Islam, and commit to end
against many Jewish academics
unless they denounce the existence of
Israel.
Equally disturbing is the act of
double discrimination of progressive
voices who are singled out in Israel,
and now in the international academic community.
Who will benefit from this boycott
campaign? In the first place, those on
both sides of the conflict who least
desire peace will doubtless enjoy the
benefit of silence from voices of reason and respect for the dignity of the
“other”.
Contrary to right wing propaganda, there are voices of reason in this
debate and they should not be stifled.
They must surely be promoted in
order to take on the voices of hatred
in both Palestine and Israel and
beyond.
Closer to home, any debate about
the conflict will now take place without the benefit of those who eschew
hatred of the other side.
Freedom of speech and exchange of
ideas is critical to any and every form
of progressive politics.
This boycott lacks principle in that
it singles out Jews alone and pretends
that only Israel is guilty of oppressive
conduct and that voices of far more
brutal repression in other countries
do not matter.
If they did, why not devote a small
percentage of the energy expended
on Israel in defence of their rights?
The academic boycott, sadly,
amounts to a call to reinforce the
voices of darkness. For these reasons,
I for one have no hesitation in concluding that the academic boycott is
hardly a form of progressive politics.
To the contrary, it may well endanger
all forms of Jewish identity in its
attempt to essentialise the Jew and it
most certainly will not strengthen the
voice of peace and reconciliation.
Israel’s existence and to the destruction of the Jewish people, when religious bigotry rears its ugly head
against Muslims, we must speak out.
We must differentiate between
extreme theology and ideology in
Islam and condemn it and challenge
it, while at the same time define and
separate it from the non-extremist
ideology and theology.
We must condemn the brand of
Islam that venerates violence and
intolerance, and welcome into the
modern world the rest of Islam that
rejects violence and intolerance.
We must speak out when there are
threats to burn the Muslim holy
book, the Qur’an. ADL condemned
the threat to burn the Qur’an on
“Burn a Qur’an Day” in Gainesville,
Florida and spearheaded a coalition
of interfaith leaders to speak out
with the message of “we will not
remain silent in the face of religious
Intolerance”.
We must speak out when Muslims
face opposition to the legal building,
expansion or relocation of their
houses of worship - their mosques,
which is why we established an
interfaith task force. We must speak
out when Muslims are denied religious accommodation.
We believe you fight hatred - be it
because of one’s religion, race, ethnicity - with legitimate action and
civil discourse.
By standing up, speaking out, saying no to religious bigotry, gaining
understanding and respect through
education and working together, we
can - to borrow an ADL catchphrase
- make a world of difference and at
the same time strengthen the fabric
of our democratic and diverse society. We can do no less. We can help
restore respect and civility. (JTA)
Abraham H Foxman is the national
director of the Anti-Defamation
League. This op-ed was adapted from
a speech he delivered to ADL’s annual
meeting in Boston on October 7.
15 - 22 October 2010
SA JEWISH REPORT
11
OPINION AND ANALYSIS
FORUM FOR DIVERSE VIEWS
Speculating whether the apocalypse is nigh
THE SOUTHERN Cape region is evidently
emerging as something of a stronghold of
Christian Zionism. The latest initiative is
an “Israel solidarity breakfast”, to be held
in Oudtshoorn on November 16. Highranking church leaders are lined up to
attend, although Jews there will be none,
as the event falls on Shabbos.
Reading through the invitation, with its
end-of-days Biblical allusion to “Jacob’s
time of trouble”, I was struck anew at how
much traditional Christians seem to “get”
what is going on better than most Jews do.
Maintaining as they do a serious belief
in Biblical teachings, including prophecy,
they recognise how much the unfolding of
Jewish history, particularly over the last
six or seven decades, would seem to resonate with what the Jewish prophets and
sages foretold so many centuries ago.
If the events the latter foresaw would
come to pass, were commonplace ones,
something that other nations have experienced as well, then even if what they predicted took place, it would not constitute
prophecy.
In fact, the seminal events of Jewish
history appear to be so unique, unprecedented and unparalleled that it is difficult
to imagine how they could have been
accurately foretold even fairly close to the
time they happened, let alone way back in
the pre-Christian era.
One very obvious such event is the
return of Jewish exiles from all over the
world, where they had been scattered for
nearly two millennia, to the land of their
forebears.
Some would argue that the hope of ultimately returning to Israel created a selffulfilling prophecy, in which the very
belief in a future return of national sovereignty generated the necessary impetus
to eventually make it a reality.
While that is plausible so far as it goes,
just because a belief in a future restoration of Jewish national independence in
Israel existed, did not mean that the conditions making this possible would ever
necessarily come into being.
“Palestine” could easily have emerged
as an independent, non-Jewish state at
any time during those 19 centuries of
exile, or perhaps it could have been incorporated within a larger post-colonial
Middle Eastern country. Either way, the
Jewish return would have been rendered
all but impossible.
What happened instead, was that,
under the rule of a succession of empires,
the status of the land remained virtually
in limbo, with no indigenous national liberation movement emerging from within
the small local population before the
Jewish return began getting seriously
underway.
The Prophets could not reasonably have
foreseen this, nor could they have antici-
BARBARIC
YAWP
David Saks
pated that once Israel was established, it
would be subjected to a worldwide campaign of Arab-instigated opprobrium
aimed at its elimination.
No
humanitarian
distress
over
Palestinian national rights was ever
expressed prior to Israel’s founding,
when other regimes occupied the land;
why, then, has it become the subject of
such obsessive international concern
now that the Jews are back?
Again, such bizarre developments
could not reasonably have been predicted
more than 20 millennia ago, yet this
would seem to have been very clearly
anticipated in the Jewish sacred writings.
Today’s Christian Zionists tend to be
far more enthused over all of this than
Jews themselves. Actually, in some ways
the position they find themselves in is
quite an enviable one.
Whereas we poor Yiddlach must continually be in the spotlight, subjected to
hostile scrutiny by a largely uncomprehending, suspicious world, they can witness the unfolding of the Divine Master
Plan from the relative safety of the sidelines.
A Christian Zionist need not go public
with his pro-Israel views if he doesn’t
wish to, but a Jew is assumed as a matter
of course of being pro-Zionist and consequently will be an object of dislike until
he/she unequivocally renounces that
heresy.
Subjected to these pressures, whether
in their working or social environments,
some Jews are caving in, usually going on
to sanitise their apostasy by depicting it
as emanating from a moral conviction,
strong enough to transcend narrow ethnic loyalties. The rest of us soldier on
doggedly, continually parrying, if only in
our own minds, the unending slanders,
insults, falsehoods, double-standards
and, increasingly, threats from those presuming to give us moral instruction.
Who can forget Emeritus Bishop
Desmond Tutu’s recent appeal - one so
arrogant, presumptuous, hypocritical
and smug as to almost take one’s breath
away - for us wicked Yidden to rediscover
our lost humanity in line with the lessons
of our history and religious teachings?
Encouraging as it is to know that there
is a large constituency out there quietly
rooting for Israel, one does wonder what
the practical benefits of this are.
So far as the mainstream institutions
that fashion public opinion go - academia,
the media, the political arena, NGOs - it is
very much to be one-way traffic, with
anti-Israel attitudes being entrenched
and ever worsening.
Whatever Christian Zionists are telling
themselves within their own circles, their
impact out there seems to be very limited.
Maybe the majority of them are happy
simply to limit their support to passive
acts of private identification, since in the
ever-escalating hostility towards Israel this “Time of Jacob’s Trouble” - they
anticipate history’s culminating end of
days crisis that will herald the world’s
redemption.
But what if this doesn’t happen after
all? Haunted though I am by pre-apocalyptic obsessions of my own, I sometimes
wonder whether we are destined to experience a few more sharp twists in the tale
before the final cataclysm is upon us.
12
SA JEWISH REPORT
15 - 22 October 2010
TAPESTRY
ART, BOOKS, DANCE, FILM, THEATRE
ARTS MATTERS
COMPILED BY
ROBYN SASSEN
Call 084-319-7844 or
[email protected] at least one
week prior to publication
Blank Projects, Woodstock,
Cape Town: “Never Falling
Together”, new paintings by
Trasi Henen, until October 31,
072-198-9221.
Brenthurst Library,
Parktown: “Portuguese
Presence in Africa and the
East: Early Exploration to
Colonial Empire”, until
October 29, by appointment,
(011) 544-5400.
Goodman Gallery,
Rosebank: “TJ”,
Johannesburg photographs by
David Goldblatt, until
November 6, (011) 788-1113.
Joburg Theatre,
Braamfontein: In the Fringe,
Matthew Ribnick’s “Monkey
Nuts”, until October 31, (011)
877-6800.
Johannesburg Art Gallery,
Joubert Park:
“Transformations: Women’s
Art from the Late 19th
Century to 2010”, curated by
Nessa Leibhammer, Reshma
Chhiba and Musha Nehuleni,
until January 31, 2011, (011)
725-3130.
Linder Auditorium,
Parktown: On October 20 and
21, the JPO performs
Respighi’s “Fountains of
Rome”, Chopin’s Piano
Concerto no 2 and variations
on “La ci darem la mano” and
Tchaikovsky’s “Francesca di
Rimini”. Conductor:
Alessandro Crudele; Soloist:
Melvyn Tan (piano), (011) 7892733.
Market, Newtown: In the
Barney Simon, Sylvaine
Strike’s “Butcher Brothers”,
until October 17; in the Laager,
Craig Higginson’s “Girl in the
Yellow Dress”, opens October
21, (011) 832-1641.
Montecasino, Fourways: In
the Main Theatre, “Evita”,
until October 31. In the Studio,
Tonya Koenderman’s “Diaries
of a Down and Out Diva”,
Tonya Koenderman, until
October 17. In Teatro,
“Mamma Mia”, starring Ilse
Klink, Kate Normington and
Gina Shmukler, until
December 29, (011) 511-1988.
Old Mutual Theatre on the
Square, Sandton: “WE and
them”, with Lena Farugia and
Robert Davies, until October
23. The Friday lunch concert
features Miro Chakaryan (violin), Susan Mouton (‘cello) and
Annalien Ball (piano) on
October 15; and Donny
Bouwer (trumpet), Michael
Magner (trumpet), Shannon
Armer (horn), Bez Roberts
(trombone) and Alex Hitzeroth
(bass trombone), on October
22, (011) 883-8606.
Wits complex,
Braamfontein: In the
Nunnery, as part of the fourth
year directors’ festival,
Courtneigh Cloud directs her
play, “The Boys from the
Ashes”, about the ghetto experiences of her grandfather
Israel Gurwicz. October 16,
082-787-2790.
Wallis Simpson portrayed
with insight and empathy
Show: “We and Them”, Old Mutual
Theatre on the Square, Sandton,
(011) 883-8606
Cast: Robert Davies, Lena Farugia
Director: Ingrid Sonnichsen;
restaged by Christopher Weare
Playwright: Lena Farugia
Design: John Caviggia (set and costumes), Oliver Hauser (lighting)
Until: October 23
REVIEWED BY ROBYN SASSEN
IN A THEATRE gem which is not,
from the outset, obviously so, husband and wife Farugia and Davies
tell of Wallis Simpson, the Duchess
of Windsor, the woman responsible
for King Edward VIII abdicating.
It flays open British monarchy to
reveal not only fashion sins but also
outrageous hypocrisy. Simpson’s
status as an almost twice-divorced
40-year-old when the king fell in
love with her, remained a fly in the
monarchical ointment.
The first half of this historical
drama is thwarted by static staging
and text-heaviness. Its lack of sensational devices on stage enable it
to reveal a complete understanding
of the world and the period, but it
takes time to become engaging.
Intimate reference to the whole
gamut of British royalty makes for
hard work, if you lack context. The
play opens to reflect the now-widowed Simpson, reliving challenges:
ghosts, insecurities and sadnesses
of the past scuttle into her present.
Born Bessie Wallis Warfield to an
American socialite family in 1896,
her second marriage was on the
brink when she began her affair
with Edward, Prince of Wales. Two
years after Edward’s accession to
the throne, she divorced her husband; Edward proposed marriage.
This created a much publicised constitutional crisis in Britain. Six
months later, Edward, forced to abdicate, was retitled Duke of Windsor.
Punning the concept of the royal
“we”, the play, premised on the relationship between Wallis and Edward
and “them” - the rest of the British
royal family - begins woodenly; its
first half reveals Simpson obsessed
with the niceties of table-settings
and necklaces, but skittering in her
head between past and present
alarmingly.
The portrayal is apt; the flow of
narrative, turgid. After interval, the
stiff-upper-lip British humour tossed
into the Americanness of Simpson’s
repartee takes momentum and holds
the work with delicate subtly framed
poignancy that doesn’t detract from
a compassionate portray of dementia; yet the bitchiness of her barbs
puts her up there with Dorothy
Parker and Noel Coward.
The play fleshes out an empathetic, three-dimensional reflection of
Lena Farugia plays Wallis Simpson,
the divorced woman who married
the King of England. (PHOTOGRAPHS
COURTESY OLD MUTUAL THEATRE ON
THE SQUARE)
Simpson, a vulnerable, yet brave and
ultimately honest character. Like
Princess Diana, she set the imagination of the non-royal world alight.
She proved herself able to reveal
the flaws in the façade of British royalty, but was a tragic casualty. In an
ultimately satisfying and moving
theatre experience, Farugia gracefully takes her place alongside Faye
Dunaway and Jane Seymour, portrayers of this somehow victorious
woman on the silver screen.
Crudele and Rowland make
for a most enjoyable evening
Concert: Johannesburg
Philharmonic Orchestra (Linder)
Conductor: Alessandro Crudele
Soloist: Daniel Rowland, violin
Programme: Music by Rossini,
Tchaikovsky, Dvorák and Brahms
REVIEWED BY PAUL BOEKKOOI
EXPECTATIONS ARE high for
this JPO season, the final one in
the orchestra’s 10th year. They can
stay that way if the thrust of musical inspiration can be sustained up
to the sixth and final concert on
November
10
and
11
in
Johannesburg, and 12 in Pretoria.
With young Italian conductor
Alessandro Crudele making his
local debut in four concerts, and
Bernhard Gueller leading the
remaining two, sparks might fly.
Crudele is an unassuming maestro, but reassuringly forthright in
his communication with the
orchestra. In Rossini’s “Il signor
Bruschino” Overture he demonstrated that in the JPO he has a
flexible body of performers who
capture every required inflection,
quirk of articulation, and give-andtake of tempo which he demands
with seeming ease. There were also
some remarkably fine wind solos.
Daniel Rowland has all but a fairweather musical temperament or a
kind of fabric softener approach to
Tchaikovsky’s only violin concerto.
Its stern, vigorous, full of energy,
intensity and entirely free from the
kind of sentimental inflation which
well might have (over decades) distorted our view of this work.
True, there were some minor
blemishes, especially in the opening movement; no one in the audience could have appreciated his
temperamental foot-stamping on
the Linder’s wooden podium floor.
This was evened out by
Rowland’s splendid resource of
technique and tone, including varied dynamics and a well considered
application of subtle changes in the
intensity of his vibrato. The only
slightly old-world impression he
left us with was his observation of
the portamento indications with-
out swoopy-soupy exaggeration.
In the Canzonetta there was
more of a huskiness to the tonal
quality. Also an engaging sweetness, perfectly fitting in with the
kind of atmosphere the conductor
and orchestra established from the
opening bars of this movement.
Technically the finale, Allegro
Vivacissimo, reached the levels of
super-accomplishment. During the
Wednesday performance Rowland’s
E string lost its tension and within
seconds he begged and grabbed the
concert master’s violin and continued playing. After Miro Chakaryan
fiddled around (forgive the pun)
with Rowland’s Lorenzo Storioni
instrument, they swapped violins
again and the performance continued without an eyelid being batted.
In the second half the JPO continued their exploration of the lesser-known orchestral works by
Dvorák with the rarely performed
Symphonic Variations. Crudele
maintained a Czech pastoral freshness and a seamless flow throughout the theme, the following 27 vari-
Daniel Rowland.
(PHOTOGRAPH: PATRICK ALLEN)
ations and the finale.
In such a warm and strongly
characterised reading, it was the
expressive, moulded style which
brought out the composer’s sheer
delight in just letting his invention
blossom. Crudele’s ingrained exploration of the music’s inner textures
made the reading even more stimulating.
It was enhanced by an impeccable orchestral balance amidst subtle spotlighting of certain sections
and avoiding brass domination.
The Brahms Variations on a
Theme by Haydn reflected the twin
ingredients of classical severity
and romantic warmth, but were
happily blended and cleverly balanced. Tempi were for the most
part traditional; the handling of
subtle effects was often masterly.
FOR THE RECORD
Bella Chagall died in 1944, not 1949
IN LAST week's article on the donation of three lithographs by Marc Chagall to the Constitutional Court in Hillbrow, it was erroneously stated that
Bella nee Rosenfeld, Chagall's first wife, died in 1949. She did, in fact die on September 2, 1944, at the age of 49.
FELDMAN
ON FILM
Peter Feldman
PICK OF THE WEEK
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Cast: Michael Nyqvist; Noomi Repace; Lene
Endre, Sven-Bertil Taube; Peter Haber
Director: Niels Arden Oplev (Swedish with
English subtitles)
Long before this film - the first of the
Millennium Trilogy by the late Swedish author
Stieg Larsson - was made, the book had already
sold millions and caused a veritable publishing
storm around the globe.
Every third person you met had read the
books and most were eagerly awaiting its screen
adaptation. The first episode has now been
brought vividly to the screen, an enthralling
treatment by an accomplished Swedish team.
The story is set in the present and opens with
a discredited financial journalist, Mikael
Blomkvist (Nyqvist), being sentenced to a short
jail term for a libellous article about one of the
country’s most powerful business personalities.
While mulling over his predicament, Mikael
is contacted by Henrik Vanger (Taube), head of
the influential Vanger Group, who wants him to
help unravel a 40-year-old mystery, the disappearance of his niece, Harriet.
She had disappeared from a family gathering
on the island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger clan. Her body was never found,
yet her uncle is convinced it was murder and
the killer is a member of his own family.
With the help of a tattooed and ruthless computer hacker, Lisbeth Salander (Repace), the
pair discovers that Harriet’s disappearance can
be linked to a number of grotesque murders.
The Vangers are a fiercely secretive clan, and
Blomkvist and Salander soon find out just how
far they have to go to protect themselves.
Viewers are not spared the realistic horror
that peppers the production, including the brutal rape of Salander.
The punk-influenced character provides the
film with some of its most disturbing elements
as Noomi Rapace imbues her with a strong,
forceful will. It’s a telling performance.
The novel has been condensed, plotlines have
been truncated to save time and the film
changes the order and attribution of some of
the discoveries in the case.
However, each of the important components
in the overall puzzle is neatly attached, resulting in a seemingly convoluted story making
sense at the end.
Key characters are exposed, motives are
revealed and the whole shocking exercise succeeds in leaving its mark - no easy task.
Director Oplev relies on stark imagery, some
graphic sequences of sexual violence and
debauchery, and excellent performances from
his Swedish cast, to shape the bestseller into a
literate and intelligent accomplishment.
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is riveting.
15 - 22 October 2010
SA JEWISH REPORT
TAPESTRY - ART, BOOKS, DANCE, FILM, THEATRE
Indeterminate journey of grief
Every Last One by Anna Quindlen
(Random House Struik, R215)
REVIEWED BY GWEN PODBREY
IF TOLSTOY had ever expanded on
his maxim that “happy families are
all alike”, he might have cautioned
about the temporal nature of that
happiness, or reminded us that it frequently exists only in hindsight,
when it is too late to recapture, but
too vivid to forget.
For Mary Beth Latham and her
family, happiness is not something to
dwell on. There is far too much to do.
There are three teenage children Ruby and her twin sons, Alex and
Max - to attend to, with their bickering, their demands, their insecurities
and their magical entries into adulthood.
For Mary Beth, who runs a landscaping service in her spare time, life
is a never-ending, exultant round of
preparing meals, running a home,
being everyone’s best friend, a wife, a
mother and a supremely contented
woman.
There is her husband, Glen, an
ophthalmologist who is a good, caring and patient father. There are
strings of her own girlfriends, all
close and reliable confidantes, who
have shared with her many of her
life’s milestones.
There is a beloved family dog, and
then there are hordes of her friends’
children who regard her home as
their own, and who inhabit it blithely and freely, welcome to join the
family for their meals, sleep over in
their lounge or spare bedrooms and
bask in the warmth of a busy, laughter-filled house.
One of these children is Kiernan,
Ruby’s boyfriend: a gangly, awkward
adolescent whose attachment to the
girl has become worrying, of late, as
it is showing signs of obsession.
But Kiernan - who comes from a
broken home - is so deeply ensconced in the Lathams’ inner circle,
treating it as his own territory, that
nobody has the heart to oust him.
Ruby tells him first gently, then more
firmly, that she resents his posses-
siveness. When this falls
on deaf ears, Glen
Latham finally tells the
boy that his hanging
around the house is neither healthy nor welcome.
There is another worry
too, as Max - Alex’s twin begins showing signs of
clinical depression. A shy,
inward-turned boy who
feels overshadowed by his
brother, Max is going for
counselling to help forge his own
identity and develop the confidence
he needs.
Apart from these remarkably normal adolescent issues, though, the
Lathams’ life lacks very little. They
have money, good friends, good
standing, decent children and are
living the American Dream.
Indeed, the first half of the novel narrated by Mary Beth - delves so
intricately into the minutiae of her
daily round of gardening, cooking
and parenting that the reader
becomes a little exasperated, wondering where all this is leading.
“Sometimes I feel as though the
entire point of a woman’s life is to
fall in love with people who will
leave her,” muses Mary Beth, witnessing her children’s rapid maturation. “The only variation I can see is
the ones who fight the love, and the
ones who fight the leaving.”
But it is the speculation of a contented woman, who has no reason to
engage with any dark possibilities or
real separation.
So, when the novel suddenly
implodes with an appalling act of
violence, we reel in horror, feeling as
if it has struck us personally. The
sheer homicidal energy of this event
- coming, as it does, out of nowhere is so combustible that we are dazed
by it, disbelieving and certain that it
is all a terrible mistake.
Anna Quindlen has involved us so
intimately with the Lathams during
the preamble to this event that, like
Mary Beth, we have been seduced
into complacency. And when the
blow comes, we must now walk with
From ballet to Latino-Jazz
MOIRA SCHNEIDER
CAPE TOWN
FORMER CAPAB ballet dancer and
director of the London City Ballet,
Harold King, is moving in a new
direction, having been hooked by
the allure of Latino-Jazz, which he
says has become “far more popular”.
The idea took root when he was
invited on the Queen Mary 2’s Cape
Town to Rio de Janeiro voyage earlier this year to lecture to passengers.
At his suggestion, he gave a ballet
and a jazz class, the latter of which
he says “took off in a big way”.
“I suddenly got this feeling that I
should throw in some salsa and
tango and they loved it. I even did a
bit of African tribal dancing, a bit of
toyi-toying,” he laughingly recalls.
King is not a newcomer to the
Latino-Jazz genre though: As part of
his undergraduate studies at the
University of Cape Town Ballet
School, he trained in Spanish
Dance. And when he ran the
London City Ballet, he “picked up a
lot of the moves” from the choreographer who worked on “Five
Tangos” for him.
Durban-born King trained in classical ballet in Cape Town from the
age of five, joined Capab, then left
for London in 1970. In 1977, the twenty-something-year-old founded the
London City Ballet that boasted the
late Princess Diana as its patron for
18 years and with whom he “formed
a strong friendship”.
His intention had been to stay for
Harold King gives a Latino-Jazz dance class in Sea Point. (PHOTO: SUPPLIED)
her on the long, indeterminate journey of grief.
The account of this
journey - explored with
delicacy, yet brutal accuracy - cannot fail to cast
hooks into any reader
who has ever battled
through bereavement, or
been cast down into the
secret, private world
within where images and
memories of loved ones
are all-consuming, and
any communication with others is
an ordeal.
As with all loss, the first few days
are surreal, permitting only chinks
of reality to permeate denial.
“‘Would you like to see them?’ they
had asked me in the hospital and
suddenly, with terror and revulsion,
I had known that they were there, in
the same building, waiting to be
claimed, waiting for someone to
make some decision. I suddenly
understood that, if I stumbled into
the hall and then the elevator and
rode down to the bowels of the
building, I could find their bodies not them, just some terrible battered empty facsimile. ‘No,’ I said.
‘No.’ For a moment I thought that
terrible noise would begin again,
now that I knew the noise came
from inside myself.”
But as time progresses, Mary
Beth must make agonising decisions. The worst of these are not the
big ones (where to live, what to say
to the insurance agents), but the
tiny, excruciating betrayals of the
dead: buying a toothbrush or a new
garment, for example, or winding a
watch, because these are the acts
which imply a future ñ a time without those who are gone, and a world
they no longer inhabit.
Quindlen’s skill in tracing the
shapes and declivities of loss - and
the courage needed to survive them
- is breathtaking. Her writing is
deceptively simple; her truths are
delivered powerfully, recognisable
instantly as territory many of us
have personally trodden, making
this an unforgettable novel.
three years - he ended up remaining
for 33 before returning to South
Africa.
King disabuses me of the notion
that his new love is much faster and
more energetic than his old.
“Classical ballet is far harder - no
question,” he emphasises.
Referring to the Latino-Jazz classes he has started giving in Sea Point,
he says: “I do lots of sultry, sensuous
moves which middle-aged ladies like.
I always say to them: ‘Breathe fire!’
“I do hardly any jumping - it’s not
hectic.”
On October 20, King is co-ordinating a Latino fundraiser at the River
Club in Observatory, Cape Town for
the Amy Biehl Foundation, which
will feature Salsa and tango dancers
and a Latino-Jazz demonstration
class by him.
“I’ve always had a great deal of
admiration for the Foundation, having heard the story of how the
(American) parents (of Amy Biehl)
forgave the murderers of their
daughter, in Guguletu in 1993 and
how they were rehabilitated and
worked for the Foundation,” he
explains.
Being Jewish, he says he is very
keen to do the same or a similar
event for a Jewish charity, adding on
reflection: “I wouldn’t mind being an
events organiser.”
Now that is an offer one cannot
refuse!
• The River Club fundraiser will
include canapés, snacks, wine, a
floorshow and voluntary audience
participation. Tickets at R150 each,
are obtainable from the Amy Biehl
Foundation, (021) 462-5052.
13
14
SA JEWISH REPORT
15 - 22 October 2010
LETTERS
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Disclaimer: The letters page is intended to provide opportunity for a range of views on any
given topic to be expressed. Opinions articulated in the letters are those of the writers and do not
necessarily reflect the views of the editor, staff or directors of the Jewish Report
KLINGER MAY PLAY CRICKET WHENEVER HE WANTS
ONE CAN assume that Aubrey Girnun and
Brian Joffe are Jewish Orthodox practitioners
who have chosen to castigate Australian
Redbacks cricket captain Michael Klinger for
playing Champions League Twenty20 cricket
erev Yom Kippur (9 Tishrei).
First of all you “holier than thou loshen horarers” and your likeminded, as you claim,
thinkers, it’s none of your business. Michael is
an outstanding sportsman who chooses to play
and lead his cricket team. It’s a personal choice.
Secondly, for me, Yom Kippur is a heartwrenching day - a yahrtzeit. A very close
eigeneh home boy (Norman) Rami Katz of 14th
Avenue, Mayfair was killed on Yom Kippur,
defending our Eretz Yisrael. Would you and
your like-minded Orthodox thinking Jews
The Editor, Suite 175, Postnet X10039, Randburg, 2125 email: [email protected]
(whom you refer to) condemn Rami Katz for sacrificing his life in the Yom Kippur war?
By your reasoning, are Michael and Rami bad,
disgraceful Jews? Are Orthodox Jews the only good
Jews?
If you wish to vent your spleen, do so with regard
to the kipot clad adult and two kipot clad youngsters who damaged a municipal parks department
palm tree to cover a succah, on the border of
Cyrildene and Mountain View at the top of Sylvia
Pass. Or the Radio ChaiFM anchor who, after a fine
learned Rabbi delivered a very interesting message
remarked (words to the effect), “There you have it straight from the horse’s mouth!”
Russel Sadowsky
Johannesburg
DISAPPOINTMENT AT TUTU, BOESAK SUPPORT FOR UJ-BGU
TIE SUSPENSION
I READ in the Jewish Report of the 200
South Africans, mostly academics, who
are supporting a petition appealing to the
University of Johannesburg to suspend
academic ties with the Ben-Gurion
University of the Negev.
I cannot speak for the academics but as
a Christian I am dismayed and saddened
to see that Emeritus Archbishop Desmond
Tutu and Dr Alan Boesak have added their
names to this petition. Both men are
known nationally and internationally as
Christians, and their opinions are influential and highly regarded by many.
However, as a very ordinary Christian I
am compelled to voice my protest and
say that these two men do not represent
my understanding of the situation Israel
faces today. Nor do they represent the
thousands of Christians in South Africa
who understand from the Bible the eternal purposes of the G-d of Israel which
are working out in the Middle East in full
sight of all the nations.
I can only add that should the University of Johannesburg comply, South
Africa will be the greater loser.
D Ogilvie
Claremont, Cape Town
SAJR NEGATIVE HEADLINES ‘TRUE TO FORM’
LET’S RETURN TO THE TEACHINGS OF THE RAMBAM
YOUR HEADLINE of October 4 (SA academics
demand freezing ties with Israeli university) is
true to form. If there is a negative way to express
the news, you will always choose it !
Coincidentally I have before me a report of the
rally in Rome in support of Israel One, which Farid
Ghadry, a Syrian dissident, is planning to attend
This is what he says and I quote: “I am making
the trip, first and foremost, because I truly believe
Israel is a blessing to the region. Imagine how
despotic the Middle East would be without her.
Instead of 22 Arab tyrannies, we would have 23
(tyrannies)!
“Instead of Nobel prizewinners we would have
more suicide bombers. Instead of learning from a
Western culture right next door to us, we would
embed further an Islamic culture gone astray.”
This, Mr editor, from a Syrian who, surely in
his formative years, must have been fed the standard anti-Israel poison He proclaims Israel is a
blessing !
MAYBE MODERN medicine has reached
the crossroads or its zenith and has to
now look back to the teachings of Moses
Maimonides (the Rambam), perhaps the
greatest physician of all time! As the saying goes, from Moses to Moses.
He was a great medical doctor who
cured many afflictions including asthma,
boils, haemorrhoids, etc.
He was a great believer in Galen and
upheld the philosophy of Aristotle. His
13 principles of faith show an awesome
respect for the A-mighty and the perception of there being a Higher Power.
The saying, physician heal yourself,
may well have stemmed from Maimonides and today in the US the
Maimonides or Rambam Medical Centre
is in existence as a memento in honour of
his greatness. He was also a renowned
philosopher and legal prophesier.
He would see endless rows of patients
Now juxtapose this with your headline. Both
cannot be applicable.
Why do you so frequently wish to be the echo
for those whose activities seek to delegitimise
or weaken Israel?
Think of the Farid Ghadry s and all the luminaries (non-Jews!) marching in Rome for
Israel. Israel a blessing! Indeed!
Theo Musikanth
Sea Point, Cape Town
As our letter writer does not specify which headline is supposed to be “true to form” negative, I
take it he means the page one headline which I
had to insert into the letter, as he did not specify
it, otherwise the comment would not make sense.
The headline is as factual as can be. How would
you put a positive spin on the happenings? We
report on what is happening, we don’t create the
news. We stand by our headline(s). - Editor
DANIEL AND FRIENDS WON’T BLOW THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL DOWN
AFTER READING Moira Schneider’s account
of the attempt by Daniel Mackintosh and his
Islamist friends to “boycott” Ahava products by
taking them off the shelves and then refusing
to pay for them, I collapsed with laughter. Good
grief, I thought, how infantile can one get!
I wondered when was the last time little
Daniel dried behind his ears, ag siestog.
However, when I read the fuller version of
what actually happened (sent to me by a friend
in Cape Town) and the disgusting language
uttered by Zackie Achmat (by Daniel too?) I
shuddered with horror and indignation. I wonder if the SA Zionist Federation and the Jewish
Board of Deputies will take action
Allow me to give Daniel and his Islamist
cohorts a short history lesson: The areas now
known as the West Bank and Gaza were explicitly designated for Jewish settlement by international bodies (the League of Nations in 1922;
this right of settlement was later upheld in the
UN Charter).
In 1967 these areas were recaptured from
Jordan and Egypt which had seized and occupied them in an act of aggression in 1948.
So, Danny Boy, you and your friends can huff
and puff as much as you like, the House of
Israel will continue to exist as a Jewish and
democratic state.
Benjamin Katzman
Telmond, Israel
BOYCOTT ‘WALL STREET’ BECAUSE OF STONE’S STANCE
WHETHER YOU are a yuppie, trader, broker
or a regular filmgoer, I urge you NOT to go and
see the new “Wall Street” movie, because of
Oliver Stone’s negative stance on Eretz
Yisrael... before it’s too late!
Judah Israel
Orange Grove, Johannesburg
PS: For that matter, pull your kids out of UJ and
put them in Wits... which isn’t that great either!
WE REMEMBER THE FALLEN WITH LOVE AND PRIDE
KOL HAKAVOD to Lt Col WJ Bergman (letter
in the Jewish Report of September 17)
expressing disappointment at the apathy and
non-attendance by the Jewish community in
commemorating the Remembrance Day services held annually between Rosh Hashanah
and Yom Kippur, to honour the Jewish soldiers killed in action: the First World War 1914 - 1919; the Second World War - 1939 - 1945;
Israeli wars of Independence; Korean War;
and South African Jewish soldiers - Angola.
Our brother, Morris Resnik enlisted in the
Imperial Light Horse Regiment in 1940/41. He
was killed in action in Bardia, Egypt on
December 31, 1941.
Where are the families of the South African
soldiers who made the supreme sacrifice?
Our brother is in our thoughts constantly and
we remember him with love, pride and honour.
Harold and Edna Resnik and family
Debbie Ezra and family
Gresswold, Johannesburg
WIDE REACH OF THE SA JEWISH REPORT DEMONSTRATED
I RECENTLY wrote to you from Melbourne,
Australia, and asked if you had a “Roots” section
in you newspaper.
You published my request looking for descendants of Annie Sirember, born in Manchester,
England and died in Johannesburg in 1969.
Within 24 hours of your publication, I received
an e-mail from Texas, USA, saying: “I am
Annie’s granddaughter.”
I have now found some of Annie’s descendants
living in Perth, Australia.
So, a very big thanks to your South African
Jewish Report.
Les Kausman
Melbourne, Australia
LOOKING FOR...
LOOKING FOR INFORMATION ON KARL FRIEDMANN
DORIS STRASSBURGER, a woman pastor
from Essen-Kray in Germany, is looking for
information on Karl Friedmann, born in 1903.
He fled from Thüringen-Saalfeld/Saale,
Germany around 1938 and it is believed he
might have left for South Africa.
Strassburger is interested in the life of Karl
Friedmann, as he was a friend of her mother.
If anyone has information on Karl Friedmann,
please contact Kaja Kopkow of the GoetheInstitut in Johannesburg, tel (011) 442-3232, or email her at [email protected]
and then fall exhausted into his bed. He
had many personal tragedies but perhaps the greatest was when his brother
drowned. His brother was a gem merchant and supported Maimonides’ Torah
studies.
Maimonides’ greatest contribution
was the Mishnah Torah and it outlines
his dedication to Judaism and his commitment to Torah studies.
But perhaps the Rambam can be compared to any great physician of our times
and perhaps the time has come to revert
back to his medical teachings
The modern medical doctor or physician of today, can learn a great deal from
the medical doctrines of the greatest
physician of all time, Moses Maimonides,
also known as the Rambam.
Dr H DSolomons
Highlands North, Johannesburg
JEWS SHOULD BUILD NUMBERS THROUGH CONVERTS
ISRAEL AND Jews: Why are they always
the object of double standards and humiliation? Why can we not get a fair hearing
in the court of world opinion?
In my opinion, it is because we are easy
targets. The Jews are a small, weak nation
that is easy to kick around with very few
consequences. For instance, I think it is
fair to say that the Muslims and leftists
behind the boycotts, divestment campaigns, and this latest UJ-Ben-Gurion outrage, also hate America, but are too cowardly to take on such a giant entity.
Israel, however, is easy to hate, as long
as you don’t come out with direct antiSemitism. Unfair? Of course, but that’s
what you get for being an almost powerless entity plagued by declining numbers,
limited political power, and being on the
wrong side of whatever happens to be
politically correct in any given era.
The good news, folks, is that we can
change all of this and become a powerful
people, but it is going to take a massive
paradigm shift.
The key word: Converts. And not just a
couple of them here and there, but millions upon millions of them.
We are living in a world that is increasingly rootless, where people do not know
who they are, having been cut off from the
past by rampant consumerism, the
decline of the family, the fast pace of life,
extreme mobility, and postmodern moral
relativism.
Judaism, an ancient civilisation, has
the answer for untold numbers of these
people. It is replete with excellent psychol-
ogy, mysticism, rationalism, and answers
for everything from adolescent angst to ecological crises.
Small wonder that around the world
there is growing fascination with everything Jewish, from Kabbalah to Jewish cultural traditions, klezmer music, Yiddish,
Ladino, and even Jewish food.
When you convert to Judaism, you join a
stream of consciousness that includes all of
these things and so much more, and that
gives a person a sense of belonging and
rootedness.
So, that’s what the potential converts
gain out of it. But what do we gain out of it?
More Jewish communities, more Jewish
spouses, Jewish schools, kosher restaurants, a much bigger gene pool, and more
political clout.
Imagine, for instance, that here in South
Africa, instead of having a mere 72 000 Jews
who are all-white and insular, you have a
vast multiracial, multi-ethnic community.
Imagine how different it would be if
every black, coloured, Indian, Afrikaner,
English, and Chinese person had Jews in
their family who could tell them the truth
about Israel. The establishments would
have to wake up and hear our voices then.
Of course it would take time and effort to
get to that point, and there will be some
who resist this agenda, but I’m telling you
now, if you want a better, fairer, and
brighter world for your Jewish children,
this is the ONLY way.
Jared Joel
Sydenham, Johannesburg
RELIGION DOESN’T ALWAYS EQUATE WITH MORALITY
THE ARGUMENT that we need religion to
be good moral people is such a flawed
assumption. Most people know what is
good or evil.
There are countless examples of religious people doing horrific things, both in
the name of religion and for other purposes. Organised religion is much superstitious hocus-pocus. Numerology and
Kabbalah spring to mind.
We put so much store in the writings of
intellectuals who lived in the 14th and 15th
centuries, as we put store in well-read individuals living in a remote shtetl in Russia
in the 1800s.
I’m not for a minute saying that these
learned people were not intelligent - just
that they had a very limited scientific
knowledge. They had to rely on what they
had read or had been told by other scholars and previous generations.
This is known as circular logic or argument. Often based on previous old
assumptions and “facts” that do not live
up to modern-day scrutiny.
It never ceases to amaze me how one can
extrapolate one sentence in a religious
writing and spend millions of man-hours
discussing and analysing it. Kashrut is a
prime example; the eating of a minute bug
on a piece of lettuce. Oh surely you will be
punished beyond your wildest imagination!
Mark Feldman
Johannesburg
15 - 22 October 2010
SA JEWISH REPORT
15
COMMUNITY COLUMNS
Caroline Glick a passionate,
stimulating voice
FED FOCUS
Avrom Krengel
Chairman
A column of the South African Zionist Federation
WE ARE delighted to be able to offer you
the opportunity of hearing one of Israel’s
eloquent and passionate advocates, a
woman of great insight and analytical
skills, who will be in South Africa as guest
of the SA Zionist Federation next week.
Caroline Glick is the well-known, wellrespected deputy editor of the Jerusalem
Post, a strong defender of Israel’s right to
exist, and a vocal critic of those who would
delegitimise and destroy her.
A one-time member of the IDF, she
worked in the IDF’s Judge Advocate
General division during the First Intifada in
1992; and after the Oslo Accords, she
worked as co-ordinator of negotiations with
the Palestinian Authority, retiring from the
military with the rank of captain at the end
of 1996. For the next two years she served as
assistant foreign policy adviser to Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Glick’s columns have appeared in numerous newspapers and other publications,
including “The Wall Street Journal”, the
“National Review”, “The Boston Globe”, the
“Chicago Sun-Times”, “The Washington
Times”, “Maariv” and major Jewish newspapers worldwide. She is also a television
personality, having appeared on MSNBC,
Fox News Channel, Sky News, the Christian
Broadcasting Network, and all of Israel’s
major television networks.
In 2003, Israeli newspaper ‘Maariv’
named her “The Most Prominent Woman in
Israel”; and in 2005 she received the Zionist
Organisation of America’s Ben Hecht
award for Outstanding Journalism, following in the footsteps of such luminaries as A
M Rosenthal, Sidney Zion and Daniel
Pipes.
In addition to her position at the
Jerusalem Post, she is currently the Senior
Middle East Fellow at the Centre for
Security Policy and is one of several coauthors of the Centre’s latest book, “War
Footing”.
Glick will be speaking on “Israel and the
Global Jihad” on Wednesday October 20 at
19:30 at the Simon Kuper Hall, Oxford
Synagogue. Booking is essential [email protected], or on (011) 645 2510.
***
On a different note, there is an unprecedented increase in the number of unbridled attacks on and hostility to Israel and
anything Israel-related from various fronts
in South Africa.
Open Shuhada Street, based in Cape
Town, has launched a vicious campaign
against Wellness Warehouse, one of a number of retailers, health shops and spas in
the city which distribute and sell the Ahava
range of skin products originating from
the Dead Sea.
Their raison d’être is that Ahava is produced in an illegal Israeli settlement; and
they are determined to stop the distribution of these products at all costs. The
University of Johannesburg is threatening
to cut its ties with Ben-Gurion University,
unless the latter fulfils certain conditions.
There are various initiatives in place to
deal with these, and other incidents, in a
strategic manner; because we can no
longer sit back complacently and think:
“They don’t really affect us.” If we don’t act
now, they may well, to our detriment.
This column is paid for by the SAZF
LETTERS
RACIST AND HOMOPHOBIC COMMENTS MADE BY CHAI SUPPORTERS
WHEN MEMBERS of Group 18 (Chai)
counter-protested against the Open
Shuhada Street (OSS) protest of Ahava
products, the situation got heated and
angry comments were made by protesters
from both sides. But two members of Chai
(and there were less than 10 of them)
made the following statements: “Take
your gays back to Palestine.” Also: “You
blacks don’t know what you are doing.”
The first statement is homophobic and
the second is racist.
We know the name of the person who
made the first comment. We can describe
the person who made the second. They
are identifiable and their jibes were heard
by several people.
We released a statement almost immediately after the event in which we
detailed this. What is the response of
members of the various Zionist federations?
Was there introspection? Was there an
attempt to chastise the members of Chai?
No, instead a counter-statement to ours
gets widely circulated which alleges that
an anti-Semitic comment was made by a
member of the OSS protest. Yet, none of us
heard such a comment and no person has
been described or identified who made it.
Moreover, we in OSS are acutely aware
of the potential for anti-Semites to want to
piggy-back onto protests critical of Israel,
so we make a substantial effort to keep
them out and I believe we succeed.
Can Chai and their supporters say the
same thing when it comes to the potential
racists and homophobes who join their
actions?
Jews are a tiny minority in South
Africa. If the racism inside the community is not examined and condemned by our
official representatives as vigorously as
they condemn anti-Semitism, they not
only allow the morality of our community
to degrade, they create animosity between
Jews and blacks.
Nathan Geffen
Cape Town
HOLOCAUST AND RWANDA: RATHER LOOK AT THE DIFFERENCES
THE JOHANNESBURG Holocaust and
Genocide Centre will not only focus on the
extermination of European Jewry, but will
also contain a section designated to the
Rwandan genocide. Moira Schneider writes
in the SAJR: “The message the juxtaposition
sends is stark: that the Holocaust and
remembrance of it, did not prevent another
genocide from occurring.”
However, is this surprising? Of course,
very few of those who were victims or
killers in Rwanda, would have even been
aware of the Holocaust. And even if they
had been aware of it, does anyone seriously
believe that it would have stopped the genocide in Rwanda?
The only similarity between the genocide
that took place in Africa and the one, many
years earlier in Europe, is the fact that people were specifically identified and killed
(800 000 Tutsis and 6 000 000 Jews).
From a historical point of view, there is
nothing else worth comparing and if one is
encouraged to make connections, there is a
danger that this will only be done while
sacrificing the true causes and horrors of
both.
I believe that South African learners
should learn about the complex causes of
both exterminations, but it would be historically inaccurate to make-believe that
much can be gained from trying to understand what they have in common; it would
be much more meaningful to try and
understand, how and why, they were different.
The real lesson of history is the complex
lesson itself, and what one makes of that
difficult lesson will inevitably be left to the
individual learner to mull over and contemplate; “human rights” ideology and
fashionable psycho-babble will pay no dividends, even if their confused advocates
believe that they can stop such atrocities
from reoccurring.
Anthony Posner
Johannesburg
ABOVE
BOARD
Zev Krengel,
National Chairman
A column of the SA Jewish Board of Deputies
AT THE time of writing, Ben-Gurion
University has not as yet formally
responded
to
the
University
of
Johannesburg’s senate decision laying
down additional conditions for the two
institutions’ future working relationship.
It is already apparent, however, that
UJ’s actions, far from eliciting the anticipated kudos, is backfiring rather badly.
Certainly, the media’s take has ranged
from decidedly sceptical to openly critical.
In his interview with UJ Deputy ViceChancellor Adam Habib in last week’s
Sunday Times, Chris Barron relentlessly
exposed the double standards and sheer
inconsistency inherent in the university’s
handling of the affair.
Why, he asked, were only UJ’s links
with Israel being reviewed, but not those
with China, Arab countries or, for that
matter the US?
Would severing ties with BGU not end
up disadvantaging South Africans who
stood to benefit from the partnership, particularly those who did nor have access to
clean water? How much real effort was put
in by UJ with regard to finding out at first
hand how BGU really operated?
By compelling Habib to go beyond pious
platitudes and actually deal with the facts
of the matter, Barron very successfully
revealed how very shaky the basis is on
which the UJ decision is based.
UJ has further been taken to task in
Monday’s Citizen editorial, and lambasted
by the respected academic and human
rights activist Rhoda Kadalie.
An excellent rebuttal of the boycott
position by UK academic Robert Fine has
An own goal
for UJ?
also appeared in the Mail & Guardian. All
this we hope will dissuade UJ from pursuing a course that threatens only to undermine its own credibility while making little, if any, impact on events in the Middle
East.
Extending hand of friendship through
Succot
Last week’s Jewish Report described the
enormous success of the Board’s “South
Africa Succah” exhibition at the “One
Family Many Faces Festival” in Tel Aviv.
Our participation in this festival, which
followed an approach from Minister Yuli
Edelstein, provided us with an excellent
opportunity to show international Jewry
what South African Jewry is all about.
Succot was also used as an effective outreach tool for reaching the wider South
African community. In Cape Town; the
Board hosted an inspiring “Succat Shalom
- Place of Peace” function for some 130
leaders in the political, business, NGO and
religious fields.
Speakers included Imam Rashied Omar;
Helen Lieberman of iKamva Labantu;
Dr
Ruth
Rabinowitz
(Democracy
Foundation/Mama Earth); and Dr Tim
Murithi (Institute for Justice and
Reconciliation).
In Johannesburg, Board members
attended a most successful Union of
Jewish Women interfaith event, held at
the Great Park Synagogue.
Finally, our communications department arranged for an upbeat feature on
Succot to appear in the Saturday Star. All
this showed the value of engagement, in
contrast to the divisive, negative tactics of
those advocating boycotts regardless of
the harm this does to society.
This column is paid for by the SAJBD
16
SA JEWISH REPORT
15 - 22 October 2010
Experience a minyan in
Johannesburg’s oldest shul
OWN CORRESPONDENT
PHOTOGRAPH SUPPLIED
IN THE hustle and bustle of late afternoon
traffic on the busy Siemert Road in
Doornfontein, Johannesburg at about 17:20
on a Wednesday evening, the odd occasional
car can be seen turning off into a large car
park area.
Number 120 Siemert Road is the destination - the address of Johannesburg’s longest
operational synagogue. By the time afternoon services get underway, there are over
20 males and counting.
Yom Kippur in Malaga: strange
language, same practice
LIONEL SLIER
MALAGA IS in southern Spain on the
Mediterranean coast in the province of
Andalusia. Its temperate climate and wonderful beaches make it a holiday destination
of choice for the northern sun-starved
Europeans.
Pablo Picasso was born in Malaga in 1881
and left as a 14 year old.
According to the guidebook its history
goes back 30 centuries and involves the
Phoenicians, Greeks, Carthaginians,
Romans, Byzantines, Christians and
Muslims.
The Jews and the Syrians developed a
strong trading base which continued even
after the Muslim Caliphate was established
in 711 CE. In 1487 Catholic monarchs re-conquered the city and incorporated it into the
Kingdom of Castile. Five years later the Jews
were expelled.
Traces of the Muslim presence are still
seen in the fortresses of Alcazaba and
Gilbralfaro. Of the Jews, almost nothing.
On Yom Kippur this year, I was in Malaga
with my nephew who had sourced the street
address of a shul - and we decided to go there.
We had to stop people to ask where the street
was, but we could barely understand their
replies, yet somehow we came across the shul
with the aid of an inadequate tourist map.
The street consisted of nondescript office
blocks, but walking along we saw a Jewish
bookshop, which surprisingly, was open. I
went in and asked a lady behind the counter
where the synagogue was, but she replied,
“No Englese”.
However, nearby we saw inside a building,
by the front door, two men wearing
yarmulkes. Also wearing them we approached them and they confirmed that the
shul was indeed in that building. We had to
take the rather small lift to the third floor.
We knocked on an ordinary looking door
with an eyehole and it was opened immediately by a middle-aged man who let us in and
motioned us to two seats in a somewhat ordinary-sized office-like room.
There were about 90 men present, seated,
facing the bimah which was very slightly
raised. Two other sets of seats were facing
each other on both sides of the main body of
seats. We were in a small section of three
rows facing the entrance and sideways
towards the bimah.
A congregant approached us and silently
handed us each a tallis in a tallis bag and
mouthed what I took to be words of welcome.
A rabbi was quietly conducting the service
and it was obvious that the congregants were
following closely because every now and
again they chanted in unison.
Standing on either side of the rabbi, were
two men. The one on the right would read
something from a book in front of him. When
he had finished his part, the other man called
out a name and the person called, would go
Every Wednesday night the “Lions Shul”, as
it is known for the two famous copper lions
that stand at the entrance to the shul, opens
for a minchah/maariv service followed by a
light schnapps and snack with a few words of
inspiration.
Those who attend, comprise businessmen
and devoted affiliates, as well as visiting
Jewish passer-bys, both local and from
abroad, who have come to see and participate
in the splendour and heimlichkeit of this special and beautiful shul.
A large contingent of regulars come from
the northern suburbs, often in convoy with
lifts being offered and arranged. Maish
Sundy takes much credit for the sterling
effort in motivating and driving the attendance.
Reverend Ilan Herrmann, spiritual leader
of the Lions Shul, said: “With our Lions Shul
museum still intact and available for viewing
and the exquisite beauty of the shul an inspiration to be in, I extend a warm welcome and
encourage and recommend whomever is able
to, to come and visit this legacy of Jewish
Johannesburg that with Hashem’s blessing
continues to serve the Jewish community for
well over 100 years.”
• For details contact Maish Sundy on 083726-8079.
up to the bimah where he would commence
reading together with the rabbi, I believe, as
I could not actually see clearly from where I
was sitting.
The person who had just stepped down
would then go to each man in the shul, who
would stand and shake his hand. After shaking hands that man would touch the fringes
of his tallis and then bring his fingers to his
lips, as is done when kissing a mezuzah.
It seemed that if the person going around
knew one of the congregants well, or was a
member of his family, then they would
embrace and kiss each other lightly on each
cheek.
There was a mechitsa on one side and it
seemed to be quite full There was very little
getting up and walking around, or leaving
and re-entering and the men there seemed to
be very deeply involved.
We remained there for about three hours
and left shaking hands with those we passed
on our way out. Actually we could have been
in a shtiebel in Glenhazel, Durban or Cape
Town, but the wonder was that all over the
world Jews were basically davening the same
words and displaying the unquenchable spirit of Judaism wherever it is to be found.
• The next day we were in Cartagena,
another ancient city on the Mediterranean
coast and just by the harbour is a large
tableau on the walls of a building, giving
chronological
dates
of
events
in
Carthaginian history.
In the year 1492 it says: “Salida Por Su
Puerto De Los Judios Expusados De
Espana.” (From this port the expelled Jews
of Spain left.) Actually it does not need to be
translated. We all know the history and the
torment!
Dr Ute Ben Yosef (right), retiring head
librarian of the Jacob Gitlin Library, with
her son Michael and daughter-in-law
Tyneel at a farewell lunch hosted by the
SAZF (Cape Council).
Ute Ben Yosef
bids Jacob
Gitlin Library
farewell
STORY AND PHOTOGRAPH BY
MOIRA SCHNEIDER
CAPE TOWN
DR UTE BEN Yosef, head librarian of the
Jacob Gitlin Library for the past 11
years, had nurtured it to the extent that
it occupied a pre-eminent position in the
community today. So said Dr David
Scher, library chairman, addressing the
gathering at a farewell lunch for Ben
Yosef hosted by the South African
Zionist Federation (Cape Council).
“It is not simply a repository of
books,” he continued, “it is a living
forum for discussion, intellectual
exchange, a meeting place where all can
feel at home.”
Scher pointed out that the library was
not only used by Jews, adding that “at
least a third” of its over 2 500 active
members were non-Jewish. “In this
regard, Ute has seen her task as a kind of
spiritual ‘tikkun’ - reaching out to all
members of our society from the townships to the City Bowl.
“Many Christians and Muslims find
religious material in the library and
engage in interfaith activity.”
In addition, Scher noted that his predecessor, John Simon, had described the
library as an important centre in which
to learn about the Jewish people and as
such played an important public relations role in the wider community.
Replying, Ben Yosef said that philosopher Karl Popper had been her inspiration when she took over the running of
the library. “Popper saw that knowledge
can be fallible and he took a passionate
stand against dogmatism.
“I made it a policy to absorb material
with differing and sometimes opposite
viewpoints, for our readers to draw their
own conclusions,” she said. “A library...
is always in a state of momentum, of
gaining new knowledge built on what
has gone before. It is based on critical
thinking. The opposite of critical thinking is the totalitarian mindset.”
Ben Yosef expressed her deepest gratitude to her son, Michael, who as a young
schoolboy had “often rescued the library
during its crises of nerve-racking computer breakdowns”.
She also thanked (community leader)
Eliot Osrin “who throughout the years
has held a protecting hand over this
institution, always keeping in mind the
intellectual needs of a community who
transferred their hunger for learning to
the southernmost tip of Africa and for
whom the Jacob Gitlin Library has over
the years become a living symbol.”
Ben Yosef is succeeded by experienced
librarian and academic, Devis Iosifzon.
15 - 22 October 2010
SA JEWISH REPORT
17
Ultimate victory is to Applications awaited
enter Auschwitz ‘as for Nahum Goldmann
a free man’
Fellowship in 2011
STORY AND PHOTOGRAPH BY
MOIRA SCHNEIDER
CAPE TOWN
SUSAN HERZSTEIN returned to
Berlin earlier this year “in search
of my family, my history, my
roots”. She was one of four multigenerational panellists who shared
their experiences of returning to
their roots in Europe at a meeting
of the Friendship Forum, held
under the auspices of the Cape
Jewish Seniors’ Association at the Susan Herzstein; Shirley Elvey; Gabi Stein; and
Jonathan Glick, who participated in a panel disCape Town Holocaust Centre.
The Friendship Forum was cussion at the Friendship Forum.
established to help Holocaust surforests during the war and fighting to survivors and their families and other victims
vive.
of trauma, including those whose parents
“Her daughter and three grandchildren
or grandparents had had to leave their
were with her and had not heard the full
homes under traumatic circumstances.
story from her ever. She had only revealed
Herzstein, a second-generation Holoher history to them four years previously,”
caust survivor, said that she had grown up
Elvey noted.
in a family “where the Holocaust was alive
She said the first lesson she had learned
and very present, but not spoken about
from the trip was in having faced her fears
and seldom referred to”.
and gone through with it.
Her late father, who was born and grew
“The second was that family is so imporup in Berlin, arrived in Cape Town to join
tant to all of us and doing this trip as a
a younger brother in 1935. His older brothfamily was fantastic” and it helped her to
er had later been “brutally tortured to
come to terms with a heritage that is so
death” in Mauthausen and his parents had
valuable.
been gassed in Sobibor.
“If you can, do the trip and preferably in
Eventually Herzstein realised that she
a group who are like-minded, with the
would have to go to Berlin and the death
same needs as you,” she advised.
camps in order to find out what she could
Grade 11 Herzlians Jonathan Glick and
about her family’s experience. “I wanted to
Gaby Stein participated in the March of
honour them, to connect with their world,
the Living in Poland in April this year.
their lives, to find more of them and claim
Glick noted that the group had had a surmy roots,” she explained.
vivor of the Warsaw Ghetto on the bus,
The “enormity” of the journey, includadding: “We won’t have that opportunity
ing the prospect of having to travel on
in 20 or 30 years’ time.”
trains in Germany and asking Germans
Remarking that there was “very little
for help, had made her feel “very disJewishness” in Poland, he said that it was
tressed, anxious and overwhelmed”, but
“very sad for us thinking about the milthe counselling, support and guidance of
lions of people who walked through these
the Forum had ensured the experience had
spots and what happened to them. For me
been a positive and healing one, though at
to walk through Auschwitz as a free man
times it had been “distressing and very
was the ultimate victory.”
painful”. Being part of a group of
Stein said that each of the three concenreturnees had also helped in this regard,
tration camps the group visited had affected
she added.
individuals differently. “My most memoShe found the location of her father’s
rable moment was saying Yizkor on the
barmitzvah shul - that had been destroyed
grass at Auschwitz,” she recalled, describduring Kristallnacht - and went into the
ing the experience as “amazingly powerful”.
apartment building where the family had
Ending the trip in the Jewish homeland
lived, which she described as “the most
made the group realise “how lucky we are
profound experience”.
to have Israel”, she added.
“I sat on the steps of the landing, seeing
Glick urged: “As youth, we need to get
with my internal eye my grandparents
more people to go to Poland to see what
coming and going, my father and his
once was because we are the people that
brothers running up and down the stairs.
are going to have to tell the next generaSitting there, I connected with my family;
tion what happened. You have to feel the
calmly, peacefully, experiencing a real
joy and the sorrow of your own people,” he
sense of belonging. I found my place.”
stressed.
Forum facilitator Shirley Elvey travelled
Summing up, Forum facilitator Lily
with a family group to Lithuania and
Becker expressed amazement that it had
Poland in August this year. She recalled a
“taken 65 years for us to be here, to think
visit to the Braninki forests that had
about it, talk about it and face the fear.
prompted an 82-year-old member of the
We’ve entered the silence with the help of
party to reveal the story of her life as a
this Forum,” she said.
young teenage partisan living in the
AROUND THE WORLD
NEWS IN BRIEF
ELDERY GERMAN WOMAN FINED FOR HOLOCAUST DENIAL
BERLIN - An 81-year-old German woman
has been convicted of Holocaust denial
and fined.
The woman, identified as Ursula H, last
week Wednesday was given a suspended
sentence of six months and fined nearly
$1 400 by a Munich judge.
Ursula, the former president of a
banned right-wing extremist group,
admitted to distributing a text among
schoolchildren that she had written in
which she denied the Holocaust. Her 91year-old co-defendant had allowed his
name to be used on the pamphlet and was
fined more than $800, the German news
agency DPA reported.
In Germany, it is illegal to openly deny
the Holocaust or disseminate Nazi propaganda. A jail sentence of up to five years
is possible.
Judge Norbert Riedmann said he doubted that Ursula H would change her views
and that she had to be punished for
expressing them.
Some right-wing groups have tested the
denial ban by openly doubting the numbers of Jews murdered, or by stating that
German civilians suffered as much as victims of the Holocaust.
Several Holocaust deniers in recent
years have been put on trial in Germany
and Austria and served jail time. (JTA)
THE MEMORIAL Foundation for Jewish
Culture is now accepting applications for
the 23rd International Nahum Goldmann
Fellowship, which will take place in Israel
at the Ohalo Manor located on Yam
Kinneret on June 12 - 20, next year.
The Memorial Foundation says in a
media release that the Nahum Goldmann
Fellowship provides an intensive experience in Jewish living, learning and leadership for young men and women from
around the world between the ages of 25 - 40
who show serious interest in Jewish culture and demonstrate a potential for individual growth and communal leadership.
The Memorial Foundation has organised
23 Fellowships since 1987 in Western and
Eastern Europe, including the former
Soviet Union, Australia, Southeast Asia,
South Africa, South America and Israel.
Following each of the past seminars,
Fellows returned to their communities and
took steps to assume leadership positions
in their communities.
The programme consists of morning,
afternoon and evening sessions. Morning
sessions involve lectures by outstanding
Jewish academics from around the world.
Afternoon sessions include workshops on
Jewish texts, Jewish identity, community
building and other topics of importance to
the fellows, as well as recreational opportunities. Varied Jewish cultural events and
discussion groups will take place in the
evening.
Faculty in the past included some of the
most distinguished academics and scholars
from around the Jewish world.
Faculty at the Fellowship will include,
among others, Prof Saul Berman, adjunct
professor, Columbia University School of
Law; Dr Steven Bayme, director, Department
of Contemporary Jewish Life, American
Jewish Committee; Prof Ruth Gavison, professor, Faculty of Law, Hebrew University of
Jerusalem; Prof Moshe Halbertal, professor
of Jewish Thought and Philosophy, Hebrew
University; Prof Jack Wertheimer, professor
of Jewish History, The Jewish Theological
Seminary; Prof Shalom Rosenberg, professor
of Jewish Thought, Hebrew University; Prof
Benjamin Ish Shalom, rector, Beit Morasha,
Prof Stephen Donshik, professor, Hebrew
University’s International Leadership Programme and Rina Rosenberg.
The Fellowship will deal with the following themes: The Future Profile of the Jewish
People; Rejuvenating the Zionist Narrative
in Israel and the Diaspora; Reconfiguring
our Covenantal Community with Contemporary Jewish Society: The View from
Diaspora; Redemption in Jewish Thought:
Past, Present and Future; Jewish
Peoplehood and the State of Israel: The
Parameters of their Congruence and/or
Incompatibility; What Should be the Guiding
Vision for the Next Generation of
Leadership in Building Ourselves and the
Jewish Community.
• For more information and to obtain an
application form, please contact The
Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture:
phone: (212) 425-6606; fax: (212) 425-6602; email: [email protected]; or by mail: 50
Broadway, 34th floor, New York, NY 10004,
USA.
18
SA JEWISH REPORT
15 - 22 October 2010
YOUTH TALK
Alison Goldberg [email protected]
Holocaust Survivor
Cookbook the ideal gift
OWN CORRESPONDENT
PHOTOGRAPH SUPPLIED
The Yeshiva College TIP tour learners at the new Green Point Stadium in Cape Town.
YID TIP tour to CT full
of fun and learning
OWN CORRESPONDENT
PHOTOGRAPH SUPPLIED
THIS YEAR’S TIP (Torah Incentive
Programme) tour returned to its traditional
destination: Cape Town. In order for a
learner to qualify for this trip, they had to
accumulate points throughout the year by
actively participating in TIP.
Twenty five Yeshiva College boys met the
YID (Yeshiva Informal Department) team at
OR Tambo Airport, early on the first day of
Chol Hamoed Succot, equipped with bags,
smiles, lots of excitement and of course...
armed with lulavim and etrogim.
They attracted looks of amazement as
they waved their lulavim around at the
boarding gate, wearing what appeared to be
black cowstraps or blood pressure monitors
(their tefillin). This was just the beginning
of an action packed nine days in Cape Town.
The plane touched down in Cape Town
and the boys went straight to Cafe Retive for
lunch. They then learnt about South
African Jewish heritage in the Jewish
Museum, followed by a tour in the
Holocaust Centre.
The days that followed were filled with
lots of fun in the sun, including a beautiful
hike up Table Mountain, a tour of the new
Green Point Stadium, orienteering through
Cape Town in small groups, Cape Point,
Chapman’s Peak, soccer on the beach front,
a visit to the aquarium, tobogganing and
much more.
The greatest part was the opportunity to
bring an unbelievable spirit to a smaller
community and creating a great kiddush
Hashem. The boys were hosted by the
Jewish Learning Centre of Cape Town and
added an unbelievable element of power to
the community with the dancing on
Simchat Torah and davening with them in
their daily minyanim.
All in all, the tour was an unbelievable
experience for everyone involved and everyone is looking forward to next year’s YID
TIP tour.
For KDL matrics, a long
journey comes to an end
KEREN LUNTZ
ON OCTOBER 7, King David Linsksfield
High School hosted our annual Matric
Speech Night. Speech Night has become
entrenched as the marker of the end of the
matrics’ era at the school, the culmination
of their high school years.
It is an event surrounded by eager anticipation and also, an element of sadness
and gratitude. This year’s matric group is a
special unit in that they began their journey at KDHL at the same time as Marc
Falconer, current principal of the school. It
was when they were the grade 8s of 2006,
that Falconer started his headmastership.
So, for all staff and learners, this speech
night was a special one indeed.
The evening was organised chiefly by
David Kaplan, with assistance from
Lorraine Srage, Rona Rimer, Les
Heilbronn, Bev Bower, Carol Blumberg,
and Arlene Kaftel.
Overall, the night was an enormous success with parents touched by the care
shown towards each and every matriculant. The evening opened with the choir
singing “Black is the Colour of my True
Love’s Hair” - a beautiful Scottish tune.
Rabbi Craig Kacev succeeded the song
with a speech on the critical importance of
education in Judaism. He pointed out that
in Hebrew, children are “banim” and
builders “bonim” and the intricate link
between the youth and education in laying
the foundations for a society.
Jayde Kaftel bid her peers farewell
singing: “What I Did For Love” and Marc
Falconer addressed this close-to-his-heart
group of matrics for the last time. He reiterated the fundamental value of KDHL,
our guiding principle being to instil our
learners with the values required by
Jewish faith and to “nurture menschen”.
His emotional and powerful words are
sure to linger in the minds of the matriculants as they complete their finals in the
upcoming weeks. At Falconer’s request,
Adina Prissman of grade 8 (vocals) and
Hadas Elmaleh, matric (violin), performed
Josh Groban’s “You Raise Me Up”. The two
presented a conception of Falconer’s
notion that KDHL is a place that seeks to
make our learners more than they can be;
to build on their individual strengths and
give each learner a memorable and unique
high school experience.
Courtney Glajchen and Zach Fouche,
outgoing head prefects, bid their teachers,
peers and school farewell, recounting their
experiences of growth and warmth, of
highs and lows and the uniqueness of
KDHL.
Finally, the school was addressed by
guest speaker, Ferial Haffajee, editor of
City Press. She spoke of the incredible
opportunity that awaits each matriculant
as an educated individual to give back to
their country, to engage as an active citizen
and to contribute to the growth of South
Africa as a whole.
Haffajee left them with the question of
what their Facebook status updates might
be upon the eve of their retirement in the
future. The sense remained that the privilege they shared as a group, had embedded
the 2010 matrics with an intrinsic curiosity
for knowledge and appreciation of the
value of education.
Testament to this message was the outpouring of prizes awarded at the end of the
evening, with a gift given to each and every
learner to mark the end of their journey at
our school.
STORIES OF Holocaust survivors from 129 countries (including South Africa), plus their favourite
recipes, are contained in the Holocaust Survivor
Cookbook, edited by Joanne Caras of Port St Lucie,
Florida, in the United States.
The aim with the book is to raise six million dollars for Jewish organisations globally as a tribute to
those who perished in the Holocaust. The initial
beneficiary was the Carmei Ha’ir soup kitchen,
which feeds 500 needy Israelis daily.
Torah Academy Girls’ High School has adopted
the project locally and still has some copies of the
book, complete with poignant photographs reminiscent of the survivors’ lives. The book has been in
great demand as a gift, prizes for raffles and for
those seeking traditional recipes from “Der Heim”,
as well as modern favourites.
• If you would like to order a Holocaust Survivor
Cookbook, contact Lee at TAGH on (011) 485-3871 or
078-3999-744.
Thea Shapiro and Shterna Sara
Haller, grade 7 learners from
Torah Academy Girls’ High
School, proudly hold up the
Holocaust Survivor Cookbook.
Bandana Day at Pine
Street Playschool
STORY AND PHOTOGRAPH
BY HAILEY FOX
BANDANA DAY at Pine
Street Playschool happened
on October 12.
Pictured are Morgan Ezra;
Jaxon Cohen; and Sienna Ho
of the playschool, supporting the Sunflower Fund by
wearing their bandanas to
school.
Bandana Day raises funds
and shows solidarity to those
fighting leukaemia.
A fashionable way to raise
funds for King David Linksfield
KEREN LUNTZ
PHOTOGRAPHS: JODI STARKOWITZ
making it the phenomenal success it was.
Dani Goldsmith trained the grade 11 models into excellent dancers within four
rehearsals.
LAST WEEK Sunday, Monday and
Tuesday nights, saw the
much anticipated event of
the year, the King David
High Linksfield fashion
show.
This show has come to
be recognised as a massive
fundraising event for the
school, and furthermore, a
chance to exhibit our
learners’ poise, attitude
and confidence.
Debbie
Jacobs
has
worked tirelessly on the
event for months and has
been utterly committed to Benjamin Goldberg; Ricky Kadish; and Lior Sinai.
Proud fruits of their hard work
STACY FLEISHMAN
PHOTOGRAPH:
LUCY SIMMONDS
LAST TERM the grade 1 pupils
of King David Victory Park
Primary School, made beautiful decorations for Succot.
These were displayed in the
Victory Park Shul succah.
Proudly showing off their
hard work are Dani Niv; Jayden
Aaron; Aiden Milner; Tamir
Lipschitz; Cole Wasserman;
Micayla Taylor; and Paris Obel.
Front: Max Brooks; Judd
Etberg; and Levi Rosenthal.
15 - 22 October 2010
SA JEWISH REPORT
YOUTH TALK
Alison Goldberg [email protected]
Benji Shulman,
media officer,
SAUJS; Stephanie
Hodes, national
chairman, SAUJS;
Howard
Sackstein;
Raphael Eliasov,
vice chairman,
SAUJS; and Josh
Schewitz, national director,
SAUJS.
KDL among top eight
Gauteng debating schools
DR ROHAN QUINCE
DURING THE recent holidays King David
Linksfield hosted 24 schools in the Junior
Provincial Debating competition. KDL was
represented by Yakira Amoils; Ruby-Ann
Birin; Liat Friedland; Yael Katz; and Daniel
Sussman.
In the first round, KDL opposed the
motion: “This house would ban battery
farming” against Redhill. KDL abandoned
all compassion for chickens and won.
In round 2, KDL proposed the motion:
“This house would place all professional
sport people under surveillance to avoid
match fixing” against Roedean. There were
too many loopholes for the opposition to
attack - and KDL lost.
In round 3, KDL opposed the motion:
“This house would force feed anorexics”
against a composite team made up of the
best speakers from schools which did not
qualify. This time KDL attacked the motion
on the grounds that the motion was
impractical and too costly and won.
In round 4, KDL proposed the motion:
“This house would make government funding for schools dependent on good matric
results” against Sacred Heart. KDL convinced the adjudicators that this would
improve the level of education and won.
In round 5, KDL opposed the motion:
“This house would impose a carbon tax on
South African industries” against Brescia
House. KDL clearly did not believe their
own anti-environmental arguments and
lost.
At the end of the five rounds, KDL broke
seventh, which meant a quarter-final
against St John’s College, who proposed the
motion: “This house believes that prisoners
should not be allowed to vote”. St John’s
convinced the adjudicators that immoral
people should not vote - and they won.
Well done to our junior debaters, who
confirmed that King David Linksfield is
among the top eight debating schools in
Gauteng.
World Teachers day celebrated
in style at Eden Preparatory
STORY AND PHOTOGRAPH BY
HAYLEE JOFFE
ON WORLD Teachers Day, teachers at
Eden Prep School in Johannesburg were
invited to a lunch in the staff room.
Each teacher received a certificate of
excellence and a dolly brooch in aid of cancer awareness month. Each child had the
opportunity to write a note of appreciation
to his/her teacher, which was placed on the
wall in the staffroom.
A big thank you to our principal, Annelet
Liebenberg, who organised the event.
Another magical Camp
Kesher holiday awaits
STORY AND PHOTOGRAPH: SARIT SWISA
SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 26, saw Camp
Kesher kids and madrichim reunite at
Sunny Road Shul for a Succah party to
mark this festive time of year.
In line with the name “kesher” which
means “connection”, campers had the
opportunity to reconnect with each other,
their madrichim and the mitzvot of
Succot too, as each camper went to shake
lulav and etrog in the succah.
In a spirit of great excitement, the
campers also had the chance to reconnect
with camp itself by writing down their
19
favourite outings and activities in Cape
Town to help put the camp itinerary for
2010 into top shape.
It’s promising to be an absolutely funpacked December. So the holiday spirit is
in the air and we invite all Jewish kids
between the ages of eight and 16, who
would like to be part of this five-star
camping holiday, to join us on this unique
camp where they will create bonds with
fantastic kids and devoted madrichim
who are ready to give them the time of
their lives.
• To find out more, call Joy on (011) 4476689.
SAUJS pays tribute to
Howard Sackstein
BENJI SHULMAN
SAUJS MEDIA OFFICER
THE SOUTH African Union of Jewish
Students last week held their glittering
annual ball. The theme was “Masquerade”
and the HOD hall in Johannesburg was a
riot of colourful table decorations, mountains of food and smartly dressed students
as well as SAUJS alumni, the Jewish Board
of Deputies, members of SASCO, Congo for
Peace and Rwandan Students Survivors of
Genocide South Africa.
Among all the festivities was also an
opportunity to reflect on the year gone by,
of the challenges and the victories of the
student community.
In the process, SAUJS also paid tribute to
a former national chairman and long-time
supporter of the organisation, Howard
Sackstein. Howard joined SAUJS in the ‘80s
almost by mistake and went on to spearhead a generation of Jewish students in the
fight against apartheid.
Later he would go on to found Jews for
Social Justice, play a role in the IEC during
the 1994 elections and run several businesses. During all this time, however, he never
forgot his student spirit.
“Howie”, as he is affectionately known,
has been a regular at SAUJS seminars and
Hadrachas and is always on hand to give
wisdom and support to ever evolving
SAUJS committees. For these reasons he
was awarded the title “Honorary Life
President” to a cheering crowd.
In her speech, National Chairman
Stephanie Hodes paid tribute to Sackstein
in recalling how “Howie shaped SAUJS
into an organisation that today remains
active, proud and unafraid to stand up for
what is right. He is an inspiration to us all.”
With the formalities out of the way, the
serious partying began with students being
entertained by comedians Dale Amler and
Chris James from the US.
DJ Ben Mansano helped to pump out the
tunes, while everyone helped themselves to
another spoon of dessert and an extra
drink. It was surely a night to remember.
20
SA JEWISH REPORT
15 - 22 October 2010
WHAT’S ON
NOTE: Deadline for all entries is 12:00 on the Friday
prior to publication.
Key to organisations, venues, contact
details and cost:
• Beit Emanuel Progressive Synagogue, 38 Oxford
Road, Parktown.
• Beyachad Resource Centre/Library, 2 Elray St, Raedene. Norma Shulman (011) 645-2567. e-mail:
[email protected]
• Bikkur Cholim - Jewish Society for Visiting the Sick,
7A Chester Road, Greenside East, Johannesburg. Joy
Gafin (011) 447-6689.
• CAJE - College of Adult Jewish Education, Sydenham
Highlands North Shul (011)640-5021.
• CARE (Chabad Addiction Rehabilitation Centre) Cell:
079 882 6776. Fax: 086 551 4485 Email:
[email protected] Hotline: 0861 111 770.
• CSO - Emergency phone number 086 18 000 18.
• ELBM - Emunah Ladies Beit Midrash. 60 Mejon St
Glenhazel. (011) 887-2910. “Lessons of our Lives”
course on Wednesdays at 10:00. R350 for the course
or R50 per shiur.
• FFHS - Friendship Forum for Holocaust Survivors,
Second Generation and Members of the Community
Affected by the Holocaust. Presentations held at the
Gerald Horwitz Lounge, Golden Acres, 85 George
Ave, Sandringham.
• HOD - Hebrew Order of David International. HOD
Centre Oaklands Road, Orchards. Office (011)
640 3017 - [email protected]
• JAFFA - Jewish Accommodation for Fellow Aged. Tel
(012) 346-2007/8, 42 Mackie Street, Bailey’s Muckleneuck.
• Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre
(JHGC). Telephone (011) 640-3100, e-mail:
[email protected]
• KDSF - King David Schools’ Foundation. King David
Alumni [email protected] (011) 480-4723.
• Nechama Bereavement Counselling Centre - Room
A304, 3rd Floor, Hospital Wing, Sandringham Gardens, 85 George Avenue, Sandringham. Contact
(011) 640-1322.
• New Friendship Ladies’ Group - a group for single women - contact Lucille (011) 791-5226 or
082-927-5786.
• ORT and ORTJET South Africa - 44 Central Street,
Cnr 10th Ave, Houghton. Contact (011) 728-7154.
• Preview Theatre - 9 Valerie Crescent, Bagleyston,
(011) 640-1061.
• Rabbi Cyril Harris Community Centre (RCHCC) and
Great Park Shul, Johannesburg. Contact Hazel, (011)
728-8088 or Rene Sidley (011) 728-8378. Cost usually R50, including refreshments.
• SAIJE - Sandton Adult Institute of Jewish Education,
Sandton Shul, e-mail: [email protected]. Tel
(011) 883-4210.
• Second Innings, Johannesburg - Jewish Community Services - Donald Gordon Centre, 85 George
Avenue Sandringham. The group meets at the Gerald Horwitz Lounge, Golden Acres, 85 George
Avenue Sandringham every Sunday morning for tea
at 10:00 followed by the meeting at 10:30. Contact
Grecia Gabriel (011) 532-9718 for information. Cost:
R20 for members, R40 for non-members.
• Society of Israel Philately (SIP) - [email protected].
Contact Maurice (011) 485-2293.
• SA Friends of Beit Halochem: Beyachad, 2 Elray St, Raedene. Contact Leanne (011) 645 2553. e-mail:
[email protected]
• South African Jewish Board of Deputies (Johannesburg) - Beyachad, 2 Elray Street, Raedene. Contact
(011) 645-2500 or (011) 645-2523.
• South African Zionist Federation (SAZF), Johannesburg
- Beyachad, 2 Elray Street, Raedene. Contact Froma,
(011) 645-2505.
• The Israel Centre. Contact Debbie (011) 645-2560.
• The Jewish National Fund (JNF) Choir, Beyachad,
2 Elray St, Raedene. Contact Crystal Kaplan.
083-376-5999.
• The Jewish Outlook Team. Contact Ryan Cane, e-mail
[email protected], website www.jewishout
look.org.za. Support line: 27 76 215 8600.
• The Jewish Women’s Benevolent Society (JWBS) - Sandringham Gardens, 85 George Avenue Sandringham.
Contact Carolyn Sabbagh. (011) 485-5232.
• The Simcha Friendship and Cultural Circle (SFCC),
Johannesburg - Sandton Shul. Contact Sylvia Shull,
(011) 783-5600. Meetings on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd
Wednesday of every month at Sandton Shul at 10:00
unless stated otherwise.
• The United Sisterhood, 38 Oxford Road Parktown.
Website: www.unitedsisterhood.co.za. Contact Marian
(011) 646-2409.
• Tiyulim (Jewish Outdoor Club) - Contact Martin
082-965-7419 or Greg 082-959-9026.
• Union of Jewish Women (UJW), Johannesburg - 1 Oak
Street Houghton. Contact (011) 648-1053, fax 086 2733044. Cost R15 for the Friendship Luncheon Club and a
R20 donation for lectures unless otherwise stated.
• Union of Jewish Women (UJW), Cape Town - (021)
434-9555, e-mail [email protected]
• UJW Cape Town AED Programme at Stonehaven,
Albany Road, Sea Point, 10:00 for 10:30. Entrance: R15
(incl refreshments).
• United Zionist Luncheon Club (UZLC), Johannesburg Our Parents Home. Contact Gloria, (011) 485-4851 or
072-127-9421.
• UOS - Union of Orthodox Synagogues (011) 485-4865.
E-mail: [email protected]. Fax 086-610-3442.
• WIZO Johannesburg - Beyachad, 2 Elray Street Raedene. [email protected]. Contact
Joyce Chodos (011) 645-2548 or Sandy Kramer (011)
645-2515.
Today Friday (October 15)
• UZLC presents Kimon Neophryte on “A Centenary
Tribute to Leo Tolstoy”.
Sunday (October 17)
• Second Innings presents Chazzan Ezra Sher; Chazzan
Barry Braun; and Evelyn Green in “Kaleidoscope of
THE BRIDGE LOUNGE by Jeff Sapire
AT THE 2006 Yeh Bros Cup Final in
Taiwan, France met Poland in the final,
with $40 000 first prize up for grabs. I'm
sure the players were thinking about
such small issues when this hand arose.
West dealer, both vul
NORTH
K97
K10985432
J5
WEST
J832
Q
AK7
Q10872
SOUTH
10654
6
Q10432
K53
EAST
AQ
AJ7
986
AJ964
Closed Room, France NS
West
North
East
South
2C
3H
4H
P
5C
All pass
Opening lead: S7
West's 2C opening was the Precision
Strong Club system – at least five clubs
with or without a major. North chose to
only bid 3H, probably because he was
vulnerable and the suit was poor. East
made a slam try of 4H, but West, who
hardly had an opening bid in the first
place, signed off in 5C.
On the lead of the seven of spades he
played safely by rising with the ace, and
played ace and another club, making 11
tricks, for +600.
The Open Room auction, however, took
off into outer space.
West
North
East
South
1C
4H
5H
P
6C
All pass
Opening lead: S9
After the French 1C opening, the Polish
North decided that at equal vulnerability
and with an eight card suit, he would "put
it" to the opponents. So here, the tempo of
the auction pushed EW to 6C.
North tried a tricky nine of spades opening lead, but declarer decided to rely on
one of the two black king finesses. With the
marked heart finesse to get rid of the diamond loser, he somewhat nervously put up
the queen of spades (nervous of course
because the lead may have been a singleton, especially with the 4H overcall).
When it held, he breathed a sigh of relief
and played ace and another club, and when
the king of spades later came down in
three rounds, he didn't even need the heart
finesse.
In a way, the 4H bid backfired, because it
pushed France into the slam. But none of
the commentators (and hopefully his teammates too) were critical of the Polish
action.
The French weren't complaining either they had just picked up a massive 13 imps,
which helped them to the eventual first
prize.
Every
Tuesday
(Intermediate)
and
Wednesday (Advanced), I run bridge workshops from 10:00 – 12:00 at the Great Park
Shul – alternating play hands one week and
a bidding lecture on the other. Corner
Glenhove Road and 4th Avenue, Houghton.
For more information, call me on 082-5512526 or e-mail me at [email protected].
Barry Bilewitz [email protected]
Songs for the Jewish Soul”. Cost: R50.
• FFHS presents Hugh Raichlin on “The Jews of India”
at 14:30.
• RCHCC presents “Homage to Chagall - The Colours
of Love” at 19:30.
Monday (October 18)
• UJW Johannesburg presents Dr Dale T McKinley on
“The Changing Face of Religious Activism” at 09:30.
Tuesday (October 19)
• WIZO Film Club presents “A Gentleman’s Agreement” at Beyachad at 09:30. Cost: R20.
• Beyachad Eastern Cape and the SAZF presents
Caroline Glick on “Israel and the Global Jihad”. Time:
19:45. Venue: Abraham Levy Complex in PE. Bookings: Michael Smmons on (041) 373-7433/082-7521289 or [email protected]
Wednesday (October 20)
• SFCC presents The Japanese Ladies Choir.
• UJW Cape Town presents Dr Alan Alperstein on
“What Bothers Women over Time?”
• SAZF presents Caroline Glick on “Israel and the
Global Jihad” at the Simon Kuper Hall, Oxford
Shul at 19:30. Donation R50. Bookings (011)
645-2510/[email protected]
• RCHCC presents Andrew Levy on “Great Jewish
Musicians” at 19:30. Cost R60.
• Yoram Bogacz at 20:00 at the Oxford Shul on
“Species and Varieties”. This is part of a 4-week
series on The Evolution Debate. Cost R50 at the door.
Friday (October 22)
• UZLC presents David Shapiro on “Making your Savings Work in a Low Interest Rate Environment”.
Sunday (October 24)
• Johannesburg Jewish Male Choir’s 25th year celebratory concert at the Linder Auditorium at 19:45.
Tickets: R180 and R150. Book at Computicket.
Monday (October 25)
• UJW Johannesburg presents Gilbert Marcus SC on
“The Aftermath of the Controversial Goldstone Affair”
at 09:30.
Tuesday (October 26)
• WIZO Fortnightly Forum presents: “Do You Owe
Your Children?” with guest speakers Julienne Sackstein and psychologist and attorney, Michael Judin.
R35 at Beyachad at 09:30
Wednesday (October 27)
• Second Innings’ outing to visit the Lipizzaner horses.
Bus leaves Oxford Shul parking at 08:30. Cost: R110
includes the bus, entrance and a full show. Bring your
own picnic lunch.
• UJW Cape Town presents Veronica Belling on “Born
Before Their Time - Roza van Gelderen and Hilda Purwitsky”.
• UJW Johannesburg Fashion and Hair Evening at
Killarney Country Club. Time: 18:30 for 18:45.
Cost: R280, includes a finger supper, entertainment and fashion show. Tickets available from
UJW office (011) 648-1053 and Bev Cohen
082-574-4770.
• Yoram Bogacz at 20:00 at the Oxford Shul on “Bones
of Contention: A Look at Fossils”. This is part of a 4week series on The Evolution Debate. Cost R50 at the
door.
Friday (October 29)
• UZLC presents Graham Joffe on “Post-World Cup
Discussion”.
Saturday (October 30)
• Temple Israel in Port Elizabeth is hosting a community breakfast with Rabbi Jacobs on “Religious Pluralism A Progressive Jewish Perspective” at 07:00
for 07:30. Cost R100. Bookings and payments to be
made by October 25. Tel: (041) 373-6642.
Sunday (October 31)
• Second Innings presents Lance Metz on “Reaching
the Summit of Everest”.
Monday (November 1)
• UJW presents Geoff Hill on “What Happens after
Mugabe?” at 09:30.
Tuesday (November 2)
• WIZO Film Club presents “Black Book” at Beyachad
at 09:30. Cost: R20.
Wednesday (November 3)
• SFCC presents David Shapiro on “Outlook for the
World Economy in 2010”.
• UJW Cape Town presents Ben Rabinowitz on “From
Belleville to Sea Point”.
Thursday (November 4)
• UJW Cape Town invites you to “A Royal Engagement” with Noreen Gruskin at 09:00 for 09:15 at Silvertree Restaurant, Kirstenbosch Gardens. Donation:
R250. Call Georgina at (021) 434-9555.
• Yoram Bogacz at 20:00 at the Oxford Shul on “Truth
and Convenience: A Philosophical Enquiry”. This is
part of a 4-week series on The Evolution Debate. Cost
R50 at the door.
Sunday (November 7)
• Second Innings hosts Sally Williams in “The Sally
Williams Story”.
• JAFFA is having a morning market from 09:00 to
12:00 at 42 Mackie Street, New Muckleneuk, Pretoria. Tel: (012) 346-2006.
CROSSWORD NO 184
BY LEAH SIMON
ACROSS:
1. Dandies give female nothing, by the way
(4)
3. Southern hearts in posters (8)
8. Nat King ..., late singer (4)
9. Reach old city softly - but pressingly (8)
11. So ran coastal construction for wise
Italian families (2, 4, 6)
13. Define rye loaf and hide adornment (6)
14. Fifty-one rushed - and spoke with impediment (6)
17. Infamous member of 11 Across (5, 7)
20. One shin lit for person who promulgates
destruction (8)
21. It’s found at present (4)
22. Considering South Ameri1
2
can country, give voice (8)
23. Shock with bad nuts (4)
DOWN:
1. It might give one an elevated
view of things (4, 4)
2. Bird finds 51 in nut (7)
4. Article about Ron results in
seat of power (6)
5. It’s on the square during a
game (5, 5)
6. Go into dysenteric body (5)
7. Utters (4)
10. The know-how of employers? (4, 6)
12. Demon not upset in Canada
(8)
15. One whose skills are key to
what’s produced (7)
16. Liaison loses one, but gets
girl (6)
18. Rush errands to hide theatre guide (5)
19. Make Southerner sleep, by way of a
break (4)
SOLUTION TO CROSSWORD NO 183
ACROSS:
1. Glad; 3. Destined; 8. Ugly; 9. Woodwork; 11.
Bowling alley; 13. Endive; 14. Astral; 17.
Scarlet fever; 20. Gendarme; 21. Grin; 22.
Speaking; 23. Edit.
DOWN:
1. Grumbled; 2. Allowed; 4. Enough; 5.
Toddles off; 6. Noose; 7. Dike; 10. Silverback;
12. Clarinet; 15. Revered; 16. Herman; 18.
Canoe; 19. Ages.
3
5
4
6
7
9
8
10
11
12
15
14
13
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
15 - 22 October 2010
SA JEWISH REPORT
An innovative math
education programme
receives international
recognition
HAIFA - Prof Michal Yerushalmy has been
awarded the International Society for Design
and Development in Education (ISDDE)
award (known as “the Eddies”) for excellence
in design of educational products and materials in science or mathematics, the University
of Haifa said in a media release.
The award and $10 000 prize was given to
Prof Yerushalmy for “Visual Math”, a curriculum developed through a rigorous
process to produce innovative materials with
great demonstrated impact on students,
teachers, and educational designers around
the world.
Michal Yerushalmy heads the university’s
Institute for Research of Alternatives in
Education which aspires to become the premier research and design incubator for technological innovation in education, bringing
together developers and researchers from
academia and industry, in Israel and abroad,
with research fellows in the learning sciences.
“Visual Math” is a function-based mathematics programme for 7th through 12th
grade that systematically builds learners’
understanding of secondary school mathematics from a functions perspective through
rich tasks, involving computer environments (software and digital interactive
books) integrated into a coherent, multiyear curriculum in which learners develop
strong skills-based on inquiry into the big
ideas of algebra, calculus and geometry.
A contemporary continuation of Visual
Math is Math4Mobile. This project seeks to
convert ubiquitous mobile technology into
an important resource for inquiry teaching
and learning mathematics.
Visual Math digital materials are open for
use in various formats and languages and
teachers, educational designers, and
researchers from around the world are documenting the impact of the Visual Math
materials on their work.
New JLI course is being
offered by Chabad House
CHABAD HOUSE’S Chai Seniors in
Johannesburg has added a new community course to its wide array of shiurim.
From the international Rohr Jewish
Learning Institute (JLI), Chabad is introducing “Medicine and Morals: Your
Jewish Guide Through Life’s Tough
Decisions”, a six-session course which
will start on Tuesday, October 26 at 09:30
at several convenient locations. It will
continue for six Tuesdays.
Rabbi Ari Kievman is director of Chai
Seniors.
In a media release Chabad mentions
that it has been offering the community
many informative courses.
“To date, anyone walking through the
doors of Chabad House in Savoy can find
a stimulating shiur at a convenient time
that suits them and a topic that interests
them.
“There are also some classes offered at
other locations for the convenience of the
wider community.
“The new course will also be available
for those who can’t make it in the
evenings, regardless of their age. A special session will be offered on Tuesday
mornings by Chabad’s Chai Seniors, with
Rabbi Kievman conducting the six course
sessions at Chabad House in Savoy, beginning Tuesday morning October 26.”
The six lessons will include “Choosing
Life: The Obligation to Seek Healing”;
“Flesh of My Flesh: Organ Transplants in
Jewish Law”; “Rolling the Dice: Risky and
Experimental Treatments”; “New Beginnings: The Ethics of Reproductive
Technologies”; “With You In Mind: Ethical
Treatment of the Mentally Disabled”; and
“Secret Code: Genetics and the Ethics of
Patient Confidentiality”.
“As medicine advances and life
expectancy increases, almost all of us will
encounter an ethical dilemma in dealing
with our own health or that of a loved
one,” said Rabbi Zalman Abraham, originally from Cyrildene, now of the JLI’s
New York headquarters.
“But Jewish law creatively draws analogies with ancient paradigms to provide
guidance through the maze of medical
decision-making.”
According to Rabbi Kievman, “medical
research has shown that intellectual stimulation is vital to maintaining good mental health. Many senior citizens in independent or assisted living facilities, “will
enjoy this course and feel reconnected to
our heritage by studying the texts and discovering our rich customs and ethics,
what the Torah and Talmud have to say
about these matters.
“Jewish thought teaches us that education doesn’t end at graduation but rather
it continues throughout one’s lifetime.”
“Medicine and Morals: Your Jewish
Guide Through Life’s Tough Decisions”, is
designed to appeal to people at all levels of
Jewish knowledge, including those without any prior experience or background
in Jewish learning. All Chabad’s courses
are open to the public, and attendees need
not be affiliated with a particular synagogue, movement, or other organisation.
For more information, call (011) 440-6600
or visit www.myJLI.com for registration
and other course-related information.
The course will be available for CME
and CLE credit. (Students who are pursuing continuing education credit may have
to fulfil additional requirements).
JLI courses are currently available at
Chabad House in Savoy, Chabad in The
Mall (Village Walk), Chabad of Gallo
Manor, and more locations.
JLI, the adult education branch of
Chabad Lubavitch, offers programmes in
more than 300 US cities and in numerous
foreign locations.
AROUND THE WORLD
NEWS IN BRIEF
ORIGINAL NUREMBERG DOCUMENTS ON DISPLAY
WASHINGTON - The original documents
of the Nuremberg Laws have been placed
on display at the National Archives in
Washington.
The papers, believed to be the only copies
of the laws to exist, were transferred in
August from the Huntington Library, Art
Collections, and Botanical Gardens in
California.
Gen George Patton was given the papers
by US soldiers who found them in a
German bank vault; Patton disobeyed
orders by taking them out of Germany. He
gave the documents to the Huntington in
1945.
Hitler signed the laws, which codified the
systematic extermination of Jews in Nazi
Germany, in 1935.
The pages specify what made a person
Jewish. Those who were defined as Jewish
were stripped of their German citizenship.
The laws were broken into three broad
categories that included forbidding intermarriage or cohabitation between Aryans
and Jews and establishing the swastika
flag for Germany. (JTA)
Geoff Cohen.
Jos Horwitz.
Lizbe Botes.
Mark Helfrich.
21
Melissa
Braithwaite.
United Herzlia Schools make
changes to leadership team
CAPE TOWN - With effect from January
2011, some exciting changes have been
made to United Herzlia Schools’ leadership
team.
In a media release UHS says to provide
and promote “a secure foundation and to
achieve even higher standards in all
areas”, Geoff Cohen will be now devoting
all his attention to his role as Director of
Education.
In this way he will be able to provide professional leadership and management on a
fulltime basis. “He therefore relinquishes
his position as Middle School principal, a
role he held for the past 19 years”.
Lizbe Botes has been appointed as acting
principal of the Middle School. She has
filled a number of leadership roles during
her years at the Middle School. “She is an
inspirational and professional educator
who enjoys the respect of pupils, teachers
and parents alike.”
Mark Helfrich has been appointed curriculum co-ordinator for UHS. “This is a
position that will focus on ensuring that
Herzlia stays at the forefront of curriculum development and academic excellence.”
His role will be to co-ordinate and oversee curriculum matters across the system,
ensuring that there is unity and continuity
in all subject areas from Pre-School
through to Senior School.
Jos Horwitz has been appointed principal of Herzlia Constantia. She is a long
standing member of the Constantia community “and is ideally placed to ensure
the stability and sustainability of Herzlia
Constantia”.
She has an impeccable record as a professional educator and in her role as
director of Early Childhood Education,
“she has overseen and facilitated the successful integration of the Hebrew PrePrimary schools into the Herzlia system”.
Melissa Braithwaite took on the position of principal of Gan Aviv as from
October 1. She has been “an integral part
of the Gan Aviv leadership team and has
for some time now assumed many of the
responsibilities of leading Gan Aviv”.
Comments Cohen: “I am looking forward with excitement and confidence to
mentoring this fine leadership team.
Together with our present leadership
structures and our dedicated teachers, we
will concentrate on keeping Herzlia at the
cutting edge of education, constantly
evaluating and improving our educational offering where needed.
“In this way, I believe that we can
ensure the ongoing excellence of Herzlia
and its position as one of Cape Town’s
foremost educational institutions.”
15 - 22 October 2010
22 SA JEWISH REPORT
Admin Assistant to
Facilities Department
Johannesburg Jewish Helping Hand has a vacancy
for an office administrator who has had experience
in running a call centre and helpdesk, as well as
general secretarial and administrative duties.
The candidate must have computer experience in all
the MS Office packages, including MS Word and MS
Excel. The successful applicant should be self-motivated, have excellent organisational skills, be able to
take the initiative, be able to multi-task and have
the ability to communicate at all levels.
The candidate must further have excellent typing
skills. Previous experience in typing up contracts
would be an advantage.
Only short-listed applicants will be responded to
Interested candidates please forward a
current CV to [email protected], Private Bag
X1 Sandringham, 2131 or fax 086-632-7774
Physiotherapist –
Sandringham
Sandringham Gardens, home for the aged, requires
an enthusiastic and innovative physiotherapist registered with the HPCSA to join a dynamic rehabilitation
team. The candidate will be part of a multi-disciplinary team that provides acute and postoperative
care for the residents and clients.
Classifieds
To book your classified notice or advert contact: Tel (011) 023-8160, Fax 086-634-7935, email: [email protected]
IMPORTANT NOTICE - THE JEWISH REPORT RUNS ADVERTS IN THE CLASSIFIED SECTION IN GOOD FAITH, HOWEVER WE WOULD LIKE OUR READERS
TO KNOW WE CANNOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE QUALITY OF SERVICES OFFERED AND CLAIMS MADE.
HOW TO PLACE A CLASSIFIED ADVERT: 1. Only adverts sent via email to [email protected] will be accepted. 2. You will be advised
on cost & payment details. 3. Payment is prior to the advert appearing. 4. DEADLINE for BOOKING and PAYMENT is Tuesday 12:00. If
deadline is missed the advert will appear (when payment is received) in the next edition. Our banking details: SA Jewish Report, Nedbank
Randburg, Account Number: 1984 514 865, Branch Code: 198405
Caryn Katz can help you find
your best speaking VOICE.
VOCAL COACHING
Perfect for front-line staff who
represent your business.
Learn from a trained stage actor.
Contact 0827808224 or
[email protected]
Only short-listed applicants will be responded to
Interested candidates please forward a
current CV to [email protected], fax
086-632-7774 or Private Bag X1,
Sandringham, 2131.
Manager protected
employment workshop
Only short-listed applicants will be responded to
Interested candidates please forward a
current CV to [email protected],
fax 086-632-7774 or Private Bag X1,
Sandringham, 2131.
Art Therapist
Only short-listed applicants will be responded to
Interested candidates please forward a
current CV to [email protected], fax,
086-632-7774 or Private Bag X1,
Sandringham, 2131.
Occupational Therapist
A vacancy exists at Selwyn Segal Centre for people
with intellectual disabilities, for an occupational
therapist. The therapist must be registered with the
HPCSA and have experience in the field. The Centre
is under new management and has introduced an
Enabling and Empowering model The successful
candidate will join a dynamic team and should add
further value to an organisation committed to
development of human potential.
Only short-listed applicants will be responded to.
Interested candidates please forward a
current CV to [email protected],
fax 086-632-7774 or Private Bag X1,
Sandringham, 2131.
SOULMATES
(COUNTRYWIDE - MANY
GAUTENG AND CAPE
MEMBERS)
RESULTS; 183 COUPLES MARRIED! 400 COUPLES
MATCHED! MAZELTOV TO
HARRY & JODY, ANN (CAPE) &
PETER (JHB) ON YOUR
ENGAGEMENT!
LATEST MATCHES CHARLES
& NICOLE, LINDA & JOEL!
Handsome attorney 62yr; pretty reflexologist 24yr; stunning airhostess 29yr,
handsome grad (bus owner) 40yr; beautiful blonde grad (own bus) 34yr; handsome successful gent (retired) 63yr likes
overseas travel; glamorous exec 56yr;
good looking doctor 26yr; pretty teacher
33yr; handsome plumber 40yr; beautiful
librarian 23yr; handsome successful
attorney 37yr; beautiful podiatrist 32yr;
handsome pharmacist 72yr; pretty beautician 36yr; pretty estate agent 40yr;
charismatic grad (from USA); 47yr; advocates 31, 45, 58yr; handsome pilots 62,
36yr; handsome surgeon 59yr; pretty
hairdressers 26, 34, 58yr; handsome
estate agent (own bus) 60yr; handsome
plumber (own bus) 42yr; pretty financial
consultant 48yr; good looking BSc (phar)
53yr; good looking grad (own huge co)
36yr; pretty vet 43yr; charismatic handsome (co owner) 49yr; beautiful model
46yr; pretty grad 40yr; stunnning doctors
28, 30, 35, 43, 49, 58, 62yr; handsome
attorneys 29, 33, 38, 46, 56, 68yr –
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MANY OTHER SINCERE
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PROF/EXEC/BUSINESS/
TRADE SINGLES ARE
WAITING TO MEET YOU!
SANDY (011) 485-4034/
082-357-3616
We require a manager for our protected employment
workshops across all our organisations. The incumbent must have excellent leadership skills, the ability
to work with people who have special needs, an
understanding of the commercial side of running an
operation, as well as good budgeting skills.
The individual must be forward thinking, creative
and be able to motivate a team.
Selwyn Segal Centre, a facility for people with intellectual disabilities, is looking for a dynamic art
therapist to join their team. The successful candidate
must have an excellent understanding of and the
ability to apply various art media and art processes
therapeutically to enhance quality of life. The incumbent must be flexible, patient, have good interpersonal skills, and have some insight into psychological
processes. Experience in psychiatric conditions will
be an advantage. Only candidates with a recognised
art therapy qualification will be considered.
NOTICES
CONSECRATIONS
PERSONAL
MINNIE BERSOHN
PRE-PRIMARY SCHOOL
Requires a dynamic,
qualified teacher to
commence January 2011
Kindly email CV to
[email protected]
or call (011) 783-8888
Only short-listed applicants
will be contacted.
15 - 22 October 2010
SA JEWISH REPORT 23
PERSONAL
LIFTS
LIFTS
PROPERTY TO LET
LOOKING FOR
Woman +/- 58
Tel: 084-317-6348
BEST SERVICE
Pip Friedman will collect you
from your home, office or airport
and transfer you safely and conveniently to your destination.
Modern spacious vehicle Pax 6
083-267-3281 or e-mail:
[email protected]
SMILE-LEE'S LIFTS
A reliable lift service.
Specialising in lifts to and from
airports, shops, appointments,
casinos and courier.
Call Charna 083-391-6612
FLATS
THANKS
Rita Lewis would like to
thank all those wonderful
people who prayed and
recited Tehillim for the
health of her much-loved
son-in-law, Danni Gaziel
(Daniel Rachamin ben
Gemara Margalit).
His suffering is now over
as sadly, Danni passed
away last week.
Much loved husband of
Mandy and abba of Tehilla,
Naomi and Brachya.
He will be sadly missed.
BRIAN K LIFT
SERVICE & COURIER
“AIRPORT SPECIAL R140”
Secure, comfortable & safe.
Anywhere 24/7. (JHB – PTA)
Call Brian on
072-366-4262
GENERAL
HANDY GRAMPS
Household general repairs and
maintenance.
Mitch 072-196-1939
SERVICES
QUALIFIED GERIATRIC
NURSE
With outstanding contactable
refs. Avail for home nursing.
Phone Denise
083-273-3699
CHIROPODY/PEDICURES/
MANICURES/WAXING
Call Ruth now
(011) 616-4305
HOUSE/PET SITTING
ARE YOU GOING AWAY?
Do you need a reliable
animal/housesitter?
Contact 073-432-7232
LIFTS
CAPE TOWN
SHUTTLE
COMING TO
CAPE TOWN?
AFFORDABLE
RATES.
AIRPORT
TRANSFERS
FROM R180
NEW
COMFORTABLE
VEHICLE
PHONE ANDY
082-336-9780
Reliable,
Reasonable Rates!
Contact Arnold,
082-447-0185
011-454-1193
Airport
Shuttle
From R150
R
ecommended
easonable
eliable
REPAINT
Specialists in:
painting, tiling, maintenance,
plumbing & gutters.
Industrial and domestic.
Michael Fehler
083-700-3025 or
(011) 648-0375
www.repaint.co.za
GLENHAZEL
2 and 3 bed n/f flats
close to Ohr Somayach
R5 000 and R6 000pm
and 3 bed garden duplex
R7145pm
AVAILABLE ASAP
CALL MIRIAM
083-601-4334
TOWNHOUSES/SIMPLEXES/
CLUSTERS/DUPLEXES
GLENHAZEL
Brand new 1, 2, 3 & 4 bed
units in new cluster
development to let.
082-339-2358
SHORT-TERM ACCOMMODATION
SANDTON – KOSHER
ACCOMMODATION.
Double room en-suite, one block
from Gautrain. Daily rates. With
or without meals.
Call (011) 783-0943
PROPERTY FOR SALE
TOWNHOUSES/SIMPLEXES/
CLUSTERS/DUPLEXES
DUPLEX FAIRMOUNT/
GLENHAZEL FOR SALE
* 24 Hour security
* Walking distance to shuls
* 4 Beds * Study * Bright &
sunny * Brand new kitchen
* Large cottage attached
Contact: [email protected]
CHELSEA EXECUTIVE
CHAUFFEUR.
Legal, with permit from the
Transportation Board. Let me
chauffeur you safely.
Reasonable rates.
FOR A QUOTE CALL
Abe 082-574-9010
VACANCIES
EMPLOYMENT AVAILABLE
DRIVER
Absolutely reliable, highly experienced, avail with immediate
effect live-in/ or out. First job
over 12-years, with present
employer 11 years. No longer
needed, owing to housekeeper
doing the driving. Wonderful personality, efficient, respectable,
loved by family, thus can live on
property should this be necessary to secure position.
Malawian with perfect papers.
Please call Jill for ref:
(011) 442-6204 or Martine
082-927-8881
CONVENIENCE AT YOUR
DOORSTEP.
Safe, long or short distance.
Lifts day or night, very reliable.
Call Nicole
078-578-3856
EX-ISRAELI SERVICEMAN
Offers lifts to airport and
appointments etc.
Also weekend
specials – any hour.
Call Neil 072-050-9927
AIRPORT SERVICE
JHB
ACCOUNTING OFFICER
BOOKKEEPING
TAX & STATUTORY RETURNS
JN ACCOUNTING SERVICES
072-203-5305
(011) 882-9701
PROPERTY
AGENTS
Experienced, reliable driver
available to lift you
anywhere/anytime. 24 hrs.
Call Paul 083-542-6480
VEHICLES
WANTED
ARE YOU
IMMIGRATING
OVERSEAS AND
WANT TO SELL
YOUR VEHICLE?
IRENE'S SCHLEP
SERVICE
I will take you anywhere:
School, Shops, Doctor, Friends
and Airport. Honest and
Trustworthy
Schlepped by Irene
072-356-0282
Not on Shabbat
LIFTS AVAILABLE
For all age groups and to all
areas in Jhb, Sandton and
Airport.
Contact Johnny
082-328-3070 or
082-876-9042
Sam (011) 728-5219
083-627-8516
A-TAXI SERVICE
Let Warren Pogorelsky chauffeur
you to your destination in Jo’burg
and back only R100 round trip.
Tel: 082-399-6187
IF YOU OWN A
PROPERTY IN
ISRAEL... CONTACT
US TO FIND OUT:
· How we can take the
headache out of longdistance ownership
· Quarterly reporting
· Secure rental
collection
· Sourcing good quality
tenants.
Barry Cohen
+97 252 83 11174 or
[email protected]
AROUND THE WORLD
NEWS IN BRIEF
IRAN READY TO MEET WITH WORLD POWERS OVER NUKES
PROFESSIONAL & BUSINESS
HOME SERVICES
HEALTH & BEAUTY
GRESSWOLD - VAUDE
3 bedroom, 2 bathroom. N/facing flat with 2 parkings available.
Contact Rasheel:
073-216-1212
Please Contact
Solly Kramer
082-922-3597
anytime
IF YOU WANT TO
BUY OR SELL
A VEHICLE
Contact:
Solly Kramer
082-922-3597
TEHRAN - Iran has signalled its willingness to discuss its nuclear programme
with six world powers, and admitted that
spies had infiltrated its nuclear installations.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr
Mottaki reportedly announced last
Saturday that his government would
hold talks with the P5+1 group - the
United States, Britain, France, Russia,
China, the five permanent members of
the United Nations Security Council - as
well as Germany, late this month or in
early November.
"The exact date, time and what level
the talks should be held are being negotiated by both the sides," Mottaki said at
a news conference with visiting Cuban
Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriquez.
"Once the details are finalised, they will
be announced."
The last time the sides met was more
than a year ago, on October 1, 2009 in
Geneva, Switzerland.
Also last Saturday, Iranian Vice
President Ali Akbar Salehi, who also
heads Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, admitted that employees of some
of the country's nuclear facilities had
spied for the West in exchange for
money, according to a report by the
Iranian Fars news agency.
Salehi said that the Islamic Republic
had increased workers' privileges and
put increased security into place to stop
the espionage. (JTA)
ISRAELI, EGYPTIAN COMMUNITIES IN LA COME TOGETHER
LOS ANGELES - Israel's consul general
welcomed his new Egyptian counterpart
during a ceremony at Los Angeles City
Hall on October 8.
Israel Consul General Jacob Dayan
greeted Egyptian Consul General Hesham
Elnakib along with Mayor Antonio
Villaraigosa, area legislators and some 200
members of the local Israeli, Jewish and
Egyptian communities.
Exchanges between the two diplomats
included hopes that the same harmonious
ambiance might soon reach the Middle
East.
"I think this is the first step in normalisation," said Dayan, who was instrumental in organising the event. "It comes from
Los Angeles, but hopefully it will spread
to Jerusalem and Cairo.
“Peace on the political level is important, but peace on a person-to-person
echelon carries a grander weight and that
is what we need to pass on to our commu-
nities."
Elnakib reciprocated, calling Dayan his
"dear friend". He said the two countries
should develop stronger cultural ties,
given their similarities.
"We are the same," he said. "We come
from the same region... I hope that everyone there is watching us."
In a closing musical note, Israeli pop
singer Miri Mesika was joined by
Egyptian oud player Hosam Ibrahem in
serenading the crowd with "Inta Umri"
(My Beloved) in Arabic.
Elnakib was stationed previously in
San Francisco, but made the move to
serve the much larger Egyptian community in Los Angeles. He estimated its size
at 400 000, counting first-, second-, and
third-generation Egyptians.
Estimates on the number of Israelis
in Los Angeles fluctuate from 50 000 to
200 000. Some 600 000 Jews live in the
city. (JTA)
NY CANDIDATE PALADINO DENOUNCES HOMOSEXUALITY
NEW YORK - The Republican candidate
for New York governor has denounced
homosexuality in an address to
Orthodox Jewish leaders.
Carl Paladino, meeting at Congregation Shaarei Chaim in Brooklyn with
the leaders, said that children should not
be "brainwashed into thinking that
homosexuality is an equally valid and
successful option" to marrying and raising a family.
"That's not how G-d created us," he
said, reading from a prepared address.
During the speech, he also criticised
his opponent in November's election,
state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo,
for marching in and taking his daughters to a gay pride parade earlier this
year.
Paladino defended his remarks during
a round of Monday morning television
appearances.
He called gay pride parades "disgusting" during an interview on the "Today"
show, while calling discrimination
against homosexuals "horrible" during
an interview with "Good Morning
America".
Paladino said he had no problem with
homosexuals, just with homosexual
marriage. He said he had many homosexuals in his employ. (JTA)
LIEBERMAN TO EUROPEAN MINISTERS: SOLVE YOUR PROBLEMS FIRST
JERUSALEM - Israeli Foreign Minister
Avigdor Lieberman is under fire for
telling his Spanish and French counterparts to solve their own problems before
telling Israel what to do.
Lieberman reportedly made his
remarks last Sunday during a dinner
meeting with French Foreign Minister
Bernard Kouchner and Spanish Foreign
Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos.
"I don't expect you to solve the problems of the world, but I certainly expect
that before you come here to teach us
how to solve conflicts, you will deal
with the problems in Europe and solve
those conflicts," Lieberman reportedly
said.
"Solve your own problems in Europe
before you come to us with complaints.
Maybe then I will be open to accepting
your suggestions."
Lieberman also reportedly said that
the international community was trying
to make up for its own failures in such
areas of the world as Afghanistan, North
Korea and Iraq through its Middle East
involvement.
"In 1938 Europe placated Hitler, sacrificing Czechoslovakia instead of supporting it, and gained nothing from it,"
Lieberman reportedly said. "We will not
be the Czechoslovakia of 2010; we will
stand up for Israel's vital interests."
The ministers told Lieberman in a
phone call on Monday that his statements "violated every rule of diplomatic
etiquette", Haaretz reported.
Moratinos and Kouchner also met on
Sunday with Israeli President Shimon
Peres, Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu, Defence Minister Ehud
Barak and opposition leader Tzipi Livni.
France and Spain each recently
upgraded the status of the Palestinian
delegations in their capitals to mission
status. (JTA)
EMPLOYMENT EXCHANGE
Well-known actress and trainer, Zia Garfield, offers
presentation skills to students and professionals.
Also acting classes.
Contact Zia: (011) 642-6278 or 084-255-4422
Gentleman with experience of IT includes business
analysis, process mapping, project management
plus MBA, seeking new challenges.
Barry: 083-469-2565
Exp and qualified female seeks employment in
data capturing, cashbooks, or any jnr
computerised admin.
Please call Jodi on 073 889 2051 urgently.
Seeking reception, filing, faxing and assisting at a
nursery school. Available immediately.
Contact Ingrid Milner tel 072-2261276
urgently.
People seeking employment may place
a free advert of 20 words maximum.
Send wording to britt@sajewish report
or fax: 086-634-7935
24
SA JEWISH REPORT
15 - 22 October 2010
Rugby doyen Dan Retief speaks at Maccabi Stag
JACK MILNER
THERE IS a belief among sports writers that
when you want to know something on rugby,
go and ask the walking encyclopaedia, Dan
Retief.
Those attending Monday night’s Maccabi
Stag in Johannesburg, will have that opportunity as the doyen of rugby and golf will be
the guest speaker. Retief is an outstanding
guest speaker with in-depth knowledge of
his subject matter.
With the Currie Cup final less than two
weeks away and the Springbok tour to the
UK taking place next month, this will be the
perfect opportunity to get all the information about Peter de Villiers and his squad,
first-hand.
Top rugby and golf
writer and TV commentator, Dan Retief,
is the speaker at
Monday evening’s
Maccabi Stag in
Johannesburg.
The talk will take place at the main auditorium at Beyachad, 2 Elray Street, Raedene at
17:30 for 18:00. A light meal and drinks will
be served and the cost is R100 per person all
inclusive.
In a career spanning 40 years, Retief has
established himself as one of South Africa’s
pre-eminent sport journalists. After starting
Black belts for frum
youngsters
AT A martial arts grading recently held at
the Zen-Kwai dojo, Elyah Gerson and David
Lampert were awarded their junior black
belts.
In an intensive grading session, comprising judo, karate, aikido and ju-jitsu, the pair
enthralled the spectators and impressed the
grading panel which consisted of Irv
Ginsberg, Brian Spector, Benjy Rosen and
was headed by legendary Master Sensei
Mickey Davidow (10th Dan).
What these boys demonstrated is that it is
possible to achieve success in martial arts
without compromising their religious beliefs.
The dojo operates at the at Torah Academy
Girls’ School in Louis Botha Avenue.
Martial arts exponents Elyah Gerson
(left) and David Lampert with their
grading certificates after being awarded
their black belts in Johannesburg.
Gaylord is rated among
great Jewish sportsmen
JACK MILNER
TRYING TO determine who was the greatest
Jewish sportsman of all time, would be more
complicated than solving a Chinese puzzle.
These topics always come up for discussion and there are many who would give that
position to Olympic swimmer Mark Spitz.
However, one name who is less familiar to
South Africans but keeps popping up whenever in discussion with American Jewry, is
gymnast Mitch Gaylord.
Gaylord first thrilled the world in 1984
when he led the United States Olympic gymnastics team to its gold medal victory.
In addition to being the first American
gymnast in history to score a perfect “10”,
Mitch went on to capture a silver medal for
vaulting and two bronze medals for rings
and parallel bars. As the number one ranked
gymnast in 1983 and 1984, Mitch invented
two skills now named internationally after
him.
To this day, the Gaylord Flip and the
Gaylord Two are considered to be among the
most difficult and spectacular feats in gymnastics.
After the Olympics, Mitch was appointed
to the President’s Council for Physical
Fitness by President Ronald Reagan. In 1986
he made his acting debut in Columbia
Pictures’ “American Anthem” and went on
to appear in several commercial advertisements including Levi’s, Diet Coke, Nike,
Vidal Sassoon, Soloflex and Texaco.
In 1995, he was inducted into UCLA’s Hall
of Fame, and in 2006, he was inducted into
the US Olympic Hall of Fame.
He has also been inducted into the Jewish
Hall of Fame and has openly called that one
American gymnast Mitch Gaylord could
be a contender for the title of Greatest
Jewish Sportsman.
of his most emotional experiences. He
speaks of his pride at being honoured as one
of the best Jewish athletes in history. “It gets
more and more meaningful the older I get.
“When you are young it is all about the
sports and competing but when you get older
and you retire, it becomes about the meaning of all of this and hopefully inspiring
other young kids to follow their dreams,” he
said after the ceremony.
That trip last year trip was Gaylord’s first
time in Israel in 24 years, since he returned
to put on a gymnastic exhibition there during the 1985 Maccabiah. After collecting his
award, Gaylord looked back on the time he
spent in what he called the “homeland” and
the significance of his return.
“This brings back the memories from 1981
because we stayed here (at Wingate). It was
my first visit to Israel and it meant much
more than just sports.
“Since I’ve been here this time, I’ve got to
meet a few of the athletes and we’re getting
a feel for the whole thing. It’s beautiful, it’s
amazing.”
out on the Diamond Fields Advertiser in
Kimberley in 1970, he rose through the ranks
quickly, covering major tours and becoming
sports editor of the Cape Times before
embarking on a spell in the world of corporate public relations as PR and franchising
manager at PG Wood and group corporate
communications manager at Cullinan
Holdings; during which time he wrote an
award-winning column for the Financial
Mail.
In 1991 he joined the Sunday Times and his
return to newspapers coincided with South
African sport’s re-emergence from isolation.
Retief’s work for the Sunday Times established him as arguably the country’s leading
sports writer; specialising in rugby and golf.
He was named SAB South African
Sportswriter of the Year for 1992, 1995 and
1997 - the first and only writer to win the
award three times - as well as numerous
other awards for rugby writing. At this juncture he was asked to stand down from the
competition to become a judge of the awards.
Retief was on the panel judging the SAB
Broadcasters Awards for nine years and is
presently convener of the Sasol Springbok
Rugby Media Awards. He is also a South
African voting member for the World Golf
Hall of Fame in America.
In 2000 Retief was approached to join
SuperSport as the name writer on their
Internet site, the SuperSport Zone, and also
to perform certain functions for the television station. He regularly appeared on
SuperSport programmes such as “Boots and
All” and was part of the team who
researched, wrote and presented the highly
acclaimed “Springbok Saga” series.
Retief has reported on four Rugby World
Cups, including South Africa’s victories in
1995 and 2007, well over 100 rugby Test
matches and in golf, has reported on the
British Open at St Andrews and the US
Masters at Augusta.
He regularly writes for SA Golf Digest and
was part of SuperSport’s historic complete
Afrikaans broadcasts of the Nedbank
Million Dollar Golf Challenge at Sun City.
He is a single figure handicap golfer, has
run two Comrades marathons and in 1984
wrote Wynand Claassen’s best-selling biography, “More Than Just Rugby”.
In 2008 Retief was inducted into the SA
Sports Hall of Fame in the media category
and in 2009 he was named the “Golf
Journalist of the Year” by the Compleat
Golfer.
He is currently a freelance journalist and
commentator.
• For catering purposes, please confirm
your attendance to either the Maccabi Office,
(011) 645-2557 or [email protected],
or to Max Klass on (011) 485-1485.