- SA Jewish Report

ISRAELI ELECTIONS: RIGHT
IS EXPECTED TO WIN / 6
TARARAM:
BIG PLANS
TO BRING
SAUJS PLANS FOR
ISRAEL ART
‘FLASHPOINTS’ AT WITS / 16 TO SA / 14
www.sajewishreport.co.za
Friday, 6 February 2009 / 12 Shevat 5769
Volume 13 Number 4
Hajaig apologises in Cabinet
for her anti-Semitic remarks
THE CABINET ‘expressed concern’ about her original anti-Semitic statement as it was ‘contrary to the stated policies of this
government’. Hajaig said the control of America and most Western countries, was ‘in the hands of Jewish money’. SEE PAGE 3
DANIEL S MARIASCHIN
WASHINGTON
Chavez picks up
anti-Semitic flak
OVER THE last few years, Venezuelan Jews have been
increasingly the target of ever bolder anti-Semitic
attacks. The latest example of growing hostility toward
Jews came on January 30, when a Caracas synagogue
was vandalised by armed perpetrators who threw Torah
scrolls and prayer books on the floor, and wrote on the
walls: "We don't want Jews here" and "Jews get out".
Anti-Israel news abounds on state-controlled television and radio stations, which feature excerpts from
The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, the antiSemitic tract claiming a Jewish plot to rule the world.
These trends are a result of the atmosphere President
Hugo Chavez is cultivating by singling out Jews from
their countrymen. The Chavez regime called Israel a
"genocidal" state that is willingly attacking the "peaceful,
unarmed and defenceless Palestinians". Chavez said
Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005 in order to be able to
attack the area and get rid of all the Palestinians. He says
the United States would like to have "other Israels" in
Latin America to attack the Latin American people.
His statements underline his long alliance with Iran
and his sympathy for the Iranian regime's extreme antiZionist and anti-Semitic agenda. In the picture, Chavez,
at a recent march in Caracas. (JTA) CREDIT: BERNARDO
LONDOY/CREATIVE COMMONS SEE PAGE 7
(Daniel S Mariaschin is executive vice-president of
B'nai B'rith International.)
Jewish Report inundated with Wendy Kahn on WJC SOCIAL SCENE: INSIDE FEATURE:
more letters on Gaza / 8-12 team for ‘Durban II’ / 2 Essence of life / 4 Valentine’s Day / 19-21
YOUTH TALK / 16-17
SPORTS / 24
LETTERS / 8-12
CROSSWORD & BRIDGE / 18
COMMUNITY BUZZ / 5
WHAT’S ON / 18
2
SA JEWISH REPORT
06 - 13 February 2009
PARSHA OF THE WEEK
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February 6/ 12 Shevat
February 7/ 13 Shevat
Help, Steven Spielberg!
HASHEM SAID to Moshe: “Now
raise your staff and stretch out
your hand and split the sea”... and
Moshe stretched his hand over the
water and Hashem made a strong
east wind blow all night which split
the sea. - Sh’mot 14 :16-21
Watch the “Prince of Egypt”,
especially the part where Moshe
splits the sea. Watch what happens.
He sort of plunges his staff into the
depths and wham, like some sort of
magical shockwave, the sea splits.
The movie has great drama and
great action. Moshe is the hero
who is the central, torn character:
We learn that Pharaoh is his stepbrother and there’s this tangled
love-hate relationship between
them. And then at the climax, we
have the hero, the sea and the
Egyptians - a clashing tripod of
torrential energies revealed in full
DreamWorks splendour.
But it is simply not what happened and not what the Torah
wants us to hear.
Instead, the Torah goes to great
lengths to explain that it didn’t
take a second to split the sea, it
took the whole night long. And
PARSHAT
B’SHALACH
Rabbi Ramon
Widmonte
Johannesburg
there was no wham, bam shockwave which magically did the
deed, but rather there’s a breeze
which gets stronger and then it
blows the whole night and causes
some part of the seabed to become
exposed and the Jews walk across
it, and then the breeze dies down
and the Egyptians are caught by
the returning tide.
The Torah is at pains throughout to give us a description devoid
of any Harry Potter rationales,
rather
suggesting
“natural”
explanations. The Nile turning to
blood has natural explanations as
do the frogs, lice, locusts and all of
the plagues.
How average! How mundane! Or
so it seems. But this is at the heart
of what the Exodus, y’tzi-at
DAVID SAKS
SAJBD
NATIONAL
Director
Wendy Kahn has been appointed to
the World Jewish Congress Durban
II working group following her
attendance at the 13th plenary
assembly of the World Jewish
Congress (WJC), held in Jerusalem
last week.
Kahn’s appointment to the sevenperson working committee was
made following a special session
with Jewish communal professionals to plan a strategy for the upcom-
ing United Nations Review Conference to the 2001 World Conference Against Racism (WCAR).
The SAJBD’s experience in dealing with major UN conferences that
have been held in South Africa,
including the WCAR and subsequent
World
Summit
on
Sustainable Development, enabled
Kahn to make constructive, practical input into the discussions.
Jewish leaders worldwide are joining forces in seeking to prevent the
Review Conference, which is to take
place in Geneva in April this year,
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Honourable Abe Abrahamson (Chairman), Issie Kirsh, Bertie Lubner, Herby
Rosenberg, Russell Gaddin, Marlene
Bethlehem, Stan Kaplan,
Norman Lowenthal.
Mr Justice Meyer Joffe
(Chair, editorial comm)
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mitzrayim, is all about. The Torah’s
story is not about one man, a magical hero, a Moses. It’s also not
about a magical G-d who lets rip
with mind-blowing special effects.
All of this is in the background. We
know that Hashem could have
taken us out of Egypt in a second
and destroyed Egypt as easily without any plagues at all.
The real story is about a man,
Pharaoh, who is a slave to his power.
And it’s about a people, the Jews,
who give up power to become free.
Pharaoh is a slave to his own
desire for power. He cannot, even
when “Egypt is lost”, relax his grip
on this drug. He must control. He
must at least squeeze some concession from his slaves. He feels he is
nothing and has nothing if his will
cannot coerce some other.
The Jews, on the other hand, give
up power to become free. How? Rav
Soloveitchik makes a remarkable
comment. He says, can we imagine
what “normal people” would do if
after 210 years of slavery and torture, they became the masters, and
their masters were at their mercy?
There would be a massacre and a
frenzy of vengeful destruction.
But what do the Jews do?
Hashem has shattered their shack-
Erev Shabbat
Starts
18:15
18:23
18:15
18:20
17:55
18:15
Ends
19:30
20:23
19:24
19:42
19:54
19:43
Johannesburg
Cape Town
Durban
Bloemfontein
Port Elizabeth
East London
les. The Egyptians are gibbering
idiots - gone is their arrogance,
replaced by numbing terror.
But the Jews do not take
revenge. They do not plunge
Egyptian children into the Nile.
They restrain themselves. They
do not exercise power over some
other. Instead, they exercise
power over themselves. They sit
together in family groups, late
into the night, eating the korban
pesach, living freedom.
Y’tziat mitzrayim is about one
idea - an idea which has rocked
the world since then. It’s about
freedom, which the Torah teaches
us is the ability to master oneself
in the pursuit of what is ultimately moral and good.
That’s something you can’t put
in a special effect.
SAJBD’s Kahn appointed to WJC Durban 11 working group
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KASHRUT
SHABBAT TIMES
The South African delegation with WJC Secretary General Michael
Schneider. From left: Cecelia Smollan, Mervyn Smith, Dalia
Lichtenstein, Wendy Kahn, Michael Schneider and Rabbi Moshe
Silberhaft.
from being turned into a platform
for anti-Semitism and radical antiIsrael activism as happened with
its now notorious Durban predecessor.
Over 600 delegates from 62 countries attended the three-day conference, which focused on such issues
as the threat of Iran, the Gaza
question and reports on antiSemitism in India, Norway, Turkey
and Venezuela. There was also a
commemorative event at Yad
Vashem to mark International
Holocaust Memorial Day.
President Shimon Peres, Prime
Minister Ehud Olmert, Foreign
Minister Tzipi Livni, Defence
Minister Ehud Barak, Diaspora
Minister Isaac Herzog, Likud
Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu
and Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat,
addressed various sessions of the
plenary assembly.
The South African delegation
took advantage of the occasion to
distribute to every delegate a copy
of the SAJBD’s newly-completed
“Let’s Talk Israel” e-book, an innovative multi-media advocacy project which promotes Israel’s credentials as a multiracial democracy
and refutes the “apartheid” comparison.
Kahn gave a brief overview of
Bethlehem reappointed to CRL Commission
DAVID SAKS
LAST FRIDAY, veteran Jewish
communal leader Marlene Bethlehem and 17 others were sworn in
for a five-year term as commissioners on the Commission for the
Promotion and Protection of the
Rights of Cultural, Religious and
Linguistic Communities (CRL
Commission).
The swearing-in ceremony, conducted by Mr Justice Skewiya, took
place at Constitution Hill, adjacent
to the Constitutional Court, in
Braamfontein.
Bethlehem completed a five-year
term as deputy chairman of the
Commission in December last year.
She is one of just three of the original 18 commissioners who have
been reappointed.
Bethlehem said she was delighted to be back for a second term and
thanked the SAJBD for motivating
on her behalf. It was an honour to
serve on so august a body on behalf
of the Jewish community, she said.
The stated mission of the CRL
Commission, which was established in terms of the Promotion
and Protection of the Rights of
Cultural, Religious and Linguistic
the project, using extracts to
demonstrate how it could be used
in countering commonly made
accusations against Israel and
Zionism swiftly and effectively.
Veteran South African Jewish
communal leader Mervyn Smith, a
former national chairman of the
SAJBD and currently long-serving
president of the African Jewish
Congress, was elected as a vicepresident of the WJC. Other members of the South African delegation were Dalia Lichtenstein, Rabbi
Moshe Silberhaft and Josh
Schewitz (SAUJS).
Ronald S Lauder was re-elected
as WJC president and Eduardo
Elsztain and Cobi Benatoff were
elected as chairman of the governing board and treasurer respectively. Former South African Michael
Schneider was re-appointed secretary general.
It was resolved that participants
would work intensively with their
communities over the next three
months to minimise possible negative repercussions of the Durban II
conference. Representations will
also be made to the Holy See concerning the revocation of the
excommunication of Holocaust
denier Bishop Williamson, by Pope
Benedict XVI.
Communities Act of 2002, is to
“promote and develop peace,
friendship, humanity, tolerance
and national unity among cultural,
religious and linguistic communities”.
It has become an important
forum for South Africa’s many and
varied ethnic, religious, racial and
linguistic communities to find common ground as fellow South
Africans and work towards resolving their differences.
UPCOMING FEATURES 2009....
February 13
Focus on Dunkeld
Contact Tammy or Manuela
February 20
Focus on Illovo
Contact Manuela Bernstein
February 27
The Office
Contact Tammy Freedman
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06 - 13 February 2009
SA JEWISH REPORT
SAJBD rejects Hajaig’s
‘so-called apology’
position in government”.
Specifically, the SAJBD said that
the deputy minister’s statement had
THE SAJBD has unreservedly reject“failed to address, let alone repudiate
ed a “so-called apology” from Deputy
and unequivocally retract the racist
Foreign Minister Fatima Hajaig for
anti-Semitic hate speech statement”
anti-Semitic statements she made at a
made by her, which led one to “the
rally in Lenasia south of Johaninevitable conclusion that she stood
nesburg, last month.
by her statement made at the Lenasia
On Tuesday, Hajaig read a three- Fatima
rally”.
minute statement over the radio Hajaig
While apologising for “any hurt”
regarding her statements at the rally
and the reaction to them. This included only she may have caused the Jewish community,
a brief and evasive reference to her previous she had done so only “in passing”, as if it was
assertion that the control of America and of of no great concern.
While interviewed on the matter by e-tv,
most Western countries, was “in the hands
of Jewish money”. The bulk of the state- SAJBD National Chairman Zev Krengel furment concerned her pro-Palestinian sympa- ther commented that far from making an
thies and anti-apartheid “Struggle” creden- apology and retraction, Hajaig had in fact
used the opportunity to further propagate her
tials.
As read over the radio, Hajaig said in this pro-Palestinian views, and in doing so had
regard: “At a singular point in my talk, and seemingly sought to justify her offensive
entirely unrelated to any South African remarks about Jews.
The SAJBD concluded by urging the South
community, I conflated Zionist pressure
with Jewish influence. I regret the inference African government to unequivocally distance itself from the “false, inflammatory and
made by some that I am anti-Jewish.”
In a media release, the SAJBD said that racially offensive statement” made by the
Hajaig’s latest statement had been “deliber- Deputy Minister.
The SAJBD last week took the matter to the
ately crafted in a manner to obfuscate the
issue” that had given rise to the complaint it Human Rights Commission and that still
had lodged against her with the SA Human stood. There had also been concern from
abroad expressed on the deputy minister’s
Rights Commission.
Far from constituting an acceptable apolo- stance, awaiting a formal denunciation from
gy, the SAJBD said that Hajaig’s statement Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlaminihad served only “to compound her original Zuma on South Africa’s formal point of view.
hate speech declaration”, which had insult- The minister’s silence - thus far - has been
ed world Jewry, America and other Western deafening. Jewish Report on Tuesday submitnations and reflected South Africa “in an ted a series of questions to her office on this
extremely poor light having regard to her issue and is awaiting a reply.
DAVID SAKS
International Jewry slams Hajaig slurs
DAVID SAKS
LEADING
INTERNATIONAL
Jewish
organisations have joined in condemnation
of Deputy Foreign Minister Fatima Hajaig’s
allegations that Jewish money power controls America and other Western countries.
The Anti-Defamation League of B’nai
B’rith (ADL), World Union of Jewish
Students and American Jewish Committee’s
Africa Institute (AJCAI) have deplored
Hajaig’s remarks, describing them as a
betrayal of the ideals of non-racism that
underpin South Africa’s post-apartheid society.
All three organisations have written to
President Kgalema Motlanthe to express
their concern and urge him to take appropriate action to address the matter.
In an ADL media statement, National
Director Abe Foxman said: “For the government to remain silent in the face of prejudiced sentiments directed against the Jewish
community in South Africa enables an environment of intimidation and hate to become
socially acceptable,” Foxman said.
In a letter to President Motlanthe, AJCAI
Chairman Stanley Bergman wrote that
Hajaig’s statements were an offence against
not only the Jewish community of South
Africa but against South African society as a
whole.
Chaya Singer, the newly elected chairman
of the World Union of Jewish Students, in
her letter to Motlanthe said: “We believe this
to be a betrayal of the non-racist, democratic
and tolerant society that South Africa is
seeking to build,” she wrote.
Welcome, Mampara Fatima Hajaig
FOR MANY years, the satirical Hogarth column on the leader page of the Sunday
Times, has torn strips off well-known personalities - usually politicians - invariably
deflating huge egos and simply cutting them
down to size and poking fun at their pomposity and thoughtless remarks.
What most of these “celebrities” or “public figures” dread, is the last entry in the column, the “Mampara of the Week”.
A “mampara” is a fool, a dunce or someone acting plain stupid. This “Mampara of
the Week” is a badge of infamy no-one wears
with pride. Some of the better-known mamparas have been ANC Youth League
President Julius Malema (or Jelly Tsotsi as
some irreverent journalists have dubbed
him); also our Dr Beetroot, our former
Minister of Health Manto TshabalalaMsimang; and the hardy annual, the
Butcher of Harare, Robert Mugabe.
Last week’s choice as “Mampara” was
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Fatima
Hajaig.
“Can it really be true? Those recent comments by deputy foreign affairs minister
Fatima Hajaig to the effect that the United
States was in the ‘grip of Jewish money
power’ amounts to what has been described
as the ‘first instance of public Jew-baiting by
a member of the government in over half a
century’?
“Sadly, and shamefully, yes.
“Hajaig has yet to apologise for, or explain,
her rabid anti-Semitism. Her hate-filled nonsense begs a response from the government and there has been none. And how insulting.
“This midgety mampara has no place in
foreign affairs. She is a foreign object, which
must be expelled from the body politic.
Laxatives, anyone?
“Heil Hajaig!”
3
4
SA JEWISH REPORT
06 - 13 February 2009
SOCIAL SCENE
Rita Lewis [email protected]
Loving kindness the essence of life
The takers of this world eat well, but the givers sleep better said Rabbi Yehuda Stern at a dinner at the HOD in
Johannesburg, organised by the Behr family ‘to honour and pay tribute to those who serve the community’.
STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY
RITA LEWIS
RABBI STERN was one of the
speakers who encouraged the gathering to continue their work of giving to those less fortunate because
"Hashem takes note of everything
given in this world".
Other speakers included Chief
Rabbi Warren Goldstein, Steven
Adler, president of the Chevrah
Kaddisha, Yad Aharon's, Alice
Friedman and Maurice Behr.
The annual dinner was given by
Maurice Behr and his sons Phillip
and Ross, in memory of Israel Jacob
and Mary Behr, in conjunction with
the Orange Grove shul.
Addressing the gathering, Behr
said: "You are all special people. You
can walk tall with pride. Loving
kindness is the essence of life and
this
is
what
this
function
embraces."
Understanding this were representatives of 26 organisations - as
well as the 13 organisations invited
there by Investec.
Investec's connection was that the
guest speaker, Setlogane Manshidi,
head
of
Corporate
Social
Investments, a division of Investec,
had come to the event to describe
how just being nurtured by a loving
Jewish couple, had given him the
impetus to make something of himself.
He recalled how his mother had
worked as a domestic for a Jewish
couple, Mark and Sandy Sussman,
for 31 years.
"I therefore got to know about
gefilte fish, yarmulkes etc. But what
I got to know about life itself is what
they taught me.
"I can only attribute what I am
today to being brought up in their
backyard. They taught me to realise
I could rise above my situation.
Through their caring they encouraged me to study. To learn. To aim
high.
"I am humbled to hear about all
the efforts made by Jewish people to
help others... and not expecting
anything in return."
He spoke of visiting the camps
where the victims of xenophobia
were being helped by Jewish organisations and was "deeply touched
and humbled".
After his speech, presentations
were made to Morris Behr and to
two groups of youngsters, chosen
by their head teachers "for visiting
the elderly, sick and lonely and
bringing warmth, love and caring
into their hearts".
Chazan Ezra Sher, Mark Shapiro
and George Mxadana, musical director of Imilonji Ka Ntu Male Choir,
accompanied by Evelyn Green, entertained the guests.
Mxadana recently received an
award from President Kgalema
Motlanthe for his contribution to
music in Africa.
Morris Behr presents a bouquet of flowers to his PA,
Glynis Sifris for all her efforts.
Gail and Morris Behr with Bradley and Jody Benater, Sean and Desiree Kramer and Celia Singer.
Rabbis Siggy Suchard, Moshe Kurtstag rosh Beth Din,
Avraham Vigler and Yehuda Stern with host, Morris
Behr (centre).
Some of the girls who received acknowledgement for their many acts of kindness, Shani
Hurwitz, Candice Sifris, Amanda Blankfield,
Natalie Fisher, Emma Berkenfeld and Ilanit
Chernick.
Holding the gift presentation for Morris Behr are Ryan Sifris
and Justin Sher.
Chazan Ezra Sher, Mark Shapiro and George Mxadana, musical
director of Imilonji Ka Ntu Male Choir, entertain the gathering.
Compassionate learners Ari Katz, Ariel Sobel with their certificates presented by Rabbi Yehuda Stern next to Morris Behr
and Mark Friedman.
Mosoane Morgan, Setlogane Manshidi, Tumelo Mabitsela,
Morris Behr and Tshepo Kgame - delegates from Investec and
the Kutlwanong Centre for Maths, Science and Technology.
Guest speaker, Investec's Setlogane Manshidi.
06 - 13 February 2009
COMMUNITY BUZZ
LIONEL SLIER
082-444-9832, fax: 011-440-0448,
[email protected]
MUIZENBERG
From David Abel:
“I remember standing on the Muizenberg
Pavilion, looking down at the Snake Park at
young boys and girls during the summer of
1955.
“One of our crowd told us a story which
could or could not, be true. Apparently a
young man from Johannesburg had looked
down at the bevy of young, beautiful girls
below and asked his Cape Town companions: ‘Who is the daughter of the richest
Jew in Cape Town?’
“When his friends pointed out a certain
young lady, the Johannesburger went down
and introduced himself. Legend has it that
he later proposed and married her!”
MUIZENBERG
From Hyman Jocum:
“In recent years revisionist English historians have been trying to dissociate Cecil
Rhodes’s name with Muizenberg by claiming that he bought a cottage in St James
where he died in March 1902.
“Few people knew Rhodes better than his
private secretary, Philip Jourdan, who loyally served his employer to the very end of
Rhodes’s eventful but short life.
“In his biography of Rhodes, Jourdan
states that Rhodes first discovered
Muizenberg early in the summer of 1881.
What appealed to Rhodes most about
Muizenberg were the cool iodine flavoured
sea breezes which helped the (then) young
Member of Parliament breathe more easily.
“As the nearest railway station was at
Wynberg, 12 kilometres away, only visitors
who owned horse carriages could enjoy the
luxury of visiting Muizenberg which boasted one hotel, Farmer Peck’s Inn, which,
incidentally, had been in existence since
1825.
“But for the Rhodes biography, few would
have known that in 1881, the hotel was
owned and managed by Mr and Mrs Isidore
Hirsch who bought Farmer Peck’s Inn in
1880 and ran it until March 1895 when it was
sold to Charles King.
“While Mrs. Hirsch supervised the
kitchen, Isidore Hirsch ran the bar which
could never have seen a shortage of customers as a British army camp was situated
directly opposite from Camp to School
Roads.
“Isidore Hirsch also erected a men’s
changing premises on the beach. It was
known as Farmer Peck’s Bathing House
and was demolished in 1910 to make way for
the wooden pavilion.”
SA JEWISH REPORT
Blumsohn.”
JOHANNESBURG
From Ian Spitz:
“I refer to the article about the welldeserved award given to Dr David
Blumsohn by the University of the
Witwatersrand at the Faculty of Health
Sciences
graduation
ceremony
on
December 10 2008. (SA Jewish Report
January 23 2009). In fact, Dr Blumsohn was
not the only recipient of an illustrious
award.
“My wife, Charlotte and my daughter,
Moira, were at the ceremony to witness my
brother, Professor Lewis Spitz, receive an
Honorary Doctorate, being the University’s
highest honour after which he gave the
keynote address to the new graduates.
“Lewis grew up in Pretoria and started
his tertiary education at Tukkies, then proceeded to Wits where he specialised in paediatric surgery. In 1980, after five years at
the Children’s Hospital, Sheffield, he took
up the appointment as Consultant
Paediatric Surgeon, Great Ormond Street,
London, culminating in his being offered
the chair of paediatric surgery at the
University of London.
“He became renowned as one of the foremost paediatric surgeons in the world and a
leader in the separation of conjoined
(Siamese) twins. In 2005, an hour-long BBC
production marking his retirement, was
aired on TV.
“It was gratifying to note that the honours
at the Wits ceremony went to two outstanding Jews, but what disturbed me was that
out of a total of 164 medical and dental graduates, less than five per cent were Jews.
“I often wonder that with today’s criteria
for admission, whether Lewis would have
been accepted into the medical faculty of a
local university. Food for thought!”
BENONI
Rollo Berman continues:
“I remember my cousin, Wolfie Levy saying
to me: ‘I’m taking you for a steak.’
“So, off we would go to the Criterion
Restaurant which was famous in its time for
‘grills’. It was run by a family named Davis.
My cousin would go armed with a chequebook to pay for the meal.
“Credit cards were not known at that
period. I wonder if the restaurant still
exists. (It doesn’t -ed).
“I will never forget the visit to the Toweel
family house in Benoni, where I saw Vic
Toweel, the bantamweight champion of the
world, in action. There I saw the whole family backing and training Vic in the ring.
“I was so excited that I told my friends
about it when I got home. Yes, as the song
goes, Benoni, ‘you are always on my mind’.”
PIETERSBURG/POLOKWANE.
From Gwen Heiman:
JOHANNESBURG
From Maurice Blumsohn:
Concluding the accolade given to Prof David
Blumsohn by Prof H P Laburn, dean of the
Faculty of Health Sciences, Wits University:
“David Blumsohn is a scholar of note. Not
only has he published widely in medical literature, but he has also been invited to leading cardiological and other medical institutions in North and South America as visiting professor, researcher or teacher.
“Our own students hold him in the highest regard as teacher and mentor. He regularly receives letters and gifts from the students expressing their gratitude for his
teaching, philosophy, guidance and mentoring and for showing them the importance of
patient-centred medicine.
“He was the recipient of the P V Tobias
and Convocation Award for distinguished
teaching in 1996. He is definitely one of the
students’ heroes which is borne out by the
fact that he has been guest speaker at the
final year medical students’ ball for the past
five years.
“Professor Blumsohn also has scholarly
interests outside of medicine. He holds a
doctorate in Semitic languages and is
extremely widely read.
“In recognition of the abovementioned
extraordinary contributions to the Faculty
of Health Sciences and its students and to
the community of Soweto, it is an honour to
award the Gold Medal of the University of
the Witwatersrand to Professor David
“I knew Max and Anne Himmelhoch who
were buried in Polokwane. Anne was a sister to Abe, Jack, Harry and Minnie Serman
of Louis Trichardt. They married and had
two sons, Nathan and Stanley, who were
orphaned very young, I think about seven
and nine years old, when they passed away.
“The boys then went to live with their
aunt and uncle Jack and Rose Serman who
were also my aunt and uncle and were then
living in Graaff-Reinet in the Cape where
they owned a hotel.
“The Serman children are still in touch
with Nathan and Stanley Himmelhoch who
are both living in Israel.
“I also knew the Brenners and Palte families of Pietersburg, but not as intimately as
the Himmelhochs, as I was very young
then.”
WELKOM
Told by Lionel Gilinsky to Anne Lapedus
Brest:
“Some of the Jewish families were: Eva and
Izak Queit (concession and outfitting
stores). Sachs (who owned Welkom
Pharmacy), Cherin, Levitt, Hack, Max
Greenberg, pharmacist, Hollanders (jewellers), Hersch, Harry Keftel, Smokey
Simon (life insurance agent, a former
Israeli and RAF pilot).
“Dr Matty Cohen (GP emigrated to
Israel), Dr Moss (dentist), the Ogus family.
(Mrs Ogus ran a fish and chips shop).”
5
6
SA JEWISH REPORT
06 - 13 February 2009
OPINION AND ANALYSIS
FORUM FOR DIVERSE VIEWS
A very Jewish debate
THE LETTERS to the Jewish Report triggered by
Israel’s Gaza operation continue flooding in. This
debate is important, both for the topic itself and
the vitality of the Jewish community. We have
given several pages to the letters; even so, we will
simply not have space to publish all of them. This
is the biggest influx of letters we have experienced
in the more than 10 years of the paper’s existence.
It is gratifying that Jews from a broad spectrum
are so moved that they are taking the trouble to sit
down and write a letter for public consumption,
taking ownership of the forum of this paper. Open
debate has always been part of our vision - even if
heated and contentious - for the benefit of the
community as a whole.
Many people from the mainstream are participating, as well as others who are Jewish but have
not generally identified with the mainstream and
have never done so publicly in a Jewish forum.
They are insistently claiming their Jewish identity, saying they will not yield it to others.
It is good for the richness and diversity of the
community - an expression of broad democracy in
action, where everyone, from ordinary people to
leaders and thinkers, can participate and make
their voices heard. All the letters show the passion
of the writers and their confidence in standing up
for their views about Jewishness, Israel, South
Africa, etc - a reflection of a mature community.
Different kinds of letters are apparent. Firstly,
there are those either defending Israel itself, or
criticising it. Then there are those arguing for
“community unity” - essentially, that we should
not show the world that Jews don’t all agree on
Gaza and Israel, lest it give ammunition to our
enemies.
To some of these writers, Jewish critics of Israel
are “traitors”, endangering us in a world of antiSemitism and threat. Conversely, others insist it is
essential that all Jewish voices are heard, whatever direction they are coming from, and that this
diversity is a source of strength.
Pretending all Jews think - or should think alike is both false and dangerous: false, because an
abiding characteristic of the Jewish world, and a
source of its genius, is the diversity of voices on
every topic, that Jews do not march in lockstep;
dangerous because when community pressure
forces people to keep silent about their views when
they are different from an “accepted” version,
deep resentment results, and erosion of feelings of
“belonging”. No-one has a monopoly on the truth
or the “correct” perspective.
Others have challenged communal organisations, saying they cannot speak for all Jews, many
of whom don’t belong to the mainstream, but are
fully Jewish and identify as such.
The notion of open debate itself is given attention by some letters. There have been attacks on
the Jewish Report for its insistence on this, and for
publishing certain letters, particularly of a “leftwing” slant; although we are also criticised for
being too weighted towards the “right”.
Fortunately, most people have come to appreciate the Jewish Report as a forum for diverse views,
for robust debate - that particular letters do not
necessarily reflect the views of the paper itself. A
few years ago this was not the case - the paper was
slammed by some readers whenever it carried
anything not conforming to their personal views.
In many of the letters, the “never again” theme
is present. In other words, “never again” will Jews
allow themselves to be led to the slaughter like
lambs, as happened in the Holocaust; they will
fight back, the world needs to know that, and
Israel’s strong response to the Hamas rockets is an
illustration of this principle.
One unfortunate tendency is that some letterwriters have launched personal attacks on previous writers with whom they disagree, in order to
discredit their views, rather than addressing the
issues themselves in a dignified way. This is
understandable in robust debate, but only up to a
point.
What comes through clearly in all the letters is
the passion evoked among all Jews by this tiny
piece of Middle East land called Israel, whatever
they think about its nature and politics. Even people who reject the idea of its existence as a “Jewish
state” are paradoxically engaging vigorously with
the issue of its “Jewish” behaviour and demanding high “Jewish” standards.
This debate is a very Jewish one. We should
cherish it.
Billboard shows Israel’s three candidates for prime minister in the Feb. 10 elections: from left, Tzipi Livni, Ehud Barak
and Benjamin Netanyahu. (CREDIT: BRIAN HENDLER)
Polls point to decisive
win for Israeli right
LESLIE SUSSER
JERUSALEM
IF THE polls are right, the outcome
of next Tuesday’s Israeli election is a
foregone conclusion. Not only does
Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud seem
bound to emerge as the largest single party, but the bloc of right-wing
and religious parties that it leads
seems certain to garner a winning
majority in the 120-member Knesset.
All the latest polls put Likud
ahead of Tzipi Livni’s ruling Kadima
Party, some by as many as 12 seats
(34-22), others by as few as three
(28-25), which theoretically is a small
enough margin to be overcome via a
coalition deal. But all the surveys
without exception give the religious
and rightwing parties a virtually
unassailable lead, ranging from at
least 10 seats (65-55) to as many as 18
(69-51).
That means Netanyahu is almost
certain to be invited to form the next
government.
The only question seems to be the
nature of the coalition he forms. Will
he go for a narrow right-religious
government that includes the hardline Yisrael Beiteinu party led by
Avigdor Lieberman; two fervently
Orthodox parties, Shas and Torah
Judaism; and two national-religious
parties, Jewish Home and National
Union, associated with supporters of
the settlements?
Or will he opt for a national unity
government that also includes
Kadima and/or Ehud Barak’s
Labour Party? Netanyahu claims his
biggest mistake as prime minister
from 1996 to 1999 was in not forming
a national unity coalition with thenLabour leader Shimon Peres.
It is a mistake he does not intend
to repeat.
This time, Netanyahu says, he
wants to establish the widest possible national unity government with
the parties on the right balanced by
Kadima and Labour on the left.
Likud insiders, however, suggest
that he would actually prefer to
leave Kadima in opposition, where
he believes it will disintegrate as a
political force.
The thinking is that Kadima in
opposition might split, with the
hawks rejoining the Likud in return
for government portfolios.
Moreover, including Labour without Kadima would be enough to
enhance the otherwise hard-line
government’s international image
and,
more
importantly,
give
Netanyahu a degree of flexibility in
the Cabinet in dealing with peacemaking initiatives.
Livni, who just four months ago
seemed certain to become the country’s next prime minister, is now
very much the underdog, and she is
pulling out all the stops. Her most
recent campaign tactic is to appeal
for support as a woman. A campaign
ad suggests that no one would question the prime ministerial credentials of a man with her record: army
officer, Mossad agent, head of the
government companies’ authority,
minister of immigrant absorption,
regional co-operation, justice and
foreign affairs, and deputy prime
minister.
Livni is also highlighting the
“Obama factor”, arguing that an
intransigent Netanyahu-led government would be almost certain to
clash with a new US administration
bent on bringing peace to the Middle
East. Israel needs to put a peace plan
on the table now because time is running out, she declared on Monday at
a conference on national security.
As for Barak, the most significant
element of his campaign is the way
he has been targeting Livni, not
Netanyahu. More than anyone else,
he has played on the “think twice
before voting for a woman” card.
When Livni called for tough action
in the wake of renewed rocket fire
from Gaza this week, Barak referred
to her as “gveret mebarberet” - the
chattering lady - and said he found it
difficult to see people who had never
held a gun or fought a battle calling
for military action.
In contrast, Barak, a former chief
of staff of the Israel Defence Forces,
highlights his performance as
defence minister in the 22-day war
against Hamas in Gaza. Given
Israel’s tough security environment,
he suggests that anyone who can
manage the defence portfolio can
also serve as prime minister.
But Barak’s chances of actually
winning the election seem negligible. According to the polls, the best
he can hope for is perhaps to supplant Livni as runner-up.
Whether or not Labour finishes
ahead of Kadima, Barak’s post-election dilemma is likely to be whether
to join a Netanyahu government that
includes the hawkish Lieberman. As
much as Barak would like to stay on
as defence minister under Netanyahu, there are strong voices in
Labour insisting that if Lieberman,
who is advocating a “loyalty test” for
Israeli Arabs and says only he knows
how “to deal” with them, they will
stay out in principle.
Netanyahu, however, will find it
difficult to keep out Lieberman.
Indeed, Lieberman has been the big
story of the 2009 election. Latest
polls give his strident Yisrael
Beiteinu party about 16 Knesset
seats, with some even placing it
ahead of Labour as the country’s
third largest party.
Lieberman, who emigrated from
the Soviet Union in 1979, started his
political life close to Netanyahu in
the Likud. In 1999, after a falling-out
with the then-prime minister,
Lieberman founded a small Russian
immigrant party, which has since
developed into a major force on the
international stage.
In this election, he calculatingly
fanned anti-Arab sentiment to build
a wide base of electoral support. The
showdown with Hamas and the widespread criticism by Israeli Arabs of
the devastation in Gaza helped his
cause. His main election slogan - “No
citizenship without loyalty” - suggests that if empowered he would
deny citizenship and its concurrent
voting rights to Israeli Arabs.
Lieberman’s many critics on the left
accuse him of racism.
One thing that could prevent him
from becoming a minister in the next
government is the fact that police
have just accelerated a long-standing
criminal investigation against him
involving the alleged laundering of
huge sums of money. The probe might
actually help Lieberman win more
seats - many see its sudden renewal
just days before the election as a part
of a conspiracy against Lieberman.
But if he is indicted or if the attorney general disqualifies him from
serving in the new government
because of the allegations against
him, he would not be able to join the
coalition, making it easier for Barak
to lead Labour into a Netanyahu
administration.
What could change things and
have all the pollsters eating their
hats? Thirty per cent of voters say
they are still undecided. If they have
not been factored in by the pollsters,
February 10 could still provide a surprise twist or two. (JTA)
06 - 13 February 2009
SA JEWISH REPORT
AROUND THE WORLD | NEWS IN BRIEF
DOCKWORKERS WON'T OFFLOAD
ISRAELI SHIP
CAPE TOWN -- South African dock workers say they will not offload an Israeli ship
that is set to dock in Durban.
In a Palestine Solidarity Committee
news release, the Congress of South
African Trade Unions' decision to
"strengthen the campaign in South Africa
for boycotts, divestment and sanctions
against apartheid Israel" is noted.
Referring to workers' commitment to
"refuse to support oppression and
exploitation across the globe," the committee recalls the refusal by Durban dockworkers last year to offload arms from
China that were destined for Zimbabwe.
The release also says that workers will
not allow South African ports to be used
as "transit points for goods bound for or
emanating from certain dictatorial and
oppressive states such as Zimbabwe,
Swaziland and Israel".
The release continues: "We also welcome statements by various South
African Jews of conscience who have dissociated themselves from the genocide in
Gaza. We call on all South Africans to
ensure that none of our family members
are allowed to join the Israeli Occupation
Forces' killing machine."
Calling on the South African government to sever diplomatic and trade relations with Israel, the Palestine Solidarity
Committee announced a week of action
under the banner "Free Palestine, Isolate
Apartheid Israel". (JTA)
PRES SARKOZY BRIEFS ABBAS,
MITCHELL
PARIS - French President Nicolas
Sarkozyon Monday met in Paris with
Mahmoud Abbas and George Mitchell to
discuss strengthening the fragile ceasefire
between Hamas and Israel.
Abbas, the Palestinian Authority president, told reporters on Monday night following the meeting, that he hoped Europe
would play a more "political" supportive role
in the Middle East.
Abbas began a tour of Europe on Monday,
where he asked for a more unified
Palestinian government, including Hamas,
but with his own Fatah Party at the helm,
the French news agency AFP reported.
Abbas also told reporters that last week's
call by Hamas leaders for the replacement of
Fatah
was
"totally
unacceptable".
Nevertheless he said, "We should dialogue
with Hamas."
As part of Sarkozy's continued investment in Middle East negotiations for peace,
the French leader also met earlier on
Monday with Mitchell, the newly appointed
special US envoy to the Middle East, and
Prime Minister Sheik Hamad bin Jassem alThani of Qatar.
Mitchell, who just completed a tour of the
region, reportedly was briefed on the
French government's efforts at solidifying a
Gaza ceasefire.
Abbas travelled to Britain, Turkey, Poland
and Italy later this week. (JTA)
HUNDREDS RALLY OPPOSITE VENEZUELAN CONSULATE
NEW YORK - Hundreds on Monday afternoon rallied in front of the Venezuelan
Consulate in New York to protest the vandalising of a Caracas synagogue.
The rally, organised on short notice,
expressed solidarity with the Venezuelan
Jewish community and accused the country's president, Hugo Chavez, of fomenting
an anti-Jewish atmosphere in which such
anti-Semitic violence was inevitable.
Demonstrators called on the Chavez government to bring the perpetrators of the attack
to justice. Chavez has condemned the attack.
"We hold you accountable," veteran
activist Rabbi Avi Weiss told the crowd as
footage of Chavez delivering a speech played
behind him on a video screen behind the
consulate window.
The rally was responding to an attack over
the weekend on the Mariperez Synagogue in
the Venezuelan capital. According to
reports, 15 armed men overpowered a secu-
rity guard before desecrating religious
objects, painting threatening messages on
the walls and stealing community information.
At the rally, local political figures and
Jewish communal officials led the crowd in
chanting "Never Again" and its Spanish
translation, "Nunca Jamas".
Manuel Kohn, a Venezuelan Jew who has
lived in the United States for nearly 50 years,
addressed the protesters, describing his
native country's history of hospitality to
Jews and other minorities.
"G-d bless you all, G-d bless Venezuela,
and never again," Kohn said.
David Harris, executive director of the
American Jewish Committee, sounded an
ominous warning in noting the theft of
administrative information about the local
Jewish community.
"Historically," Harris told JTA, "that has
never ended well." (JTA)
ANOTHER CATHOLIC CLERGY DENIES NAZI GAS CHAMBERS
ROME - Another traditionalist priest has
publicly denied that Nazis murdered Jews
in gas chambers during the Holocaust.
"I know that the gas chambers existed, at
least to disinfect [inmates]," the Rev
Floriano Abrahamowicz said in an interview last week Thursday with Italy's
Tribuna di Treviso newspaper.
Like Richard Williamson, whose rehabilitation by Pope Benedict XVI despite his
denial of Nazi gas chambers sparked a crisis
in
Jewish-Catholic
relations,
Abrahamowicz is a follower of the late traditionalist Bishop Marcel Lefebvre.
Abrahamowicz said he could not say if
people were killed in the gas chambers
because he had not studied the question. He
said, however, that he did not doubt that six
million Jews "or even more" were killed in
the Shoah.
But he went on to compare the Holocaust
to "other genocides" that did not receive the
same amount of public recognition. These
included the Allied bombing of German
cities - and Israel's actions in Gaza.
"And the Israelis can't tell me that the
genocide that they suffered from the Nazis
is less serious than that of Gaza because
they have killed several thousand people
while the Nazis killed six million," he said.
Abrahamowicz denied he or other followers of Lefebvre were anti-Semitic, and
noted that he came from a Jewish family on
his father's side. He described the Jewish
people, however, as "G-d killers" and called
on Jews to "embrace our Lord Jesus
Christ."
Followers of Lefebvre reject Vatican II
Church teachings that reject the collective
branding of Jews as Christ killers. (JTA)
7
INTERNATIONAL COURT EYES WAYS TO
PROSECUTE ISRAELIS
LONDON - The International Criminal
Court in The Hague is exploring ways to
prosecute Israeli commanders for alleged
war crimes in Gaza, according to a British
newspaper report.
Last month, when Palestinian groups
petitioned the court to lodge complaints
against the Israeli military, they were told
that the court had no jurisdiction over
Israel as it was not a signatory to the court.
But the prosecutor of the court, Luis
Moreno-Ocampo, told the Times newspaper on Monday that he was examining the
case for Palestinian jurisdiction over
alleged crimes committed in Gaza even
though Israel, like the United States and
other countries, was not a signatory to the
court.
According to the Times, Palestinian
groups have submitted arguments asserting that the Palestinian Authority is the
"de-facto state" in the territory.
"It is the territorial state that has to make
a reference to the court," Moreno-Ocampo
told the Times. "They are making an argument that the Palestinian Authority is, in
reality, that state."
Moreno-Ocampo explained that the
Palestinian argument rests on Israeli insistence that it has no responsibility for Gaza
under international law since it withdrew
from the territory in 2006.
"It's very complicated. It's a different
kind of analysis I am doing," MorenoOcampo said. "It may take a long time, but I
will make a decision according to law."
The prosecutor said his examination of
the case did not indicate that he believed
war crimes had been committed.
Determining jurisdiction was a first step,
he said, and only after it had been decided,
could he launch an investigation.
The court already has received several
files on alleged crimes from Palestinian
groups. It is awaiting further reports from
the
Arab
League
and
Amnesty
International containing evidence gathered in Gaza. (JTA)
8
SA JEWISH REPORT
06 - 13 February 2009
LETTERS
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
GAZANS ARE BETRAYED BY THEIR OWN PEOPLE
MY HEART aches for all the citizens of
Gaza - men, women, children and babies
who are suffering and living in fear of their
lives due to the present unrest there. These
poor innocent victims have been betrayed
by their own people - Hamas.
In 2005 Israel removed their citizens from
Gaza, many by force. These victims lost
their homes, businesses and many of their
personal possessions in the hope of creating some sort of peace in the Middle East.
This area was then inhabited by some 1,5
million Palestinians.
Throughout the recent ceasefire agreement in the Middle East, Hamas has been
firing rockets from Gaza into the southern
cities of Israel, primarily Sderot. How
many innocent victims lost their homes,
were injured and possibly killed? To my
knowledge the number of casualties has
never been officially reported.
As the time of the ceasefire agreement
was drawing towards an end, Hamas began
firing more and more rockets not only into
Sderot but Ashkelon and Be’er Sheva as
well.
The week of Christmas, Hamas fired 200
rockets into these areas, no doubt provok-
ing Israel into retaliating. The leaders of
Hamas were well aware of the implications
of their increasingly aggressive actions
and knew full well how the citizens of Gaza
were going to suffer.
Unfortunately, Hamas have been storing
their ammunition and firing their rockets
from nursery schools, schools, hospitals
and many other unlikely places, even civilian residences.
In the name of Allah, what kind of people
put their citizens, particularly children’s
lives at risk by doing this? And even worse,
in the name of Islam, how can these “leaders” hide ammunition under a mosque - a
holy site?
There is no doubt that the poor, innocent
civilians of Gaza have been betrayed by
Hamas and in view of this, Muslims
throughout the world should be targeting
their anger at Hamas who so carefully
planned this “invasion”, purely to make
them (Hamas) appear to be the innocent
victims when, in fact, they themselves are
the actual perpetrators.
Cheryl Codron
Johannesburg
ONLY HAJAIG SACKING WOULD ELIMINATE CANCER
WHETHER FATIMA Hajaig, the deputy
minister of foreign affairs, will remain at
her post or be summarily dismissed, is the
question, as it will determine whether there
is in fact an inclusive place for all ethnic
minorities in South Africa.
The two events that highlighted the
deputy minister’s true colours are well documented and display a disturbingly warped
state of mind. Hajaig’s utterances could
have been lifted from the pages of The
Protocols of the Elders of Zion which has
eternally branded Jews as the surreptitious
rulers of the world - quite a feat considering
that Jews number no more than 14 million
worldwide.
This would suggest that no world leader
has ever reached a major decision without
the sanction of this insidious group of
Jewish,
black-hooded,
Illuminati.
Considering the relatively advanced standard of living enjoyed by most of the developed world, it would seem that these Jewish
puppet-masters appear to deserve a vote of
deep gratitude for a job well done.
But truth is not the issue when it comes to
feeding the frenzy of inborn hatred and
prejudice that applies uniquely to the
Jewish world where the message remains
the same: “The Jewish conspiracy lives !”
The denial by Eddie Makue, general secretary of the SA Council of Churches, that
the fight against Israel was anti-Semitic
(“he ... only wanted to bring his Jewish
brothers and sisters onto the ‘right path’”)
did nothing to alleviate our anxiety.
However, Makue should note that those
elements of the Jewish community who
wish to align themselves with Israel need not
his approval to do so; nor do we require his
assistance in finding “the right path”. We have
managed perfectly well for the past 3 500
years.
If we are to assume that this despicable
tirade by the deputy minister is acceptable to
our government, then we are, indeed, in serious trouble. It would clearly indicate that
internal discipline at the highest level has not
only broken down, but that ministers can wilfully incite hatred against a minority group of
their choosing without fear of retribution.
Further, it would show that those essential
elements of human rights enshrined in our
Constitution and Bill of Rights, are under serious attack and in clear danger of being discarded. Even if we as a community have
recourse to the Human Rights Council and,
ultimately to the courts, the mere fact that we
have to resort to such action is disquieting in
itself.
One can only ask what would constitute an
appropriate response from the minister. A
mere apology, issued on the instruction of her
superiors, would be meaningless. Nothing
short of her sacking would eliminate the cancer she has propagated.
It should be of deep concern to the government that this event has not gone unnoticed
around the civilised world where individuals
and organisations find it inconceivable that
the land that spawned Mandela could have
spawned Fatima Hajaig. But - should we be
surprised?
Victor Gordon
Pretoria
ISRAELI GOVERNMENT WILL HAVE TO TALK TO HAMAS
THE PERSONS who signed off on the Gaza
incursion, are highly respected members of
not only the Jewish community, but the public at large. I am in awe of some of the names
on the list.
It is their fundamental right to express
whatever views they feel are necessary.
However, I would suggest that criticism
should be constructive. One cannot simply
condemn without providing suggestions on
how Israel should have gone about defending
herself, and at what level this response
should have been.
It is quite clear to all, that none of these
prominent members of our society has ever
had rockets fired at them before, not once nor
for the many years that it happened to Israel.
The question I would like to ask these prominent South African Jews is: What would you
do, if you were in Israel’s shoes?
The condemnation of Israel by such prominent members of the Jewish community in
my humble opinion adds fuel to an already
inflamed anti-Semitic inferno. Criticising
Israel in public - as the editor of the Jewish
Report (February 6) states - legitimises the
public expression of hatred toward Jews. If
these respected members of the Jewish community can condemn, so can we (the anti-
Semites).
There is no doubt in my mind the time has
come for Israel to start thinking about how
they are going to talk and negotiate with
Hammas. This might be controversial to
many Jews worldwide, but I must ask: Were
not the ANC sworn enemies of the
Nationalist government?
The Nationalist government would have
done all in its power to destroy the ANC.
However, they managed to bring themselves
to talk to the ANC, no matter how they must
have hated it. The proof of the pudding is in
the eating. One cannot deny that as South
African Jews we live in peace as a result.
But today (Feb 1, 2009) as rockets fly into
Israel from Gaza, they have no alternative
but to fight back, with all their might. If a
mouse keeps on pulling an elephant’s tale
long enough, making its life miserable, what
do you think the elephant will do? It will
stomp on the mouse so that it does not do it
again.
Sorry I almost forgot: No mention is made
of Israel’s right to defend herself. Why was
this left out?
Prof Steven R Firer
Johannesburg
The Editor, Suite 175, Postnet X10039, Randburg, 2125 email: [email protected]
Guidelines for letters
Letters up to 400 words will get preference. Please provide your full first name and surname,
place of residence, and a daytime contact number. We do not publish letters under noms de
plume. Letters should preferably be e-mailed. Letters may be edited or shortened.
Note: Due to space limitations we are unable to publish all the letters received on Gaza.
We will, however, publish more in forthcoming issues.
HOW DO YOU DETERMINE ‘PROPORTIONALITY’ TO AN ATTACK?
ONE WOULD expect that these eminent
jurists and the other signatories (denouncing “disproportionate” action in Gaza, in
SAJR of January 30), would apply their
minds to perusing the laws and rules as
applicable, as the framework within which
the facts would be considered.
If one or more of the authors of the letter
would identify by any references in international agreements, protocols etc to “proportionality” of response to any attack, this
mantra could be disposed of in a dustbin.
For the benefit of laymen a précis of the
rules, if they exist, should be furnished.
Furthermore, in terms of international
conventions, sovereign states are entitled
and permitted to take such measures and
actions as they consider necessary, to protect themselves from aggression; that combatants shall wear recognised uniforms
and identifications so that non-combatants
and civilians are not targeted; and that
prisoners of war should be properly
housed, nourished, visited regularly by
ICRC officials, their families informed of
their incarceration and the facility of communication by letter.
One has only to recall Cpl Gilad Shalit
who was kidnapped two years ago in Israeli
territory and is lost in the maw of terrorism.
Hamas, being a terrorist organisation, is
not a subscriber to the international laws,
protocols etc, and does not consider applying
them.
The intentional firing of ordnance into a
neighbouring state is considered a casus
belli. The Israeli government showed forbearance in not responding to the rocket
attacks for many months past.
Some weeks ago that government warned
the terrorists that if they did not cease their
attacks, Israel would respond. The attacks
persisted and Israel DID respond, not against
Gazan citizens per se, but against terrorists
and their installations.
When or where in the annals of history
were civilians timeously warned to remove
themselves from the vicinity of intended targets? Electricity and water supplies were
maintained by Israel and operations suspended daily to enable supply trucks to enter
Gaza.
One wonders that if the IDF had conducted
their operations in a way that would have
caused them to suffer 1 200 casualties, the
“bleeding hearts” would have been
staunched.
Hamas may have scored a skewed propaganda success, but at what cost and benefit to
the citizens of Gaza?
Avram Pelunsky
Johannesburg
HAMAS’‘INABILITY TO BE SENSIBLE’
INSTEAD OF criticising Israel for what was
described as a “disproportionate” response
to the Hamas provocation, it would have
been more appropriate to berate Hamas for
its inability to be sensible. Conditions in
Gaza are appalling, but instead of making
every effort to improve the situation, Hamas
and its supporter (Iran?) spends untold
amounts of money on rockets.
There is no doubt that Hamas’ objective to
destroy Israel, precludes any thoughts of
using their resources and influence to
improve the conditions of the population of
Gaza. This negative attitude was revealed
when Hamas destroyed the enterprises left
by the Israeli settlers when those settlers
withdrew from Gaza.
It is impossible to set a standard for the
response that Israel should have made to the
rocket attacks. In effect, Hamas declared war
and the consequences are on their heads.
As Barack Obama said in 2008: “If somebody was sending rockets into my house
where my two daughters sleep at night, I
would do everything in my power to stop
that, and would expect Israelis to do the same
thing.”
Dr Arnold Mendelowitz
Waverley, Johannesburg
LET THE LETTER WRITERS LIVE IN SOUTHERN ISRAEL
TO THOSE brave SA Jews living in comfort
and safety in South Africa, whose names
were published in the January 16 issue,
condemning Israel’s war against Hamas,
the following: “Take your families and live
in southern Israel for two or three months.
“The men can count the rockets fired at
the town, while the wives and children live
in bomb shelters, eating, sleeping, studying,
playing etc, etc.”
This should give these letter writers a better
idea of what Israeli citizens live with every day.
Israel welcomes you! Any takers? I doubt it.
Harry Cohen
Edenvale
MEASURE ‘DISPROPORTIONATE’ NOT BY RESULTS, BUT BY INTENT
I REFER to the letter entitled “Gaza: Israel’s
response disproportionate, inhumane”, published in your edition of January 30 2009.
“Disproportionate” should clearly not be
measured by results, but rather by intent. If,
for example, Iran was to send over a nuclear
bomb into the United States which mistakenly did not detonate, would the United
States just ignore it because no one was
hurt? Clearly not.
Hamas has sent over 8 000 rockets into
southern Israel. These Iranian-supplied
rockets were not sent over for fun or for
effect, but rather to kill and maim as many
people as possible.
The fact that they have not managed to
kill thousands of people, due to air sirens,
bomb shelters and perhaps Heaven’s blessing,
does not detract from their intention.
If three people were killed by each rocket - a
modest ambition - that equates to 24 000 people. Hamas is also continuing to obtain more
powerful weaponry.
The Government of Israel has, in this light,
therefore shown incredible restraint. Such a
high level of restraint, in fact, that it is likely
that the Government will be replaced by a
right-wing Likud-led coalition in the upcoming elections.
David Smith
Johannesburg
WHAT HAS SAJBD TO FEEL ‘POSITIVE’ ABOUT?
THE LEADERSHIP of the SAJBD is to be
commended for initiating a meeting with
President Kgalema Motlanthe to express its
concerns, firstly about the president of this
country being a signatory in an advertisement likening Israel to an apartheid state
and secondly, the deplorable behaviour of
his deputy foreign minister, Fatima Hajaig.
However, I find it hard to understand how
the SAJBD can feel positive about the outcome of this meeting as stated in the headline of the report published in your January
23 edition. For nowhere in your report does
President Motlanthe respond to the two specific concerns which prompted the meeting
in the first place: He offers neither an apolo-
gy nor an explanation for likening Israel to
an apartheid state. Similarly, he does not
address the Fatima Hajaig issue.
Instead, we are offered vague and dare I
say it, mealie-mouthed assurances that we all
have a place in sunny South Africa.
The SAJBD has a moral obligation to be
honest and forthright in its relationship with
its constituents. Similarly, you sir, have an
obligation in the interests of honest reporting, to ask the right questions and where
definitive answers are not forthcoming, to
state so publicly.
Philip Greenberg
Morningside, Durban
06 - 13 February 2009
SA JEWISH REPORT
9
10
SA JEWISH REPORT
06 - 13 February 2009
LETTERS
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
THE REAL ISSUE IS ONE OF VALUE
ISRAEL’S LEADERS have been hearing the
call for their nation’s destruction for 60 years
now. They believe it. They cannot ignore it.
We in other countries seem not to understand that the party in this conflict that has a
gun to its head is not Palestine - it is Israel.
For a nation that came into being legally,
and for all the right reasons, it is living daily
on the brink.
Can even the most fervent Israel-detractor
suggest this: “Lay down your arms; greet
your Palestinian and Arab neighbours as
they come to visit you. They don’t really
mean what they said about killing every last
one of you.”
No, Israel has had to learn to walk more
and more softly, and carry an even bigger
stick, just to survive. The David that the
Western world loved 40 years ago, has
become the hated Goliath, by necessity.
Now that they are using that stick, we gasp:
“Not fair! Disproportionate response!”
What is proportionate? Fifty of your citizens for 40 of mine? Two for one of mine?
Who’s counting?
There is barely a Jew or Israeli in the world
who is not sickened by the killing of the
women and children of Gaza. On the other
hand, the attacks of suicide bombers in
Israel, which resulted in the walling off of
the borders with Palestine, were ecstatically
celebrated in Palestine. But the quid pro quo
justification for the Middle East conflict can
and has, filled books. We have to look beyond
this.
And so the real issue emerges. It is an issue
of value. This is a conflict, not of unequal
military might, but one of unequal morality.
Israelis have shown constantly their fundamental belief in the value of, and respect for,
life. Due to their own repressed history, it
appears that the Jew has developed a highly
sensitised conscience.
It is inherent in their make-up as well as
being a rational conviction. This is their dominant characteristic, despite lapses of judgement by the government and the individual
actions of IDF soldiers resulting in occasional atrocities.
The duly elected government of Gaza,
Hamas is still a terrorist organisation, except
now they have more than a limited cadre of
soldiers at their disposal; they have the
Anthony Garland
Johannesburg
This letter has been shortened - Editor.
brick by brick.
Lamyce Nafte
Greenside
Johannesburg
HAMAS IS MERELY CARRYING ON HITLER’S WORK
I THINK that the learned law persons, the
financial experts, the artists and fellow ANC
cadres, must have met, smoked some powerful weed and sent that letter to the editor.
Adolph Hitler wrote a book, Mein Kampf,
of which I have a copy in English, outlining
his campaign “My campaign”, and among
his points was to better Germany through
national socialism and the destruction of
the Jews. In a free and fair election he won
power and his SS started to harass and
destroy Jewish cultural centres, synagogues
and businesses.
Hitler’s SS then went on and destroyed six
million Jews.
We had no army, no police no country. We
had no-one to protect us.
After the war we established a Jewish
state called Israel. We were attacked on the
first day by all the Arab states. Since that
day until today, we are at war with them.
The war has not ended.
Hamas and its leaders to this very day continue with Hitler’s work. They won free and
fair elections based on national socialism
and the destruction of Judaism. They started it... We do not want to end up in Arab
death camps.
So, what did they smoke when they wrote
the letter to the editor complaining of disproportionate response?
Jack Shnaier
Norwood, Johannesburg
THOSE WHO SIGNED PROTEST LETTER, WHERE WERE YOU?
IN RESPONSE to the letter on January 30,
signed by the “honourable” members of the
Jewish community which appeared in the
SA Jewish Report, I should like to ask:
Where were their voices in 2006 when 4 228
rockets were fired into northern Israel and
where between half a million and a million
Israelis had to be evacuated from their
homes to places of safety? What was the
physical and emotional cost to these people?
Where were their voices when for eight
years the people of Sderot and southern
Israel lived in daily terror of more than
10 000 rockets that also killed and maimed
civilians, including children and destroyed
homes? When visiting Sderot we were told
Guidelines for letters
Letters up to 400 words will get preference. Please provide your full first name and surname,
place of residence, and a daytime contact number. We do not publish letters under noms de
plume. Letters should preferably be e-mailed. Letters may be edited or shortened.
GAZA WAR - IT’S ALL A QUESTION OF ARITHMETIC...
1-million strong population of Gaza.
The dominant aspect that has come to
light on the Palestinian side has been one of
anti-life. It says in effect: “My life is nothing
in the quest for that holy outcome, the elimination of Israel.”
The eminent writer/psychologist Nathaniel Branden has advocated that between
two men of equal self-respect there can be no
conflict. Obviously self-respect engenders
respect for others. But when one party continues to demonstrate total lack of value of
their own life, as well as loathing for yours,
how does one react? Ultimately bloodshed
must follow.
One hesitates to think the unthinkable:
that the endless provocation by rocket fire
from Gaza and the deliberate cessation of
the six-month truce by Hamas, were premeditated to reach this very point of massive
retaliation by Israel.
Can the leaders of Hamas be so morally
bankrupt as to want to see the bodies of children (their own citizens) splashed across the
front pages of the world? All this to garner
emotional and political capital around the
world? And to gain the “moral” high ground
by justifying future attacks on Israel? Can
this just be a PR campaign? Well, it seems to
be working.
Condemnation of Israel as an imperialistic
bully is widespread.
The fact remains that Israel no longer has
the slightest desire to expand its territory; it
became powerful primarily in defence of its
land; it knows that its vibrant economy is
affected by ongoing conflict. It would rather
trade with its neighbours than fight them.
Without a doubt Israel wants long-lasting
peace.
Those of us around the world who, with
smug certainty of the right and wrongs
involved, condemn Israel at every chance we
get, must reassess. By all means demonstrate against the loss of innocent life anywhere and for all time, but beware of lending
weight to those cynical propagandists whose
aim is wholesale slaughter of the Israelis
REDEEM YOURSELVES BY BUILDING UP GAZA
A NEW list of Jewish anti-Semites (the
intellectuals) - shame on you!
Redeem yourselves by getting off your
backsides, and out of your cosy homes,
and go to Gaza and build up the country
The Editor, Suite 175, Postnet X10039, Randburg, 2125 email: [email protected]
that little children were only allowed outside their rocket-proof day care centre for
10 minutes daily, as a safety precaution.
How do you count the trauma to these children and families?
Where were their voices when Ehud
Goldwasser and Eldad Regev were captured and murdered? Where are their voices for Gilad Shalit, languishing as a prisoner, and where his parents and family have
news of his wellbeing? Where is the indignant condemnation against Hamas for not
allowing the Red Cross to visit him.
Marcia Parness
Johannesburg
I HAVE followed with great interest the
debate raging on your letters pages over
Israel’s response to Hamas (rocket) attacks.
I have to agree with the “Not in my name”
lobby. There is nothing achieved by slurring
the proponents in a debate; we should
rather discuss the issues, of which (probably) the central one is Israel’s “disproportionate” response.
So let us discuss the issue. Besides sending us bombs, in more illustrious times, the
Arabs gave us another wonderful gift arithmetic. So let’s use that to try to find a
more proportionate response.
Now the population of Gaza is purported
to be about a quarter the size of Israel’s, so
one could argue that Israel should respond
(under strict UN supervision, of course)
with only a quarter of the missiles that
Hamas toss across the border.
Wait a moment! Perhaps my maths is
wrong! Perhaps it would be fairer if the proportions were reversed. The Jews should be
allowed to throw four times as many missiles into Gaza.
But then I might have it all wrong again.
Perhaps this should all be calculated on
land area. Now Israel is (I don’t know),
maybe 100 times the size of Gaza. Perhaps
Hamas should be allowed a 100 times the
rockets that the IDF deploys. But then
again, perhaps it means that the ratio
should be a 100 times more in Israel’s favour.
Let us use the figure of 7 000 missiles
launched by Hamas over the past few years.
That means that if we calculate a “proportionate” response, then one of the answers
would be a factor of 400:1 in Israel’s favour.
We can then multiply the 7 000 missiles by 400
and come up with a “fair” or “reasonable”
response of 2,8 million rockets.
To be perfectly equitable, the figure varies
between 18 missiles (one in 400) and 2,8 million, so let’s take an average of 1,4 million that
the IDF could be expected to fire into Gaza.
That is roughly a deadly bomb per man,
woman, and child, fired at random into a
densely populated civilian population. (The
rules according to Hamas.) A proportionate
response?
But I do get ahead of myself - I really do not
want to get into calling anyone “stupid”, for
the mind boggles (if this were to become an
international standard) as to how many missiles it would be acceptable for the Chinese to
unleash on the people of Burma or Tibet.
The truth, of course, is that there is no “disproportionate” response - only one that stops
the terrorists called Hamas from shooting
missiles on a daily basis against innocent
civilians in Israel.
Roy Chazen
Glenhazel, Johannesburg
TWO PARTIES ARE NEEDED TO MAKE PEACE
THE CORRESPONDENCE that you received about the war in Gaza is very pertinent, but there is something that is not
mentioned - and it’s very important in my
eyes - namely that one needs two parties to
make peace.
Are the Islamist Hamas prepared to
make peace? Israel has made lots of effort
and concessions in that regard; has Hamas
accepted any of these (concessions)? And
they have not stopped firing rockets into
Israel for eight years and they are continuing to do so.
I leave it in the hands of the experts to
find a viable solution for both parties.
Victoria Perlow
Fairmount Ridge, Johannesburg
MOVE FROM LANGUAGE OF DESPAIR TO LANGUAGE OF HOPE
LAST WEEK’S editorial, “Arguing with dignity” made an important point when it stated that “the anger in the letters among Jews
suggests this is a ground-shifting moment in
this community’s life”.
I asked myself: “Why now?” and “What
kind of shift are you calling us to make?”
Are we tasked to promote tolerance of difference and encourage a rational debate?
Well, these kinds of requests have been
made to us several times before, in relation
to other contested issues, so it must be something else.
I am suggesting that we need to seize the
ground-shifting moment of anger and use it
to shift ourselves from a language of despair
to a language of hope; from a language of
blame to a language of possibilities.
To my mind, most of the letters - in support of or against Israel’s operation in Gaza
- express a deep sense of despair. The language used against the dissenting voices, in
particular the form of engagement with
their letter- whereby a claim gets dismissed
by vilifying its author, is an expression of
helplessness and defensiveness.
At the same time, the accusations made by
the dissenting voices, of Israel’s response
being “inhumane and disproportionate collective punishment” (letter, January 16), or
even “barbaric” (Sue Ruben, January 30) do
not help us imagine an alternative; they do
not help us imagine that things could be different, that the language of planes and tanks or
of rockets is only one kind of language, but
there are others (David Grossman, Ha’aretz,
January 20).
The language of despair and of blame
hooks, in fact, into deep-seated beliefs commonly heard in Israel and in Jewish communities around the globe, which include statements such as “there is no solution to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict” or “Arabs understand only force” (although, collective punishment has gone too far) or “Israel is a foreign
imposition on the Middle East” or “Jews and
Arabs are fundamentally different cultures”.
We need to recognise our despair. This is the
first step. We need to recognise that many of
our claims connect to these deep-seated beliefs
(which I think only contribute to our despair)
and that we need to work on changing these
beliefs before we can argue about strategy.
We need to strengthen the belief that only
peaceful means of dialogue between Israelis
and Palestinians will move us forward; that no
matter how much (we feel) we have tried, we
need to try again and again, harder and harder to create the possibility for dialogue.
We need to collectively imagine a different
social order.
Yael Shalem
Johannesburg
ISAACS AND GEFFEN SHOULD JOIN ONE VOICE MOVEMENT
I’D LIKE to address Doron Isaacs and
Nathan Geffen.
The Support Association for Zionism
(SAZ) acknowledges that both of you are
motivated by what you believe to be Israelís
best interest - as unpalatable as your antiIsrael government public actions may be.
Furthermore, SAZ also applauds your
efforts reconciling Jews and non-Jews,
Israelis and Palestinians.However, we suggest that instead of drawing up petitions
condemning Israel Government actions
which achieve little other than giving succour to Israel’s enemies and inadvertently
fanning the flames of anti-Semitism, you
should consider deploying your energies
constructively by backing the One Voice
Movement.
According to sub-editor John Harvey
writing in the Eastern Cape’s Weekend Post
(24 January 2009) “the One Voice Movement is
an international grassroots organisation with
more than 640 000 signatures in roughly equal
numbers (to date 331 781 Israelis and 295 776
Palestinians) with 1 800 highly trained youth
leaders. It aims to amplify the voice of the
overwhelming but hitherto silent majority of
moderates who wish for peace and prosperity.”
SAZ is aware of similar efforts you are promoting, and we hope that that sort of activity
will occupy your attention exclusively and
without your having to resort to counter-productive anti-Israel Government activism.
David Abel
Co-chairperson SAZ
George
06 - 13 February 2009
SA JEWISH REPORT
11
LETTERS
The Editor, Suite 175, Postnet X10039, Randburg, 2125 email: [email protected]
BIASED GAZA COVERAGE HAS DENTED ISRAEL’S IMAGE
PLEASE EXPLAIN ‘DISPROPORTIONATE’ TO ME
BIASED COVERAGE of operation “Cast
Lead” has once again dealt a tremendous
blow to Israel’s image. When critically dissected, though, it is easy to wade through
the propaganda and find some truth.
Qatari news channel Al Jazeera immediately labelled the operation “The War On
Gaza”. This wording implies an indiscriminate targeting of every Gazan civilian. This
is obviously incorrect as all targets were
affiliated to Hamas - a terrorist organisation who openly and illegally smuggle
weapons (into the Strip) and refuse to
recognise Israel’s right to exist.
A war in Gaza - yes. A war on Hamas yes. A war on Gaza - absolutely not!
It is the Hamas modus operandi to fight
within populated areas, stake a strong
political image when the pressure is on and
then cry foul to the international community when things go awry!
How can the world have any respect or
sympathy for a group who publicly vowed
I WISH to comment on the letters that
appeared in your January 30 edition. They
deal with the rights and wrongs of the Israeli
attack on Gaza.
Some maintain that the land of Palestine
was stolen from the Palestinians. We know
that for thousands of years there was a
Jewish presence in the land of Israel. Since
the late 1870s there was a strong influx of
Jews from Eastern Europe and by 1896 out of
a population of 45 420 in Jerusalem, 28 112
were Jews. Muslims numbered 8 560.
Zionism had been a Jewish ethos for thousands of years as the Tanach testifies. It
became a political movement at the beginning of the 20th century. Money was gathered worldwide in order to buy land from
absentee Palestinian landlords and from the
Ottomans who had ruled Palestine for the
past 400 years.
Who does not remember the “blue boxes”
in every Jewish home used to collect funds
for the purchase of land in Palestine? During
the 1930s Muslim nationalists tried to persuade the occupying British to ban the selling of land to Jews. They bought it, they did
not steal it.
The action by the IDF in Gaza is described
by some as being cruel and disproportionate.
Despite some very prominent names on your
correspondence page, I have not read one letter that explains at what stage a war becomes
disproportionate.
During the Second World War, Britain was
bombed by Germany and 51 509 civilians
were killed. Churchill then promised the
British people that every bomb would be
returned tenfold. By the end of the war
Allied bombing had killed 269 618 men,
women and children in Germany while more
than 6 300 000 had been made homeless.
Inhumane and disproportionate? After the
bombing of Guernica, Warsaw, Belgrade,
Rotterdam, and Coventry, not to mention the
Holocaust?
Without the Second World War, Hitler
would not have been defeated. Some days ago
we commemorated the liberation of
Auschwitz by the Russian army. Between
250 000 and 350 000 Jews were liberated from
the concentration and death camps by the
Allied armies. Without the war, disproportionate or otherwise, these men, women and
children would also have been murdered.
You, who condemn war as being disproportionate, on what planet are you living?
Some 1 300 Palestinians are said to have
died and about 5 000 wounded. I have seen a
to turn Gaza into a “graveyard for the IDF”
but then turn around and call the Israeli
strikes “a holocaust”?
Israeli spokesman, Mark Regev pointed
out in the first days of the operation that all
Gaza-related statistics came courtesy of
the Hamas-run health ministry. This fact
was confirmed by the Reuters press
agency.
How then can Hamas claim that only 20
or so militants were killed when their very
own stats said that after three days over 200
were dead, including only 50 civilians!
Also, after the UN Security Council eventually drafted a negotiated ceasefire,
Hamas’ senior leaders were quoted by Sky
News as saying that a ceasefire “is not in
the best interests of the Palestinian people”.
That is quite simply the definition of
bringing a war onto your own people.
Joel Block
Johannesburg
WHERE ARE VOICES OF PROTEST ON THESE ISSUES?
I AM an expatriate with close ties to South
Africa. Imagine, during my current annual visit, my dismay to encounter mounting
anti-Israel criticism and hostility within
the now shrunken Jewish community,
which in my era was so staunchly supportive of Israel.
This is not unlike the divisions within,
which led to the fall of the Second Temple
and the collapse of ancient Israel almost
2 000 years ago.
It is striking that similar multi-signature protest letters (Jewish Report
January 16 and 30) are not forthcoming
regarding the recent Goebbelsian antiSemitic diatribes from your deputy foreign
minister. I am unaware of such protests
regarding up to 10 000 unprovoked rockets
fired into Israel in the past eight years and
the injuries, deaths and havoc they caused.
I await similar protests about the
Durban anti-Semitic hate fest and comments about the pending “Durban 2”. I
have not come across comparable moral
outrage over the bulldozer deaths and
mayhem in Jerusalem last year, not to
mention the barbaric summary execution
of Muslim collaborators or women who
have been raped, or the massacre of celebrants singing at a Muslim wedding in
Gaza (of course, the bride was not allowed
there).
Where is the outcry about Gilad Schalit?
Here their silence is truly deafening. The
latest cynical demand by Hamas - 11 000
prisoners in exchange for one? How’s that
for disproportion? And not a murmur
about Hamas operating from within hospitals, schools, mosques and using civilians
as human shields.
And how do you recognise and separate
militants from civilians when nobody
wears a uniform? (All in contravention of
the Geneva Convention and the rules of
warfare).
Now to cap it all, the Hamas leaders and
their Syrian comrades-in-arms proclaim
“victory” in the Gaza. How does that gel
CASE FOR RETAINING THE
JEWISH SETTLEMENTS
WITH REGARD to the two-state solution,
the problem is that while the Palestinian
state is Judenrein, the Jewish state has a
great many Arabs and this is clearly
inequitable.
So, unless the Arabs from the Jewish state
agreed to leave Israel (which they would not)
or the Palestinian state agreed to have
Jewish citizens (which they would not), the
Jewish settlements should not be evacuated.
The Jewish soldiers should have the right
to disobey the evacuation of Jewish settlements as it is morally wrong.
I have a problem with the overrepresentation of the left wing Jewish views in your
newspaper.
With regard to the letter signed by about
140 people, the editor said it was not a petition because they did not ask for anything,
but they just made a statement. But they did
in fact ask for an immediate ceasefire.
Sydney Brian Shefts
Illovo, Johannesburg
with the concept of “disproportion” from
Israel? What if the madman of Iran should
drop a nuclear bomb?
Despite the so-called truce, rockets are
still being fired into Israel. Are you going
to pen a letter with multiple outraged signatures?
I cannot fathom what prompts such venomous outbursts against Israel within a
Diaspora community. Some of the people
whose names appear on the letters, I once
knew. Many are, I believe, are employed by
Government or are otherwise close to
Government in South Africa or the ruling
party.
Is it coincidental that some of the signatures evoke images of traditional and longstanding Communist anti-Israel antipathy? Is there a hidden agenda or is it the
erroneous belief that if you pat a hissing
cobra’s head, he won’t bite you? A re-read
of what happened to Germany’s Jewish
“patriotic Germans” in the thirties, is
strongly recommended to inject some reality.
I look forward to future similar heartfelt
condemnations of atrocities perpetrated
by the other side, in which case I may be
willing to re-evaluate my own opinion.
If, for the moment, we accept that Israel
used excessive force, I suggest that we
should be thankful that Israel has that
ability, or Israel would surely have long
ceased to exist. If the madman of Iran
should follow through on his threat to wipe
Israel off the map, are these misguided but
otherwise probably good folks, going to
register protests by mass signature then?
I appeal to those of you, well intentioned
as you may be, to desist from the selfdestructive practice of mass written
protest against your own, in the media.
Norman A Blumberg
Houston, Texas
This letter has been slightly shortened Editor.
video showing armed Palestinians dressed in
civilian clothing being transported in UN
ambulances, if you don’t mind. If they are
killed and one removes their guns and ammo,
then they become poor innocent civilians
killed by IDF excessive force.
I have seen reports from Gazans denying
that anywhere near 1 300 were killed and
complaining bitterly about the use that
Hamas made of them as human shields.
Judy Favish waxes against the violence
being perpetrated against Palestinians. May I
ask when did she speak out against the 7 000
rockets and 3 000 mortar bombs fired over
eight years against the innocent Israeli civilians living in Sderot, Ashdod, lately Ashkelon
and Beer She’va?
Has she seen the effects of those bombardments on the towns and their people? Over
the past eight years there have been an estimated 500 casualties from these shellings. Ten
thousand missiles were fired over eight years
at Israeli civilian settlements. Each was
intended to kill, maim and destroy. If each of
those misslies had caused only one casualty
there would have been TEN THOUSAND
ISRAELI DEAD OR WOUNDED. Do you still
believe that Israel’s efforts to stop the bombardment was disproportionate?
I have been to Sderot and seen the shelters
outside every housing block, the streets
empty at midday because one only has 15 seconds to seek shelter from a rocket. I have visited the créche with its rocket-proof shelter some of the infants there show the symptoms
of stress and fear.
I have seen the double roofs on the schools
built in the hope that the top one will absorb
most of the impact...
Every missile was fired with the intent to
kill, maim and destroy! Perhaps our clergy
and Israel’s builders of shelters can explain
why there were not more victims in these
civilian towns. What government would allow
its citizens to carry on existing like that?
Leonard Shapiro writes that he sees
Judaism and Zionism as being separate from
each other. Nothing new in that - the Naturei
Karta feel the same way, which is why they
travel to Iran to kiss Ahmadinejad who would
wipe Israel off the map.
Let Zapiro consider this: If the Zionists had
succeeded in creating Israel around 1933, perhaps millions of Jews, just like him and otherwise, might have been saved.
Don Krausz
Ex-Rotterdam, now Johannesburg
‘HAIL ISRAEL, THE LAND THAT G-D HAS GIVEN THE JEWS’
THIS IS a rebuttal in answer to the letter
published in the Jewish Report condemning
Israel for using “excessive force” (Not in my
name).
It is appalling to any thinking, feeling Jew,
to read the statement that Israel’s reaction
in Gaza was too extreme - after briefly referring to the constant barrage of rockets and
missiles on Jewish settlements for three
bloody years when young Jewish children
had to hide in bunkers for safety.
How can Jews blame Israel for defending
itself against terrorist Hamas, who hide
their weapons of destruction among “blame-
less” civilians who voted the terrorist organisation into government.
Shakespeare wrote: “Thrice is he armed
who hath his quarrel just, and he but naked
though be dressed in steel, who with injustice is corrupt.”
This quote is so apt in these times... people
who aid and abet terrorists put themselves
in the line of fire. I say “Hail Israel, the land
that G-d has given the Jews, and shame on
you, who forget that they are Jews.”
Batia Davidoff
Killarney, Johannesburg
12
SA JEWISH REPORT
06 - 13 February 2009
LETTERS
The Editor, Suite 175, Postnet X10039, Randburg, 2125 email: [email protected]
MONEY FROM ANY HUE INFLUENCES NATIONS
ARE THESE MEMBERS OF THE FLAT EARTH SOCIETY?
I READ in the previous edition of the SA
Jewish Report about a pro-Hamas (or proPalestinian) rally, in which some participants challenged Jews who serve - or whose
relatives serve - in Israel’s army to fight them
“at home” or be expelled from the country.
I have expected some complaint about
such remarks of hate. But instead, I read that
a complaint was made about the remark of
the
deputy
foreign
minister,
that
US/Western politics are influenced by
wealthy Jews. Excuse me, but this is not
untrue, just like the fact that US/Western
politics are influenced by wealthy Muslims,
and by the regime of Saudi Arabia and other
I WISH to reply to the letter in last week’s:
“Gaza: Israel’s response disproportionate,
inhumane”.
With the greatest respect to all 14 illustrious luminaries, other than for a single line
saying “While we unreservedly condemn
the firing of rockets at Israeli towns by
Hamas”, I did not read another condemnation from these people of the constant bombarding by Hamas, in fact for a period of
over eight years.
How come that none of these 14 saw fit
over this period to condemn Hamas for firing rockets into Israel? How come none of
them raised their voices and not only condemn Hamas for shooting off the rockets in
the first place but more importantly shooting the rockets from school playgrounds,
hospital areas and from residential areas.
The funniest part of their condemnation
was the fact that the article does not carry
what in their opinion would have been a
proportionate and acceptable response.
Are they all members of that austere body
of believers that not only believe that the
world is flat but believe that you can solve
matters by quiet diplomacy with a people
who are hell bent in destroying not only
every Jew but eliminating the State of
Israel in it’s entirety? With regard to quiet
diplomacy, perhaps they could take a lesson from our own politicians.
I wonder if anyone of the 14 have ever
visited the towns in Israel and been there
when they were subjected to these Hamas
countries who have the same kind of “democracy” as Saudi Arabia. This is not an incitement - this is a fact.
And indeed, my late grandmother once told
me that a Muslim electrician told her: “We
(Muslims) have the upper hand in the US.”
So I would like to see some legal actions
taken, if possible, against those who call for
the deportation of Jews who serve in the IDF,
or for civil war against them, while I don’t see
anything illegal in stating a fact (though it is
not the whole truth etc).
Avner Eliyahu Romm
Sea Point, Cape Town
SAKS SHOULD FIRST LOOK AT HIS OWN PRONOUNCEMENTS
DAVID SAKS’S Barbaric Yawp of January 30
criticises people who draw analogies between
Nazism and the actions of the Israeli state. I
agree these criticisms are ill-founded. But in
his September 12 column, Saks wrote: “What
is being instilled into the Palestinian population is sheer unadulterated Nazism, this time
with an Islamist religious veneer rather than
a racist Aryan one.”
He uses this analogy to justify the use of
force against the Palestinians: “If people still
generally fail to learn from history, one of
history’s lessons that they seem to have taken
to heart is that Nazis cannot be appeased nor
negotiated with, but can only be dealt with
through superior force.”
His article made several racist statements.
Here’s a particularly alarming one: “One cannot very well expect them [Palestinians] to
love us, even if the demented extent of their
hatred goes far beyond what can be regarded
as reasonable resentment. More than anyone
else, the Palestinians are obsessed by - even
self willed prisoners of - the Islamist death
cult.”
While comparing the actions of the Nazis
to that of the Israeli government is dumb, it is
not necessarily racist. Saks’s September column, however, was undoubtedly racist, as
much so as Fatima Hajaig’s recent pronouncements.
I’m not religious. Nevertheless, here’s
Talmudic advice that is worth following,
“K’shot atzmecha ve’achar k’shot acherim”
(baba batra daf samech amud bet). It means,
roughly, criticise yourself and afterwards
criticise others.
Nathan Geffen
Cape Town
APPROVING GAZA ACTION IS SUBSCRIBING TO WORLD GONE MAD
I WAS encouraged by the number of fellowJews who signed the petition in response to
the statement by the Jewish Board of
Deputies, Zionist Federation and Chief
Rabbi’s Office, concerning Israel’s attack on
Gaza
The army knew that the terrorists hid out
in schools and hospitals and used kids as
body armour, but this did not stop them from
killing hundreds of women and children.
To think that because terrorists are hiding
out in a civilian population it entitles a
responsible government to destroy the entire
infrastructure of a city, is to subscribe to a
world gone mad. I therefore cannot subscribe
to ongoing human rights violations against
Palestinians civilians.
I hear my friends whispering: “They hate
us,” to each other, like it’s some kind of
mantra that’ll make “everything” go away,
like the use of illegal white phosphorous
munitions or the practice of detention without trial.
Here in South Africa, we’ve learned that
this kind of action by Government to achieve
“peace” didn’t work, neither did separate
development. A solution can only come
about by immediately dealing with the legitimate grievances of the Palestinians while
thwarting the terrorists with diplomatic
solutions.
There is no option of “collective punishment” in my view of things. That is not a
“peace agenda” in anyone’s language.
In South Africa it’s OK to comment on the
fact that many (ZA) officials are corrupt but
we all know that it’s not just in South Africa
that this is happening. Greed and politics are
a global epidemic from which we, as Jews,
are not exempt.
In the 21st century, no single race or religion has a monopoly on suffering, or owns
the moral high ground. No government represents G-d and no government is infallible.
The call to bear arms is an ugly one, no
matter which ethnic nationalism it
embraces. Sadly, what we’re seeing here, not
only in Israel but across the world, is a
decline in the moral principles of those in
government shown by their disregard for the
Geneva Convention and international law.
We Jews now find ourselves, collectively,
on a longer and more convoluted path to
global peace. Let’s each try and be judged as
worthy of being Jewish.
Keep the faith!
Michael Kawitzky
Producer: Cognition Factor
Johannesburg
HAJAIG: WHERE’S THE FORMAL CENSURE BY PRESIDENT, ANC?
NINE YEARS into the 21st century and we
still have to bear witness to pernicious and
appalling statements from the mouth of
South Africa’s Deputy Foreign Minister
Fatima Hajaig, statements that cannot pass
without protest and comment.
In election time, politicians will spout all
kind of rhetoric to glean votes. However, to
my way of thinking, there is a dividing line
which politicians should abide by and one of
cardinal importance which calls on one not
to use hate speech and unsubstantiated
information to denigrate any ethnic group or
person.
Ms Hajaig is guilty of spewing archaic 19th
century anti-Semitic propaganda at a recently convened rally in Lenasia.
As a member of the Cabinet and a deputy
foreign minister to boot, I am surprised that
there has not been some form of censure
from President Motlanthe. His silence on the
matter and the silence from the ANC and its
president, Mr Zuma is deafening!
For a party that claims human rights as a
pillar of its manifesto and insists it holds
dear each and every minority group, how
come that not a word of admonishment has
been heard from this hierarchy?
No self-respecting Jewish person should
allow this disgraceful behaviour to pass by.
No self-respecting Jewish person should
even contemplate voting for the ANC until
(maybe) it proves beyond any reasonable
doubt that it condemns and distances itself
from these appalling statements from one of
their senior Cabinet members.
Hajaig in turn should issue a public apology to the Jewish community and should be
made to become more informed with the history of the Holocaust and also study certain
facts of world population distribution and
demographics. She should be told that the
total number of Jewish people worldwide
comprises a mere 13 million, whereas the
Muslim population worldwide numbers
more than a billion and counting.
Haijag should also be told that among the
one billion Muslims there are the richest people in the world in places such as oil-rich
Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Borneo/Bhutan
among others.
I recommend that South African Jews boycott the ANC until we are satisfied that their
ministers in senior positions act responsibly
and do not plumb the depths and make use of
archaic propaganda as a populist ploy. This is
the least we can expect from people in senior
posts in Government.
Councillor Ray Wolder
Ward 74
Johannesburg
bombings and seen for themselves, mothers, fathers and grandparents having had
not only to get themselves into the bunkers
but before that, gather up their children
and all this within a space of 30 seconds.
Most of the 14 are known to me by name
only, but I would surmise that the only
“bombing” or “shelling” that they have
ever experienced, occurs on November 5
when some hooligans let off fireworks in
undesignated areas.
If the attitude of the 14 was not so pathetic I would find their statement: “We fervently hope that the recent ceasefire will
hold, that obstacles to a lasting peace in the
region will be removed”, quite hilarious. I
wonder if they are aware that by the time
the 14 had agreed to the wording of their
letter and agreed to submit it, that Hamas
had already broken the ceasefire and started shelling Israel.
Thankfully, however, Hamas must have
been privy to their letter since their
shelling was “not at all disproportionate”
as only a “few dozen shells were fired” and
this only occurred on three occasions during the day and not the usual three to eight
times a day as before.
My personal advice to the illustrious 14
would be simple: “Wake up and smell the
roses.”
Aubrey Lampert
Fairmount
Johannesburg
ZAPIRO’S ‘BADLY-EXECUTED, POORLY-CONSIDERED’ CARTOONS
WHAT IRRITATES me about Jonathan
Shapiro, is his keen need to doodle badlyexecuted and poorly considered antiSemitic caricatures. I say this with the
utmost respect.
Goebbels or the Czar would have liked
his hook-nose jokes. I don’t. I like a caricaturist who can draw properly, and cogitate. In short, a proper cartoonist.
Somebody like Larson, Doonesbury, Ralph
Steadman, Heath Robinson or Don
Martin, which Johnny will never be.
Any time Israel has to defend itself militarily, for any reason, he exhibits the
usual knee-jerk or rather, goose-step
response. Shock and awe of the bleeding
heart politically correct Jew baiter. Never
mind that Israel was attacked repeatedly
by better armed states outnumbering
them.
We could have seen in his scribbling a
mosque in Gaza described as a missile
launching site with missiles as minarets.
We could’ve - but don’t - see a cartoon collection of Iranian nuclear scientists
described as a subterfuge of, rather than a
centrifuge of, physicists.
What about a nice joke about the
Mumbai atrocities? What about crowning
moments like when UN troops politely let
Nasser’s army through in the Sinai or
when Idi Amin got a standing ovation at
the General Assembly? Maybe Mugabe
should get the Nobel Prize?
Shapiro’s not really barbedly satirical,
he’s just stupid and hurtful. What kind of
a Jew really wants to see a Magen David
depicted as a swastika under any circumstances? Rather replace Trotsky’s hammer and sickle with a swastika.
I’ve had enough of things in my name
that aren’t, Shapiro.
I also didn’t kill Christ, Shapiro.
Anyway one of the popes forgave me when
I was three.
Meanwhile, in not so great Britain,
which pioneered the concentration camps
here, (remember?) over 150 assorted antiSemitic incidents, which Zapiro ignored,
were reported last week, including the
attempted firebombing of a synagogue.
(Not like it was used to fire missiles from
or to store weapons, unlike a Gaza
mosque.)
Of course there was the expulsion, and
the SS Exodus etc. The only Briton who
was kind to the Jews was Oliver Cromwell.
Well maybe Balfour too, but that was payback to Weitzman - Britain needed the
cordite to blow up the Germans. Other
Jew-friendly Brits? Mrs Blair? No. Not
Annie Lennox.
Back to tachlis: What Shapiro misses,
probably because he seems not to think
hard enough and have a purchase hold of
history, is the disproportionate volume of
world anti-Semitism, past and present,
which extends to Israel hate. And that puts
him beyond the pale, in cahoots with a
familiar apparatchik and contemporary.
And that makes him painfully unbearable.
Please count the ways I can insult him. I
wish I could throw a shoe that far - a pretty docile insult, I can do better. Are there
many letters damning him to be signed?
Apparently he’s won some awards
recently from institutions sounding like
the University of Bronkhorstspruit and
Jeffreys Bay. What he should be awarded
by the Jewish community via the Chief
Rabbi, is a herem. With Jews like
Jonathan Shapiro who needs antiSemites?
Stephen Davimes
Orchards, Johannesburg
ARE THE CRITICS’ COMMUNIST SLIP STILL SHOWING?
THE ONGOING heated debate over Israel’s
incursion into Gaza has thrown up some
interesting side issues. It appears that
many (by no means all) of those so vociferously critical of Israel, are well-known
Communists. Let me quickly add that that
is their democratic(?) right.
However, the Communist Soviet regime,
which they so ardently supported, was
guilty of massive, ongoing human rights
abuses, as well as tyrannical rule over its,
oft-reluctant subjects. Does anybody out
there remember the invasions of Prague
and Budapest to name just two?
One of the arguments used against Israel
is that the people of Gaza have no army,
navy or air force. Does the Taliban or AlQaida have such formal and well-armed
military structures?
It is also noteworthy that, by and large,
pro-Israel protests have been very peaceful,
while pro-Palestinian protests have regularly degenerated into violence.
Much of the hate speak, including blatant
anti-Semitism, emanates from the Palestinian supporters. As far as I know, the only
world leader who stormed out of a democratic, high profile debate on the matter, was
pro-Palestine. I believe these things say
much about the opposing sides.
Lastly, I am a fan of Dennis Davis, but
found his arrogant reference to the military
expertise of participants in this debate totally unnecessary. I would suggest that Davis
remembers that he is a judge and not a general.
David Wolpert
Rivonia
Sandton
06 - 13 February 2009
SA JEWISH REPORT
13
COMMUNITY COLUMNS
ABOVE
BOARD
Zev Krengel,
National Chairman
A column of the SA Jewish Board of Deputies
MOST PEOPLE will by now be aware of the
unacceptable comments made by Deputy
Minister of Foreign Affairs Fatima Hajaig
asserting that America and most other
Western governments were controlled by
Jewish financial power.
Last week, the Board lodged an official
complaint against her for anti-Semitic and
inflammatory hate speech, thereafter issuing a media statement announcing what we
had done and why.
This became one of the major media
events of the day, with the issue being
reported and debated on radio stations
countrywide and featuring one the front
pages and editorials of various leading
daily newspapers. It was the lead story on etv on Wednesday night, for which I was
interviewed.
In my responses to the questions put to
me, I made a point of stressing that the incident was not solely of Jewish concern, but
had national implications. Such inflammatory rhetoric from a member of
Government was a betrayal of the principles of non-racism on which our postapartheid society is based, and a betrayal of
all those South Africans of all colours and
creeds who have been and are striving to
prevent the evil of racism rearing its ugly
AROUND THE
WORLD
NEWS IN BRIEF
REPORT: STATE DEPT COMPOSED
LETTER TO IRAN
WASHINGTON - US State Department
officials have drafted a letter to Iran from
President Barack Obama aimed at changing the tone of relations between the two
countries, according to a British newspaper.
The Guardian reported last week
Thursday that the State Department had
been working on drafts of the letter since
Obama's election. It says the letter is
being considered by Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton as part of a review of US
policy on Iran, but that no decision about
sending the missive has been made.
The article said that three drafts of the
letter - which would be addressed to the
Iranian people and sent directly to either
Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei, or released as an open letter have been written. It would assure
Iranians that the United States does not
want to overthrow the Iranian government, but would like to see a change in
the regime's behaviour. (JTA)
The thin line towards anti-Semitism
head once more.
The Middle East conflict should not be
allowed to sour inter-group relations within South Africa. I could do no better in this
regard than to quote Reverend Frank
Chikane, who observed during our meeting
with President Kgalema Motlanthe two
weeks ago that in a sense our own country
was a victim of the Middle East crisis since
when conflict arose there, it resulted in
heightened tension between fellow South
Africans.
I further emphasised that criticism of
Israel, even if it was robust and in our view
unwarranted, did not constitute anti-
Semitism. The danger was that hostility to
Israel could, and unfortunately sometimes
did, cross the line into attacks on Jews in
general, as had clearly happened in this
instance.
No matter who makes them, such statements are unacceptable, but they are especially scandalous in having been made and in a public forum - by a government
minister in a democratic country. This was
not the time for pulling punches.
In our media statement, and in the
numerous media interviews that followed,
we rammed home the point that in advocating the views that she did, Hajaig was
depicting Jews worldwide as a disloyal,
plotting and underhanded people who
manipulated their host societies for their
own pernicious ends.
Such racist conspiracy theorising constituted a fundamental breach of existing
anti-racism legislation and was against the
spirit of the Constitution of South Africa.
The SA Human Rights Commission is a
body that has been especially set up to
address such matters. From our own dealings with it in years gone past, we can state
with confidence that it can be expected to
give our complaint the thorough and serious consideration it requires.
14
SA JEWISH REPORT
06 - 13 February 2009
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
Baxter Theatre, Cape Town:
In the Theatre, Paul Slabolepszy’s “Freak Country”,
February 10-28. In the Sanlam
Studio, “Pictures of You” with
Liezl de Kock and Dorian
Burstein, until February 21,
(021) 685-7880.
David Krut Projects, Rosebank, Johannesburg: “Swamp
Eyes”, works on paper, contemplating the natural world.
Artists include Ryan Arenson,
Gail Behrmann, Claire Gavronsky, William Kentridge, Kim
Lieberman, Rose Shakinovsky,
Nathaniel Stern, until March 16,
(011) 447-0627.
Iziko, South African National Gallery, Cape Town:
William Kentridge’s “I am not
Me, the Horse is not Mine”,
based on Gogol’s “The Nose”,
until March 8, (021) 467-4660.
Johannesburg Art Gallery,
Joubert Park: Thami Mnyele
and the Medu Art Ensemble
Retrospective until March 30,
(011) 725-3130.
Kim Sacks Gallery, Rosebank: “Transformed Fibres”
textiles from the African continent, until February 28, (011)
447-5804.
Market Theatre, Newtown: In
the Laager, Dael Orlandersmith’s “Yellow Man”, until February 8. In the Barney Simon,
James Ngcobo’s “Thirst”, until
March 1. In the Main Theatre,
Lara Foot Newton’s “Tshepang”, until February 8, (011)
832-1641.
Maynardville Open-Air Theatre, Cape Town: Shakespeare’s
“As you like it”, directed by
Geoffrey Hyland and Leila
Anderson, until February 14,
(021) 461-3746.
Ninth Street, Parkhurst:
Jonathan Hurwitz’s ballet
evening, on work by choreographer Christopher Bruce, hailed
as the Nureyev of contemporary dance, on February 8 is
fully booked; another evening
with the same focus will be presented, depending on audience
demand, on March 22, (011) 7830088.
Old Mutual Theatre on the
Square, Sandton: “My mother’s Italian, my father’s Jewish;
I’m in therapy”, with Michael
Richard, until March 1, (011)
883-8606.
Spier Old Wine Cellar Gallery, Stellenbosch: “Cape
Town: How I love you and all
your secrets”, watercolours
and monotypes by Pamela
Silver, until February 19, (021)
809-1100.
Wits University, Braamfontein: In the Amphitheatre,
the Kurt Weill musical “Lost in
the Stars” based on “Cry the
Beloved Country” and directed
by Gina Shmukler, until February 14, (011) 717-1376.
Accessible love - the Shakespeare way
MOIRA SCHNEIDER
CAPE TOWN
A PARTNERSHIP between a director and his
former student should make for an interesting
As You Like It, this year’s Shakespearean production at Maynardville open-air theatre.
Since drama school, when Leila Anderson was
a “special” student of Geoffrey Hyland, he’s had
his eye on her; this is the first time he’s had the
funds to employ her as assistant director.
Hyland lectured Anderson during her BA in
Theatre and Performance at the University of
Cape Town; she scooped the Most Outstanding
Student of the Dramatic Arts award in her final
year. For her part, Anderson is not at all intimidated at the prospect of working with Hyland;
she grabs the “opportunity to learn” with both
hands.
“It’s fantastic!” she says. “Geoff has been
incredibly nurturing of me and my ideas and
work.” He, on the other hand, relishes the
chance to mentor younger directors.
Theatrically, Anderson can be described as an
all-rounder. In the two years since graduation,
she has worked non-stop in film, television and
theatre, directing, designing and stage-managing; it’s a field in which it is notoriously difficult
to be continuously employed.
Needless to say, she does not go along with the
trend of super-specialising like “doing doctoral
theses on one kind of rat”.
“In South Africa, you can’t afford to do that. I
take equal delight in all the things that I do;
they all feed each other,” she says.
On the present production, Hyland says he
hopes it is both cutting-edge as well as having
general appeal.
“With Maynardville you’ve got a wide audience base, from the reluctant 16-year-old who
doesn’t want to see boring Shakespeare, to the
learned professor who knows all his Shakespeare - hopefully you’re appealing on many
levels.
“It’s a very accessible play,” he adds. “Love is
always accessible.”
As to the challenges of putting it together,
Hyland agrees that a comedy such as this written 400 years ago may not be perceived as
humorous to a modern-day audience. “It needed a strong red pen.
“If I couldn’t see on a first read what it was
pointing to or might mean, then I tended to cut
it.”
As assistant director, Anderson said she really appreciated her role as a sounding-board, as
it signified to her that Hyland valued her opinion. She also had to assist choreographer Jay
Pather as well as keep an eye on the dances in
this “busy” production.
One would think that the sylvan setting of
Maynardville could have been tailor-made for
this play, set as it is in the Forest of Arden. “Yes
and no,” says Hyland surprisingly.
Geoffrey Hyland (director) and Leila
Anderson (assistant director) confer on the
set of William Shakespeare’s As You Like It at
Maynardville. (PHOTO: GRAHAM ABBOTT)
“You’ve got a stage and the forest as a backdrop - I don’t work with backdrops, I work with
settings. The blend of art and nature is
extremely difficult - the forest and the gardens
around can just suck the performance energy
right out,” he says, adding that one has to do “a
helluva lot more” than one would in a “neutral
space”.
• As You Like It is at Maynardville until
February 14. Tel (021) 421-3746.
Tararam has exciting range of events for 2009
ROBYN SASSEN
“EVERYONE PANICKED,” Sara Gon director of
Tararam, the Israeli Cultural Fund, describes
pandemonium at the Musho International
Festival, last month in KwaZulu-Natal.
This was the welcome Dov Segev-Steinberg,
Israel’s new ambassador to South Africa, received
from the cultural front: a political demonstration,
around “Sounds from here”, the first Tararamsponsored cultural event for 2009, written by
Israeli Dorit Weintal and performed by Rasha
Jahshan, a Palestinian actress.
“It is an avant-garde play about abuse,” Gon
explained. “I did not think there were so many
people so strongly political since the notorious
Durban conference in 2000.”
Some journalists ignored the protest; others
tried to weave it into an interpretation of the play;
others devoted more page space to the events,
which were ultimately peaceful, than to a critical
reading of the play.
Shika Budhoo, on artsmart.co.za, said:
“Theatre staff, festival organisers, patrons, crew
and cast were visibly tense... A small group of protesters gathered, monitored by the SAPS.
Protesters shouted slogans and waved banners
outside, defying the Israeli government.”
Businesswoman Sharon Emmerich wrote on
Musho’s website: “Curtain went up, Israeli
ambassador was whisked away by his bodyguards
and SAPS dotted the theatre... And so the scene
was set.”
Since its inception in 2006, Musho has been supported by Israel; under the steerage of Gon,
Israeli cultural sponsorship has taken an intelli-
FELDMAN ON FILM
Peter Feldman
The Secret Life of Bees
Cast: Starring Queen Latifah, Dakota Fanning,
Jennifer Hudson, Alicia Keys, Sophie Okonedo,
Paul Bettany
Director: Gina Prince-Bythewood
Dakota Fanning has grown from a child star to
a mature, alluring teenager and in “The Secret
Life of Bees” she certainly shows her mettle.
Gina Prince-Bythewood’s production is based
on the New York Times’ best selling novel and
is set in South Carolina in 1964.
Fanning portrays Lily Owens a 14-year-old
girl who is haunted by the memory of her late
mother. To escape her lonely life and troubled
relationship with her abusive father (Paul
Bettany), Lily flees with Rosaleen (Jennifer
Hudson), her nanny and only friend, to a
South Carolina town that holds the secret to
gently provocative line,
but not one designed to
forge conflict. This
month, Johannesburg
dance audiences will
see work by Israeli choreographer,
Nimrod
Freed, in the Dance
Umbrella. “After Musho, security must be
breached,” Gon acknowledges. “There’s
been no mention of can- Rasha Jahshan in
celling; I expected it,” “Sounds from Here”, at
she adds, in parentheses. this year’s Musho
Gon is currently selec- Festival. (PHOTOGRAPHS
ting films for the Israeli COURTESY TARARAM)
Film Festival, in June.
“Trends emerge, which must reflect on where the
current thinking of Israelis is,” she said.
“There’s lots of sturm und drang in many of
the works. Further, there’s a preponderance of
films dealing with dysfunctional domesticity, foreigners, prostitution and poverty. They’re social
realism; Russians, Thais, Ethiopians and
Filipinos form part of the community, and
Israelis completely lack charm.”
With actress Keren Tahor, Gon hopes to
launch a documentary film festival, showcasing Israeli documentaries, including Yariv
Mozer’s acclaimed “My First War”, about the
Lebanon War.
Another documentary Gon is keen to bring, is
“Jerusalem is Proud to Present”, a controversial
gloss on the contemporary status of gay and lesbian communities in Israel. Directed by Nitzan
her mother’s past. Taken in by the intelligent
and independent Boatwright sisters, Lily finds
solace in their mesmerising world of beekeeping.
The film manages to soar to great heights
thanks to the powerful all-round acting and a
script that avoids being too sentimental or
preachy.
The Boatwright sisters, played by a commanding trio of Queen Latifah, Alicia Keys and Sophie
Okonedo, give Lily the spiritual sustenance and
nurturing that she craves. Painfully, she also
learns something about the politics of the time.
Gina Prince-Bythewood, who also wrote the
script, is a sensitive storyteller, creating a touching study in which the key character is worthy of
our sympathy and admiration.
Doubt
Cast: Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman,
Amy Adams, Viola Davis
Director: John Patrick Shanley
Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy
Adams and Viola David, plus writer-director
John Patrick Shanley, have all been nominated
Gilady, this film exposes the
homophobia uniting fundamentalist Jew, Christian and
Arab.
In July, Old Mutual
Theatre on the Square in
Sandton rehosts Motti Lerner’s play “Hard Love”,
Yariv Mozer,
which premiered last year.
writer and
Starring Tahor opposite
director of “My Ashley Dowds and directed
by Alan Swerdlow, it looks
First War”
at complexities across religious lines. This year, Tararam assists the theatre in bringing Lerner to South Africa.
“Festival links are very important.” Gon is
working on ideas for the Grahamstown Festival
as well as Joy of Jazz. In June, she hopes to
involve Tararam in a Chamber music festival,
introducing legendary Haifa-born violinist Ivry
Gitlis, who is in his 80s; he no longer performs,
but his role as a teacher is phenomenal, and the
plan is to have him collaborate with organisations like Buskaid.
“I’m also keen to work with Limmud in bringing out interesting speakers from Israel, on
subjects ranging from archaeology to politics.
It is an extraordinary privilege to bring Israeli
practitioners here,” she adds, commenting on
the informed support Segev-Steinberg brings
Tararam.
“He’s culturally alive. He’s an expert on
Islamic art and Middle East literature and
speaks several languages.”
Watch Tapestry for more details on Tararamfunded projects through 2009.
for Oscars in this potent and emotionally
exhausting production.
The film, set in 1964 at St Nicholas in the
Bronx, deals with a vibrant, charismatic
priest, Father Flynn (Hoffman), who is trying to overturn the school’s strict rules,
which have long been fiercely guarded by
Sister Aloysius Beauvier (Streep).
She is the iron-gloved principal who
believes in the power of fear and discipline.
The winds of political change are sweeping through the country, and, indeed, the
school has just accepted its first black student, Donald Miller. But when Sister James
(Adams), a hopeful innocent, shares with
Sister Aloysius her suspicion that Father
Flynn is paying too much personal attention to Donald, Sister Aloysius is galvanised to begin a crusade to both unearth
the truth and to expunge Flynn from the
school.
Now, without a shred of proof or evidence except her moral certainty, Sister
Aloysius locks into a battle of wills with
Father Flynn, a battle that threatens to tear
apart the Church and school with devastating consequences.
06 - 13 February 2009
SA JEWISH REPORT
TAPESTRY
ART, BOOKS, DANCE, FILM, THEATRE
Flawed novel not only
works, it wrenches
Mercy by Lara Santoro
(Penguin, R130)
REVIEWED BY GWEN PODBREY
HOW DOES one tell an authentically African story? By identifying
what element of this continent
makes it transcendent, even when
its peoples are being driven to their
knees by the innumerable tragedies
and tyrannies that beset them.
For Lara Santoro, that element
lies partly in history, and in the
resilience of peoples who have
endured centuries of
oppression and servility.
Mostly, however, it lies
in Africa’s unique ability to live to its own
rhythm, drawing strength from a core of
humanity that has not
been dislodged by adversity. For those visiting
the continent, its apparent insanity can be overwhelming.
On its most basic
level, the book is a
human drama, relating an encounter between two women with
seemingly irreconcilable values,
and from unimaginably different
backgrounds. Anna - an Italian
American journalist, who narrates
this novel - arrives in Nairobi with
almost no baggage except her notebooks, a chronic drinking problem
and a propensity for self-destruction.
Cynical, contemptuous and far
more absorbed in her own chaotic
affairs than in those of Kenya, she
juggles two lovers, neither of whom
can cope with her lifestyle.
Undisciplined, anti-social, irresponsible, judgemental and - for all
her experience as a foreign correspondent for a mainstream US journal - strangely naïve, Anna is as
incompetent at maintaining domestic order as she is at relationships.
Enter Mercy: a middle-aged Nairobi housekeeper who has survived
an abusive marriage and clawed her
way to comparative prosperity by
working first as a prostitute, and
then as a brewer of illicit alcohol.
Gregarious, insupportably arrogant, flamboyant in both dress and
demeanour, Mercy takes Anna in
her capable hands.
At first, the younger woman
deeply resents her continual criticism, her admonishments and her
(unfailingly accurate) appraisals of
her slovenly, self-centred existence.
However, gradually, the realisation
dawns that this difficult, perverse
personality has bullied her back into
contact with fundamental values she
has all but relinquished. Fidelity, for
example. And hygiene. And accountability. Above all, faith.
In many ways, Mercy is the
embodiment of Santoro’s Africa:
worn, inured to poverty, accepting of
a thousand outrages on body and
soul - but never embittered.
Fanciful and hyper-responsive to
flattery she may be, but when situations call for moral
choices, her decisions
are swift and inflexible. Thus, when one of
Anna’s lovers is killed
and she flees to
Nigeria, in a haze of
guilt and pain, prolonging her stay there
for weeks. Mercy’s
reaction is one of contempt. Escape is never
an option: it is the
resort of children.
On a deeper level, the
novel’s primary concern is faith, the
life force of Africans and their only
bulwark against the destructive
forces that ravage their countries:
starvation, corruption, tyranny and
disease.
There is the faith of Father
Anselmo, a Catholic missionary who
makes his home in the worst of
Nairobi’s slums, who instructs Anna
to look beyond the face of violence
and see its real cause: “Many of the
early Christian communities
did not define evil in moral
terms at all.
“They did not even call it evil.
They called it ‘aporia’, roadlessness. Blindness. There is a road,
a path, but you do not see it.
[Ask a murderer] to describe
the man he killed. His face. His
tastes. You’ll find out that he
can’t... He didn’t see him. So he
killed him.”
And there is the faith of
Anna’s Muslim colleague Kez,
who upbraids her: “What do
you know of the music of numbers, the clarity of water, the
human eye? You know nothing... Allah is great. You’re not.
End of story.”
There is also the faith of
David, the Igbo who takes Anna
to a spot on the banks of the
Niger and tells her: “Na here
Jesus stay.” Pressed for an
‘Celebration 60’ a DVD
full of pleasant surprises
REVIEWED BY
ROBYN SASSEN
BILLING ITSELF a “vibrant
tapestry
of
moments and milestones
in Jewish history”, this
DVD doesn’t disappoint.
It nostalgically cross-references Jewish music
traditions with popular
beats, as it embraces cultural
pride. It contains a rich medley
of old favourites, celebrating
Israel in English and Hebrew,
with heart.
“Celebration” concerts were
begun by Oshy Tugendhaft in
1993. With pepperings of African
references, the “60” version celebrating Israel’s milestone, honours the tradition well.
The highlight is an inspired
melding of song with “Bring Him
“Celebration 60: Live in
Johannesburg”, with
Len Kay, Micha
Schachat, Azi Shwartz,
Oshy Tugendhaft.
Directed by Jeanne
Zaidel-Rudolph. Price:
R150 from Jewish bookshops in Johannesburg.
Home” from “Les Miserables”,
and “Avinu Shebashamayim”,
where boy soprano Micha Schachat lends a haunting spirituality.
The repertoire itself vies gently
with tradition, with jazzed-up
shul classics and popular culture,
including songs like “If We Only
Have Love”, and the theme song
of “Schindler’s List”.
This is celebratory sound at its
impressive best, to warm the
cockles of any Zionist heart.
explanation, he insists: “Make us no
discuss. With faith you accept. You
just accept.”
Finally, there is the faith of Mercy.
Stricken by HIV/Aids and wasting
rapidly, she is - as Anna notes - ravenous for life. Since Kenya, like many
other African countries, is desperately short of anti-retrovirals, and its
clinics a mockery of even the most
rudimentary healthcare, it is only
through the manipulations of Anna the Western journalist, with rank to
pull - that help is forthcoming.
So when Father Anselmo persuades Mercy to use her own plight
as a rallying cry for civil disobedience - “the way of Gandhi” - in order
to expose the greed of Western pharmaceutical companies whose retroviral prices are unaffordable, Anna is
forced to watch the inexorable
decline of the only human being who
has ever really mattered to her.
The novel is, in many ways, clumsy.
The actions of its characters are not
consistent with their natures: for
instance, would a woman as vain, as
crudely educated and as deeply
mired in bodily appetites as Mercy
conceivably give herself over to
immolation at the behest of a priest?
Conversations - and even casual
exchanges - suddenly abandon their
context and becoming high-flown
oratory, even sermons. Themes are
drawn, only to be truncated, as new
ones emerge. It is as if Santoro is
unsure of how to tie threads together
neatly - or credibly.
Yet, for all its contradictions and
fault lines - rather like Africa itself the novel not only works, but
wrenches.
Santoro’s writing blazes with her
love for this continent and her wonder at its ability to give itself over to
laughter, teaching timeless truths,
even as it bleeds and lies sprawled in
the dust.
15
16
SA JEWISH REPORT
06 - 13 February 2009
YOUTH TALK
Shelley Elk [email protected]
Fulfilling the sacred duty of ‘Never again’
STORY AND PHOTOGRAPH BY SHELLEY ELK
KNOWLEDGE OF the Holocaust had limited
value unless applied to society in today’s
world. Learning about a tragic and complicated history, which not all have the opportunity to learn formally - the hows and whys
of it - provided a vital opportunity to appreciate and understand the Holocaust and use
that knowledge to ensure it never happens
again.
Everyone needed exposure to the genocide, stressed Michael Moss, a grade 12
learner, from Crawford College Lone Hill, at
the UN and Johannesburg Holocaust
Centre’s exhibition of “Lost Voices” and
commemoration of the Holocaust last week
at the Rabbi Cyril Harris Community Centre
in Johannesburg.
The voice of youth was important, said
Tali Nates director of the Johannesburg
Holocaust Centre.
Moss, one of two delegates who represented South Africa at the First International
Youth Congress on Holocaust Remembrance
at Yad Vashem, held under the patronage of
Unesco last year, spoke about the role of
youth in ensuring that the promise of
“Never again”, was kept.
On November 1 2005, The UN General
Assembly condemned, without reservation,
any denial of events of the Holocaust, saying
that denial was “tantamount to approval of
genocide in all its forms”. The United
Nations has designated January 27 as the
annual International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the
Holocaust.
The Holocaust was recognised as a warning of the dangers of hatred, bigotry, and
racism. It was also an initiative to mobilise
Holocaust education, after the world had
witnessed previous acts of genocide.
In total 116 youngsters from 63 countries,
discovered the Holocaust, and learned about
previous generations and human rights violations. At the International Youth
Congress, it became the role of the youth to
promote human rights and dignity, spread
awareness and fight intolerance.
An important step in a long hard journey,
promoted a universal understanding of
Michael Moss at the recent “Lost Voices”
exhibition at the RCHCC in Johannesburg.
human rights, in all places in the world.
Moss said South Africa was a leader in
Holocaust remembrance and education,
where it was a compulsory subject for grade
9s, to learn about and understand human
rights and to safeguard the declaration of
human rights and South Africa’s constitutional rights.
At the end of the Second World War, the
ideal of “Never again” had not become a reality. It was a promise broken in Cambodia,
Darfur, Sudan, Bosnia, and it had been broken again. The responsibility of today’s
youth was to safeguard tomorrow against
human rights violations, Moss said.
Formally and informally, teacher to student, parent to child, and human to human
knowledge and understanding of the
Holocaust, genocide and human rights violations could be imparted and “in this way we
can grow human rights consciousness in the
world and move forward, on fulfilling this big
promise of “never again”, to today,” said
Moss.
In preparation for his participation in the
Youth Congress, Moss visited the Cape Town
Holocaust Centre and consulted with
Richard Freedman, the director, where he
was briefed on the South African standpoint
on general youth issues.
“We could be the last generation to have
contact with Holocaust survivors first hand.”
Tu B’Shvat puts emphasis Gaza will become a
on global warming
PSC rallying point
IN RAISING youth’s awareness this Tu
B’Shvat, Jewish National Fund (JNF) is sending shlichim to various schools to discuss how
climate change and water shortage pose a
threat to life and how it may change the face of
the planet.
JNF explained in a media release what climate change and global warming was, what
contributed to the greenhouse effect, and how
keeping the planet green would make a vital
difference to looming catastrophe.
Climate change - or global warming - was a
slow but steady rise in the earth’s temperature
as a result of different gases trapped inside the
atmosphere, creating a blanket and acting as a
giant greenhouse.
According to JNF, British scientists have
warned that if climate change isn’t slowed
down, the planet could heat up by 5 degrees C
before the end of this century - that’s as much
difference as between now and the last ice age!
It would be impossible for humans to go in the
sun, crops would die, seas and lakes would dry
up, the icy North and South Poles would melt
completely.
Most explanations for dangerous
greenhouse gases, had to do with
lifestyle choices. Burning fuel released
carbon, a potent greenhouse gas. Cars
and planes, household appliances
requiring electricity, also burned fuel.
The manufacture of paper, glass and
cans (which could be recycled) burns
fuel and releases gases. Most activities
modern-day city-dwellers engage in,
release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Ancient forests helped combat global
warming. Trees breathe in carbon dioxide and breath it out as oxygen, lessening dangerous amounts of noxious
gases in the atmosphere. Forests are
the planet’s lungs. Cutting down, burning trees, selling off wood and clearing
land to raise cows for fast food chains or
to grow crops for supermarkets in
wealthy countries halfway across the
globe, means famous rainforests like
the Amazon of South America are
decreasing every year.
As the planet’s trees die or are cut
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down, so do plant, animal, bird and insect life.
In fighting global warming, says the JNF’s
release, “you can make a difference; firstly be
more careful about what we buy, what we
throw away and how much we travel; and secondly we can plant more trees.”
The JNF plants trees in Israel and researches how to stop “desert creep” and how best to
grow crops and save trees. It points out that climate change is terrifying and dangerous, “but
if we all pull together and take responsibility
for our own actions and behaviours, then it
can be beaten”.
The JNF shlichim will visit the King David
Schools in Johannesburg as well as Yeshiva
College, where they will discuss global warming and where each scholar will be asked to
contribute towards saving the forests of the
Galilee and making Israel a green and fertile
land once more.
“Every tree you plant helps absorb carbon
produced all through your life.”
For more information contact [email protected] or (011) 645-2541.
for 2009, either a “Monkey
Thorn Tree” or a “Brown Leaf
Teak”.
GAZA WOULD be a flashpoint
SAUJS’s other plans include
for recruiting students to the
a party with for orientation
Palestinian Solidarity Comweek, a debate on February 8
mittee’s (PSC) cause, Benji
on Israel’s elections on the
Shulman, national chairman
10th, and representatives from
of SAUJS told Jewish Report
“Young Judea”, the biggest
in an interview.
Zionist student movement in
The PSC’s message was “the
the US will be coming to South
same: anti-Israel” not “proPalestine”
said
Shulman Benji Shulman, Africa this month to assist
SAUJS with issues facing
explaining: “It is the same, as national chairJews in South Africa. Young
it has always been, but they man of SAUJS.
Judea will also meet the
will just be using Gaza for a
“Lemba Jew”, who claim to be
rallying banner.”
descended from the Yemenite tribes.
SAUJS’s response would be a peace
A nice mix of people are this year on
rally, inviting students to say tehillim
the SAUJS team, some, with experias was the case during the Lebanon
ence who have been around for some
War. The message of Israel’s right to
three years, and others with fresh
defend itself would be put across in
ideas who have been around for two
posters
around
campus,
added
years or less.
Shulman.
“In orientation week we need to
Protests,
demonstrations
and
focus on making sure we represent
posters on campus, required adherJewish students on campus. SAUJS’s
ence to laws and security procedures.
key focus was to sign people up,
Permission was required before any
involve them on committees, and to
protest or rally could be staged, he
demonstrate that young Jews can
pointed out.
make a difference.
“We don’t normally have protests
Opening new campuses, to SAUJS
during orientation week, because sturepresentation, no matter how few
dents are concentrating at that time on
Jewish students were on campus, was
signing up for classes.”
another SAUJS goal. So far, Lisof
SAUJS’s key political battle would
(London International School of
take place over the course of the year.
Fashion), Varsity College, Boston,
“During the year we will show the stuAAA (advertising), Vega (a design
dent population at Wits that Israel is
school), and Forbes (a business school)
the only democracy in the Middle East,
will have SAUJS representation.
that we are up against a group of ter“Each Jewish student will have his
rorists and that we need to find the
or her issues represented, as for exambest way we can to peace... that is key,”
ple last year when Tukkies needed
said Shulman,
exams moved and we helped with
This year, in celebration of Tu
that.”
B’Shvat, SAUJS will for the first time
Campus
committees,
explained
donate a tree to the campus with the
Shulman, were the lifeblood of SAUJS,
emphasis on sustainability. SAUJS has
at the coal-face, running events. SAUJS
asked Wits to select an indigenous tree
portfolios spanned religious, social,
that would thrive and survive in its
political issues (and more) affording
environment. A tree would be selected
students an opportunity to get involved.
from one of the two trees of the year
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Partners in Property
06 - 13 February 2009
SA JEWISH REPORT
17
Shelley Elk [email protected]
YOUTH TALK
Large grade 8 intake at KDVP
JESS COOPERMAN
PHOTOGRAPH: YAEL GORDON
King David
High School
Victory Park
welcomed over
100 new grade
8 learners on
the first day of
school. This is
the largest
intake for several years. An
exciting day
was enjoyed
by all.
Grade ones and their own anashim
STORY AND PHOTOGRAPH BY
STACY FLEISHMAN
AT THE end of an amazing first
two weeks in grade one Hebrew
at King David Victory Park
Primary School, the children
made their own anashim (people) to celebrate their knowledge of the body parts in
Hebrew.
Here are Georgia Lewis, Sam
Herring, Brent Butkow, Ruby
Gimpel, Kareen Sandler (Hebrew
grade 1), Gina Altshuler, Dante
Tinchero, Matthew Kerem,
Desmond Zeelie (headmaster)
and Isabella Fischer.
TA learners wish
Israeli soldiers well
OWN CORRESPONDENT
PHOTOGRAPH: SUZANNE BELLING
ALL THE learners from Torah Academy
Primary School showed their support for
soldiers in the Israel Defence Forces with
letters mounted on a special wall display
in the school quadrangle.
Quotes from the letters include: “Thank
you for protecting Israel”, “I know you
lost your arm and I am saying tehillim for
you”, “I was in Israel for four years.
Thank you for protecting my country...
Do you know my father? He was (also) a
soldier...”, “I hope I will see you safe and
sound with the coming of Moshiach”,
“This is coming from the bottom of my
heart”.
Here Primary School Administrator
Chani Zwick, accompanied by some of the
children, points to an apt quotation from
one of the letters.
18
SA JEWISH REPORT
06 - 13 February 2009
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:
• The Jewish National Fund (JNF) Choir, Beyachad, 2
Elray St, Raedene. Contact Crystal Kaplan. 083-3765999.
• The Jewish Women’s Benevolent Society (JWBS) Sandringham Gardens, 85 George Avenue
Sandringham 2192. Contact Carolyn Sabbagh. (011)
485-5232.
• The Jewish Outlook Team. Contact Ryan Cane,
Support line: 27 76 215 8600; e-mail [email protected]; website http://www.jewishoutlook.org.za
• Nechama Bereavement Counselling Centre - Room
A304, 3rd Floor, hospital wing, Sandringham
Gardens, 85 George Avenue, Sandringham, 2192.
Contact (011) 640-1322.
• New Friendship Ladies Group - A group for single
women - contact Lucille (011) 791-5226 or 082-9275786.
• ORT and ORTJET South Africa - 44 Central Street, Cnr
10th Ave, Houghton. Contact (011) 728-7154.
• 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.
• Second Innings, Johannesburg - Jewish Community
Services - Donald Gordon Centre, 85 George Avenue
Sandringham. Contact Grecia Gabriel, (011) 5329616.
• The Israel Centre. Contact Debbie (011) 645-2560.
• The Simcha Friendship and Cultural Circle (SFCC),
Johannesburg - Sandton Shul. Contact Sylvia Shull,
(011) 783-5600.
• The United Sisterhood, 38 Oxford Road Parktown.
Contact Helen (011) 646-2409. website:http://www.unitedsisterhood.co.za
• Society of Israel Philately (SIP) - [email protected].
Contact Maurice (011) 485-2293.
• South African Zionist Federation (SAZF),
Johannesburg - Beyachad, 2 Elray Street, Raedene.
Contact Froma, (011) 645-2505.
• South African Jewish Board of Deputies (Jhb) Beyachad, 2 Elray Street, Raedene. Contact (011)
645-2500 or (011) 645-2523.
• United Zionist Luncheon Club (UZLC), Johannesburg
- Our Parents Home. Contact Gloria, (011) 485-4851
or 072-127-9421.
• Union of Jewish Women (UJW), Johannesburg - 1
Oak Street Houghton. Contact (011) 648-1053. Cost
R10 for the Friendship Luncheon Club.
• Union of Jewish Women (UJW), Cape Town - (021)
434-9555, e-mail: [email protected]
• WIZO Johannesburg - Beyachad, 2 Elray Street
Raedene. Contact Joyce Chodos (011) 645-2548 or
Sandy Kramer (011) 645-2515.
• Bikkur Cholim - Jewish Society for Visiting the Sick,
7A Chester Road, Greenside East, Johannesburg. Joy
Gafin (011) 447-6689.
• Tiyulim (Jewish Outdoor Club) - Contact Greg 082-
959-9026 or Martin 082-965-7419.
• King David Schools’ Foundation. King David Alumni
[email protected] (011) 480-4723. www.kdsf.org
• CAJE - College of Adult Jewish Education, Sydenham
Highlands North Shul (011) 640-5021.
• JAFFA - Jewish Accomodation for Fellow Aged. (012)
346-2007/8.
• SAIJE - Sandton Adult Institute of Jewish Education,
Sandton Shul (011) 883-4210. E-mail: [email protected].
• CSO - Emergency phone number 086 18 000 18.
• UOS- Union of Orthodox Synagogues (011) 4854865. E-mail: [email protected]. Fax 086-610-3442
Today, Friday (February 6)
• UZLC hosts Wendy Kahn, director of the SA Jewish
Board of Deputies, on “The effect of Gaza in
Johannesburg”. Venue: Our Parents Home.
Sunday (February 8)
• Second Innings hosts Bryan Hirsch on “Financial fitness” at Beyachad, 2 Elray Street, Fairmount.
• Auditions for a musical production “Barmy Days” will
take place in Glenhazel from 17:00. All ages welcome.
Please call Helen Heldenmuth 083-272-8541 or e-mail
Nadine Lazarus [email protected] for details.
• SAZF hosts a panel discussion “The Israeli elections
- what changes will they herald for Israel?” Panellists
Geoff Sifrin, Basil Platsky and Howard Sackstein at
19:00 at Beyachad Auditorium, Raedene.
Information (011) 645-2512/10 or e-mail [email protected]
Monday (February 9)
• UJW Johannesburg, adult education division hosts
David Shapiro consultant to Sasfin, at 09:30 on “The
world financial crisis”.
Tuesday (February 10)
• Ribbon Revolution launches its Judaica range in
Killarney Mall (opposite Pick n Pay), until February 16.
Proceeds go to charity.
• Second Innings hosts Dr Bernard Levinson, psychiatrist on “Psychiatry today” at Our Parents Home,
14:15 for 14:30.
Wednesday (February 11)
• Rabbi Michael Katz of Chabad will talk at SFCC,
Sandton Shul hall on a subject of topical interest.
• UJW Johannesburg adult education division will
screen “The Nuremberg Trial” featuring Alec Baldwin
at 09:30.
Friday (February 13)
• UZLC hosts Mike Judin at Our Parents Home talking
on “Hey folks - you’re spending my inheritance”.
Saturday evening (February 14)
• WIZO Etgar Group presents “My Mother’s Italian, my
Father’s Jewish and I am in therapy!” at 20:00. Venue:
Theatre on the Square. Cost: R180 per person
THE BRIDGE LOUNGE by Jeff Sapire
FINESSES ARE not to be underestimated,
but the expert is always on the lookout for
a superior line of play that will avoid a
finesse. One option is the endplay or
throw-in.
Clearly NS got too high here - 4H is
where you would want to be. But after 1H3H South got a little carried away and
went looking for slam.
East wins the opening lead with the ace
and returns the jack of spades. Where do
you go from here? To begin with, things
are pretty straight forward, but somehow
you have to try to avoid losing two club
tricks.
So after drawing the outstanding
trumps, what chances do the clubs offer?
You could lead the jack from dummy, and
when the honours are split, if East slips up
and covers you will win with the ace and
play another club towards 1062, making
when West has the other honour and the
suit breaks 3-2.
But if East doesn't cover you are in trouble. West will win and as you are missing
the 8 and 9, there is no way you can catch
the queen.
Good players don't try to make plays
based on misdefences, unless there is
absolutely nothing else. But here, as is so
often the case, an endplay may work. Draw
three rounds of trumps, cash the king of
diamonds throwing a club, followed by the
remaining two high spades, and then ruff
the last spade in hand.
With the groundwork now complete,
play ace and another club, hoping that one
of the defenders started with a doubleton
honour. If so, that defender is finished - a
South dealer, NS vul
NORTH
AK42
10532
6
J1062
WEST
86
764
QJ9873
K4
SOUTH
Q7
AKQJ9
K5
A753
Shelley Elk [email protected]
(includes refreshments). Call: Marion 083-326-3791,
or Sandy at Beyachad (011) 645-2515.
Sunday (February 15)
• Second Innings is having a morning of music with the
Giuseppe Verdi Choir at The Gerald Horwitz Lounge,
Golden Acres.
• Tiyulim is going to Somabula Nature Reserve, near
Cullinan. Meet at Balfour (near the carwash) at 08:00.
Members R40, non-members R45. Greg 082-9599026.
• Friendship Forum for Holocaust Survivors, second
generation survivors and those who lost family members in the Holocaust, hosts Ronnie Mink on “The
Holocaust by bullets... Recent discoveries on the
Holocaust Experience in the Ukraine”. Followed by tea,
refreshments, and music with Yochanan. Venue: Our
Parents Home Auditorium, Oaklands. Time: 14:30.
Monday (February 16)
• UJW Johannesburg adult education division hosts
Tim Naery naturalist, conservationist and radio communicator at 09:30 on “Conservation through the eye
of the camera”.
Tuesday (February 17)
• WIZO Fortnightly Forum welcomes Ambassador Dov
Segev-Steinberg on “Israel today and tomorrow”.
Cost R35 includes tea and refreshments.
Wednesday (February 18)
• SFCC hosts Dr Brenda Lasersohn at 10:00, at the
Sandton Shul on “Is your brain drained? And new
advances in brain function and the effects on your
memory”.
• UJW Johannesburg adult education division hosts
Dr Lorraine Chaskalson, former lecturer Wits on
“Poetry’s pleasures, small and large” from 09:30 to
11:30.
Friday (February 20)
• UZLC hosts Ian Glauber - “The death penalty as a
deterrent”. Venue: Our Parents Home.
Sunday (February 22)
• Second Innings hosts David Grier on “Courage and
rice: my run along the Great Wall of China” at The
Gerald Horwitz Lounge, Golden Acres.
• SAZF presents a piano duet from Israel “In harmony;
the magic of music” featuring Orian Shukrun (16)
and Gadi Abu Sam’an (17), students at the WIZO
Merkaz Hamusika Maa’lot Tarshiha. Time: 18:30 at
Liberty Theatre on the Square, Sandton. Donation
R100. Bookings (011) 645-2515 or [email protected].
Monday (February 23)
• UJW Johannesburg adult education division hosts
Brian Altshuler, architect, artist, writer, researcher, lecturer at 09:30, on “Landmarks of Johannesburg, past
and present”.
• SAZF presents a piano duet from Israel “In harmony;
the magic of music” featuring, Orian Shukrun (16)
and Gadi Abu Sam’an (17), students at the WIZO
Merkaz Hamusika Maa’lot Tarshiha. Time: 20:00 at
Liberty Theatre on the Square, Sandton. Donation
R100. Bookings (011) 645-2541 or [email protected]
Tuesday (February 24)
• UJW Johannesburg presents “Cesar Franck’s symphony in D Minor”, from 10:00 to 12:00. Venue:
301 Eton Place, Kernick Avenue, Melrose. Cost
R30.
Wednesday (February 25)
• SFCC is having Israeli folk dancing lessons with Ora at
10:00 at the Sandton Shul.
• UJW Johannesburg adult education division hosts
Dr Lorraine Chaskalson, former lecturer Wits on
“Poetry’s pleasures, small and large” from 09:30 to
11:30.
Saturday evening (February 25)
• WIZO Tzabar screens “Lemon Tree”, Israeli film
(English subtitles) at 20:20 at Beyachad. Donation
R40 includes refreshments.
Sunday (March 1)
• Second Innings hosts Lily Mark on “Jewish art:
Jewish artists and the genetic factor”, at The Gerald
Horwitz Lounge, Golden Acres.
Tuesday (March 2)
• UJW Johannesburg adult education division is
hosting Prof Jonathan Jansen, hon prof of education, Wits at 09:30 on “Education advice to the new
president”.
• Registration open for classical Hebrew course by Dr
Yehudah Leib Yitzchak Levin. Course starts on March
16. Fee: R10 per weekly session. Venue Ohr
Somayach, Glenhazel. Queries and registration:
Yehudah Leib Levin (011) 640-2425.
Wednesday (March 4)
• SFCC hosts Rabbi Michael Katz, at Sandton Shul at
10:00 who will talk on a subject of topical interest.
Saturday (March 7)
• WIZO Tzabar’s Purim Ball at 20:00 at Simon Kuper
Hall, Killarney. Theme is “Guys and Dolls”, the 40s,
with Frankie “Blue Eyes”, Brando, “Gangsters and
Babes”. Tickets: R350.
Sunday (March 8)
• Second Innings hosts Solange Cziernicwicz on
“Passionate about growing older” at The Gerald
Horwitz Lounge, Golden Acres.
Monday (March 9)
• UJW Johannesburg adult education development is
hosting Tim du Plessis, editor of Beeld, at 09:30 on
“Current affairs - an update”.
CROSSWORD NO 103
BY LEAH SIMON
EAST
J10953
8
A1042
Q98
Contract: 5H by South
Opening lead: DQ
spade or diamond return will give you a
ruff and discard - you can pitch dummy's
remaining club, taking the ruff in hand.
This line of play is not guaranteed, however. You will go down if either defender
started with CKQx. Also, if West started
with KQx, then leading the jack would
have worked. West would have to return a
low club and now you would need to
decide whether to put up the ten, playing
him for the other honour, or play low, hoping East has just the singleton queen
remaining - a guessy situation.
So, while there are some layouts where
running the jack would work, nevertheless the best play is definitely to play ace
and another club. The chances of either
opponent having a doubleton honour is
much higher than the other combinations.
ACROSS:
1. Fail to hit a young lady (4)
3. Southerner falls and trips (8)
8. Not common to find artist about (4)
9. For doc, pie is somehow given in bouts (8)
11. It’s all about the numbers game (12)
13. Reside, broken, in want (6)
14. Involve being late, in disorder (6)
17. The basis for earthly understanding? (6, 6)
20. Cite cast about being delighted (8)
21. A steady organisation (4)
22. Sharp leaders - if very
1
2
small ones! (8)
23. Exist, with hesitation, for
ale (4)
8
DOWN:
1. Very fetching girls, in the
main (8)
2. Southern teaches - and
11
causes tension (7)
4. Put the edge on gratuity (6)
5. Mary surrounds two sons
for church envoy (10)
6. One lady is upset by her (5) 13
7. Fire the bag! (4)
10. Place for the model in an
era of destruction (3, 7)
12. ————
Ashkenazy,
pianist (8)
19
15. A vehicle I have for being
most uncivil (7)
20
16. Untied, but still together (6)
18. He appears in major sonnets (5)
19. You and I go back to Port
22
Elizabeth - and cry (4)
SOLUTION TO CROSSWORD NO 102
ACROSS: 1. Wasp; 3. Pampered; 8. Riot; 9.
Customer; 11. Happy New Year; 13. Gloche;
14. Greece; 17. Country music; 20. Chastity;
21. Irma; 22. Tuesdays; 23. Edit.
DOWN: 1. Warthogs; 2. Scorpio; 4. Abuses; 5.
Petty crime; 6. Rumba; 7. Dare; 10.
Hyphenated; 12. Penchant; 15. Ensured; 16.
Pretty; 18. Orate; 19. Scot.
3
4
6
5
7
9
10
12
15
14
16
17
18
21
23
20
SA JEWISH REPORT
06 - 13 February 2009
VALENTINE’S DAY FEATURE
Latest European fashions at
Gigi von Helden
MARLENE BILEWITZ
eived the latGIGI VON HELDEN has just received
est, most gorgeous collections of autumn
e.
and winter fashions from Europe.
In true style, her collection conable
sists of a range of clothes suitable
for all occasions and covering the
most up-to-date fashion trends in
nEurope by top European designers.
nThe fabrics and textures are inre
teresting, vast and varied. There
ts
are separates - pants and skirts
d
in different fabrics, weight and
d
cuts, jackets in fur (rabbit and
fox), tweed, knit and wonderfull
polyester jackets with interest-ing trim for all kinds of weather.
e
Very in this season, is the
rn
knitted gilet, kimono-style, worn
ways,
over a long-sleeved shirt. As always,
irts is
the attention to detail on the shirts
rment
outstanding, making each garment
unique with its individual look.
urope
Basic colours as seen in Europe
currently, are grey, brown and black,
esting,
while the accents are interesting,
a, plum,
warm and vibrant, using fuschia,
ns, reds
jacaranda and different greens,
and lime yellow.
ove the
Skirt lengths vary from above
eryone an
knee to ankle, thus giving everyone
ashion, yet
opportunity to be totally in fashion,
maintaining their own most comfortable fashion stance.
Shoes: boots are in - ankle or long flat, medium o
or high heels.
A visit to Gigi’s showroom will
tempt you not only with the elegant stylish
sty
yet highly fashionable clot
clothes, but by a selection
supe accessories such as
of superb
bags a
and costume jewellery.
Basic colours
Black
Grey
Brown
Accent colours
Green
Yellow
Lime
Fuschia
Plum
Red
Jacaranda
Try Danish chic this
Valentine’s Day
A NEW DANISH watch collection is in South Africa and in time for Valentine. Europe’s best-selling watch brand, Skagen, which is also the topseller through department stores in the United
States and Australia, is experiencing very high
interest from consumers and retailers alike.
Highest early demand is for Skagen’s new
Swiss Movement Collection for men and women,
which is seeing brisk sales with buyers snapping
up the elegant timepieces at Truworths, stores
in up-market shopping malls and at Johannesburg and Cape Town international airports.
Paul Kent of Scandinavian Brand House which
imports Skagen watches from Denmark, said:
“Higher priced items are moving the most rapidly. It surprised us, given the economic downturn, but it seems that buyers are more cautious
with their money; they want jewellery to be an
investment.
“The days of a different watch with
jeans and another with the corporate
suit, seem to be over for the moment.”
The Skagen Swiss Movement Collection is the ultimate globalised watch;
it has Swiss quartz movement, with
Italian leather straps or stainless
steel links to Danish design.
The Skagen Denmark Swiss
Movement Collection features
spring-powered
mechanical
function, to reduce friction during movement. Many of the
spaces between gears are
set with tiny synthetic
gem crystals - using this feature instead of
metal, reduces temperature changes and
holds lubricant longer, extending the life of
these watches. The bestseller in this range
are hyper-elegant stainless steel cases with
chrome mirrored borders and mother of pearl
dials for women, with diamond indicators and
two-tone stainless steel links.
In the men’s range, stainless steel cases in
silver or rose-gold with mirrored borders and
brushed chrome or brown dials with two-eye
multifunction and luminous hands and indicators with black or brown Italian leather straps,
are flying off the shelves.
Pictured: Skagen Swiss 583XLSDO
20
SA JEWISH REPORT
06 - 13 February 2009
VALENTINE’S DAY FEATURE
Latest European fashions at
Gigi von Helden
MARLENE BILEWITZ
eived the latGIGI VON HELDEN has just received
est, most gorgeous collections of autumn
e.
and winter fashions from Europe.
In true style, her collection conable
sists of a range of clothes suitable
for all occasions and covering the
most up-to-date fashion trends in
nEurope by top European designers.
nThe fabrics and textures are inre
teresting, vast and varied. There
ts
are separates - pants and skirts
d
in different fabrics, weight and
d
cuts, jackets in fur (rabbit and
fox), tweed, knit and wonderfull
polyester jackets with interest-ing trim for all kinds of weather.
e
Very in this season, is the
rn
knitted gilet, kimono-style, worn
ways,
over a long-sleeved shirt. As always,
irts is
the attention to detail on the shirts
rment
outstanding, making each garment
unique with its individual look.
urope
Basic colours as seen in Europe
currently, are grey, brown and black,
esting,
while the accents are interesting,
a, plum,
warm and vibrant, using fuschia,
ns, reds
jacaranda and different greens,
and lime yellow.
ove the
Skirt lengths vary from above
eryone an
knee to ankle, thus giving everyone
ashion, yet
opportunity to be totally in fashion,
maintaining their own most comfortable fashion stance.
Shoes: boots are in - ankle or long flat, medium o
or high heels.
A visit to Gigi’s showroom will
tempt you not only with the elegant stylish
sty
yet highly fashionable clot
clothes, but by a selection
supe accessories such as
of superb
bags a
and costume jewellery.
Basic colours
Black
Grey
Brown
Accent colours
Green
Yellow
Lime
Fuschia
Plum
Red
Jacaranda
Try Danish chic this
Valentine’s Day
A NEW DANISH watch collection is in South Africa and in time for Valentine. Europe’s best-selling watch brand, Skagen, which is also the topseller through department stores in the United
States and Australia, is experiencing very high
interest from consumers and retailers alike.
Highest early demand is for Skagen’s new
Swiss Movement Collection for men and women,
which is seeing brisk sales with buyers snapping
up the elegant timepieces at Truworths, stores
in up-market shopping malls and at Johannesburg and Cape Town international airports.
Paul Kent of Scandinavian Brand House which
imports Skagen watches from Denmark, said:
“Higher priced items are moving the most rapidly. It surprised us, given the economic downturn, but it seems that buyers are more cautious
with their money; they want jewellery to be an
investment.
“The days of a different watch with
jeans and another with the corporate
suit, seem to be over for the moment.”
The Skagen Swiss Movement Collection is the ultimate globalised watch;
it has Swiss quartz movement, with
Italian leather straps or stainless
steel links to Danish design.
The Skagen Denmark Swiss
Movement Collection features
spring-powered
mechanical
function, to reduce friction during movement. Many of the
spaces between gears are
set with tiny synthetic
gem crystals - using this feature instead of
metal, reduces temperature changes and
holds lubricant longer, extending the life of
these watches. The bestseller in this range
are hyper-elegant stainless steel cases with
chrome mirrored borders and mother of pearl
dials for women, with diamond indicators and
two-tone stainless steel links.
In the men’s range, stainless steel cases in
silver or rose-gold with mirrored borders and
brushed chrome or brown dials with two-eye
multifunction and luminous hands and indicators with black or brown Italian leather straps,
are flying off the shelves.
Pictured: Skagen Swiss 583XLSDO
06 - 13 February 2009
SA JEWISH REPORT
VALENTINE’S DAY FEATURE
It remains simply the best ShowerTime shower doors
Furman Glass’ CEO Leonard Malkin gives some facts about
shower doors and the Furman Glass ShowerTime range:
A QUALITY SHOWER door should have standard
features like SABS-approved toughened safety glass, heavy duty sealed
bearing rollers for smooth operation,
mitred corners and solid construction, a supplier with SABS accreditation that offers back-up, support and
warranties.
A frameless shower door will increase the value of your home, will
last three to four times longer than a
framed shower door and it eliminates
the need for metal framing. It is easy
to clean and eliminates corrosion.
The initial cost is more, but in
the long run frameless shower enclosures are less expensive than a
framed shower door.
Most shower doors can be fitted on to a shower
tray, tiled base or a wetroom floor.
Maintenance is easy and mostly preventive. It is
important to keep the glass clean and residue free.
We supply a special glass cleaner (CleanPowa)
that removes oils, mineral deposits, and soapy water stains.
We offer a wide variety of shower enclosure
models with a wide range of finishes and prices.
Our commercial clients include hotels, shopping
centres, apartment buildings and lifestyle developments.
All ShowerTime shower doors carry a five-year
guarantee, provided the installation
w
was done by a Furman Glass Fitm
ment Team.
For a truly refined shower door
lo
look, professional shower door insstallation is paramount. Unprofesssional jobs can lead to leaks, crackiing, product malfunction and many
o
other problems.
We have over 112 years’ experie
ence in the glass industry. All produ
ucts are locally manufactured to the
h
highest international standards, with
g
guaranteed workmanship.
ShowerTime products are availa
able directly from any Furman Glass
b
branch and from selected sanitary
and tile merchants. Contact us at 0861 FURMAN
(387626).
• For further information please contact:
Furman Glass
Keith Feldman/Kevin Dudgeon
Tel:
+27 11 473-6700
Cell:
Keith: 082-451-5662/
Kevin: 079-526-6425
E-mail: [email protected]/
[email protected]
Website: www.furmanglass.co.za
Being observant no impediment
to travel enjoyment
KEEPING SHABBAT and kosher does not mean
that you are restricted to holidaying locally and
eating tinned tuna. You can travel internationally
in style with The Travel Wizard, while keeping fully
kosher and being observant.
Laura Joselowsky, the sole proprietor of The
Travel Wizard, has 20 years’ experience in the
travel industry, and being
observant herself, understands the unique and
demanding requirements
of the kosher traveller,
thus making her the ideal
agent of choice for worldwide kosher holidays.
The Travel Wizard arranges luxury kosher
holidays on almost every
continent, whether it is a
five-star luxury cruise in
the Panama Canal or a
six-star Pesach vacation
in Cancun, The Travel Wizard has the contacts
and expertise to ensure a holiday that will never
be forgotten. In addition to organising the kosher
packages at a deluxe hotel in Mauritius, for those
who prefer a more private and secluded locale,
The Travel Wizard offers luxurious and very private
self-catering villas all over the island.
The villas are fully serviced daily and offer a full
24 hour concierge service that will meet and greet
you at the airport on arrival, and can arrange anything from massages and manicures in your villa,
to catamaran excursions. Fulltime chefs are avail-
able if required and each villa receives a welcome
pack which includes South African Beth Din-approved groceries and special dedicated kosher
crockery and cutlery.
With The Travel Wizard you enjoy the advantages of personal service with the benefits of being
affiliated to a large company - E Travel. Whether
you need to arrange your trip in person in or out
of normal office hours, or via e-mail, Laura will
personally see to it that all queries, quotes and
requests are actioned swiftly and efficiently.
Laura Joselowsky
The Travel Wizard
in association with E Travel
Tel: (011) 440-2011
Fax: 086-539-9170
Cell: 082-715-3706
E-mail: [email protected]
21
06 - 13 February 2009
22 SA JEWISH REPORT
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 12pm.
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
To book your classified notice contact: Tel (011) 886-0162 • Fax (011) 886-4202 • email: [email protected]
NOTICES
PERSONAL
COMMUNITY NOTICES
SOULMATES
(FOR SECULAR AND
DATEE SINGLES) NATIONWIDE
BEAUTIFUL/HANDSOME SINGLES SEEKING MATCHES;
Pretty (Grad) IT Manager 27 yrs
old; Pretty Gymnast 35yr;
Handsome B.S.C. Masters 30yr;
Slim stunning blonde senior
secretary 28yr, Beautiful, blonde
radiologist 26yr; handsome MD
large corporation 50yr; attorneys
66yrs, 56, 48, 41, 38, 27; advocates 58yr, 63, 35,29; handsome pilot 68yr; stunning doctors 29yr, 37, 44, 49, 54, 49, 67,
71; handsome dentists 29, 36,
38, 43, 55, 62 Yrs; gyne 37yr;
surgeon 47, 59 yrs; stunning
actuary 37yr; handsome engineers 28yr 34, 36, 42, 53,
64yrs; teachers 25yr, 27,
30,33,37,46, 53, 55
MANY OTHER PRETTY/HANDSOME PROF/EXEC SINGLES
ARE WAITING TO MEET U
HEARTIEST MAZELTOV TO
JOE & AMY, CLIVE & LILLY ON
THEIR ENGAGEMENTS!
THANK YOU TO HASHEM!
CALL: (011) 485-4034/
082-357-3616
JEWISH HELPLINE
- Facing a crisis?
- Feeling desperate, distressed?
- Feeling hopeless and overwhelmed?
- Don’t know where to turn to?
Phone the Jewish Helpline on
Pager: (011) 321 0505 (all
hours)
If you receive no
response within
20 minutes, please call
Cell 082 4991010
This is a free 24-hour service of
the Johannesburg Jewish
Helping Hand Society
CONSECRATIONS
PHYSIOTHERAPIST –
SANDRINGHAM
Sandringham Gardens, Home for the aged,
requires a physiotherapist registered with the
HPCSA to work in the physiotherapy department.
The candidate will be part of a multi-disciplinary
team that provides acute and postoperative care
for the residents.
Only short-listed applicants will be responded to.
Interested candidates please forward a
current c.v. to [email protected], fax,
0866327774 or Private Bag X1,
Sandringham, 2131.
OCCUPATIONAL
THERAPIST
A vacancy exists at Sandringham Gardens,
Home for the aged, for a qualified Occupational
Therapist who is registered with the HPCSA.
Applicant must have at no less than three years
experience in working in a hospital environment
as well as dealing with the elderly and intellectually disabled.
Only short-listed applicants will be responded to.
KOSHER COOK
Experienced sleep in
cook required to start
immediately. Must be
experienced in running
a large home.
Please contact
083-327-5444
SERVICES
GENERAL
Reliable,
Reasonable Rates!
Contact Arnold,
082-447-0185
011-454-1193
HIRE
CASTLEMANIA
Jumping Castles for hire.
Weekend deliveries.
www.fantasiacastles.co.za
GLENDA: (011) 452-1958
HOUSE SITTING
GOING AWAY ?
We take care of your home,
animals, and provide transport,
references provided.
Sam: (011) 728-5219
083-627-8516
DIAL-A-LIFT
Reliable safe transport, door-todoor, airport transfers, etc.
Phone Pip Friedman
(011) 728-3998
cell: 083-267-3281
ACCOMMODATION
TO LET/SHARE
SANDRINGHAM
Two rooms are available in a
spacious commune set in a
lovely garden. The rooms are
going for R1900 each neg if
taken together. Suitable for single persons. Lights and water
separate on prepaid system.
Large separate secure parking
for 6 cars. In very easy walking
distance to many shuls, shops
and schools. Large newly renovated fully kosher kitchen.
Electric gates and armed
response. Dogs are welcome
(outside) .
Please email
[email protected] or
tel 074-102-1383 after
5.30pm or from 7 to 8am
GLEN VILLAGE
Delightful, sunny, one bed garden flat in secure complex in the
heart of Glenhazel.
Take over remaining lease till
31July at R5000 + elec + MNet
& renew for further 12/24
months for R5500 neg.
Phone Brian
082-854-5702.
LIFTS
GOLDERS GREEN,
LONDON
Kosher 2 bedroom apartment,
available for short term rental
from mid-February
until mid-April 2009.
[email protected]
A-TAXI
SERVICE
Let Warren Pogorelsky chauffeur
you to your destination in
Jo’burg and back only R100
round trip.
Tel: 082-399-6187
ALWYN - ZAIDA’S TAXI
SERVICE
We specialise in transport,
house-to-destination, school
service, old age homes
and airport trips.
Call Alwyn on
(011) 646-5265 or
083-541-7929
KOSHER ACCOMODATION
available in Pretoria near Shul
& university.
Call 083-564-2561
FLATS
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
CYRILDENE
1 and 2 Bedrooms, spacious,
quiet area, with security and
parking. 1 February 2009.
Contact Allan
082-4567-117 0r
(011) 484-7559
LIFTS WANTED
HOLIDAY ACCOMMODATION
URGENTLY NEEDED
To University of Johannesburg.
Living in Highlands
North/Waverley/ Sydenham/
Norwood Areas. Will contribute
towards petrol.
Pls contact
Brandon Davids.
Tel: 082-887-8840
(h) (011) 885-2698
BEACON ISLE:
Unit available to rent from 2128th February. Sleeps 4. 6th
floor. R5000 for the week.
PLEASE CALL
082-416-2727
MISCELLANEOUS
MENTAL HEALTH
NURSE
Suitable candidates to forward a current c.v.
and updated SANC registrations to
[email protected], fax, 0866327774 or
Private Bag X1, Sandringham, 2131.
HOME SERVICES
AIRPORT SHUTTLE
JHB
Interested candidates please forward a
current c.v. to [email protected], fax,
0866327774 or Private Bag X1,
Sandringham, 2131.
Our organization in Sandringham requires a
Registered Mental Health (psychiatric) Nurse to
offer community based mental health services.
Previous experience in caring for mentally ill individuals, the ability to make accurate clinical
assessments and the ability to manage mental
health emergencies is essential.
The successful candidate will become a member
of a multi disciplinary team. The position would
suit an independent and self motivated person.
Own transport is essential.
Only short-listed applicants will be responded to.
LIFTS
CAPE TOWN
SHUTTLE
COMING TO
CAPE TOWN?
AFFORDABLE
RATES.
AIRPORT
TRANSFERS
FROM R160
NEW
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PHONE ANDY
082-336-9780
BOOKKEEPING
& ACCOUNTING
OFFICER
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On / Off
Premises
JN ACCOUNTS
SERVICES
072-203-5305
(011) 882-9701
TUITION & EDUCATION
FOR SALE
ART & PHOTOGRAPHY
KASSEL
GALLERY ONLINE
www.jonathonkassel.com
Fine Art and
Photography on
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[email protected]
VACANCIES
EMPLOYMENT AVAILABLE
BOOKKEEPER REQUIRED.
Half-day. Orange Grove.
Email cv’s to
[email protected]
MISCELLANEOUS
MAD ABOUT
MUIZENBERG?
Order your branded
souvenirs now!
082-429-5539
[email protected]
PROPERTY
Young lady seeking
domestic worker's post.
Experience in kashrut. Ref’s.
Tel. 076-904-4006
WANTED
EMPLOYMENT WANTED
Retired lady seeks employment
as day companion, shop assistant or similar. Own transport.
Contact Eleanor
(011) 648-7371
SEEKING POSITION
Carer/companion with a drivers
license. Avail ref’s.
Sharon
082-395-1062
EXCELLENT DRIVER
Honest & trustworthy seeks
work for two days a week, outstanding references. Lives in
Killarney. Very knowledgeable of
all suburbs
Tel Rachel (011) 728-9883
082-886-3642
06 - 13 February 2009
WANTED
TEACHER
WANTED
Well qualified secular
senior primary teacher
required at a Jewish
Day School to commence immediately.
Please call
011-4851716
for an interview.
ACCOUNTANT
WANTED
A steel company
in the East is
seeking an
accountant,
preferably completed articles,
age 30 to 40.
Contact Brett
082-900-3232
PART TIME PA
This experienced young lady
is looking for a half day secretarial position.
Commended for her proficiency in MS Word and
Excel. Experience in function coordination and general office management.
Contact Karen.
SALES
An enthusiastic young man,
currently studying towards a
Bcom degree, requires a full
time sales post. Bright with
an ability to communicate at
all levels. Contact Karen.
PART-TIME
BOOKKEEPER
A competent and accurate
bookkeeper who has a good
working knowledge of Pastel
and Quickbooks.
Experienced in the preparation of VAT Recons and submitting of VAT 201 forms to
the receiver. Salary negotiable. Preferably Linksfield
and surrounding areas.
Contact Karen.
GRADUATE-DRAMATIC
ARTS
A well presented young lady,
with a degree in dramatic
arts, is looking for an entry
level position which involves
either; writing, editing or selling. Computer literate.
Contact Karen.
WAREHOUSING
A mature gent, with experience in receiving and dispatch, requires a full time
stores position.
Known to be hard working
and responsible.
Contact Wanda.
VEHICLES
WANTED
ARE YOU
IMMIGRATING
OVERSEAS AND
WANT TO SELL
YOUR VEHICLE?
SA JEWISH REPORT 23
Queenie Slade of Savyon Lodge passes on
DAVID SAKS
IN A society plagued by crushing
poverty, political violence and rapidly
declining standards of healthcare,
Savyon Lodge, the Jewish aged home
in Bulawayo in Zimbabwe, is a rare
oasis of stability. Here, residents can
depend on at least the basic services
being provided for them - food and
shelter, medication, water and electricity and physical security.
To an increasing extent, Savyon
Lodge’s running costs are being met
through donations from the wider
Jewish Diaspora. But it is not only
ute to a true “Woman of Worth”,
one who had always gone well
beyond the call of duty in serving her organisation and the
community as a whole.
Slade was buried at Bulawayo’s Jewish Cemetery in Donovan
Road on January 14. In his eulogy,
Block remarked that that much of the
credit for Savyon Lodge’s worldwide
renown and repute as “a real home for
Jewish senior citizens” had to be
attributed to Queenie Slade.
“For Queenie there was absolutely
nothing more important than the wellbeing, comfort and happiness for all at
Savyon Lodge. So great was
this dedication and motivation, that on many occasions,
she said she would never
leave Savyon Lodge, never
cease managing it to the best
of her abilities, so long as there was
even one resident there,” he said.
Prior to joining the staff of Savyon
Lodge, Slade managed the Baobab
Hotel in Hwange, doing so with such
success that the then Tourism Board
recognised her as “Hotel Manager of
the Year”. She also managed the now
defunct Matabeleland Turf Club and
Ascot Race Course.
An MBE for old-Herzlian Doron Swade
Swade worked at the Science
Museum in London for 27 years, 14 of
which as senior curator of computing
A FORMER Herzlian has expressed and information technology and, for
“disbelief and delight” at being award- the three years prior to his departure
ed an MBE - Member of the Order of in 2003, as assistant director and head
the British Empire - in the Queen’s of collections at the institution.
During this time, he masterminded
New Year Honours list for services to
and led the construction of the first
the history of computing.
Dr Doron Swade, who matriculated working Babbage calculating engine,
in 1963, left his hometown for Europe built to the original 19th-century
in 1971 after graduating with a designs. The project took 17 years, was
Master’s of Science degree in engi- completed in 2002 and was internaneering at the University of Cape tionally acclaimed.
Referring to his myriad achieveTown.
After completing postgraduate stud- ments - too numerous to mention in an
ies in the philosophy of science at article of this nature - Swade seems
Cambridge, his career took a turn in vaguely surprised by the path his
the direction of the historical aspects career has taken. In an e-mail interview, he told Jewish Report that he
of his discipline.
The award was made partly in would have been “dumbfounded” had
recognition of the fact that he is the he had an inkling in his schooldays of
leading authority on the life and work what the future would hold for him.
“These were accomplishments that
of 19th century mathematician and
were beyond imagining,” he says. “I
computer pioneer, Charles Babbage.
MOIRA SCHNEIDER
CAPE TOWN
ago and walked into the local shul. “I
was tentative and hesitant, wary about
what I was doing and how I would be
did not have any clear plan to achieve received,” he recalls.
“The young rabbi, whom I had never
them.”
Despite the passing years, Swade met and who had no idea who I was,
still has “strong and deep” attach- came up to me, embraced me, sat me
ments to the city of his birth. “A group down, and spoke to me. He was warm,
of us were together from kindergarten kind, interested, solicitous.
“I remain overwhelmed by the memright through junior and high school
ory of this experience.
at Herzlia and we remain
Uprooting, even to a counclose, despite the geotry as supposedly familiar
graphical distance and the
as Britain, is often a social
dispersion of some of
and emotional trauma that
them to many countries,”
one sleepwalks through for
he says.
at least a decade until one
“The Herzlia kindercan begin to register the full
garten was then in Hope
extent of it.
Street and we were among
“To be accepted and welthe first generation to go
comed to shul in this
to Highlands, then an old Dr Doron Swade,
unconditional way, simply
house in the grounds of who has been
awarded the MBE.
because I presented myself
the present school.”
as a Jew, and to witness the
As far as his involvement with the Jewish community in continuity of rituals and practices that
his home of Kingston upon Thames I had assumed were left behind, was a
goes, he says he “came in from the moving discovery. I go to shul when I
cold” one Friday night about five years can.”
Death penalty as deterrent ‘does work’
STORY AND PHOTOGRAPH BY
JULIA COOK
FOR MANY years the subject of
the death penalty has been a
matter of heated debate. Ian
Glauber, a retired engineer and
author of The Death Penalty as
a Deterrent, at a recent talk at
Second Innings, justified his
stance on bringing back the
death penalty.
“In 1995 I submitted a proposal to the
Constitutional Court, which was
unfortunately not brought into effect.
It is difficult to talk to intelligentsia
about the topic because there is a certain stigma attached to anyone who
supports this topic, as it is often associated with the old ‘lynch mentality’.
“Those who support this stance are
often ‘excommunicated’ from the liberal community, which is why it is so difficult to discuss it with professors,
Cabinet ministers and newspaper editors.
“To me, this is not a political matter.
The current government has had little
success at dealing with violent crimes,
and I doubt that any other party would
be able to achieve more. There are two
ways in which the death penalty can be
implemented: one is as a severe punishment at the end if a protracted judicial procedure, that only concludes
after 15 years, when the actual event
has long been forgotten, and the other
option is for it to act as an effective
deterrent, given after serious consideration by the judiciary under specific
AROUND
THE
WORLD
NEWS IN BRIEF
Please Contact
Solly Kramer
082-922-3597
anytime
money that has enabled the institution
to maintain its high standards under
such difficult circumstances. The selfless, and largely unheralded, dedication of various individuals associated
with it has been equally crucial to its
success.
One such individual was the late
Queenie Slade, long-serving secretary
of Savyon Lodge who passed away at
the beginning of this year. Those who
worked closely with her over the years,
including Bulawayo residents Brian
Sher and Eric Block and Rabbi Moshe
Silberhaft, spiritual leader to the
African Jewish Congress, all paid trib-
guidelines for clearly
specified types of violent crimes, where the
criminal will have been
fully aware of the outcome, before he had
committed the crime.
“It is true that the
death penalty has been
abolished in over 110
countries, but none of
them shares our country’s (crime)
problems. Abolitionists claim that in
places where it has been implemented
for at least 10 years, it has never been
proven to be an effective deterrent, but
if it was structured in such a way that
no people were wrongfully punished,
how would they respond then?”
He said today it was normal to hear
of people being killed for a cellphone,
or the rape, abduction and murder of a
little child, “while we live in fear, hoping feebly that electric fencing will
keep the criminals out”, and yet,
according to the Constitution, murderers, and not just the victims, also had
the right to life, and should not be
treated in a cruel, inhuman and
degrading manner.
“Yet, for this same system it is
acceptable to place them in overcrowded prisons, where they can be passed
through the ‘university of crime’,
thereby giving criminals the skills to
perpetuate even worse crimes.
“In this regard, the Constitution
seems to subordinate the right to life of
the innocents in favour of those of the
criminals. The Constitution is not cast
in stone. If it was, and it had not been
amended 100 years ago, then today
women would still not have the right to
vote.”
Glauber said during apartheid, the
death penalty had often been used in
cases of “perceived treason”, rather
than as a system of justice. In 1995 the
problem had been about controlling
the apartheid mentality, but that was
not the problem today.
“During the course of the Second
World War, 8 681 South Africans lost
their lives, and in South Africa today it
is normal for this many people to lose
their lives to violent crime every six
months. We are at war with criminals
and should treat them as such.
“In the proposal I gave to the
Constitutional Court in 1995, I mentioned several situations that I felt
should qualify as a death penalty
crime (D-crime). Currently, for murder
to qualify as such, there must be a psychological connection between the perpetrator and the victim, and this is
often used as a defence in criminal
courts, as the criminals do not feel anything in killing the victims.
“This definition should therefore be
amended. This should also apply in
cases where there was no intent to
murder; the fact is that they did.”
Glauber said fourthly, whenever a
policeman or security guard was murdered, it should be considered a Dcrime. “I do not mean for this to apply
to a case of violent moments of passion, but only for premeditated actions
that lead to the crime.
“Finally, it should not matter who
pulled the trigger. If criminals take
guns with them and someone gets
killed, then all of the gang members
should be held equally responsible.
These cases should be judged only
according to the evidence, and even if
he is found innocent, at least he will be
shocked at how close he came to death.
“Thirty years ago, Singapore had
one of the worst crime rates in the
world, but now every time you step
onto a plane, you hear a warning that if
you are caught in possession of drugs,
you will face the death penalty, and the
only people who dare to challenge this
are the occasional foreigner, who is
brought to justice to the outcry of
Amnesty International.
“In the first year after such systems
were introduced, the crime rate
dropped by 64 per cent. There should
be an awareness in the criminal’s mind
about what the possible outcome of
his/her crime could be, that regardless
of whether he pulled the trigger, he
will be killed by lethal injection within
a few weeks after the crime.”
Glauber said the execution of the
sentence should occur after such a
short period, “so as to impact fully on
other potential D-crime offenders, as
we are currently living in a society that
basically conveys the idea that you can
do whatever you like”
He said that when a criminal currently considered the statistics, he
could see that there was a 75 per cent
chance that he would not get caught,
and that if he was, then there was only
an eight per cent chance of him being
tried and convicted, and this perception had to change.
BRITISH CAMERAMAN'S FAMILY GETS $2 MILLION
LONDON - Israel paid more than $2 million to the family of a British cameraman
shot and killed by an Israeli soldier in
Gaza.
In May 2003, James Miller, 34, was in the
Gaza-Egypt border town of Rafah shooting footage for a documentary about the
impact of violence on children in the
region when he was shot and killed by
Israeli gunfire.
A statement issued by Miller's family
did not specify the amount of money it
accepted, but an Israeli official confirmed
that the amount was around "$2,2 million".
Last April, Miller's family rejected a
higher offer from Israel, claiming that it
was "a ruse" to delay its planned civil
court case. However, the family now says
"it was as close to an admission of guilt
from Israel as they were ever likely to get".
Miller was posthumously awarded an
Emmy in 2004 for his film, "Death in
Gaza".
The cameraman's killing, which was
caught on film by another cameraman,
was screened on British television numerous times. The footage showed that Miller
and his colleagues, who were leaving the
home of a Palestinian family in the Rafah
refugee camp after dark, carried a white
flag and called out to let troops know they
were British journalists.
As they walked toward an Israeli
armoured personnel carrier, Miller was
hit by gunfire. (JTA)
24
SA JEWISH REPORT
06 - 13 February 2009
SA Maccabi soccer
seniors work for gold
Soccer is one of the most competitive events at the Maccabiah. In South
America soccer is a way of life and the teams from Brazil and Argentina in
particular, are always tough to beat.
JACK MILNER
THIS YEAR, the South African Maccabi senior soccer squad are determined to break the
stranglehold and earn a medal, so with less
than five months to go until the 18th Maccabi
Games kicks off, they have been hard at
work training and preparing.
A squad of 18 players was selected in
November last year, along with 10 non-travelling reserves, to represent South Africa at
the Games. With gruelling training sessions
taking place four days a week currently, the
squad are well on their way to achieving success and bringing home a medal.
Under the watchful eyes of coach Mike
Pavkovich, who accompanied the team to
Israel in 2005 for the last Maccabiah, the
Soccer coach
Mike Pavkovich
keeps a watchful
eye on proceedings at a Maccabi
SA soccer training session.
squad have been involved in fitness, tactical
and conditioning training, which includes a
nutritionist and a pilates instructor.
In 2005 South Africa finished sixth out of
the 17 participating countries.
This year the team will be up against quite
a few unknown countries, like Finland,
Hungary, Panama, Slovakia, Turkey and
Venezuela, along with all the other strong
nations who are regular participants in this
competition.
The squad have also been working hard off
the pitch on their fundraising efforts with
various events planned for the coming
months to help ease pressure on the players
financially.
• For more information on the team contact
team manager Ryan Kalk on 083-703-4463.
Hartman is
Maccabi Stag
guest speaker
GUESTS AT the next Maccabi Stag evening on
Tuesday February 17, will be entertained by
one of the country’s leading sports journalists. Rodney Hartman, who has been sports
editor of the Sunday Times and Sunday
Independent among other highly regarded
positions, is not only a person of great humility but someone who has a wonderful grasp of Well-known
all aspects of South African sport.
journalist
He was the media liaison officer for the 2003 Rodney
Cricket World Cup and also penned a biogra- Hartman is
phy of Ali Bacher. He has written two books
guest
on Hansie Cronje as well as a biography of
speaker at
Brian Mitchell.
He still has a column in The Star, which Maccabi
demonstrates his excellent insight into the Stag.
vagaries of sport.
The talk will take place in the main boardroom at Beyachad
in Raedene at17:30 for 18:00. For catering purpose, those interested to attend, please contact the Maccabi office on tel: 11645-2557, fax: 11-458-1011 or e-mail: maccabisa+AEA-beyachad.co.za