The SAJBD is the umbrella representative spokesbody and civil rights lobby of the SA Jewish community. It promotes the safety and welfare of South African Jewry, including combating antisemitism in all its forms, and builds bridges of friendship and understanding between Jews and the broader South African population.
Like Olga Kirsch, Jennifer Friedman grew up in the Orange Free State and wrote poetry in the Afrikaans language she grew up in. Brian Josselowitz tells her story.
What made this year's Seder night different from all other Seder nights? Charisse Zeifert describes how.
Nearly six years after posting a comment inciting violence and hatred against the leadership of the SA Jewish community, former Western Cape Cosatu leader Tony Ehrenreich has at last apologised to the Jewish community for his conduct. The matter goes back to August 2014, when Ehrenreich accused the SA Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) of being “complicit in the murder of the people in Gaza” and called for “an eye for and eye” retribution against its members and other ‘Zionist supporters’ every time a woman or child was killed in Gaza. The SA Human Rights Commission subsequently upheld a complaint of hate speech lodged by the SAJBD and ordered Ehrenreich to apologise. For a screenshot of the full Ehrenreich comment, see below.
We are saddened by the passing of Andrew Mlangeni, stalwart of the anti-apartheid Struggle. Mr Mlangeni was the last of the famed Rivonia Trialists whose example did so much to inspire others in the darkest years of Apartheid.
New York Times bestselling author of The Choice: Embrace the Possible, Dr Edith Eva Eger is a pioneer in the field of psychology – teaching people how to use their pain to help them heal.
Rising from the brink of death in Auschwitz, her incredible story, deep insight and mind of steel have seen her enrapture audiences around the world, on CNN, the Oprah Winfrey Show and the TED stage.
Join us for her South African debut on 16 August, where she will address us at the SAJBD Gauteng conference.
Simone Kriel’s deeply offensive antisemitic post led to a criminal probe and the reproach of Auschwitz survivor, Ella Blumenthal.
Simone Kriel’s deeply offensive post about Jews leads to a criminal probe and the reproach of an Auschwitz survivor
The theological roots of antisemitism go back to the early centuries of Christianity itself, and persist even to this day. An Anglican priest considers this legacy in light of contemporary developments.
This week, St Peter Parish in Durban’s Mahatma Gandhi Road prepared 120 food parcels to distribute to the needy.
We wish our Muslim friends “Ramadan Mubarak". May you have a spiritual and meaningful Holy month.
Dr Israel ‘Boomie’ Abramowitz, who passed away this week in Perth, Australia at the age of 91, was a true gentleman from the old school of Jewish communal leadership in South Africa. In the course of a long and distinguished communal career, he can truly be said to have epitomised the particular strengths that have made the South African Jewish community so respected a component of global Jewry. All this he achieved while simultaneously pursuing his career as an eminent vascular surgeon.
On Sunday night, the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) hosted its 50th national conference in Johannesburg. Held every two years, these gatherings are an opportunity for the community to connect to honour members who had done so much either communally or for the greater South Africa – like the late Johnny Clegg, who we honoured this year – but also to take stock of where we are.
People tend to be suspicious of change. As the thinking goes, if things have worked well enough in the past, why not carry on as before? On the other hand, circumstances inevitably do change, and when this reaches a point when the old ways of doing things are no longer sufficiently efficient and/or cost effective, then one is equally inevitably required to adapt to the new realities in order to remain sustainable.
Any visit to the Constitutional Court is a stirring experience. Once used as a prison for political activists, amongst them M K Gandhi and Nelson Mandela, it today serves as a critical vehicle for safe-guarding the fundamental human rights and freedoms on which our post-apartheid society is founded.
Welcome to our American visitors
We had hardly had a chance to (metaphorically) catch our breath after the whirlwind visit of our Women Wage Peace guests from Israel when it was time for us to welcome another prestigious delegation to South Africa, this time from the American Jewish Committee (AJC). One of the world’s most effective Jewish advocacy organisations, the AJC has a long and proud history of building relationships with different religious and ethnic communities and world leaders.
To create lasting peace, women’s voices are critical. Men alone won’t bring about peace and it’s about time that we all realise that. This is not just opinion - it’s in the numbers. From conflict prevention and conflict resolution to post-conflict reconciliation, studies have borne out that women’s meaningful participation in peace processes significantly increases the likelihood of a negotiated settlement lasting longer than 15 years.
Four remarkable Israeli women show the way forward
The main focus of the Board over the past several weeks has been preparing for the visit of a delegation from Women Wage Peace, an Israeli NGO that has brought tens of thousands of Israeli women from across the faith and political spectrum together in the common cause of working for peaceful co-existence between the different peoples in the region. Comprising two Jewish, one Muslim and one Christian women, the delegation has been brought out by the SAJBD in the lead-up to Women’s Day to share the lessons and experiences of this inspiring grassroots movement, while at the same time drawing lessons from South Africa’s own successful experiences in conflict resolution.
Turning back the tide of hate
South Africa is hardly the only democratic country that is grappling with problems of racism, xenophobia and other forms of bigotry. That much clearly emerged during a roundtable discussion on combating hate held under the auspices of the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre this week. Participants included the Centre’s director Tali Nates, SAJBD National Vice-Chairman Prof Karen Milner and National Director Wendy Kahn, former German Minister of Justice Dr Däubler-Gmelin and Shanelle van der Berg representing the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC). It was an engaging discussion, but also a sobering one. Throughout the free world, hate crimes are on the increase, with a strikingly high proportion of them - in Europe, North America and elsewhere – being motivated by antisemitism.
Best wishes to SAZF for their conference
The SAJBD and the SA Zionist Federation are often described as being ‘sister organizations’ (although, to take the sibling metaphor a bit further, the Federation is technically the Board’s elder brother, having been founded several years before). While the Board’s core mission is to ensure the safety and well-being of the local Jewish community while that of the Federation is to deal with issues relating to the community’s relationship with Israel, in essence the work of the two organisations is complementary. For that reason, we frequently work together, primarily when our right to identify as Zionists and support Israel is in any way threatened.
Preserving the heritage of SA Jewry
Last week, our National Director Wendy Kahn and Parliamentary Liaison officer Chaya Singer attended several budget speeches in Parliament, including for the Treasury and the Departments of International Relations and Cooperation, Public Enterprises and Home Affairs. It was encouraging to note that the comments by International Minister Naledi Pandor on the Israel-Palestine issue were measured and balanced, and that overall, the debate on the subject were much less vitriolic than in previous years. Hopefully, this will be the case on future occasions when the subject comes up for discussion.
At the time of writing, together with our National Vice-President Zev Krengel, I am in Israel, where we have participated in a number of high-level meetings aimed at providing updates on recent political developments in South Africa, sharing information pertaining to our own community and getting perspectives on the current political situation in Israel. This will form the basis of my next column.
Nahum Goldmann Fellow Programme nurtures Jewish leadership
The recently concluded Nahum Goldmann Fellowship Programme (NGFP), which this year was held in Israel, once again brought together a broad range of up-and-coming young Jewish leaders from around the world for an intensive period of Jewish learning, discussion and sharing of experiences and perspectives. As always, participants found it to be an extremely enriching and inspiring experience, particularly in the opportunities it provided for engaging with Jews from completely different backgrounds.
Zev Krengel writes in the Sunday Independent. His piece is a response to Zane Dangor who questioned whether Jewish leadership were using criticism of Israel to silence debate. In this article Krengel applies the “Duck test” as an indication of antisemitism.
Equating Zionism with racism is far too easy a way out of proper debate around the roots of the conflict in the Middle East, and Israel Apartheid Week serves to exacerbate rather than defuse the tensions. The time has come for rational debate in an attempt to find common ground between the two opposing sides, rather than slogan-shouting.
Join in this year’s Great Debate and engage with leaders from five political parties as they discuss issues pertinent to the community. Make your voice heard by sending your questions to yanir@sajbd.org or tweet your questions using #MakeUsCount.
This year, Human Rights Day coincides with the Jewish festival of Purim. While the two events appear to have little in common, in actuality, there are numerous interesting parallels between them. The Purim narrative, based on events recorded in the Book of Esther, abounds with human rights themes.
Academic freedom should be embraced, defended and never be taken for granted. This was the consensus at a meeting between representatives from Stellenbosch University (SU) and the SA Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) at the University on Friday, 25 January 2019.
We are pleased to announce that the Chanukah 2018 issue of has been posted on the SAJBD’s Website
We are pleased to announce that the Pesach 2019 issue of has been posted on the SAJBD’s Website
South African Jewry conveyed a rousing message of support to President Cyril Ramaphosa for his efforts to confront the legacy of corruption and state capture at last night’s SA Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) Gauteng Council conference.
