A time to be counted

A shana tova once again to our community. As we stand in the early days of 5787, it is worth pausing to consider what the year ahead is likely to ask of us. It looks set to be a significant one politically, with important elections in Israel, South Africa, and the United States in the coming months. Each of these has the potential to affect our community in ways large and small, and each is of real interest to us. In two of them, though, we are spectators. In the third, the one right here in South Africa, we are participants, and it would be a waste of a considerable opportunity not to have our say. 

As has become our custom ahead of an election, the SA Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) will host debates in Johannesburg and Cape Town, where we will hear directly from mayoral candidates and other political leaders. Additionally, the Board leads an intercommunal election observer mission. This is how we, as a community, take part in the process rather than simply watching it unfold, and how we ensure that elections are free, fair, and open to all. Local government carries responsibility for water, electricity, roads, safety, and a great many of the other services that shape daily life. For that reason alone, our community has a direct stake in the outcome of these upcoming municipal elections. 

We are also entering exam season, with our university students and matric pupils preparing for the end of their academic year. It is a period that carries both hope and anxiety in equal measure, and I wish every pupil and student well as they sit their papers. 

This weekend brings the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur. I am always struck, at this time of year, by how far our own liturgy has travelled beyond our congregations and how the spirit and ethos of the day has entered mainstream culture. Among the prayers we will read that day is the Unetaneh Tokef, which asks who shall live and who shall die in the year ahead, and by what manner: by fire, by water, by sword. It is a prayer many congregants would recognise even without knowing its name, because Leonard Cohen built one of his best-known songs, Who by Fire, directly on its words. He never hid the source. A prayer written for the Day of Atonement shaped a song heard on the radio, in places that had never heard of Unetaneh Tokef. 

It is a day of unusual stillness, carried by tradition and customs that stretch back deep in history, and that bind our community to our fellow Jews across the globe. I wish everyone a meaningful fast and a Gmar Hatima Tova. 

As I have documented in this column, the SAJBD was extremely busy throughout last year and our work will not slow as we move into 5787. Our efforts to combat antisemitism, to represent Jewish interests to government and other authorities, and to protect Jewish rights and our way of life in this country, are made possible by the United Communal Fund (UCF). Without that support, we could not continue to act in the courts or take the steps our communal interests require. You can support our work in protecting and enabling Jewish life in South Africa by making a donation to the UCF.