Israel Centre director reflects on leaving SA ‘family’

When Israel Centre Director Dafi Forer Kremer went through with her decision to come to South Africa on shlichut two years ago following the 7 October 2023 massacre, she did so out of commitment to Israel. Now that she’s going home at the end of her two-year tenure, she has mixed feelings about leaving this community that has become “family”. 

Throughout her tenure, Kremer felt like she was living between two worlds: the work she was doing in South Africa; and always thinking of her family in Israel, particularly with four out of her five children being in the Israel Defense Forces during a war. 

“When I was allocated the position, the war had just started. Some of my friends in the same situation decided not to come, but I decided to do so,” she said. “It’s not a coincidence, I was meant to be here. My partner and I made a joint decision to stick to our original plan and come. It became complicated with the war, to leave behind four kids in the army. 

“I felt like a lone soldier, alone without my family to support me in South Africa,” she said. 

Kremer believes her arrival in South Africa was part of a larger mission. About three years ago, she attended a Jewish Agency meeting where she met Doron Almog, a former shaliach (emissary) to South Africa. Realising that they had both been shlichim to South Africa, she told him of her love for the South African Jewish community. Almog encouraged her to apply to replace the outgoing shaliach, Liat Amar Arran. After discussing it with her husband who fully supported the idea, they decided to take on the role. 

Kremer and her husband served 20 years ago as shlichim for three years, with her leading Emunah’s Beit Midrash, and her husband serving as Bnei Akiva’s national shaliach. Their first daughter, after three sons, was born in South Africa. 

This time, her shlichut was complicated by war. 

“When I started here, war had already broken out, and the South African embassy had closed down in Israel. It became complicated. We couldn’t apply for visas in the normal way, which had an impact on my husband and my youngest daughter who was supposed to be with us,” she said. They were able to come initially for “a holiday”, but then had to go back. “So I stayed in South Africa for two years by myself.” 

Now that she is returning to Israel in December, she said she was feeling intense mixed emotions. “On the one hand, I’m happy to be back with my family, children, and grandchildren. I lost my mom a month ago, so it’s still fresh and I’m very sensitive [about it]. Being in South Africa, far from her, added to the complexity, especially knowing in her final years that she might not survive. The South African Jewish community deeply values family, and I’ve seen how central that is. I feel that I’ve done my part for this community,” she said. 

“On the other hand, the South African community has become like family to me. After losing my mother, I invited the community to hear her remarkable story of surviving the Holocaust as a four-year-old rescued by the Jewish Agency. Working for the agency now feels like closing the circle. It’s a meaningful sense of closure.” 

Kremer, an avid runner, decided in 2023, because of having run several half marathons, that she would donate a kidney altruistically to a stranger without discriminating on the basis of religion, ethnicity, or gender. She ultimately donated a kidney to a Bedouin resident of Rahat, with whose family she maintains close ties to this day. 

One of Kremer’s main goals when she came two years ago was to show “the beauty, the strength, and the spirit of the state of Israel” and highlight its bright side beyond war. 

“Israel isn’t just another country,” she said. “It’s the only homeland of the Jewish people. Our connection to it isn’t merely political or historical, it’s sacred and rooted in the Bible itself, so I believe we must never take for granted the privilege of having a state of our own.” 

“Especially at a time of intense war and a period when we had the hostages in Gaza, I still had the mission of bringing the bright side of Israel to the community.” 

Kremer has spent her tenure showing that Israel is more than a conflict. “Sharing stories of success builds community resilience,” she says. Her initiatives have brought Israeli icons to South Africa, including Beatie Deutsch, a Haredi Orthodox mother of five and four-time marathon champion; Ami Dadaon, a multi-gold Paralympian; and former hostage Agam Berger. 

“That was about showing kids the spirit of Israel and giving perspective,” Kremer said. Berger’s presence, playing her violin on stage, became a moment of healing, reminding the community of resilience and hope. 

Early in her role, Kremer launched the Aliyah Expo, and discovered that many elderly South Africans longed to join their children in Israel but couldn’t afford to do so. “With the rand so weak against the dollar and shekel, aliya was out of reach for many,” she said. Working with the Ministry of Aliyah and Absorption, she helped launch a public-housing project in Netanya. Forty-four units in a new 30-story building, near the beach, city centre, and transport now allow elderly families to reunite, and plans are underway to expand the programme. 

Kremer also brought creativity and fun through the Zionist Caravan, inspired by South Africa’s “Big Five”. The “Big Four” of Zionism – Theodor Herzl; David Ben-Gurion; Golda Meir; and Menachem Begin – come alive in interactive escape-room challenges, with youth unlocking archives and meeting mascots. 

“We travelled from Bloemfontein to Cape Town, Hermanus, Port Elizabeth, and Durban, reaching hundreds in small communities,” Kremer said. “Now I’m heading to Bnei Akiva and Habonim camps, which is the perfect finale of my time here.”