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Leaders object to axing of country communities rabbi
Published
5 years agoon
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adminTALI FEINBERG
But leaders of Jewish country communities believe that this will leave Jews around the country in the lurch, and the graves of parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents forgotten and neglected.
Since the announcement in November, the status quo has remained in place. “Currently, the work of the department continues as usual, and will continue as such until the end of this year,” says SAJBD Chairperson Shaun Zagnoev. “In the meantime, discussions and exploratory meetings regarding the future nature and form of this community service are ongoing. The one area which has already received much attention is to ensure that trusts established by defunct communities are administered optimally.”
Ann Harris, the President of the African Jewish Congress and a member of the Hermanus Hebrew Congregation, says that while she appreciates the complexities of the situation, “These actions show a lack of understanding of the foundations of the South African Jewish community. History and tradition is being pushed aside.”
In addition, she points out that “there has been no transparency in the way this issue is being been handled. There has been no proper communication with the community or affiliates.”
“There are few men in the country who really understand the position of Jews in South Africa, and Rabbi Silberhaft is one of them. Now is not the time to get rid of proven leaders,” says Barney Horwitz, the leader of the Jewish community in Kimberley.
He points to the fact that looking after cemeteries is extremely difficult for any community, and that this may fall to the wayside if a travelling rabbi is not there to assist “We have two here, and I am struggling. We have even had to put security guards outside one of them. The least we owe to our grandparents and parents is that their graves are maintained.”
Horwitz says that Jews in outlying areas have an important role to play. “At every major government function in this area, I am asked to deliver an address or prayer. Cyril Ramaphosa’s first appearance as President was in Kimberley, so suddenly my speech was the first thing he heard as president from the South African Jewish community. Who did I call on to make sure I said the right thing? Rabbi Silberhaft. If there is no travelling rabbi, who will we call upon? Judaism does not end where Johannesburg ends.”
He says urban Jewish communities are shrinking, and many will have 50 families or less with no rabbi, making the role of a travelling rabbi even more urgent.
Michael Waks of Klerksdorp says that while he understands the board’s reasoning, “Without Moshe, we would have been lost. We get no support or assistance from anyone else. By June or July every year, he has organised Yom Tov for us. He even found a Jewish woman in Klerksdorp that we had no idea about. That’s the kind of thing he does.”
Spencer Erling of the Hermanus Hebrew Congregation, speaking in his personal capacity, says he heard that Rabbi Silberhaft had been accused of being “more interested in the dead than the living” because of his care and interest in the upkeep of small community cemeteries. “Clearly this accuser has not had the distressing experience of arriving at a desecrated cemetery where their loved ones are at rest. The board clearly has taken no cognisance of what he has done for living Jewish communities in outlying areas.
“I believe that the board has not consulted with Rabbi Silberhaft’s congregants and has thus seriously misjudged him and the important work he has done in keeping yiddishkeit alive in country districts. There has to be more to Judaism than to run a profitable organisation, which appears to be the main reason for its actions.”
“There is no reason to divide our community further, and abandoning country communities is throwing away our history,” says Perry Feldman of Parys. “Did you know that forty years ago there were 52 separate communities in the Free State? And in Senekal [in the Free State], there are Jewish graves with Dutch on them. If we neglect our graves, we will lose our connection to the past. Diaspora Jews who have left South Africa should also contribute to the maintenance of the cemeteries they left behind.
“Rabbi Silberhaft has achieved what no other country communities’ rabbi has achieved,” says Feldman, who has lived in Parys for most of his life. “There was a funeral in Kroonstad and he asked me to be there to help fill the grave. I drove the 80 kilometres to get there, because that’s what people do for Rav Silberhaft. We need to find a way to allow him to carry on his work. If we don’t look after ourselves, no one else will.”
David Rade, the head of the Hermanus Hebrew Congregation but speaking in his own capacity, says Rabbi Silberhaft has played a major role in the establishment of their new shul over the past decade. “Honestly and truly, I don’t believe another person can take his place. Who will take matza to an individual in the middle of nowhere? Who will maintain the cemeteries? When I visited a small town recently, an Afrikaner man told me, ‘If not for the Jews, this town wouldn’t exist.’ And when a fire threatened the Hermanus shul, people who were not Jews arrived to help us. They value our presence. We are important in every country area. To let that go would be a travesty.”
Silberhaft says he is grateful to the SAJBD for allowing him to offer this service to Jews across the length and breadth of South Africa for the past quarter century. “I have been very privileged to do what is my passion for half my life,” he says, pointing out that every Jew is important, no matter how isolated or unobservant they are. “To turn our back on them – that is not Jewish thinking.”
But if a new “home” is needed for this work, Silberhaft proposes a new, independent organisation, managed by country community leaders, funded by its assets, and employing him to continue his work. This would also allow him to train an understudy for when he retires.
“This is certainly one of the possibilities under consideration,” says Zagnoev. “A lot would obviously depend on ensuring the financial viability of such a body, which in turn would mean establishing a sufficiently large capital base by adding to existing trust funds that have been set up in the names of various defunct country communities over the years.”
Among the possibilities being considered is for the different regions of the SAJBD to take over the responsibility of looking after communities and cemetery maintenance in their particular area, with national oversight.
“We are not ‘abandoning’ country communities,” Zagnoev says. “On the contrary, we are exploring a more sustainable way to ensure that these communities will continue to be cared for over the longer term.
“It should be remembered that when it first became apparent that country communities were declining and needed the support of the main centres to ensure the continuance of Jewish life in their localities, it was the SAJBD that stepped up to the plate and established a special department for this purpose.
“This work has been carried out without interruption and with much dedication for the past 70 years, over time extending not just to assisting communities, but even helping in cases where only one or two individuals remain in a particular town or village.”
Delia Groer
Feb 21, 2019 at 12:54 pm
‘The work done by Rabbi Silberhaft had so many roots and so many branches that it would be close to impossible to issue a CV to cover it. It’s one of those jobs that if he leaves, you will only find out over time the immense depth of the hole left behind by; the queries unanswered, the requests not filled, the hope not given, the services not attended…the Yiddushkiet evaporated!’
Ruth Bogatie
Feb 21, 2019 at 1:48 pm
‘Rabbi Silberhaft is a very important part of all of our lives. I was born and brought up in Hermanus and the way he looks after that community is phenomenal. My late father’s picture hangs on the wall there. We really need him to carry on doing what he loves doing. There is no code . ‘
Anthony Jackson
Feb 21, 2019 at 6:09 pm
‘We need a travelling rabbi and Rabbi Silberhaft is the very best of the best.’
Clifford Miller
Feb 21, 2019 at 8:22 pm
‘I feel that Rabbi Silberhaft has done an excellent job of servicing the small country communities. It would be a disservice to all the small communities to end this contact that we have.
We often feel forgotten by the bigger communities as all the attention is concentrated there, and we feel left out of the mainstream of Jewish life.
Clifford Miller (Mossel Bay)
Past president of the Oudtshoorn Jewish Community’
chaim silver
Feb 21, 2019 at 9:46 pm
‘+have the sajbod done their nut__-? this rabbi has done yoeman service for the jews of south africa, over many years with dedication, blood sweat and tears. now you want to throw him away like an old shoe,, when i was the superintendant of west park jewish cemetery )i worked there for 24 years ) i had the priviledge and honour to work with him over the years, think before you leap. give this man his koved and appreciation that he well deserves,
‘
Jenny Zinn
Feb 22, 2019 at 11:22 am
‘Rabbi Silberhaft is one of the best known names in the Jewish Community of South Africa and is lauded for his incredible work by Jews both within the country and elsewhere. There may well be no one suitable to take over his myriad tasks when he is ready to retire, but while he is still prepared to carry on, I feel it would be a shanda to put an end to his great work in the country communities of Southern Africa.’
Rolene Jaffe
Feb 23, 2019 at 3:26 am
‘To whom this may concern:
Having Rabbi Moshe in this position had been invaluable to my family.
Our life with Moshe at the helm:
A Johannesburg family we moved to Botswana that’s where we first met Moshe. He became an integral part in my family’s life and when my boys had their bar mitzvah he was there to perform the ceremony
He also married my husband and i got married in his garden.
He placed the mezuzah on the door in a new home in Botswana.
When my youngest son Sascha got married he was the rabbi who performed the ceremony.
That’s just the integral part he’s paid in ONE family’s life. Plus all the times he came to Botswana meetings were held functions were held at my home which he attended. I don’t believe you can ever understand the value of what this incredible man has done and how he has brought communities together in a non judgemental way.
Please do not do away with the services that are provided for the small communities or for Rabbi Moshe’
Jason Shapiro
Feb 23, 2019 at 10:47 pm
‘I am not a religious man. I suffer with my own demons regarding my Jewish status. I find myself in a situation where my faith is tested by my circumstances. I am grateful for people who encourage and support me on my journey. One man in particular has devoted a tremendous amount of time and patience to help me fight my fears and frustrations. I may as well have joined the long list of forgotten Jews in the Community. Rabbi has helped me find my truth. He makes me feel proud to be Jewish and eager to be a community person.
He helps Jews believe they are Jewish. He unites people and supports individuals in believing they too are included in the Global Jewish Community. No matter where you are in the world and no matter your status, if you are a Jew, he makes you feel equally as important as the rest. He wears a big pair of shoes to say the very least.
We owe him our gratitude for keeping Judaism alive in the homes of many Jews.
He is the voice of the silent and the keeper of the forgotten.
‘
Shani Kletz Perelmut
Feb 25, 2019 at 3:56 pm
‘This is ludicrous !! In such a fragmented South African Jewish Community …. The very lifeline that has kept us feeling like we Belong.. is going to be taken away from us !! The Jewish Country Communities have gotten to know Rav Moshe Silberhaft well.. and have felt secure in the knowledge that we can rely on him when we’ve needed his support and leadership.. Rav Moshe gets things done !! Our family has known him all these 25 years ( living in Lichtenburg and Bloemfontein respectively) and the disappearance of Rav Moshe’s influence will be sorely sorely missed…SAJBD… It’s a wrong decision ! To have the rest of us Jews in the country communities feeling disconnected…. You should be assembling not disassembling your structure !!’
Andrew Harris
Feb 27, 2019 at 9:48 am
‘Rabbi Silberhaft is one of the few diaspora leaders in a position to meaningfully support a non-urban diaspora community, recognising those communities’ commitments to endure where they belong.
It’s appalling to think the SAJBD can’t see the value in supporting his work into the future.
The rural spread and roots of the South African Jewish community is as is critical to its history as it is to the future.
If if is a matter of funding, how much money are they after?’
Michele Asa
Mar 15, 2019 at 7:12 pm
‘I could not believe my eyes when I read this article. I certainly hope that the SAJBD comes to its senses and realizes how invaluable the service Rabbi Silberhaft provides, and how he will be impossible to replace. He is often the only contact people in small communities have to anything Jewish. To take that away is a crime. Find the money, give him a raise,keep his position, thank him and honor him for all he does. Find a way to make it work.’