Love Island to laying tefillin on Table Mountain

Despite being warned by the Israeli government not to travel to South Africa, on a recent visit, Israeli influencer Aaron Morali made a point of heading up Table Mountain in Cape Town to put on tefillin. 

Morali said that before coming to the country, he had heard about how it was unsafe for him to be a Jew and an Israeli in South Africa; however, upon spending time travelling around the country, he saw that he didn’t have to be ashamed to be Israeli. 

Morali was born in Germany, raised in Austria, and made aliya when he was 18 in 2016 after starting his studies at IDC Herzliya, where he first started making social media content about life in Israel. So, when he travels around the world, he is apprehensive about sharing that he is from Israel. He says that he is from Austria just to avoid being asked about Israel. 

So, when he came to South Africa last year, he decided that he wasn’t going to share that he was from Israel, and told his friends to do the same thing as he knew that the South African government was anti-Israel, accusing Israel of genocide at the International Court of Justice. However, when he arrived, he was shocked that he could be openly Israeli, and to find such a strong Jewish community. 

“I heard many negative things about South Africa – that it was very much against Israel. But when I arrived, I discovered something different. Not only the Jewish community, but South Africans in general, are incredibly generous and warm-hearted,” he said. “At first, I was cautious and told people I was from Austria. But as I began talking to them about the war, I noticed that some people even agreed with the Jewish perspective. I realised I didn’t need to be afraid to share where I was from. After that, I started saying openly that I was from Israel, and people were so kind and caring. Honestly, I was surprised.” 

This is why he decided to lay tefillin on top of Table Mountain. Morali said that though he got some interesting looks from people around him, he believes what he was told about South Africans to be mainly false as he was met mainly with curiosity about what he was doing. 

“Some people didn’t understand what was going on, and I was happy to educate them about what we were actually doing there,” he said. And then there were some who were obviously anti-Israel who said, “This isn’t the place to do such a thing. You’re in South Africa, why are you doing this here?” 

After posting images of laying tefillin on his Instagram story, Morali was flooded with South Africans saying that they were amazed that he dared to show his Judaism so openly. 

However, his trip wasn’t all was sunshine and rainbows. While on a tour around Johannesburg, he and his friends were followed and told that Israel was committing war crimes and that Jewish people were responsible for what was happening in Gaza. 

“I felt like it was my part to educate them and just tell them what was really going on, and I must say, most of the people were actually happy to listen,” he said. “They didn’t always agree with me, but they were happy to listen. It’s important because we’re in a place where we’re not so open and Jewish and proud because when your country, like South Africa, goes against Israel, it can be scary to speak about. I’m mostly scared to speak of it, and I’m mostly openly proud of being Jewish and of Israel.” 

Morali started making content on his social media pages when he was still a student. Ever since then, he has been creating video content about Israel with a humorous angle. His Instagram feed is filled with videos satirising Israeli culture, Jewish identity, and the absurdities of everyday life in the Middle East. 

Particularly after 7 October 2023, when the war began, Morali realised that the content he was creating about Israel could have a positive impact. 

“I realised that I have such a big voice and such a big audience that I can make a big difference, so I decided to do pro-Israel content full time,” he said. “It’s inspirational to Jews from all over the world, especially those my age. Because when I grew up, I always saw content about being proud to be Jewish from people who tended to be much older or not so relatable. So, I would say the most important thing to me is to be relatable to young people.” 

This content is part of the reason why Morali was selected to be a contestant on the first season of the reality dating competition show Love Island Israel. 

“I went on the show, and while there, I realised it was trashy, something I wasn’t used to doing. The show strengthened my Jewish identity because I was like, if I want to do content, I can try go in the direction of Love Island, and maybe I would be doing a bit more trashy content, or I could embrace my Jewish identity and go this route, so I chose this one, and it has been successful.”