Musings of a reluctant community leader

We have a beautiful and unique Jewish community. One that is respected and admired across the world. But I fear we are reflecting past glory, and aren’t on a trajectory that does justice to the leadership of the past, on whose shoulders we stand, and whose vision, strength, and integrity we dimly reflect.

The starting point must be a common language. When we talk about the “South African Jewish community” what do we mean? The answer lies in the institutions that represent the core aspects of communal life.

Religious

The shuls are organised under the Union of Orthodox Synagogues (UOS). This organisation employs the chief rabbi, and was formed at a time when religious life was more homogenous than it is now. Chabad plays a key role in religious life in South Africa, with more than 50% of Orthodox shuls being Chabad affiliated. There are reform and conservative communities with their own structures, but it appears that the mainstream of the community is neither tolerant nor inclusive in this regard, save for some politically correct window dressing.

The chief rabbi is the spiritual leader of South African Orthodox Jewry, and is employed by the UOS. He has a key role in interfaith relations, faith, and spiritual issues on a government and societal level, and is the spiritual leader and moral conscience of the Jewish community. The chief rabbi is accountable to the board of the UOS.

Community umbrella organisation and politics

The role of South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) is to look after the civic, constitutional, and political rights of South African Jews. Its business is political, and it should maintain close relationships with relevant sections of government and the various political parties. It is responsible for addressing antisemitism and protecting the civil rights of South African Jews.

Zionism

The South African Zionist Federation (SAZF) is the Israel lobby and Zionism education organisation of the community. The SAZF’s role is to lobby for Israel, instil a love for Israel and Zionism in the community – and wider – and provide support for community members wishing to make aliya.

Emergency services

The community has the Community Security Organisation (CSO) for security, and Hatzolah for medical needs. These organisations provide vital day-to-day services to keep the community safe and functional. They are critical in the event of a crisis, emergency, or an attack on the community.

Welfare

Welfare and community service needs are taken care of by the Chevrah Kadisha. The Chev takes care of burials, the needs of the aged and orphans, and provides social services to the community, most particularly its vulnerable members. Jews don’t go hungry and live on the street because of the work of the Chev. The welfare services of our community are world famous, and probably most clearly demonstrate the values of our community. It needs – and receives – a large budget, which will probably only grow over time.

Education

The South African Board of Jewish Education (SABJE) is the biggest educational organisation in the community by far. Its campuses are the biggest in the southern hemisphere, and they are both practical and thought leaders in Jewish education. There are a number of Torah schools, with Yeshiva and Torah Academy – Chabad aligned – being the largest and most successful. There are also smaller Jewish schools, most of which are marginal and suffer from financial and educational shortcomings. The schools are strongly Zionist, and it’s interesting how little input they have from the SAZF.

Youth

There are Zionist youth movements. The biggest and most successful are Bnei Akiva and Habonim. These organisations fall under the SAZF and provide camps, tours, events, and education to the youth. They are generally feeders for the future leadership of the community.

Different models of community

Communities around the world follow different models of structuring and funding.

• The lay leadership model. Community organisations are set up based on the needs of the community, and lay leaders volunteer their time and expertise to lead and run them. This model is followed by the British community, and copied by the South African community to a large extent. The organisations are funded by a broad base of donors, have a professional staff contingent and oversight by boards composed of lay leaders.
• The community ownership model. The American Jewish community largely follows this model. Rich benefactors set up community organisations that are funded, controlled, and run by the benefactor and their staff. This model is gaining some traction in the Johannesburg Jewish community, with parallel community structures being set up in which benefactors don’t believe that existing organisations do a satisfactory job.
• The Johannesburg and Cape Town communities, although both largely built around the lay leadership model, have different funding models. The Cape Town community’s funding is controlled by a handful of influential, committed, and wealthy individuals. Community organisations are allocated budgets centrally, and are unable to raise funds independently until the core needs of the community are met. Johannesburg has a “free-for-all” funding model, in which each organisation is responsible for meeting its own funding requirements.

After numerous discussions with community leaders, donors, community members, and visitors to our community from overseas, it’s clear to me that our community suffers from some serious problems that need to be addressed urgently. These are:

• There is a catastrophic lack of leadership;
• There is lack of accountability and governance;
• Community organisations have lost focus on their roles;
• The relationship between our community and the government has been obliterated;
• Our community cannot clearly articulate our role in South African society, nor our value proposition to South Africa at large; and
• Living a Jewish Life is becoming unaffordable.

The factors above result in the lack of a coherent strategy for our community. The community has shrunk, we have too much infrastructure for too few people. Donors are looking at the cost per person in our community, and the funding needs are out of all proportion to the size of the community.

A strategy is required to consolidate the community, with the clear understanding that consolidating and thriving aren’t at odds but rather a requirement for sustainability. Communal organisations need to be right-sized, appropriately governed, led by real leaders, and made fit for purpose for our community’s current size and future trajectory.

The set of problems above isn’t exhaustive, and there are consequences and implications that are wide reaching. I will focus only on the high impact and immediate steps that are necessary to start the turn-around and move our community in a clear and positive direction while doing the hard but responsible steps that are required.

Solutions

The SAJBD needs to be restructured and refocused. The constitution of the SAJBD must be updated to reflect the current make-up of the community. This is a pre-requisite to make it a democratic and representative organisation. “Co-opting” hand-picked supporters and manipulating the elective processes in the SAJBD’s outdated constitution detract from what should be a prestigious organisation. This way of working is designed to maintain the control over the organisation by a small group which is way beyond its sell-by date. The SAJBD needs to refocus on its mandate, and stay in its lane. Lobbying for Israel must be done by the SAZF so that the SAJBD can become a focused interlocutor with South African society and government on key “non-Israel” issues that affect South African Jews. This stale organisation needs proper governance, a sensible strategy, and leadership that is in touch with both the community and the country in which we live. Out of this renewal should emerge a clear strategy and value proposition for the South African Jewish community.

The SAZF basically consists of one party a year – on Yom Ha’atzmaut – and some youth camps. This organisation has had its role usurped by the SAJBD and to some extent the chief rabbi, both of whom have been out of their mandate on issues related to Israel. This has had the dual consequence of undermining the SAZF and the role and mandate that the chief rabbi and the SAJBD are supposed to fulfil. Both the chief rabbi and the SAJBD are unable to engage with respective constituencies outside of the Jewish community because of them being “Zionists” rather than representatives of South African Jewry in their respective spheres. Both will argue that it’s imperative that they come out strongly in the SAZF lane. I believe this argument is disingenuous and undermines all of the organisations involved as well as their ability to discharge their own mandates. Just to be clear, I’m an ardent Zionist and believe that we have a right and a deep obligation to support Israel as a community. However, this must be done by the right structures with a winning strategy, which our community clearly doesn’t have. And it must be done in a way that ensures each communal organisation is best positioned to discharge its mandate. Everyone being in each other’s lanes hasn’t served our community.

On a slight tangent, the battle for the word “Zionism” has been lost – definitely in South Africa and possibly in the world. We should take an example from the American community, which avoids “isms” and talks about being pro-Israel while using terminology that isn’t tainted and doesn’t result in an instant emotional reaction. It’s clear that winning this battle means that more people support Israel, rather than getting caught up in a word that we have tragically lost.

On the religious front, we need to have a cold hard reckoning on the state of the community. There are about 80 shuls in Johannesburg, many of which have nothing to do with the UOS. It’s hard to see how the UOS and the chief rabbi represent the majority of Jewish practice in South Africa. A community our size needs to have a cold hard look at the necessity for the trappings of a chief rabbi, his office, and the related costs. Certainly Chabad, Reform, and Conservative Judaism need better representation. The mandate and scope of the chief rabbi’s office needs to be more clearly defined. His pronouncements on politics, terrorism, and security while emotionally satisfying, are unwise and have consequences for our community. They are also outside of the mandate of the chief rabbi and undermine the community structures responsible for such aspects. It appears that the UOS is unwilling or unable to keep the chief rabbi accountable and focused on his core mandate – religion, interfaith issues, and moral aspects – not political aspects – relevant to our community and the community at large. It would all do well to emulate the example set by Commonwealth Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis.

Accountability and governance are key attributes of successful community organisations. The Chev, SABJE, Hatzolah, and CSO, and some smaller organisations, demonstrate accountability, good governance, and transparency. These organisations have term limits, timeous audited financials, and strong, independent boards. The SAJBD, UOS, and SAZF are characterised by jobs for life, lack of accountability, and clear and serious failures in their core mandates. The government, although antisemitic and corrupt, is still in charge. It is unable to engage with the key structures charged with that relationship as these structures have catastrophically blown up the relationship rather than engaging, lobbying, and winning hearts and minds. We have no material interfaith dialogue because the chief rabbi is in politics and lobbying for Israel rather than dealing with such issues. These organisations aren’t accountable and not representative of our community. They require restructuring, good leadership and management, and a refocus on their core role in the community.

While these organisations are being made fit for purpose, our community needs to act urgently to consolidate responsibly. This will create sustainability and focus. There are too many schools, shuls, and organisations. There are too many buildings, accountants, and databases. The effect is both of a high cost for our community, for example in kashrut, school fees, and shul memberships, and an unsustainable burden on a shrinking donor base. If the leadership of the community is unable to devise a strategy that creates sustainability, donors will rightly and brutally do it for us.

The numbers need to talk. We need an urgent survey of the economic, demographic, and social factors affecting our community. Then we need to right size – now. We need affordable school fees that don’t impoverish our community. We need affordable kashrut. We need to engage with the antisemitic and terrorism supporting government in a way that makes our views clear, leaves room for engagement, and ensures that the government will engage with and protect our community in a time of need. Not act against it. There is a way to disagree with the government, and our community hasn’t found it. This will require a strategy and careful execution by good community managers. It will not be fun. But it’s overdue and very necessary.