Op-eds

Why Roseanne Barr and Shmuley Boteach need each other

Oct 25, 2018 Go comment!

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach may or may not be America’s most famous rabbi. But among Jews, at least, he may be its most polarising rabbi.
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Helping SA Jewry to be part of the solution

Oct 25, 2018 Go comment!

During the years leading up to the transition to democracy in 1994, the way in which the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) carried out its mandate to represent the Jewish community also underwent significant change.
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Where have all the Jewish art firebrands gone?

Oct 25, 2018 Go comment!

When Israeli-born concert pianist Aviram Reichert performed in South Africa in the early 2000s on a five-week programme, the auditoriums were packed everywhere. Having performed as a soloist with major philharmonic orchestras worldwide, Reichert commented that it was “very seldom that you encounter such audiences” in their knowledge and enthusiasm.
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The impact of importing protest tactics

Oct 25, 2018 Go comment!

With more than 5 000 immigrants marching towards the United States border, it would seem that Donald Trump is about to be tested in much the same way that Benjamin Netanyahu was with the Gaza border protests.
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Children real victims of propaganda war

Oct 18, 2018 Go comment!

The demonisation of Israel takes many forms. One of the most virulent exploits children, alleging that Israel systematically mistreats, even tortures Palestinian minors. These modern-day blood libels are echoed by nongovernmental organisations (NGOs), United Nations (UN) officials, and journalists, as part of the ongoing campaign to blacken Israel’s name and isolate the Jewish state.
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Two hurricanes in one month leaves us soaked

Oct 18, 2018 Go comment!

After experiencing two hurricanes in one month in North Carolina, South African-born Emma Gordon Blass muses the complications of living in a place where the weather makes headlines, and the irony of the fact that last week’s parsha was Noah.
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Democrats push back after NY Times says the party is drifting on Israel

Oct 18, 2018 Go comment!

Senator Robert Menendez hardly needs to establish his pro-Israel bona fides. He is guaranteed a standing ovation every time he appears at the annual conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and pro-Israel political donors are lining up to back him in an unexpectedly close race for re-election.
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Time to start being on time

Oct 18, 2018 Go comment!

In a world of “click-bait” headlines, the above is probably the least likely to cause anyone to take a second look. And yet it should be. Acceptance of the notion of “Jewish time” needs to meet its final resting place.
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Boycott to and fro: be careful what you ban

Oct 18, 2018 Go comment!

South Africans know a few things about boycotts. Israel – and those who want to boycott it – could learn a bit from us, even though the two countries are worlds apart culturally and historically.
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Remembering the victims of Sobibor

Oct 18, 2018 Go comment!

Over the past few years, the South African Jewish Board of Deputies and the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre (JHGC) have regularly teamed up with the embassies of various countries, including Denmark, Germany, Japan, and Hungary, to host events commemorating aspects of the Holocaust.
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Gauteng expresses confidence in Jewish leadership

Oct 11, 2018 Go comment!

Delegates from a wide range of Jewish organisations in Gauteng came together at Beyachad in Johannesburg on 7 October for the biennial conference of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies’ Gauteng Council.
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Ask the right questions before donating to charity

Oct 11, 2018 Go comment!

There is no easy way to write this, but I am going to give it a shot. Jewish South African donors need to exercise more responsibility when deciding which charities they support, based on how compliant the organisation is.
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Knowing us, knowing them, healing feels impossible

Oct 11, 2018 Go comment!

Sunday morning’s killing of Israeli employees by an Arab worker at the Barkan industrial zone in the West Bank, a zone punted as exemplifying how Israelis and Palestinians could work together despite political problems, shows again the conflict’s intractability. Will reconciliation ever occur between the sides, even in small doses?
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Corbynites take a knock, but it could be a hollow victory

Sep 20, 2018 1 Comment

“Anti-Semitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of anti-Semitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions, and religious facilities.” – Stockholm definition of anti-Semitism (2016)
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Curbing hate and delivering meals all in a day’s work

Sep 20, 2018 Go comment!

Two long-running hate-speech cases were successfully brought to finality last week, when the South African Jewish Board of Deputy’s (SAJBD’s) complaints against two prominent Western Cape political leaders, Marius Fransman and Tony Ehrenreich, were upheld by the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC). A great deal of sustained effort by our professional staff went into achieving these outcomes, for which I thank and commend them.
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Ku Klux Klan makes a ‘Trumpiant’ comeback

Sep 20, 2018 Go comment!

One puzzling aspect of this era is how to understand United States President Donald Trump. His administration has announced it will cut the last remaining channel of American aid to Palestinian civilians. This is the Conflict Management and Mitigation Program, which allows Palestinians – many of them youth – to interact with Israelis, through US funding managed by USAID.
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Community in danger of becoming outrage addicts

Sep 20, 2018 Go comment!

We do love our moral outrage, don’t we? Nothing gets us quite as warm and fuzzy as good ‘ole fashioned, “how dare they!” does.
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Israelis and SA Jews need to stop and listen…

Sep 06, 2018 1 Comment

In recent times, there has been heated debate over the law of nationality. One can argue about the nature and essence of the law, but I do not want to argue about its social implications and the stormy debate about the results.
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Objective journalist a lone soldier in anti-Israel media war

Sep 06, 2018 Go comment!

What does it mean to be a journalist? How do you cover news fairly and accurately? Can you do so without bias or in a way that is objective?
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Taking the poetic route to seeing our way forward

Sep 06, 2018 Go comment!

There were many odd and terrible moments that emerged from the Jacob Zuma rape trial, but one in particular has always struck me as quintessentially, ludicrously South African. On the final day of the proceedings, when Judge Willem van der Merwe delivered his verdict in that sing-song voice many of us have tattooed on our cortexes, he paraphrased a line from Rudyard Kipling’s poem, If.
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