Op-eds

Time to say goodbye

Nov 16, 2017 1 Comment

Most regular readers of this column will be surprised to know that this is my last one, as I have decided to leave the Chev to pursue other opportunities. As King Solomon, the wisest man ever to have lived, famously said: “To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven…”
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The Duke of Edinburgh International Award

Nov 16, 2017 Go comment!

At the beginning of November, the Israeli Youth Award Ceremony was hosted by the British Ambassador to Israel. This distinguished international award programme has been in place since 1956, and began as the “Duke of Edinburgh International Award”.
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Paying tribute to some illustrious Jews and non-Jews

Nov 16, 2017 Go comment!

From the very outset and to this day, the leadership of the SAJBD has included some of South Africa’s most eminent lawyers, among them many judges. Their skills and knowledge have time and again proved invaluable in confronting the many legal challenges facing the community over the decades, whether relating to immigration and citizenship, resolving intra-communal disputes, combating anti-Semitism, safeguarding Jewish religious rights, or sundry other areas.
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Netzer Machaneh Kol HaNeshama – ‘All of the soul’

Nov 16, 2017 Go comment!

Netzer South Africa is the Jewish youth movement, affiliated with the South African Union for Progressive Judaism (SAUPJ) and the South African Zionist Federation (SAZF). We are a dynamic, entirely youth-led and youth-organised body, which works with the youth to provide the unique Netzer community a space of fun, learning and growth.
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Third Reich abused drugs to help them fight the war

Nov 09, 2017 Go comment!

“I demand that you do not sleep for at least three days and nights if that is required,” General Heinz Guderian is reported to have told the thousands of German troops who had massed to cross the River Meuse and push into Belgium and France.
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Learning to trust…

Nov 09, 2017 Go comment!

One of my favourite life-coaching life lessons is learning to “trust the process”. For me, it means letting go of one’s fears and “limiting beliefs” and having faith that things are going to work out the way they are supposed to, in the end.
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Larry David's Holocaust joke was an offence  against comedy

Nov 09, 2017 Go comment!

In a famous episode of "Seinfeld", Jerry is upset that his dentist, a recent convert to Judaism, is already telling Jewish jokes. He complains to the dentist's former priest.
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Censorship: A double-edged sword

Nov 09, 2017 Go comment!

The clumsy attempt by the State Security Agency and SA Revenue Service to block distribution of the book by investigative journalist Jacques Pauw, The President's Keepers, is nowhere near the censorship which prevailed during apartheid. But it eerily reminds us of how the slippery slope begins in that direction.
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Habonim Machaneh - a summer like no other

Nov 09, 2017 Go comment!

There is perhaps no better way to encapsulate the Habonim Machaneh experience than with the popular song our campers sing every December - “Habonim Machaneh makes my life so beautiful!”. That’s because what each and every channich/ah (student camper) experiences and gets out of our incredible three-week machaneh, is truly unique and life changing.
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A week to commemorate Suzman and Bizos

Nov 09, 2017 Go comment!

Over the weekend, representatives of the SAJBD attended an event where the renowned human rights lawyer George Bizos was honoured by the Hellenic Federation of South Africa.
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Expanding our ‘we’

Nov 02, 2017 Go comment!

If we at Afrika Tikkun can have one legacy, it is this: the act of compassionate connection. This is kindness that embraces individual value and difference and that develops potential.
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Israel and Africa need each other

Nov 02, 2017 Go comment!

The Jewish month that began this week, Cheshvan, has traditionally been dubbed “mar", or bitter, because it alone among the months is devoid of any holidays.
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The cost of being Jewish

Nov 02, 2017 Go comment!

As talk show host, listener feedback is critical in order to get a sense of the mood and thinking of the listener. There are days, however, when no matter what fascinating subject I try to discuss, that our listeners seem disinterested and even uncooperative. It is on those days, when all else has failed, and I feel somewhat desperate, that I simply pose the question: “Do observant Jews get value for money when buying kosher chickens?”
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SA Jewish community happily boxes above its weight

Nov 02, 2017 Go comment!

Last week, in my report on the World Jewish Congress Community Directors’ Forum in Cape Town, I observed how highly South African Jewry is regarded in global Jewish circles, to the point that we are today regularly described as being a model for other Diaspora communities to emulate.
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Why murders on SA farms evoke knee-jerk racism

Nov 02, 2017 Go comment!

A farmer murdered while working his land is a shocking scene. Yet many people rejected this week’s countrywide protests, called Black Monday, by farmers against the plague of such killings in South Africa.
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Could Israel-Palestine peace rest on personal stories?

Oct 26, 2017 Go comment!

Can individual Palestinians and Israelis get past their violent history and see each other as people? A documentary screened in the past two weeks in Johannesburg and Cape Town, shows attempts at this by a group calling itself Combatants for Peace.
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WJC National Directors’ Forum a huge success

Oct 26, 2017 Go comment!

The World Jewish Congress National Directors' Forum, which concluded in Cape Town earlier this week, successfully combined focused formal discussions and presentations on core issues facing global Jewry with the equally important informal interaction that took place between individual delegates outside of the formal sessions. It is in the latter context that experiences can be shared, potential partnerships discussed and in general contacts made that could be mutually beneficial in the future. Representatives of Jewish communities numbering in the millions, as in the case of Israel, through to those numbering just a few thousand, took part in what was truly a memorable experience for all concerned.
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Simchat Torah: Memories and meaning

Oct 19, 2017 7 Comments

I have strong memories of Simchat Torah as a little girl. I spent it with my grandfather who was a gentle, open-minded Orthodox Jewish educator in Johannesburg. We would walk up the hill to his shul together.
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What happens when sins of the past come out of the closet?

Oct 19, 2017 1 Comment

A long, dirty thread links the sadistic killers of anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Timol and South African President Jacob Zuma to sex offenders who thought they would get away with it as time passed. But people cannot control how they will be remembered in history.
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SA hosts prestigious WJC Community Directors’ Forum

Oct 19, 2017 Go comment!

At the time of writing, preparations are being finalised for the World Jewish Congress Community Directors’ Forum, to commence this weekend in Cape Town. This is the first time that this prestigious event will be taking place on the African continent, and we are honoured to have been entrusted with organising and hosting it.
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