Six hundred days too long

What makes this edition of the SA Jewish Report different to the many that have come before it? It does have some new voices, but that’s not it. It isn’t all local news. No, quite mixed.

What sets it apart is that there isn’t one article in the publication on antisemitism in South Africa. I cannot remember when this last happened. And no, it’s not because we purposely went out to avoid it, although trust me, sometimes I wish we could. It isn’t because Shavuot is almost upon us, and we focused only on what it meant to have been given the Ten Commandments. No, it isn’t an April Fool’s trick, or any other sleight of hand.

And here I wish I could be telling you that antisemitism has simply evaporated. It hasn’t. It’s out there and growing, but for some reason, we haven’t written about it this week and, as I page through this publication, I feel a lightness and a sense of relief about this.

If only we could always focus on stories that aren’t about hatred towards us. Unfortunately, we cannot ignore them. It would be to our detriment. We need to ensure, as I said to one of our communal leaders this week, that our haters need to know they cannot get away with antisemitism. We will not ignore this racist hatred towards us, nor will we take it lying down. However, we also will not willingly give our haters a platform to spread their lies. We – as a community – will strategically, consciously, and cautiously do what we need to do to stop them and take action against them.

Our haters need to know, and our community continues to make it clear, that they can say what they want wherever they want, but every action has a reaction. And there are always consequences to hateful actions.

Antisemitism spiked here and around the world 600 days ago – as of Wednesday this week. It was 600 days ago that Hamas and its terrorist allies broke through the border between Gaza and Israel and terrorised the Israeli population down south. They brutally murdered, gang-raped, and burnt the people alive, affecting and impacting every Israeli and Jew around the world. Our lives haven’t returned to normal, neither those of us who live in Israel nor in the diaspora. We have come to believe and trust that Israel was protected from anything so depraved and widespread. We believed that we would ensure that “never again” was a certainty. Now we know that “never again” is a certainty only if we make certain that it is. We cannot ever rest on our laurels!

The number 600 has real significance in Judaism because of its relation to the concept of 613 commandments in the Torah. Also 600 is the numerical value of the Hebrew word, tzitzit (fringes), which refers to the tassels on the tallis. Add the 13 knots on each tassel, and you get the value of 613 commandments. And lest we forget, if you add four zeros to 600, you have the number of Jews murdered during the Holocaust.

While we look back on these 600 days, we dare not forget that there are still 58 remaining hostages being held in Gaza. While the world has long since forgotten or simply couldn’t care less about what happened to Israel on that dreaded 7 October 2023, there are families, loved ones, and an entire country and Jewish world that cannot move forward until those 58 human beings are returned home.

On Wednesday, 28 May, beginning at 06:29, the moment Hamas launched its terrorist attack on 7 October, Israelis gathered at different locations around the country, standing in the formation of the yellow hostage symbol and calling for the freeing of the 58 remaining hostages.

People gathered in the shallows of the Mediterranean Sea, at Hostage Square; in Zichron Yaakov; Ramat Aviv; Jaffa Hadera; Holon; Kfar Saba; Nahalal Junction; Modi’in; and Emek Hefer. At every one of these gatherings, the yellow ribbon was the symbol for the call for the hostages to be returned.

Other Israelis formed a human chain along the main road from Na’an to Sitriya in the north. Meanwhile in Jerusalem, residents gathered at the park near the home of Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, who has been heading Israel’s hostage negotiation team, for the morning service that includes prayers for the new month.

As much as there is a desperate need for the war to end, there is an even bigger need for the hostages to be returned. Six hundred days is too long! It’s totally inhumane to keep innocent people hostage for this long, but the world says nothing about it.

While the world looks down its nose at Israel at war, bereaved parents maintain that they have a proposal for legislation calling for new elections. They are angry that the government hasn’t created a commission of inquiry investigating the events that led to the 7 October massacre.

As is clear, 600 days after this horrific day in our recent history, there is no happy ending in sight. There’s no miraculous healing and solution to antisemitism, the rifts within Israel, and concern and fear in the Jewish world. Would that we all were able to stand together in harmony, looking forward to peace and a new healthy, happy tomorrow!

Next week, as we commemorate receiving the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai, let’s pray and work toward this. Let’s do our best to work toward a day when antisemitism is in our past and Israel is at peace with its neighbours. Am Yisrael Chai!

Shabbat Shalom and chag sameach!

Peta Krost

Editor

We will not have a publication next week because of Shavuot. We will be back the following week. Look out for our midweek newsletter on Tuesday, 10 June, and our next print edition on 12 June.