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www.sajewishreport.co.za Friday, 16 April 2010 / 2 Iyar 5770 Volume 14 Number 13 Goldstone Polish President Kaczynski’s ‘barred’ from grandson’s death a loss to , barmitzvah / 3 PAGE 8 MOTTY SACKS: Religious leaders should sing Hatikvah / 14 Israel’s birthday celebrations / 3, 11, 23 Iran - first ‘suicide state’? / 11 Paula Slier - Settlers are powder keg / 9 Exposing the al-Durrah blood libel / 8 Literary circles mourn death of Shirley Kossick / 16

Holocaust survivor Dr Nathan Durst, displays the yellow star with the word "Jood" (Jew), he A bevy of NOW A BADGE and other Jews in Europe were made to wear during the Second World War. Today that anti- Jewish symbol, has become a symbol of dignity of a people who would not surrender to the beautiful brides Nazi plan to exterminate them. Durst was guest speaker at the Yom Hashoah commemorations OF HONOUR in . (PHOTOGRAPH: ILAN OSSENDRYVER) SEE PAGES 4-6, 24 / 21 YOUTH / 18-19 SPORTS / 24 LETTERS / 14-17 CROSSWORD & BRIDGE / 20 COMMUNITY BUZZ / 7 WHAT’S ON / 20 2 SA JEWISH REPORT 16 - 23 April 2010

PARSHA OF THE WEEK SHABBAT TIMES April 16/2 Iyar Published by April 17/3 Iyar S A Jewish Report (Pty) Ltd, Suite 175, Postnet X10039, The ethical symbolism of milah for all time. Having attained perfec- Tazria/Metzora Randburg, 2125 tion of nature, the Creative Energy Tel: (011) 023-8160 WHILE THE instruction to of the world rested on the seventh Abraham to circumcise himself day. Starts Ends Fax: (086) 634-7935 PARSHAT and all the males in his household Shabbat is considered by the 17:34 18:22 Johannesburg Printed by Caxton Ltd provides a model for the institu- TAZRIA/ sages as a foretaste of the Messianic 18:05 18:55 tion of berit milah, “covenant of era, a period which they referred to 17:19 18:08 Durban EDITOR - Geoff Sifrin circumcision”, the command to METZORA as yom she-kulo Shabbat, “A day 17:38 18:27 Bloemfontein [email protected] circumcise a baby boy on the Rabbi Malcolm that is all Shabbat”. 17:36 18:27 Port Elizabeth Sub-Editor - Paul Maree eighth day of his life, is found in Matitiani The Messianic era - a time of sym- 17:28 18:18 East the first portion of this Shabbat’s Cape Town Progressive biosis and harmony between all the Senior Reporter - Rita Lewis double parshah: Jewish Congregation elements of creation - will be Shabbat and tefillin, both of which [email protected] “The Eternal spoke to Moses, brought about by the efforts of are also symbols of the covenant saying: Speak to the Israelite peo- To quote the Talmud: “Just as humanity to create a better world between G-d and the Jewish Sports Editor - Jack Milner ple thus: ‘When a woman at child- there (Leviticus 19:23) something and a less fragmented society. People (Exodus 31:16 - 17 and in [email protected] birth bears a male, she shall be that produces fruit [is meant], so Perhaps this human contribution Exodus 13:9, 16, Deuteronomy 6:8, unclean seven days; she shall be here (Genesis 17:14) too something to the perfection of G-d’s creation, is 11:18). Books Editor - Gwen Podbrey unclean as at the time of her men- [the limb] that produces fruit [is symbolised by the eighth day of the While circumcision is limited to Arts Editor - Robyn Sassen strual infirmity. On the eighth day meant].” baby boy’s life - seven (symbolising male Jews, Shabbat, and by exten- [email protected] the flesh of his foreskin shall be Thus the removal of the foreskin Divine perfection) plus one (symbol- sion the festivals, is a sign of the circumcised’.” (Leviticus 12:1-3) can be understood as a symbol of ising human involvement in repair- covenant which is accessible to all Youth Editor - Alison Goldberg Although scholars are not quite G-d’s control over our sexual activ- ing the world). Jews, male and female. Shabbat [email protected] certain as to the symbolism of cir- ity and our procreation by means A Jewish male is circumcised on reminds us, not only of G-d’s role cumcision, the Torah calls it an ot of halachah (based on Leviticus 18) the eighth day of his life because the as the Source of all Creation and Cape Town correspondent berit, “a sign of the covenant” which governs our sexual rela- removal of the foreskin represents Life, but also of our ethical respon- Moira Schneider: 021-794-4206 (Genesis 17:11). Thus the removal tions, placing limitations on how the perfection of the male human sibilities to our fellow living crea- of a child’s foreskin is a symbol of and with whom we have sex. form, and by extension the perfec- tures (Deuteronomy 5:12 - 15). Pretoria correspondent the covenant concluded between A Jew is circumcised to symbol- tion of the world. On the eighth day We are commanded to observe Diane Wolfson: 082-707-9471 G-d and the People of Israel at ise that he subscribes to the life- of his life the male child is entered Shabbat because our ancestors MANAGER: SALES AND DISTRIBUTION Mount Sinai. affirming limitations of the Torah into the covenant with its ethical were once slaves in Egypt. Now Circumcision is a sign in the and Jewish tradition, limitations and moral precepts and life-affirm- that we are free, we are obligated Britt Landsman: [email protected] flesh of a male Jew, reminding that protect the sanctity of life and ing values. to remember the plight of those Sales Executives - (011) 023-8160 him of his unique relationship the honour of the individual. The eighth day reminds us of our who are enslaved both literally Britt Landsman: 082-292-9520 with the Divine. Since G-d is the Another possible explanation for obligation to complete creation - a and figuratively and we are berit milah focuses on the fact that task so important that the perform- instructed to ensure equality and Manuela Bernstein: 082-951-3838 Source of Creation, the removal of the foreskin is a fitting sign of the the rite is performed on the eighth ance of berit milah takes prece- the dignity of all life. Freelance Sales Executives covenant. Indeed, the Talmud day. The number seven is consid- dence over Shabbat and even Yom Thus while only men bear the Marlene Bilewitz & Assoc: 083-475-0288 (Shabbat 108a) points out that the ered a complete and perfect num- Kippur. physical sign of the covenant, word “orlah” “uncircumcised’) is ber in Judaism and therefore sym- While many cultures practise cir- women are equally obligated to Classified Sales used in the Torah to refer to fruit bolises Divine Perfection. cumcision as a rite of passage, the fulfil the ethical and ritual pre- [email protected] that is forbidden to be consumed G-d created the universe in six Jewish rite of circumcision has eth- cepts of the Jews’ unique relation- (Leviticus 19:23), as well as the days and rested on the seventh, ical overtones. Being a sign of the ship with G-d, thereby contribut- Design and layout foreskin (Genesis 17:14). sanctifying it as a Shabbat of rest berit, it shares the same meaning as ing to tikkun olam. Frankie Matthysen Nicole Cook Website www.sajewishreport.co.za memories - a nostalgic trip Ilan Ossendryver EDITED BY MOIRA SCHNEIDER Daniels - whose mother was a IC-Creations FROM A REPORT BY DAVID domestic worker in a Jewish [email protected] LAZARUS household, “spoke Yiddish before PHOTOGRAPH BY JUNE HAYMAN he even learned English or Subscription enquiries ”. He was a special Avusa Publishing (Pty) Ltd FORMER MUIZENBERG fruit ven- guest at the event along with cen- Tel: 0860-13-2652 dor, fondly known as “Leibke” tenarian Rosalie Wolpe, whose (holding microphone), regaled the mother ran a tearoom next to the BOARD OF DIRECTORS audience with several Yiddish Empire Cinema in the days when Stan Kaplan (Chairman) expressions at a Muizenberg a cup of coffee cost four pence. Issie Kirsh (Deputy Chairman), Marlene reunion attended by over 250 enthu- Muizenberg School songs, siastic lovers of the seaside town. guests relating humorous stories ing to the atmosphere of nostalgia Dr Basil and Sheila Sacks (in sun- Bethlehem, Russell Gaddin, Norman The gathering was inspired by from their school days and two and reminiscence. glasses). Lowenthal, Bertie Lubner, Benjy Porter, the “Memories of Muizenberg” specially composed songs about Others in the photograph • The Memories of Muizenberg Herby Rosenberg, Howard exhibition currently on at the Muizenberg, plus a medley of include (on “Leibke’s” left): exhibition is at the SA Jewish Sackstein, Jason Valkin. South African Jewish Museum. songs from yesteryear, were the Ronnie Derman (gesticulating) Museum running until June 11 “Leibke” - real name Sidney highlights of the event, contribut- and (standing, to “Leibke’s” right) (021) 465-1546 Mr Justice Meyer Joffe (Chair, editorial comm) Road to dignity shown by KASHRUT Val some of SA’s philanthropists Blumenthal The following symbols will appear on (YALE chair- advertisements and/or advertising fea- ROB BAIRD did not require institutionalisa- tures to indicate whether or not they are tion, nor was she able to cope in man) and kosher. Where no Kashrut mark appears SOME 350 philanthropists of the society at large. Eric and on an advert, the Jewish Report ’s Jewish community, Today, YALE employs and hous- Sheila assumes no responsibility for the gathered at the house of David es 24 fulltime adults who, through Samson. Kashrut status of that establishment or Hall in on Wednesday, a chain gang process of “supply advertiser: March 24, to help raise much need- chain management”, assist with them,” commented auctioneer of stellar R56 000. Honourable men- ed funds for Young Adults posting invoices for fashion outlet, the evening, Ariella Kuper of tion was made to Eric Samson NK Non-Kosher K Kosher Learning and Earning (YALE). Rage, as well as packaging kitchen Auction Alliance. and Eric Ellerine, whose tireless Where no symbols appear, consult the Nearly R450 000 was raised. cloths for Premium, through to Those gathered enjoyed exqui- dedication to charity was attrib- Beth Din Kosher Guide or contact the The organisation is the brain- complex packaging of Something site cuisine and a play by Natalie uted as the main reason that advertiser. child of Val Blumenthal, who Special’s jewellery collection for Knight, produced by Helen YALE has survived through the began the foundation 21 years ago Edgars. Heldenmuth. The finale was an years with no government subsi- when her daughter, like many oth- “Each individual works accord- auction that managed to raise dies. Advertisements and editorial copy from ers with disabilities in learning ing to his or her skill set, and the R441 000. Included in the auction, • To contact YALE for their serv- outside sources do not neccessarily reflect and motor co-ordination, fell into aspiration to move up the chain was a Fifa poster signed by ice offerings, call (011) 640- the views of the editors and staff. a realm often overlooked, as she instils a sense of pride in all of William Kentridge that fetched a 1530/5005. 16 - 23 April 2010 SA JEWISH REPORT 3

CONTACT Goldstone ‘barred’ from Trevor Stamelman: 082-608-0168 Tel: (011) 885-3742 grandson’s barmitzvah [email protected] www.stamelmanproperties.co.za MOIRA SCHNEIDER disservice not only to Israel but to the Jewish CAPE TOWN world. His name is used by hostile elements in ROUXVILLE GLENHAZEL WAVERLEY HIGHLANDS NORTH FLAT GARDEN TOWNHOUSE GARDEN TOWNHOUSE the world against Israel and this can increase ON SHOW 2-5 pm THE AFTER-SHOCKS of the Goldstone anti-Semitic waves. Commission into the Gaza conflict continue, “I understand that he is a judge, but he this time reaching into the heart of a family should have had the sense to understand that simcha. Mr Justice Richard Goldstone is whatever he said wouldn’t be good and he effectively being barred from attending his should have just recused himself. People have Asking R1,3 Million Asking R1,2 million Ásking R600 000 grandson’s barmitzvah, due to be held in got feelings about it, they believe he put Israel 3 beds, 2 baths, 3 Receptions 2 beds, 2 baths, simplex, 24hr Simplex, 2 beds, 2 1/2 large Johannesburg early next month. in danger and they wouldn’t like him to be and more, be quick! security and more receptions, large garden and more. Following negotiations between the South getting honour (in synagogue). 29 Main Rd Rouxville African Zionist Federation (SAZF) and the “I think (the agreement) was quite a sensi- SAVOY ESTATE SAVOY ESTATE KEW GARDEN APARTMENT Double volume entrance GARDEN TOWNHOUSE GARDEN TOWNHOUSE Beth Hamedrash Hagadol in Sandton, where ble thing to avert all this unpleasantness.” 3 receptions, 3 large bedrooms, the event is due to take place, an agreement Reached in Washington where he is cur- 2 1/2 bathrooms, gourmet kitchen, has been reached with the family. As a rently based, Justice Goldstone was reluctant double staff, accom, large treed result, Justice Goldstone will not be attend- to comment save to say: “In the interests of stand, loads of parking, superb ing the synagogue service. my grandson, I’ve decided not to attend the finishes and lots more SOLD Some of the role-players were tight-lipped ceremony at the synagogue.” Hurry we already have offers! From R699 000 From R650 000 Asking R500 000 Avrom Krengel, chairman of the SAZF, said: Mr Justice Dennis Davis said that while he 29 Main street Rouxville Follow 3 beds, 2 baths, 3 receptions, 3 beds, 2 baths, 3 receptions, 2 beds, 1 bath, 2 receptions, pool “We understand there’s a barmitzvah boy respected Justice Goldstone’s decision, he SP pointers from Joseph and garden and maids +++ maids, pool, garden and more. in complex and more. involved - we’re very sensitive to the issues; assumed that pressure had been brought to 3rd and from Sandler and Elray at this stage there’s nothing further to say.” bear on the family. “If that assumption is cor- • For pictures of these and other properties go to www.stamelmanproperties.co.za While Krengel said the SAZF had “inter- rect, then it is outrageous because it seeks to acted” on the matter with the chief rabbi, the place a ban on somebody participating in his Beth Din and others, his organisation was grandson’s barmitzvah. “coming across most forcefully because we “Have we now got to the point that because represent Israel”. we don’t like what somebody says or does, we Rosh Beth Din Rabbi Moshe Kurtstag con- place a ‘cherem’ on them? What right do we firmed that the Beth Din had not been offi- have to do that? I would like to add that people cially involved - though there had been “pri- who are gleeful about it must remember what vate talks” - and had not been asked by the Pastor Niemoller said: ‘Who will speak up for synagogue to give a ruling on the matter. them when they are finally excommunicated “But I know that there was a very strong for some misdemeanor?’” feeling in the shul, a lot of anger (around the Retired president of the Constitutional issue of Justice Goldstone attending). Court, Mr Justice Arthur Chaskalson said it “I heard also that the SAZF wanted to was “disgraceful” to put pressure on a grand- organise a protest outside the shul - (there father not to attend his grandson’s barmitz- were) all kinds of plans. But I think reason vah. “If it is correct that this has the blessing prevailed.” of the leadership of the Jewish community in Signalling his agreement with the turn of South Africa, it reflects on them rather than events, Rabbi Kurtstag said he believed on Justice Goldstone. They should hang their Justice Goldstone had done “a tremendous heads in shame.” ‘High Notes’ will be different ROBYN SASSEN

“THIS IS the first major Jewish event in which I have been involved on this level,” says multi-award- winning musical director Bryan Schimmel of High Notes, the Yom Ha’atzmaut musical spectacular produced by Linda Starkowitz and Gavin Opert for the SA Zionist Federation. High Notes showcases local In happy rehearsal: musical director Bryan tenors Oshy Tugendhaft, Adam Schimmel, at the piano, with choristers and soloists Davis, Elan Lea and Mark from High Notes. (PHOTOGRAPH BY ILAN OSSENDRYVER) Samowitz, as well as two interna- tional tenors who performed at the was done in 2000. “It’s a very clear motivation opening and closing ceremonies of the of my pride and rebellion. I am proud of my Maccabi Games last year, namely New York- Jewish heritage and am not religious. This based Hananel Edri, who is studying at the show is a celebration of Israel. It is not reli- Juilliard Music School; and Liron Lev, who gious.” came third in Israel’s Idols. A statement not without controversy: They will be supported by a choir of Schimmel was instructed by the organisers young tenors, led by Adam Golding. “It will that there were to be no women performers. “I be like the backing of a boy band,” argued this but was shouted down. I was told Schimmel says. His express aim was to cre- that if we have females in the show, it would ate a “non-shul sounding choir”. exclude sectors in the community from the The vocals will be accompanied by a 12- audience. So, there are no girls. There are no piece band. “They are the A-list musicians I dancers. always work with,” he adds. “But there is a major emphasis on lighting At the piano, Schimmel seamlessly blends and sound design. A lot of the show’s budget swing, klezmer and jazzy riffs. The Hebrew will go on top industry professionals.” lyrics are arranged to fit beautifully. He’s When Starkowitz and Opert approached him arranged four of the pieces; the rest are by to musically direct the show, he was delighted. Eitan Sobol from Israel. It’s about blending “Working with Oshy has been a long time musical ideologies to create something new. coming for me. The same with Elan, who is The combination of this shaven-headed, often compared to Danny K. tattooed star, obviously more at home with “In this show, I invest in my relationship rock and jazz than chazzanut - attested to by with Gavin and Linda, the Zionist Fed and the his current Naledi award for Knights of community. I want to be asked back.” Music - and kippah-wearing tenors is inter- • High Notes is at Theatre on the Track in esting. Music is the equalizer. Kyalami on April 19. Call (011) 645-2541 or book His first tattoo - that of his Hebrew name - online: www.sazionfed.co.za 4 SA JEWISH REPORT 16 - 23 April 2010 Yom Hashoah in Pretoria DIANE WOLFSON PRETORIA Gill Marcus, gov- GUEST SPEAKER Dr Anthony Court, Associate Professor and ernor of the SA Chair of Holocaust and Reserve Bank, Genocide Studies at Unisa, who with Israeli has been to Auschwitz numer- Ambassador Dov ous times, said in the main Segev-Steinberg. address at last weekend’s Yom Hashoah commemoration in Pretoria that it was a deeply Speakers at the moving experience visiting the Pretoria Yom site of Auschwitz, the former Hashoah com- concentration, forced labour, memoration: and death camps in the present- day Polish town of Oswiecim. Victor Gordon; “Yet it is also a troubling expe- Ivan Sive; Dr rience, for reasons that might Anthony Court; not be immediately apparent. Talia Fine; and The Shoah message For although two of the camps Kira Kumin. are largely intact, they represent ghostly remnants, unable to Reserve Bank. imprinted on our minds forever. bridge the chasm between the Heart-warming and most We are the generation of today, will live forever stark physical landscape that unexpected, was the arrival of responsible for shaping the world confronts the visitor and its erst- the representative from the of tomorrow... we are the voices ROBYN SASSEN excited. Such a spectacle I had never while reality, which was a relent- Polish Embassy to offer his that must speak out for the six witnessed before. I didn’t under- less terror and a ceaseless ambassador’s apologies for not million who were silenced.” “MOMMY...”, a three-year-old stood stand the magnitude of the event. process of human destruction. attending the ceremony due to Israel’s Ambassador to South at a window 65 years ago, watching My father was taken away. “The place we know as the tragic death of their presi- Africa, Dov Segev-Steinberg, her mother leave. Forever. She car- “In December my mother sent me ‘Auschwitz’ no longer exists. It dent, his wife and 90 passengers brought a message on behalf of ried this memory to adulthood. This and my oldest sister, Channa, to needs to be stressed that visitors in a plane crash in Russia over the State of Israel. His short but anecdote of Dr Nathan Durst, Holland. Our two other sisters, to the former Nazi camps who the weekend. strong message had personal sig- keynote speaker at Yom Hashoah, Fanny (15) and Yenny (12), were to are not themselves survivors, Six memorial candles were lit nificance, being the son of two hosted by the SA Jewish Board of follow. We hadn’t papers or money. cannot truly fathom the horror by representatives of the various Holocaust survivors. His father Deputies at West Park Cemetery in Fanny and Yenny got to Holland, but and suffering that was the daily Jewish organisations and a sev- survived in Poland Johannesburg on Sunday, set the were caught; they were deported experience of the victims. enth in memory of a Righteous while his mother came from the tone for the sombre ceremony. back to Germany in 1941. A year “Those who died in the Gentile, Theodore Criveanu, by Czech-Hungarian side and was Known secularly as Holocaust later, with my mother, they were Holocaust did not die for any his son Willie. sent to the Jewish Ghetto in Remembrance Day, this ceremony, transported to Poland and mur- comprehensible ‘reason’. The Chairman of the Pretoria . like others worldwide, was com- dered. victims were classified as such branch of the SA Jewish Board “As an Israeli, the threat of memorated in Johannesburg by war “In 1940, discriminatory laws dic- by a perverse, anti-humanist ide- of Deputies, Victor Gordon, genocide continues and is ever veterans, survivors, the community tated that we wear the Yellow Star. I ology that brought about the requested each person to “twin” present (today) as we, as a nation and its leadership. was told to be proud to be a Jew destruction of European Jewry him/herself with the victim of are faced with the threat of Featuring readings of Holocaust wearing it. I wanted to. But being and laid waste an entire conti- the Holocaust whose photo and nuclear annihilation from what literature in Yiddish, Hebrew, spat at because of it made me less nent.” details were handed out to the has become our greatest enemy, Ladino and English, it included a proud; more frightened. “The study of the Holocaust is attendees on arrival, and to so Iran.” reading of victims’ names, a lighting “I was angry at my mother. Why itself an act of remembrance, a commemorate and pay homage Segev-Steinberg said the threat of memorial flames, hazkarah and did she send us away? She told us commitment to keeping alive the to those lost souls, to read their of extinction seemed destined to communal kaddish, as well as com- never to come back. By the time the memories of millions of individ- names and reflect for a moment never leave the Jewish people pelling speakers. city was declared Judenfrei, we had ual human beings whose killers on a life lost - for no reason other despite the hopes of Theodor On the podium, sculpted in 1959 by stopped wearing the star. We still attempted to destroy not only than that they were Jews. Herzl that the creation of a Herman Wald in memory of the hadn’t papers, but we spoke lives, but also the memory and Kira Kumin, head girl of Jewish homeland would provide Holocaust, voices of representatives German. And we had mazal.” identities of the victims.” Crawford College Pretoria, gave the security to ensure that Jews of the Jewish day schools and the In 1943, Nathan and Channa were On his third visit to Auschwitz the address on behalf of the need never fear the consequences youth movements, intermingled taken in by a family. “They saved in the summer of 2008, his per- youth. She read a poem by Eva of anti-Semitism again. with those of the Johannesburg our lives, but we were never really ception of a terrain, which had Pickova who died in Auschwitz A message on behalf of the Jewish Male Choir. safe anywhere. been already familiar to him, at the age of 14, echoing the emo- Jewish Ex-Service League was While long-standing member of “And then, the war was finished. had been fundamentally tions of the six million victims. delivered by Ivan Sive, a veteran the Jewish Ex-Service League of For six years, I had learned how to changed. “Today I speak to you as a of the Second World War. South Africa, Zelik Bedell held the survive, but what did it mean to be He had been particularly trou- young adult growing up in the “It is the right and responsibil- organisaion’s flag, its National free? My world had vanished. I had bled by the fact that the sites of freedom of living in a democrat- ity for every human being to chairman, Major Peter Bailey, told lost ambition. human remains and material ic country. The harrowing aspire to a peaceful and prosper- the community to “remember also “I joined the youth movement objects were relatively unpro- thought of having to wear a yel- ous existence and it was the the soldiers who gave their lives in Tikvateinu (Our Hope), as a tected and one saw footprints in low star on my arm, being unswerving devotion to these fine battle with the Nazis”. This senti- madrich. There I learned again to the ashes. denied the right to an education, elements that drove all brave ment was corroborated by Ya’akov be, to tell stories, to give and receive This annual Yom Hashoah cer- or being forcibly removed from men and women we remember Finkelstein, Deputy Chief of love. emony was attended by a large my home and deported in a cat- today. Mission in the Israeli Embassy, who “I married. Only when I became a number of representatives from tle truck to a death camp, is too “The cemeteries remind us of invoked remembrance of the father did I understand what my various embassies and political frightening to contemplate. the young who never made it Romany and others killed: they mother had gone through when she parties, religious organisations, “It is, however, essential that home and whose memories we were considered gender and politi- sent us away. I had felt deserted and Members of Parliament, and Gill we keep every fact and detail we cherish for making the supreme cal opponents. angry. I made peace with her. She Marcus, governor of the SA know about these atrocities sacrifice.” He spoke of his experience as a had given me life twice.” diplomat in Poland some years ago. At 30, Durst began studying, “I wondered why there is no Yom attaining a PhD in psychoanalysis Hashoah in Poland. One answer is it from Groningen University. “I came Yom Hashoah remembered is commemorated everyday there: in to terms with my guilt about surviv- the march of the living between ing.” Auschwitz and Bialystok, the reno- In 1971, he made and was in the smaller centres vation of shuls, the reopening of the employed by a psychiatric hospital Lublin Yeshiva and the inaugura- in Israel. He co-founded Amcha DAVID SAKS tion of Warsaw’s new Jewish (Israeli Centre for Holocaust Museum. Survivors and the Second YOM HASHOAH this year was He asked the community to Generation) in 1987. observed not only in the main remember Poland’s President Lech “‘You are also from there?’ I was urban centres, but also in Kaczynski, killed in a plane crash asked often, when I arrived in Israel. Klerksdorp in Northwest Pictured that same morning. They had been I knew what ‘there’ meant. I would Province and Kimberley in the are the travelling to a commemoration to reply I had been only a child. With Northern Cape. Klerksdorp the 70th anniversary of the Katyn time, I examined this answer. Why Rabbi Moshe Silberhaft, spiri- community massacre - an execution of 20 000 was I using ‘only’ to describe my sta- tual leader to the SA country Polish prisoners of war, by the tus as a child? Ostensibly a child communities, participated in the members in NKVD. Kaczynski was a driving wouldn’t understand and therefore Klerksdorp ceremony held in their shul. force in establishing Warsaw’s new would not remember. the community’s synagogue, Holocaust Museum. “My fear a Pandora’s Box of un- reciting the traditional ed with poetry readings and the pal of St Patrick’s College, Durst was born to observant Jews cried tears. That child is still inside hazkarah prayer. singing of Ani Ma’amim and which three Jewish learners in in 1930. He was four when me. I was a powerless victim. Now I The six memorial candles Hatikvah, followed by the attend. At the school’s assembly Nazis burned the books of Europe. am a proud survivor.” were lit by community members Maariv service. the following morning, grade 11 Four years later, 191 synagogues “To be a Jew is to live with histo- Sam Kramer; Michael Hack; The Kimberley ceremony was learner Roy Horwitz, son of the were destroyed. The youngest child ry’s extremes,” said Stephanie Michael Waks; Ghita Subel; held in the town’s beautiful and congregation’s chairman, Bar- and only son of four siblings, Durst Hodes, national chairman of the SA Marlene Waks; and David historic synagogue, in the pres- ney Horwitz, recited a poem on called himself a kaddish zoger Union of Jewish Students, carrying Frame, with Jacky Shall giving a ence of both Jewish community the theme of Yom Hashoah, (singer). the torch forward. “Six million is short address on the signifi- members and a number of non- which was followed by a “I remember when the Brown impossible to understand; one Jew cance of the day. Jewish residents. moment’s silence observed by Shirts came in November 1938. I was died at a time. Six million times.” The commemoration conclud- The latter included the princi- the entire school. 16 - 23 April 2010 SA JEWISH REPORT 5

the fumes of anti-Jewish hatred per- the security to ensure that the Jews Today we can again smell the colating mainly from the Arab and need never fear the consequences wider Muslim world.” of anti-Semitism again”. He stressed that they were fanned Li Boiskin, chairman of the by a “deviant stream of Islamic South African Jewish Board of fumes of anti-Jewish hatred... thought” which was implacably Deputies (Cape Council) under hostile to the Jewish State. whose auspices the event was held, STORY AND PHOTOGRAPH BY a childhood spent on the run from “We then had to face the full Referring to the Hamas Charter said that one had to respect democ- MOIRA SCHNEIDER the Nazis. Jack recalled his family’s impact of the loss of our dear ones. which incorporated the Protocols of racy, but also recognise its fragility. CAPE TOWN escape from the ghetto in the main- Especially traumatic was the loss the Elders of Zion, Shain said: “We must challenge abuse of ly-Jewish shtetl of Ivye to a forest of my two-year-old brother, Chaim. “Such ideas are dangerous and the power and highlight the danger of THE HAUNTING sound of a siren outside the town, where they spent He had been given to a couple in a world needs to take heed. While apathy in the face of abuse. By heralded the start of the annual 18 months moving from hideout to close by village before we escaped, Muslim rage relates in some way to doing so, we give respect to the vic- Yom Hashoah V’Hagevurah com- hideout. with the hope that he would pass their experiences over the last two tims and to our precious sur- memoration at Pinelands cemetery “There were times when the off as their child and thus survive or three centuries, we need to vivors.” last weekend, setting the tone for three of us, my sister Sarah, my the war. appreciate that ideas have conse- the solemnity of the occasion along cousin Avremel and myself, aged “Unfortunately this was not to quences.” with the mournful theme to five to eight, had to sit underground be. When my parents went back to Describing Iranian president Schindler’s List played by young hoping we wouldn’t be found and fetch him, he was nowhere to be Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s utter- violinist Kieran Crowe. that our parents would return safe- found and no clear explanation was ances as “chilling”, Shain said Holocaust survivors kindled ly. Our physical deprivations of offered.” they could not be ignored. memorial lights to the strains of food, warmth, shelter and clothing The family was in limbo for two “Similar rhetoric was last heard Cantor Barry Braun and the choir was not the worst of it. The most years, with most countries refusing in Nazi Germany. of Hebrew Congrega- terrible part was the fear of being to grant them entry. They were “Too few people took seriously tion and Temple Israel’s rendition discovered and killed.” eventually granted a permit to Hitler’s prophecies. Murderous of Ani Ma’amin, confirming the Jack was eight years old when the enter then-Rhodesia. ideas have to be challenged.” sombre atmosphere. Russians liberated his village and Delivering the main address, In a message read on his Among the approximately 1 200 his family made their way back. Professor Milton Shain, director of behalf by Moonyeen Castle, attendees were German Consul “We were amazed at the indiffer- the Kaplan Centre for Jewish chairman of the Western General Andreas Kauke, Minister ence shown to us by the authorities Studies and Research at the Province Zionist Council, Israeli of Science and Technology Naledi and the local population and even , spoke of Ambassador Dov Segev-Stein- Ninety-two-year-old Holocaust sur- Pandor, ACDP MP Steve Swart and had difficulty in reclaiming our “the danger of toxic ideas”, warn- berg lamented that “the threat of vivor Santa Pelham, assisted by her own house,” he remembers. ing that these were “far from extin- Nathan Holt, public affairs officer extinction is destined to never daughter Aviva, kindles a memorial of the United States Consulate. “Life in the shtetl as my father guished. leave the Jewish people, despite Frequently battling to contain knew it was utterly destroyed. Only “Sixty-five years after the fur- the hopes of Theodor Herzl who light at the Yom Hashoah his emotions, David Shmukler 70 individuals out of a community naces of Auschwitz were believed that the creation of a V’Hagevurah commemoration at recounted his father Jack’s story of of 3 500 returned. destroyed, we can once again smell Jewish homeland would provide Pinelands cemetery at the weekend.

Lack of humanity towards the victims was shown in the form of preventing the Praying for a world where minimum nourishment and sanitation. On April 11, the Day of people will care more Commemoration, I wanted to remem- ber all the innocent victims of South NAOMI DINUR camp... Enter at your own risk.” Africa’s past, together with the six mil- Between the years 1900 - 1902, during lion innocent children, women and HOW FICKLE is human memory! the Anglo-Boer War, over 26,000 women men, who were murdered just because Walking in the peaceful and rural Irene and children died in South Africa in con- they were born Jewish - and nobody Village near Pretoria, I was shocked to centration camps set up by the British cared... discover the “Concentration Camp” army. There they died of hunger and We can just pray and hope for a more signs. They read: “Concentration diseases. tolerant, caring and sensitive world. 6 SA JEWISH REPORT 16 - 23 April 2010

SOCIAL SCENE Rita Lewis [email protected] Shoah survivors carry sense of loss and guilt

STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY people thought were the main emotions RITA LEWIS suffered by survivors of the Shoah. Many answers were given, but he DR NATHAN Durst who was the guest explained that the most common emotion speaker at the Yom Hashoah, commemo- of them all was “loss”. He said loss was ration day at West Park Cemetery in often accompanied by a sense of guilt, Johannesburg last weekend, addressed a and the often asked question was: “Why The Chevrah Kadisha’s Brenda Solarsh makes a pres- group of about 100 people of the have I survived and the others haven’t?” entation to Dr Nathan Durst. Friendship Forum at Golden Acres that Many survivors worried that they same afternoon. should have stayed behind and tried to Speaking on a totally different aspect of help - but hadn’t. the Holocaust, Durst explained that he He said that as a young man of around did not use the term Holocaust. “I prefer 16, living in the relative safety of Holland, to use ‘Shoah’.” that was how he felt. Explaining this, he said: “Holocaust is a He described how many survivors were Greek word which means ‘burnt offering’. prone to dreams and illusions of their I ask you, did we offer our mothers and family and friends returning. This caused fathers, sisters and brothers to be burnt much trauma with the one side of the offerings?” brain, the intellectual side, knowing that He said the killing of the six million this could not be, as they were dead and Jews of Europe by the Nazis during the the emotional side desperately wanting Second World War, was not a sacrificial and waiting for them to come back. offering to G-d. “It is part of human life to hope that “We are talking about a Shoah, a catas- things will get better; even when things trophe - destruction, cruelty of the worst are really bad, we still hope,” he said. kind.” He described how, when he felt he had Changing the subject, he asked what nothing to live for, he believed he was a “nebach” - a nothing. “I had no- one, no G-d to pity me, nothing. “But one day I told myself: ‘I am sick of feeling like this’. I started to work on myself. I couldn’t change the reality of my circumstances outside, but I found that a person could make something of himself, inside.” Durst told about a gold chain his mother had. “I desperately Dr Nathan Durst sings “Hinay wanted that chain back. That Ma Tov UmaNayim” as the was my mother’s. I thought end- introduction to his speech. Mark Furman and Vanessa Feldman. lessly about it.” He recalled how he had told a friend about the chain and the friend suggested he buy another one! “I realised that I could actually go out and buy another chain - and I did. “It is not written that we should not love ourselves. Supporting others starts with loving yourself first.” Durst spoke of his reasons for starting Amcha, an organisa- tion which sees and counsels some 12 000 survivors a week, with the number steadily increasing. He spoke of the importance of survivors writing everything down... “Then when they tell that it didn’t happen, it will be there in writing for all to see. We can then say to them: ‘There Above: Brenda Sarah Zada; Keren Netzer and Esther Taitz. is the proof.’” Solarsh addresses the gathering thanking Sandra Goldberg (on left) and the committee, while Dr Nathan Durst listens with interest.

Left: Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre’s Janine Cohen, with psychologist Liora Glazerson and Riche Zada. Tracey Farber. 16 - 23 April 2010 SA JEWISH REPORT 7

butter and baked her own bread. in darkness. Had he caused this? COMMUNITY BUZZ She became an accomplished Panic and despair followed. LIONEL SLIER bridge player and a competent ten- However, he decided to keep nis player - competing in tourna- shtum about what he had done. 082-444-9832, fax: 011-440-0448, ments and even winning a trophy Four hours later the lights came [email protected] or two. on again. Saved. Next day the man “She taught herself how to knit of the house purchased a new ket- RAE SANK FROM SOUTH and was an expert at knitting tle. SURREY, BRITISH socks for soldiers during the Note: This was at the start of COLUMBIA, , Second World War. In addition to the power outages which caused (CONT): the English she’d learned when so much gloom and misery last she was brought to South Africa as year and people were not yet “Meanwhile, a young man, David a little girl, she added Afrikaans philosophical about adapting to Smulowitz, some 14 years older and Xhosa to her language skills. the situation on intermittent than Eva Smulowitz, journeyed “Most importantly, she had power cuts. from his home in Tsolo, Transkei, three children, Edith, Sonny and via East London and Port Rae, whom she adored.” EASTERN CAPE Elizabeth, to Cape Town, probably To be concluded. to find a wife. While there, he visit- From Marc Kopman: ed Oranjia. Someone asked where • Tsolo is a little dorp 40 km from he was from and jovially, he Umtata (now Mthata). The name is “After Elliott I went up the beauti- replied: ‘Oh, I’m from lots of Xhosa after the pointed shape of ful Barkly Pass where, in the win- places... Tsolo... East London... the surrounding mountains. ter months the phenomenon of Port Elizabeth...’ ‘black ice’ occurs, when a film of “‘Port Elizabeth,’ the person PORT ELIZABETH ice covers the tarred roads and cried. ‘Why, we have someone here which is extremely dangerous. who was just in Port Elizabeth!’ From Mary Wailer: “The Barkly Pass Hotel, belong- “Eva was immediately called ing to the Spilkin family from East downstairs to ‘meet a man from “Like David Abel, I have the same London (originally from Umtata), Port Elizabeth’. Thinking it was special memories of Rev Klaff, a was a regular stopover. Then on to the boy she loved, she flew down gentle, fair-minded man without the town of Barkly East to service the stairs, only to be greeted by a any malice. I first met him in Port our agents, the Attorneys Spence, much older stranger. She was Elizabeth, where he was friendly who directed me to the only Jew in crushed with disappointment. with my future father-in-law, Dr town, Lazar Bortz. I went to visit However, David invited her out for Archie Wailer. him and his wife. They had a son lunch with his sister. Jumping at “I was married at Wolmarans whom I did not meet. Mr Bortz any chance for an outing, she Street Synagogue. Rev Klaff mentioned that he had family in accepted... attended my wedding. Some years East London and on the East “Although my grandfather was later he was at Wolmarans Street Rand. probably instantly smitten by this Synagogue. He stayed in a flat with “Later, on another trip, I visited lovely young woman, the feelings his wife, Pauline, not far from the the cemetery where there were were not returned as quickly. shul. When I was able to, I would about a dozen graves in good con- However, within a few weeks, Eva visit the Klaffs. dition, obviously cared for by Mr was persuaded to marry him by “Years later I again met up with Bortz. One of the graves, the chairwoman of the Oranjia the couple at Sandringham ‘Rosenberg’, turned out to be fam- Committee and she decided to take Gardens and whenever I was visit- ily of Dr M Rosenberg (now in the advice. ing there I would see them. They ) who was my doctor “She left the orphanage and were really good menschen. when I eventually settled in went to stay with Baruch “I would also like to meet up Krugersdorp. Chidekel, my grandfather’s step- with Rev Klaff’s daughter, to keep “Years later, in 2003, on a trip to brother, until her wedding day. the memory of her parents alive.” this area, I visited Barkly East and She was 17 when she got married the Spences informed me that Mr and was the first of the Ochberg JOHANNESBURG Bortz had passed away. orphans to do so. “The only remaining person of “‘Daddy Ochberg’ gave her away. In the Jewish Report of April 2, Jewish descent, was his son, age There was an article in The Jewish there was an item about most 39. When I enquired, I was Chronicle about the event. Johannesburg Jewish men being informed that he was not well and “She returned with her new hus- unable to fix an electrical fault. so I missed the opportunity to band to the tiny hamlet of Tsolo, This is what happened last year: meet him. set in the beautiful but isolated In a Jewish home the electric ket- “There has never been a syna- hills of the Transkei, where my tle stopped working and the lady of gogue in Barkly East, although grandfather ran a general dealer the house asked her husband to the community had Torahs in store. Later it grew into a small- “have a look at it”, which is their possession which they holding with cattle and fields of “woman’s speak” for “fix it, you donated away in the early ‘50s maize. nerd”! when the community had dwin- “She was horrified to find how The man of the house took a dled. tiny and lonely a place it was. screwdriver and dismantled the “Travelling further upcountry, However, being a woman of kettle. That was the easy part. one crosses over Moshesh’s Ford immense courage, strength and Simple he thought. He then “fixed” where there is evidence of previ- determination, she threw herself it and as he was plugging it in, he ous farms and trading stores and wholeheartedly into the activities noticed two parts left out. However where, Dr Rosenberg was born. of the village. She taught herself he switched on the plug. Disaster! “I arrived in Rhodes, a tiny vil- to become an outstanding cook The whole house was plunged into lage where the Rhodes Hotel is and baker - using a wood stove - no darkness. still a main attraction, being near- electricity in those days in the Shock! Horror! Just then the by the famous Tiffendale’s Ski Transkei. phone rang and it was Mrs Cohen Resort.” “She learnt how to can and pre- from next door asking whether serve fruit and made delicious bot- their electricity was down. He • Marc Kopman is vice-chair- tled peaches and jams. She made looked out of the window and saw man of the United Hebrew wonderful homemade cheese and that the whole neighbourhood was Institutions of Krugersdorp.

BLITZ SALE Only until Tuesday 27th April Unbelievable bargains on selected ladies winter merchandise Open this Sunday 18th April 2010 10:00 - 13:00 (Closed on Shabbat) 335 Jan Smuts Avenue Craighall Park Tel: (011) 325-4986 Parking outside store 8 SA JEWISH REPORT 16 - 23 April 2010 Kaczynski leaves legacy of Polish-Jewish reconciliation DINAH SPRITZER Schudrich had been invited to and money for the Museum of PRAGUE accompany the presidential dele- the History of Polish Jews, to gation to the April 10 event in open in 2012. FOR JEWS, Poland’s late presi- Katyn commemorating the 1940 In 2008, as president, he dent, Lech Kaczynski, was a man massacre there of 20 000 Poles by restored Polish citizenship to the of many firsts. Soviet forces, but the rabbi could 15 000 Jews exiled in 1968 by He was the first Polish presi- not attend because it was on the Poland’s Communist govern- dent to attend a service at a Sabbath. ment in the throes of an anti- Polish synagogue, the first to cel- On Sunday, mourners packed Semitic frenzy. Kaczynski was ebrate Chanukah at the presiden- Warsaw’s Nozyk Synagogue, among Europe’s top political tial palace, the first Polish leader where Kaczynski once visited, supporters of Israel. to provide support for a Jewish for a memorial service for the “The president and his wife history museum on Polish soil. victims of the crash. Nearby, were great friends to Israel,” His death in last week some 100 000 Poles filled the Israel’s former ambassador to Saturday’s plane crash along streets as the president’s coffin Poland, David Peleg, said. “And with his wife and 96 members of passed by in a procession. those who travelled with him on Poland’s political elite, repre- It was one of the great ironies that plane were not only person- sents a huge loss for Polish- of Polish history that a national- al friends of mine, but were dedi- Jewish relationships, Poland’s istic, ultra-conservative Catholic cated to the preservation of chief rabbi, New York native who may have counted some Jewish sites in Poland.” Michael Schudrich, told JTA. anti-Semites as his supporters, Peleg singled out for praise “A lot of those who are politi- was a pivotal figure in the post- Janusz Kurtyka, head of the Polish President Lech Kaczynski, left, at a 2008 Chanukah candle- cally right of centre are open to Communist healing of grudges National Remembrance Institute, lighting ceremony at the presidential palace, with Rabbi Michael Jewish contributions to Polish that have so long divided Poles Deputy Culture Minister Tomasz Schudrich, holding a candle. (PHOTOGRAPH: WARSAW JEWISH COMMUNITY) culture, but if you had a different and Jews. Merta and presidential adviser person in power they would have Kaczynski’s death, as tragic as Mariusz Handzlik. Handzlik was under Hitler was ignored by Progressive Jews also found been quiet about it. Kaczynski it may be, is not likely to set back so close with the Jewish commu- Jews. There were condemnations some of Kaczynski’s social posi- empowered those people to also Polish-Jewish or Polish-Israeli nity that he attended the batmitz- of Jewish-Communist collabora- tions disdainful. He twice banned have a voice,” Schudrich said. relations, insiders say. The role vah of Schudrich’s daughter. tion, and of Polish Catholic dis- gay pride marches in Warsaw, of president is largely ceremoni- Peleg, now head of the World dain for Jews. citing fears that homosexuals al in Poland; the government is Jewish Restitution Organisation, All along, the conservative were trying to “spread their run by the prime minister, cur- noted that Kaczynski lobbied Kaczynski, from the Law and lifestyle”. rently Donald Tusk. Tusk and against the Goldstone Report Justice Party, did what he could But few would deny that his Cabinet are considered allies criticising Israel for its actions in to bring the two sides together. Kaczynski, along with others of Israel and the United States, the 2009 Gaza war. He also “I would never vote for his who worked to preserve Jewish and are friendly to Jewish con- upgraded military, economic and party, I have leftist views,” said culture and died in the plane cerns. cultural co-operation between Oskar Skuteli, a member of crash, collectively represented a “Fifteen years ago, such a Israel and Poland and opposed Zoom, a Polish youth organisa- brain trust of Jewish-Polish- calamity would have serious anti-Semitism by emphasising tion. “But the amount of things Israeli relations. repercussion, but today relations the shared history of Jews and that Kaczynski did for Jews had “Kaczynski and those around are well established,” said Poles. never been done before by a left- him, they are not replaceable,” Andrzej Zozula, executive direc- “In my first discussions with ist government. He was even said Monika Krawczyk, CEO of tor of the Union of Jewish him as mayor, he talked about called a Jewish agent by the rad- the Foundation for the Communities in Poland. the Jews at Katyn,” said Peleg, ical right.” Preservation of Jewish Heritage Zozula said he had been friend- referring to the Russian site To be sure, there were bumps in Poland. “His approach to ly with the late president since where Kaczynski was headed in the road to Polish-Jewish rec- Jewish issues has to do with his their days together in the anti- when his plane crashed. “He onciliation that still have not personal experience and convic- Communist opposition in the made the point that more than 10 been quite smoothed over. For a tions. We hope for people similar- 1980s. “The interests of all are per cent of those killed in Katyn short period, the Law and Justice ly sensitive, but they will not be more important than one man, were Jewish officers.” Party partnered in a government the same.” even a person such as Mr This focus took on special coalition with the League of For now, the speaker of the Kacynsnki,” Zozula said. meaning when post-Communist Polish Families, whose members Polish Parliament, Bronislav Examples of the president’s Poland began re-examining its have been accused of anti- Komorowski, assumes the presi- dedication to Jewish issues, history without Communist cen- Polish President Lech Kaczynski Semitic rhetoric. dency until elections are held in reads like the refrain in Dayeinu, sorship. Kaczynski also never fully two months. Komorowski is one and his wife visiting the Yad the Passover hymn: “It would Long-simmering confronta- turned his back on Radio Maryja, of several top candidates for the Vashem Holocaust Memorial in have been enough if...” tions erupted: Some Jews felt a Catholic fringe broadcaster post. All are likely to continue Jerusalem, on September 12, As mayor of Warsaw before Poles were too sympathetic to who accused Jews of terrorising Kaczynski’s path of Polish- 2006. (PHOTOGRAPH: OLIVIER winning the presidency in 2005, Hitler’s Final Solution; some Poland with demands for proper- Jewish reconciliation, observers FITOUSSI / FLASH90/JTA) Kaczynski donated public land Poles insisted that their suffering ty restitution. say. (JTA) The man who exposed Mohammed al-Durrah blood libel DAVID SAKS not coming - indeed, could not Speaking at Beyachad on al-Durrah and his father can have come - from where the Israeli March 23, Karsenty went be seen in the background sit- CHARGING the Jews with the soldiers were alleged to be posi- through the key arguments ting behind the soon-to-be- merciless slaughter of innocent tioned. he had presented to the famous barrel, waiting their gentile children, has historically A German television pro- French court in a success- turn to be filmed. been an especially potent form of gramme casting doubts on the ful bid to have his previous What greatly hampered the anti-Semitic incitement. affair, amongt other things com- conviction for libel over- efforts of Karsenty and oth- This was why the image of the pared the boy in the footage to the turned. ers to expose the hoax, was doomed Mohammed al-Durrah one subsequently shown in a Gaza From the outset, he the extraordinarily diffident cowering terrified behind a barrel morgue and demonstrated that stressed that none of the attitude of the Israeli army by his frantic father’s side amidst they were not one and the same. sources he used had ever and government. The origi- a hail of Israeli bullets, proved to (Later, it emerged that the corpse been contested, not even by arm, but these, as the Israeli doc- nal Israeli reaction had been be so devastating a propaganda had been received several hours France II. tor who treated him testified, had to apologise and promise to insti- weapon for the Palestinians at the before the alleged shooting even He then systematically demon- been from a previous operation. tute an investigation. start of the “Second Intifada” in took place). strated how, once subjected to rig- And always present was the Even when evidence about what September 2000. Still, although questions were orous scrutiny the Palestinian nagging question of why there really happened was mounting, it Al-Durrah rapidly became a mounting, the original France II version of events as broadcast by was no blood, either during the provided little help. Indeed, the worldwide icon, a Palestinian version of what took place at France II (with former Israeli actual shooting or even on the fact that the Israeli army had up Hector Pieterson who likewise Netzarim Junction on September photo-journalist Charles Enderlin very spot immediately after the until then declined to help was mown down by the agents of a 30 2000, remained largely unchal- doing the script and voice-over) father and son had been removed? Karsenty, was used to justify the brutal regime. His martyrdom lenged. rapidly crumbled. Particularly damning was how original court verdict finding him inspired numerous reprisal What really proved decisive in If, as the Palestinian camera- even in the footage actually broad- guilty of libel in 2006. attacks, not just on Israelis, but on exposing it as a gruesome propa- man insisted, Israeli soldiers fired cast, the “dead” boy was seen to Karsenty regards Israel’s fail- Jews worldwide. ganda hoax from start to finish - “hundreds” of bullets at the raise his head briefly and peek at ure to expose and publicise the One of them was the journalist the “Best Picture” Oscar of the trapped couple for over 45 min- the camera before slumping down hoax right from the start as a Daniel Pearl. In the video showing “Pallywood” industry - was the utes, why were there only eight again. huge mistake. It was because the his beheading, the image of tireless investigative work and bullet holes in the wall after- A crucial aspect of Karsenty’s Palestinians had got away with Mohammed al-Durrah and his bulldog tenacity of French jour- wards? Why, moreover, did ballis- court case was obtaining the raw this and other hoaxes that the father, is clearly visible in the nalist Philippe Karsenty. tic evidence reveal that even those footage from which the report was world at large could be continual- background. Just before this Pesach, could not possibly have been fired compiled. Given what this ly convinced of Israel’s supposed It was the French television sta- Karsenty was brought out to from where the soldiers were revealed, it was not surprising guilt. tion France II that was responsi- South Africa by the SA Zionist (supposedly) positioned? that the station dragged its heels As Karsenty put it: “Moham- ble for releasing the harrowing Federation to speak about the Al- The father was said to have in making this available. med al-Durrah had a child, and footage to the world. From the Durrah affair, and on the topic of received 12 bullet wounds, mostly The footage showed typical that child is the Goldstone start, there were some who ques- politically motivated media fraud in his right arm, yet it was with “Pallywood” faked scenes being Report.” tioned the authenticity of the inci- in general. He addressed large this same bullet-riddled arm that set up in the vicinity (such as a He believed that as a result, the dent. audiences in Johannesburg, Cape he was shown frantically waving man being “shot” and an ambu- international mood against Israel One of the earliest objections Town and Durban, as well as to the soldiers to stop shooting. lance pulling up less than two sec- was as bad as it had been against raised was that the bullets that meeting with journalists,lay lead- True, he had subsequently been onds after he hit the ground). South Africa in the last days of supposedly killed the boy, were ers and media activists. able to show various scars on his In one faked scene, Mohammed the era. 16 - 23 April 2010 SA JEWISH REPORT 9 AROUND THE WORLD West Bank settlers a simmering NEWS IN BRIEF CHINA ON BOARD FOR IRAN SANCTIONS powder keg in ME, says Slier WASHINGTON - China will join efforts to sanction STORY AND PHOTOGRAPH BY fantastic, this is what our children Iran, US officials have said MOIRA SCHNEIDER need to see’,” Slier recalled. Obama administration officials announced the CAPE TOWN “After the war, it became a very breakthrough on Monday during a summit in dangerous country for me to go Washington on containing the threat of nuclear terror- IT WAS only a matter of time before back to,” she added. “Last time I ism. Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser to there was another war with Gaza, went, I was told I wasn’t welcome the White House, said a new set of UN Security Council Hezbollah or Iran, South African- there - I don’t know if they discov- sanctions would be ready within "a matter of weeks". born journalist Paula Slier now based ered Google!” The announcements came after President Barack in Israel, told a session of The Living Referring to the atmosphere in Obama met with Chinese President Hu Jintao. Newspaper, adding: “It’s not exactly a Israel, she said there had been China, one of five veto-wielding members of the safe time now in Israel.” Avron Kaplan, convener of The Living many drills in the last few months Security Council, was the final holdout. It's not clear Slier is a correspondent for Russian Newspaper; Tania Jacobson; journalist for and gas masks had been handed how strong sanctions approved by China would be; television, covering the Middle East Russian television, Paula Slier and Lulu Peelle, out. “The Israeli army says there’s China remains one of Iran's major trading partners, and the Balkans for Russia Today, a at the session addressed by Slier. nothing to worry about, but I can particularly in the energy sector. 24-hour news channel in English, tell you, Israelis are afraid,” she US officials have spoken of expanding the existing broadcasting from Russia. evacuated from Gaza. “They say: ‘What maintained. Security Council list of individuals and entities subject Recounting her experiences in the you saw in Gaza is nothing compared to “Many Israelis feel Israel has missed to international financial and travel sanctions, and of field, she said she “probably” was afraid the resistance we’re going to give’”, if the boat as far as attacking Iran goes. targeting Iran's banks. when entering an area like Jenin, “but I attempts are made to evacuate them. There are several nuclear reactors and The Obama administration has asked Congress to would never tell them that I am Jewish. “They have their own anthem, they’re they are far beneath the ground, so they delay passage of punishing unilateral sanctions until it I am South African and the Palestinians going to become a new Israel,” Slier will have to send in ground forces too. exhausted efforts to expand international sanctions. have a high regard for South Africans - I warned. “They call themselves the ‘Land “The Israelis are going to need the The Congressional sanctions target third parties that never have problems being able to talk of Israel’ as opposed to the ‘State of permission of the United States and deal with Iran, raising objections from some of the to them.” Israel’.” most analysts in Israel don’t think countries that otherwise are ready to co-operate on On the release of Gilad Shalit, the Turning her attention to Lebanon, America is ready to attack Iran right international sanctions targeting only Iranian entities. Israeli soldier captured by Hamas, Slier Slier noted that the 40 000 Palestinians now.” (JTA) said that many Israelis felt that the living in refugee camps there were for- On the controversial housing units release of 1 000 Palestinian prisoners in bidden to practise 73 professions “so that being built in east Jerusalem, Slier said OBAMA MEETS WITH KING ABDULLAH exchange for the kidnapped Israeli sol- they don’t become too comfortable and that the Palestinians who build the set- dier was a price that was “just too high not want to return to Israel”. Entering tlements “ironically, say they want the WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama and Jordan's to pay. We were told he’s in Gaza and the country soon after the 2006 war, she building to continue because they need King Abdullah discussed Iran's nuclear programme that the Israelis know where he is, but said the feeling was that the destruction the work. But they wouldn’t say it on during a bilateral meeting. he is underground with four or five sui- suffered was “a fair price to pay to fight camera - they lie to their families about At the meeting on Monday, part of the two-day cide bombers, so if they try any rescue the Israeli army. Hezbollah (purported- where they go each day.” Nuclear Security Summit, the two leaders agreed on operation, he’s going to be killed. ly) gave them back their pride.” Speaking of her time in Afghanistan, the importance of strengthening the Nuclear Non-pro- “Nobody really knows what to do - it’s Describing as “sad” a museum created Slier, who often had to don a bullet-proof liferation Treaty. Obama stressed the importance of not that Israel has forgotten about him,” by Hezbollah out of a bunker from which jacket and a burqa in some places, said international efforts, such as sanctions, to pressure she said. soldiers had fired, she said it included a she had spent two weeks embedded with Iran, while Abdullah argued for resolving the issue “I think Gaza is getting worse,” she multi-media presentation of an Israeli American soldiers. “I come from a nice through diplomatic avenues. stated. “They talk about Al-Qaida oper- tank, Hezbollah secretary general Jewish family in Johannesburg,” she The two also discussed how to advance Israeli- ating there.” Hassan Nasrallah screaming that they quipped. “The closest I ever got to camp- Palestinian and Israeli-Arab peace, elections in Iraq Slier said that the 400 000 Israelis liv- were going to kill Israelis, with Israeli ing was Habonim - it didn’t really pre- and Jordan's efforts to improve conditions for the peo- ing in the West Bank were “much more mannequins lying on the floor. “There pare me for an army camp in ple of Afghanistan. (JTA) passionate” than those who had been were families around saying, ‘This is Afghanistan!” 10 SA JEWISH REPORT 16 - 23 April 2010 OPINION AND ANALYSIS

FORUM FOR DIVERSE VIEWS Is South Africa a future Zimbabwe? IS SOUTH Africa in the process of host of different racial groups can being Zimbabwefied? Not too long overcome a deeply divided past and ago, even to ask such a question BARBARIC coexist peacefully and equally with- The Nazi past and would lay one open to charges of in the same territory. Afro-pessimism and worse, but no YAWP If South Africans could do it, the longer. David Saks argument goes, what’s to stop terrorism’s present The parallels that are emerging Israelis and Palestinians coming to are simply too in-you-face to be the same arrangement? And if the AFTER ALL Holocaust survivors have passed on, the ignored. There is in common the all- latter cannot do so, then it must be “guardianship” of Holocaust memory passes to gener- pervasive and apparently out of con- new life for themselves there, but if the fault of the Israelis who, unlike their white counterparts down ations with no direct experience of it. This will not be trol corruption, a de facto emer- South Africa goes, all that remains is south, are still stubbornly resisting long coming: in Israel, for example, there are today gence of exculpatory immunity for a long stretch of ocean culminating facing up to the realities of their only some 220 000 ageing survivors, down 50 000 from law-breakers when they are politi- in Antarctica. For the subcontinent cally well connected, seriously dete- as a whole, this is make or break morally and materially untenable just two years earlier. riorating public services and infra- time. position. “Memory” of the Holocaust takes many forms: the structure and political stagnation It goes without saying that should White South Africans were turned annual “March of the Living” in Poland, which this resulting from the dominance of a South Africa not make it, it will be into international pariahs and boy- year attracted 10 000 people to walk the three kilome- single party, reliant less on its actual tickets for its strong, vigorous cotted across the board in order to tres between the Auschwitz compound and Birkenau; performance but the emotional Jewish community. This would be a pressurise them into doing the right Holocaust Day ceremonies worldwide; Yad Vashem in appeal of its liberation-era mystique. tragedy on many levels, given what thing. Now, the world must do the Jerusalem, with its archives and research; poignant An especially disturbing parallel has been achieved and how much has same against Israel. personal gestures such as the grandchildren of an 83- is how open expressions of anti- been invested in the future. Even so, The trouble is, when post- year-old survivor living in Beth Shemesh, Israel, who white antagonism, even when ema- such an eventuality would have a apartheid South Africa ceases to had their arms tattooed with the same number - 157621 nating from high-paced office-bear- small silver lining. live up to its political miracle status - that was branded on his right arm in Auschwitz; and ers, is being tolerated, thereby Not on a whim has the global move- and instead begins to resemble a others. directly flying in the face of the prin- ment to delegitimise and isolate Mugabestan in the making, all these Recorded voices of survivors such as Hanna Weiss, ciples of firm non-racism that Israel invested so much effort in pro- arguments, even for those unwilling quoted in Ha’aretz this week, are precious: “I left underpin the Constitution in such jecting a quasi-South African para- to recognise their essential spe- Auschwitz alive. I feel that I triumphed. I have had a unambiguous terms. digm onto the Israeli-Palestinian ciousness, begin to have a hollow full, rich life. Every day that a person lives is a holi- At worst, it manifests as possible conflict. ring. day.” incitement to attack and kill white By doing so, it has been able to suc- What is more, the impact of South Children of survivors are born into a paradoxical farmers, already a highly vulnerable cessfully milk the legacy of moral Africa’s round condemnation of reality. Dan Bar-On, an Israeli psychoanalyst and group disproportionately represent- authority that the anti-apartheid lib- Israel on international platforms is expert on post-Holocaust generations, says: “My par- ed in the roll of South African mur- eration movements enjoyed. Israelis much diminished when its own ents’ generation grew up in a world without a der victims since liberation. correspond to the oppressive whites shortcomings in the human rights Holocaust... but for us there could be no such world.” There is, at least for the time who wanted to keep everything for field become too obvious to be Indeed. For people born after 1945, the world is per- being, another side to the story. The themselves at the expense of every- ignored. manently scarred by it. Previous generations grew up South African economy remains one else, while Palestinians are the UN Watch, an NGO that is proving when such a thing was unthinkable - a more ideal resilient, civil society vigorous and ill-used blacks who want only to effective in exposing how the UN’s world. the basic institutions of democracy - share the land in peace and equality mandate is being undermined by We must take to heart the words of Eva Hoffman, an independent judiciary, freedom of for all. gross political bias, has done much author of the book “After Such Knowledge”, a daugh- the media and academia, etc - yet to That the ruling ANC has so ful- to expose the incongruity of South ter of Polish parents who had survived with the help of be confronted with a serious chal- somely identified itself with the Africa purporting to speak with spe- gentile neighbours, but whose entire families per- lenge, some disturbing rumblings Palestinian cause, has helped lend an cial authority on human rights issues in view of the consistent sup- ished. notwithstanding. aura of moral righteousness to the port it has shown for the world’s She wrote: “And yet, unless we want to fall into per- Signs of a lurch towards the low latter, against which even the most most egregious human rights viola- manent melancholia or nihilistic despair, we cannot road to basket case status are real, pointed counter-arguments showing but the situation is not irreversible. tors on the international stage. The take the Holocaust as the norm that governs human how the two movements differ from One can only hope, for the sake of one another in their aims and up-and-coming neo-conservative lives.” nearly 50 million South Africans and actions, have negligible effect. analyst James Kirchick, has like- Could there be another Holocaust? Increasing refer- countless more across our borders, Never was the ANC’s standing wise written effectively on the sub- ence is made today to Iran as a potential new source, that those empowered to make the higher than in 1994, the year of South ject. with its alleged aspirations towards nuclear weaponry big decisions will recognise the seri- Africa’s remarkably bloodless transi- Should this country’s domestic and vows to annihilate Israel. The Iranian Fars news ousness of our current malaise and tion to democracy and in the ensuing situation likewise become agency reported on Tuesday that Iran would join the take appropriate remedial action. years of Nelson Mandela’s term of besmirched, then no amount of “world nuclear club” within a month. Many citizens of such failed states office. invoking the inspirational glories of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned as Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Somalia Advocates of the “one-state solu- the Mandela era will be of much use about Iran at the official ceremony for Holocaust and the Democratic Republic of the tion” to the Middle East deadlock, to those who wish to use the South Remembrance Day last Sunday: “The world gradually Congo at least were able to make make regular references to the South African experience as an anti-Israel accepts Iran’s statements of destruction against Israel their way to South Africa and build a African example as proof of how a propaganda resource. and we still do not see the necessary international determination to stop Iran from arming.” The comparison is misleading. It implies Jews need to flee Israel, as those who were able to escape fled Aliyah in the golden years... SEE STORY ON PAGE 11 Nazi Europe. On the contrary, the Jewish State of Israel is unlike European Jewish communities who were defenceless against the Nazis. Israel can protect itself and act - as it did at Entebbe in 1976 - to protect Jews elsewhere. If there had been an Israel during the Second World War to rescue Jews, European Jewry’s fate would have been very different. Israel’s creation was triggered by the murder of the six million Jews. Without the guilt feelings of nations who failed to stop it, the UN General Assembly would not have reached the necessary majority for the parti- tion resolution of November 1947. Now, six decades later, the guilt has subsided. Israel is on its own, its allies’ support based more on “inter- ests” than guilt. The country needs to be strong to defend itself and Jews elsewhere. Terrorism is our era’s new threat, nuclear weapons in the hands of terrorists our nightmare. US President Barack Obama this week hosted leaders of 47 coun- tries in Washington - the biggest such gathering since the Second World War - to seek ways of keeping nuclear material from terrorist hands. Obama has hailed the meeting as a resounding success. Pakistan’s stockpile of nuclear warheads, for exam- ple, is believed to face “immense” threats from theft or attack. Eva Hoffman sounds a warning about terrorism: “If September 11 was not September 1, 1939, was it per- haps November 9, 1938 - a Kristallnacht of a globalised world, with the shattering of glass effected across bor- ders, rather than within the country of terror’s origin? “Or was it, even more worryingly, something like 1933, an early warning signal whose real meanings would not emerge for several years?” Harvey Brooks, 65, a bass guitar player who once played with Bob Dylan, is among a growing number of older American Jews making aliyah. (PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY NEFESH B’NEFESH) 16 - 23 April 2010 SA JEWISH REPORT 11 OPINION AND ANALYSIS

FORUM FOR DIVERSE VIEWS Nuclear Iran could become 1st ‘suicide state’ PROFESSOR LOUIS RENE BERES apocalypse. nothing, Israel is being pushed to collabo- into the sun, and declares life good.” Here, Israel would face not only rate in its own disappearance. Israel’s prime Just to stay alive, Israel must understand PRESIDENT BARACK Obama who more Palestinian suicide-bombers minister should take notice. It would be a what Freud inner-circle member Otto Rank has just launched a special nuclear (President Obama’s recycled “Road fatal mistake for Benjamin Netanyahu to once called a general principle of psychology: security summit in Washington, final- Map” toward a “Two-State Solution” embrace Obama’s cheery belief that reason “The death fear of the ego is lessened by the ly acknowledges that Iranian threats will only encourage Palestinian ter- and rationality govern the world, a belief killing, the sacrifice, of the other; through the to annihilate Israel are serious. rorism), but also a “suicide state”. implicit, for example, in the president’s hope death of the other one buys oneself free from Still, Obama fails to understand that Obama stubbornly fails to recog- for “a world free of nuclear weapons”. the penalty of dying, of being killed.” applying so-called economic sanctions nise something critical. This is the Obama will not save Israel. Once Iran had Israel’s enemies, to remain standing, and to to Iran will be ineffectual. Somehow, unspeakable goal of all Israel’s decided to launch nuclear missiles at Israel, prevent Israel from standing up, seek to sacri- despite very good reasons to the contrary, Islamist enemies, which remains Jewish perhaps a plausible prospect in just a few fice the Jewish State on a joyously blood- the president is now insisting that Israel extermination. Oddly, this expressly genoci- years, Washington’s best assistance would stained altar of protracted war and terror. learn to “live” with a nuclear Iran. dal goal is unhidden. In the bitterest of be confined to help bury the dead. Even for This planned destruction of Israel is not Obama confidently assumes that Tehran ironies, an ancient nation that was ingath- this “assistance”, whole Israeli cities would about geopolitics. It is integrally part of a sys- could be dealt with using the normally-com- ered in 1948 precisely to prevent another first have to be converted into cemeteries. tem of religious worship that is directed pelling dynamics of nuclear deterrence. The Holocaust, has become the fevered focus of Whether in Gaza, the West Bank toward the conquest of personal death. problem with such threat-based optimism, another “Final Solution”. (Judea/Samaria) or Tehran, Israel’s jihadist True peace in the Middle East will never be however, is the always-underlying presump- The goal of all Israel’s enemies, especially enemies wish to kill Jews because every brought about by political clichés and empty tion of enemy rationality. Without rationali- Iran and the soon-to-be-born (and Obama- such homicide is a deeply felt and genuinely witticisms. Real wisdom is necessary, and ty, deterrence will fail. favoured) Palestinian state, is to be left stand- sacred obligation. For them, killing Jews this insight will need to be based upon a true No system of nuclear deterrence can oper- ing while Israel is made to disappear. remains a praiseworthy expression of reli- awareness of jihadist goals and capabilities. ate unless all of the involved countries value For these refractory enemies, there can be gious sacrifice. For Obama, this calls for a much deeper their own physical survival more highly no coexistence with Israel. At the end of the Obama should bear in mind that such understanding of the interpenetrating and than anything else. Significantly, Tehran’s day, this is because their own survival is killing is expected to confer upon the perpe- existential threats to Israel posed by Iran and new nuclear status could coincide with an believed to demand Israel’s extinction. trators immunity from personal death. “Palestine”. unshakable leadership belief in the Shi’ite Pressured by Obama to exchange land for Could there ever be a more compelling expectation? In the Islamic Middle East, Professor Louis Rene Beres (pictured), profes- power over death always trumps all other sor of political science at Purdue, was educat- forms of power. ed at Princeton (PhD 1971). Born in Zurich, Making aliyah in the There is no greater power in the Dar al Switzerland, at the end of the Second World Islam (the World of Islam) than the reli- War, he is the author of many major books, giously-authoritative promise of immortali- monographs and articles dealing with inter- ty, and this promise is always linked to total national law, strategic theory, Israeli nuclear golden years war against “unbelievers”. policy, and regional nuclear war. In Israel, The core idea of death as a zero-sum com- where he served as chairman of “Project DINA KRAFT caught the Zionist bug from his wife of 21 modity - “I kill you; I therefore remain alive Daniel”, his work is known to selected military TEL AVIV years, who for years took her daughters to forever” - has already been explained in cer- and intelligence communities. Israel on backpacking trips and whose eld- tain literatures, and in psychology. IN 1948, Harold Levine of the Flatbush est daughter now lives here. It is captured perfectly in philosopher • This article is the author’s personal opin- neighbourhood of Brooklyn was rumbling Through repeated visits, he became com- Ernest Becker’s paraphrase of Nobel ion and is not the opinion or policy of the through Israel’s Negev Desert in a mobile fortable in Israel, and last summer he and Laureate Elias Canetti: “Each organism newsgroup “Myths and Facts”, who distrib- dental clinic servicing recruits of the fledg- his wife made aliyah from Tuscon, Arizona. raises its head over a field of corpses, smiles uted it. ling Israeli army. “I’m very relaxed here. I’m with my peo- He did not know it would take him more ple,” Brooks said. Although he is not reli- than 60 years to fulfil his dream of making gious, Brooks said he felt spiritually con- the country his home. nected to Judaism after long years where he Last December, Levine finally made felt music was his only religion. He’s been aliyah. Now 85 and living in Jerusalem, checking in with the local Israeli music Levine is one of a growing category of scene, meeting musicians, and he’ll be per- immigrants from the United States: senior forming at a well-known club next month. citizens. Some, like Levine, nurtured Zionist His wife, Bonnie, who continues to work dreams of living in Israel over a lifetime and in film production and had contemplated have refused to let age get in the way of that aliyah earlier in life, said they embraced the vision. Motivating many is an additional idea together of making such a big change. bonus: joining children and grandchildren “When it comes to deciding how to spend who already have moved to Israel. your last 25 years, what do you have to lose?” “It’s very exciting and fulfilling to be she said. here, and I’m enjoying the process of get- Eighty-eight-year-old Frances Greenberg ting settled,” said Levine, whose two sons waited a very long time to immigrate. and their families live here. “It’s another She had first thought she was coming adventure.” when she boarded the ill-fated Exodus ship It’s not his first here. The now-retired in 1947 along with some 4 500 other orthodontist helped smuggle weapons, Holocaust survivors. At the time, she was including rifles and handguns, and primi- alone in the world, the sole survivor of her tive radar equipment for the Jewish fight- Polish Jewish family. She stared out in dis- ing forces onto the freighter he sailed here belief when the British authorities, then in on in 1948. charge of Palestine, forced the ship to sail Nefesh B’Nefesh, the organisation that back to Europe. The ship docked in oversees North American immigration to Hamburg, Germany. Israel, says it has seen a gradual rise over Greenberg remembers the sinking feeling the past four years in the number of older at being turned back. people making aliyah from North America. “I didn’t believe it. I thought it couldn’t Joy Epstein, clinical supervisor for happen after all this,” she said. “I realised Nefesh B’Nefesh’s department of social we really were wandering Jews.” services, which counsels seniors before In Hamburg, Greenberg, suffering from they arrive on how to choose where to live, bad stomach pains, was taken to a hospital their finances and how to navigate the where she was reunited with a boyfriend Israeli medical system, says these immi- who had wanted to go to the United States, grants come from a range of financial back- not Palestine. He found her in the hospital grounds, ranging from the wealthy to those and announced: “Francis, you’ve suffered dependent on social security checks. enough,” and promptly told her they would The US recession has played a role in the marry and move to Pittsburgh where he had decision of some to make aliyah, she said: family. There are those who decide that if they are Two years ago, soon after her husband going to live with a measure of financial died, Greenberg made aliyah herself. She insecurity, it might as well be in Israel, knew she would eventually make it here, where they have long wanted to live. and she joins a daughter who immigrated Once here, older olim tended to tap into a here many years ago. rich cultural scene of concerts, classes and “It’s not easy after all these years living in travel, often geared specifically for English America, but I’m settling down here slowly,” speakers, Epstein said. Many enrol in ulpan she said, then joked that she could not afford Hebrew-language classes. One ulpan in to acclimate too slowly at her age. Jerusalem caters to older English-speaking Living in an independent living communi- olim, who meet for classes three times a ty in Ra’anana, near Tel Aviv, she attends an week for almost a year. ulpan, but gets frustrated when people Among the recent arrivals to Israel is speak too quickly. Harvey Brooks, 65, a well-known bass gui- “It does feel different to be a citizen,” tar player who once played alongside such Greenberg said. Tapping into her new inner musical legends as Bob Dylan, Jimi Israeli she adds: “I’m just not crazy about Hendrix, the Doors and BB King. He says he the politics here.” (JTA) 12 SA JEWISH REPORT 16 - 23 April 2010 TAPESTRY

ART, BOOKS, DANCE, FILM, THEATRE ARTS MATTERS Butoh - where dancers improvise from their emotions ROBYN SASSEN had “an incredible urge to come to COMPILED BY PHOTOGRAPH BY Africa”; in spite of no budget, they Anika ROBYN SASSEN RUPHIN COUDYZER made it happen. Kristensen Call 084-319-7844 or They’re back, with “Eye of the Barkan and [email protected] at TWO YEARS ago, South African Storm”, a piece freshly work- Freddy dance audiences were privileged to shopped, to be accompanied by the least one week prior to Zwane in see an unusual cross-pollination of Sibikwa Arts African Indigenous “In the dance ideologies, bringing together Orchestra led by Neo Leleka, which publication Wake of the Japanese, Israeli, Danish and South includes rare African instruments African values. like mokhoyani, uhadi, stolotolo Body”, Dance Factory, Newtown: This is Butoh, under the tutelage of and dinaka panpipes as well as the work- “In the Eye of the Storm”, Israeli-born Feldenkrais, practition- more popular marimba and djembe. shopped the third collaboration er Boaz Barkan and his Danish wife, The orchestra was taught by and per- between Danish/Israeli Anika Kristensen Barkan, danced by Geoff Tracey, of the famous Butoh experts, Anika and formed in the Barkans themselves and mem- Grahamstown-based Tracey family, Boaz Barkan and Sibikwa, 2007. bers of Benoni-based Sibikwa. whose grandfather, Hugh founded on April 17 and 18, (011) Founded in Japan by Tatsumi the Indigenous Library of African Butoh in the US and Japan, practi- African dancers, bring an embod- 422-4359. Hijikata and Kazuo Ohno in 1959, Music in 1954. tioners are expected to generate ied memory of what it feels like to Butoh grew out of European post- Geoff gave them particular their own solos every three to four touch these things, to engage with a David Krut, Rosebank: In war avant-gardism and represented emphasis in horn work; when you months.” raw reality. the Workshop, an ongoing aesthetic and emotional values corre- think horns, cast your mind aside Adds Magiagalli: “We aim to cre- “The first time we worked with exhibition by Ryan Arenson, sponding with post-Hiroshima trau- from French or English ones. These ate a unique Butoh aesthetic specif- Sibikwa, many dancers wanted to “Hard Work”, (011) 447-0627. ma. are kudu horns, producing a sound ic to Sibikwa. It interweaves African be involved. But as time passed, Known as “body weather”, Butoh not unlike that of the shofar. and contemporary dance values.” many decided it was too scary, and Joburg Theatre, Braam- offers no idle-by-rote dance steps - the It is a mixed Butoh bill, featuring Dancer Freddy Zwane shares his that it probes too many boundaries. fontein: In the Mandela, dancers improvise from their emo- not only a collaborative piece, but own experiences: “Unlike tradition- “Life experience enables and Opera Africa performs “La tions, using every muscle and organ, four solos and a new work by al South African dance which has strengthens a Butoh performer. Bohème”, until April 25. In including eyes and tongues to express Sibikwa Arts Dance’s new artistic much energy, Butoh internalises Rawness is what we seek - many the Fringe, “Spiders and themselves. director and company manager, values.” Butoh masters go out of the city to Mayonnaise” with Kurt Sibikwa’s artistic director, Phyllis Cherise Mangiagalli. His colleague, Taemane Mothosi get closer to their own sense of self. Schoonraad, until April 24, Klotz first encountered Butoh in 1996 The solos have been designed and agrees. “It is like understanding Sibikwa’s performers’ willingness (011) 877-6800. In the People’s in Los Angeles through Boaz, her sec- choreographed by Sibikwa’s your body from the inside out.” to experience new things is fresh Theatre, Kipling’s “Jungle ond cousin. Time passed, vague plans dancers who first encountered Boaz acknowledges: “Most Butoh and inspiring.” Book”, directed by Jill were made; nothing was ratified. Butoh in 2007 and have been build- practitioners in Denmark have • “Eye of the Storm” is at the Gerard and Keith Smith, In 2006, Boaz “googled” Phyllis. The ing on their skills with the disci- never slaughtered an animal - or Dance Factory, on April 17, 18, (011) until April 18, (011) 403-1563. rest is dance history. The Barkans pline since. Boaz elaborated: “In touched anything raw. These South 422-4359. Market, Newtown: In the Laager, Patrick Marber’s “Closer” until May 2; in the Farcical scenes galore as chickens come home to roost Barney Simon, “Death of a Show: Boeing Boeing (Pieter African production, with tweaks by Bernard thinks he has every- Colonialist”, directed by Toerien’s Montecasino Theatre, the cast and director, is set to repli- thing in control in stringing along Craig Freimond, until May 9, Fourways, (011) 511-1818) cate that success. Gabriella the Italian (Gottwald), (011) 832-1641. Writer: Marc Camoletti It was once listed by the Guinness Gloria the American (Galloway) Director: Alan Swerdlow Book of Records as the most per- and Gretchen the German (Wylde). Montecasino, Fourways: Cast: Alan Committie, Robert formed French play in the world - One takes off, another lands, anoth- In the Studio, “Unplugged: Fridjhon, Jo Galloway, Bronwyn and one can see why. The humour er is in the air - and ne’er the three The Musicals”, with Angela Leigh Gottwald, Louise Saint-Claire, may be a touch smarter than your shall meet. Except in the world of Kilian until April 18. In the Nina Lucy Wylde usual sledgehammer slapstick, but high farce, of course! Main Theatre, “Boeing Until: May 2 don’t let that fool you: it’s still laugh- Thanks to the introduction of the Boeing”, directed by Alan out-loud funny. new super-fast Boeing planes, the Swerdlow until May 2, (011) REVIEWED BY CHRISTINA KENNEDY Robert Fridjhon - who previously flight attendants suddenly find 511-1818. played a cad visiting old squeezes in themselves with more time on their IF EVER you needed convincing to Some Girls - features as Bernard, an hands, and guess who they want to National Children’s Thea- avoid polygamy - or even infidelity - architect living in . spend it with? No prizes for guess- tre, : Johanna like the plague, the uproarious farce Cool as a cucumber, this suave ing that these three chickens come Spyri’s “Heidi”, directed by Boeing Boeing provides a thousand urban sophisticate juggles three home to roost - all at the same time. Joyce Levinsohn, until April good reasons to stay faithful, or risk Tying himself in telephone cord “fiancées” simultaneously - relying What follows is a chucklesome 17, (011) 484-1584. getting yourself into a right pickle. knots: Robert (Alan Committie) on flight timetables and an über-effi- romp in which physical comedy and Based on a classic French farce, with the nanny of his friend cient but grumpy maid (a bewigged mind-boggling mix-ups take centre Old Mutual Theatre on the Boeing Boeing is literally about just Bernard, played by beehive- and bespectacled Saint-Claire) to stage, with the actors handling the Square, Sandton: “uNik” that: one artful bachelor “boing- keep his unofficial harem up in the jolly pandemonium with finesse. with Nik Rabinowitz, until adorned Louise Saint-Claire. (PHO- boinging” between three lissome air air and blissfully oblivious of one As with many farces, there are May 1. The Friday concerts TOGRAPH COURTESY MONTECASINO) hostesses from three different air- another’s existence. Talk about tak- multiple doors in the set - seven, to feature a recital of Zigeuner lines. strings and maintains the tempo so ing advantage of the city of love! be exact - which swing open and (gypsy) music with Miro It’s an utterly daft premise, and adroitly that you won’t find your- Enter his “country bumpkin” closed at strategic times as the mis- Chakarayan (violin) and the resulting on-stage high jinks are self getting fidgety while the merry chum, Robert (Committie), who understandings and cover-ups esca- Jacob Swart (piano) on April way beyond the realm of probability mayhem plays out on stage. cannot disguise his incredulity at late. 16, and Candis Angelene - but it’s handled so deftly by the sea- South Africans love a good farce, how Bernard manages his triple It’s all very over the top, with (soprano) and Mark Cheyne soned performers and impressive with its multiple pratfalls, con- shot of bombshells. Robert is a fum- every last drop of satire squeezed (piano) in concert on April newcomers that you’ll happily go trivances and general tomfoolery. bling, bumbling, nervous type who out of this way-out scenario, but is 23, (011) 883-8606. along for the implausible ride. They will not be disappointed with has a tendency to walk into doors skillfully managed by all concerned Despite the two-act show stretch- Boeing Boeing, which was recently and trip over pouffes. He’s not and makes for delightfully silly, RCHCC, Oaklands: Caren ing on a bit too long, award-winning revived to great acclaim on the West exactly a hit with the ladies - but shambolic fun. Will Casanova get Arenstein, Lesley Jasven and director Alan Swerdlow holds the End and Broadway, and the South that’s all about to change. his comeuppance? You betcha! Miriam Perkel show new work, until April 29, (011) 728-8088. immigrant Malik El Djebena (Tahar Rahim) records the vigorous process the character FELDMAN who is condemned to spend six years in a tough undergoes in his spiritual and physical trans- Theatre on the Track, French prison. He cannot read or write and formation. His education is a lesson in blood. Kyalami: “High Notes”, under ON FILM this is the first time he has been exposed to this It would be easy to compare this film with the musical direction of Bryan Peter Feldman brutal world. the popular American TV series “Oz”, but it’s Schimmel, featuring the musi- Arriving at the jail entirely alone, he appears far more cerebral in its approach and closer cal skills of Oshy Tugendhaft; younger and more fragile than the other con- in tone to presenting, perhaps, a Gallic ver- Mark Samowitz; Elan Lea; PICK OF THE WEEK victs, but he has an astute mind and is keen to sion of “Goodfellas”. Adam Pelkowitz; Adam Davis; learn the ropes. Cornered by Cesar (a brilliant What transpires here is a thoroughly and Adam Golding, as well as The Prophet (un Prophète) depiction by Niels Arestrup), the leader of the absorbing, even poetic, tale that’s gripping international stars Liron Lev Corsican gang who is the real power in the and exciting. In one harrowing scene Malik and Hananel Edri, on April 19, Cast: Tahar Rahim; Niels Arestrup; Adel prison, Malik is given a number of “missions” learns a killing technique in which he has to in honour of Yom Ha’atzmaut, Bencherif; Hichem Yacoubi; Reda Kateb; to carry out, which he does successfully. place a sharp razor blade in his mouth - and (011) 645-2500. Jean-Philippe Ricci; Gilles Cohen; and His first one is to murder a mob informant the practice sessions in his cell are shown in Antoine Basler and if he refuses or fails he will be killed him- bloody detail. Wits, Braamfontein: In the Director: Jacques Audiard (French with self. It’s a dilemma he has never faced before. Tahar Rahim convinces as Malik, but of all Amphitheatre, until April 24, English sub-titles) His servitude serves to toughen him up and the characters it is Cesar who is the most fas- John Kani directs “Othello”. as he gains the leader’s confidence, he begins cinating. He provides the face of a lifetime of In the Theatre, Gina There have been a slew of films dealing plotting a course of action that will eventually moral corruption, of evil choices, yet in his Shmukler directs “Songs for with life in prison, but few have been as gru- place him at the very top of the heap. eyes one detects a residue of humanity. a New World”, until April 24, elling and as riveting as this superb French Though Jacques Audiard’s production is “The Prophet” has reaped a number of top (011) 717-1380. production. long, with some acute observations on the French awards and was nominated for an It is the story, painfully put together with social, moral and political dimensions of prison Oscar in the Best Foreign Film category. It’s a great eye for detail, of 19-year-old Arab life, it never feels excessive or indulgent as it easy to see why. 16 - 23 April 2010 SA JEWISH REPORT 13 TAPESTRY

ART, BOOKS, DANCE, FILM, THEATRE Writers at Wits in for a WALE of a time Dream comes true OWN CORRESPONDENT Literature and Language Studies whose works have been published over the past THE WITS Arts and Literature Experience year. The authors, Veronique Tadjo, Chris (WALE) 2010 on next week, is billed as a plat- Thurman, Leon de Kock and Judith Inggs, through grit, form for stimulating interaction with some will engage with each other and the audience of the country’s best writers. about their new books. Wits Writers Live, book launches and Pan Macmillan is using WALE 2010 as a panel discussions by the Wits University platform to celebrate a trio of recently pub- Press and Pan Macmillan are just some of lished books - The State We’re In: The 2010 despite ridicule the literature-focused events taking place. Flux Trend Review (ed) Dion Chang, Last Also part of the programme is Writing an Summer by Craig Higginson and The The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by Artist: a Wits Writing Centre Experiment Emperor Can Wait by Emma Chen. William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer that puts the writing of several young liter- Wits University Press is also making its (HarperCollins, R199,95) ary risk-takers in the spotlight. presence felt at WALE this year with a series Wits Writers Live offers the chance to get of joint panel discussions and book launches REVIEWED BY GWEN PODBREY up-close-and-personal with four writers that use three newly published works to get from the MA Creative Writing Seminar: to the heart of several key issues currently BORN AND raised in a tiny rural commu- Jacqui Aires, author of Girlhood; Rehana facing South Africa. nity in Malawi, Kamkwamba - the only son Rossouw, Financial Mail Features Editor; Writing an Artist: a Wits Writing Centre among several siblings - is the son of a renowned television scriptwriter Rohan Experiment brings together writings by huge, hard-drinking, but good-natured Dickson; and Ingrid Hurwitz will read from Amanda Kenqu, Tapuwa Moore, Kgaogelo Chewa maize and tobacco farmer nick- their creative writing projects. Lekota, Vuyo Seripe, Boitumelo Matlala, named “The Pope” for his comparatively They will also engage with each other and Mbongisi Dyantyi and Jennifer Musangi. moral lifestyle during his youth, and a Yao the audience in a discussion chaired by Prof Each has written pieces engaging with one mother. Leon de Kock, head of the School of artistic icon. The stories will have in common Like all the other children in his village, Literature and Language Studies (SLLS) a reflection of the same fashionable artistic Kamkwamba grew up immersed in Chewa and convener of the MA in Creative Writing. presence. superstition, dreading the “witch planes” SLLS Authors in Conversation turns the • WALE 2010 is at Wits University, in (flying vessels piloted by sorcerers) that spotlight on four authors from the School of Braamfontein April 21 - 24. See www.wale.co.za threatened unwary souls. Life was an unchanging cycle of planting, harvesting, lessons and boyish pursuits. Except that Kamkwamba, from a very For great young age, showed an avid interest in mechanics, science and - above all - elec- results tricity, something enjoyed by only two per cent of Malawi’s population. Fascinated by the mechanics of bicycles, transistor advertise in radios, magnets and cars, the boy revelled the cover of that book, it meant another in school, where teachers could satisfy his person had built them. [And] I felt confi- the curiosity. dent I could build one too.” However, Kamkwamba’s scholastic Yet, the obstacles were endless: firstly, SA Jewish career was dogged by misfortune. As first the book - written in English - contained drought, then severe famine and disease phrases Kamkwamba could not under- Report descended on rural Malawi in 2001, small stand. Continually referring to a diction- farmers like his father were devastated. ary, the 14-year-old battled to translate The book describes, unforgettably, the star- them. Even then, his lack of scientific vation which drove the Kamkwambas and knowledge presented further problems, to their neighbours to grovel in the mud for be overcome purely by trial and error. anything even remotely edible: insects, Then came the enormous task of sourc- ashes, grass blades, even wood shards. ing materials. Kamkwamba began scour- Without the means to feed his family, let ing the local scrapyard, amassing metal, alone pay school fees, Kamkwamba’s plastic, rubber and discarded bicycle humiliated father was forced to stop his spokes and chains to begin a laborious son’s education. assembly of parts. For the 14-year-old boy, this brought a Lacking even nails and screwdrivers, he keen awareness that his future was being continually improvised - with brilliant scripted by forces beyond his control. imagination - using whatever nature and “I couldn’t blame my father for the the community provided. Old maize cobs famine or our troubles. But... I [also] could doubled as hammers; rubber from his flip- not look him in the eyes. Whenever I did, I flops was used for insulation material; saw the rest of my life. My greatest fear abandoned spades, drainage pipes and was coming true: I would end up just like tractor fans were cleaned, heated over a him, another poor Malawian farmer small bush fire and then moulded and labouring in the soil,” he recalls. adapted. The boy’s inventiveness and The situation was exacerbated by resourcefulness make one gasp. Malawi’s (then) president, Bakili Maluzi, There was another problem, too: the who not only withdrew all agricultural aid taunts of the villagers, to whom the sight of to the country’s farmers, but - while scores the youngster, running around with all of its people died each day - flatly denied manner of old, rusted scraps and boughs that there was a famine at all. pulled off bluegum trees, was both ridicu- Kamkwamba’s daily battle for survival lous and objectionable. Yet, unfazed, makes shattering reading: a fight between Kamkwambe persevered. two of his younger sisters for a scrap of So it came to pass that one day, food; his scavenging for meat off a fly- Kamkwambe completed his bizarre, infested goat skin; the gradual swelling and makeshift construction - and it worked, aching of his body. bringing first light, then water to his Yet he remained desperate to continue impoverished community. News of his his education. Unable to attend school he accomplishment quickly spread beyond might be, but he still had access to the tiny Malawi’s borders. Within months, the boy school library - a makeshift shack compris- was a celebrity, with his windmill mounted ing three shelves of old, discarded in the Chicago Museum of Science and American textbooks. Poring over these, Industry. Kamkwamba came across one entitled A 2007 TED Global Fellow, he is now a “Using Energy”, which eventually changed student at the African Leadership his life. Academy in Johannesburg and will take up The book contained a very rudimentary a bursary to an American college in due explanation of power principles, and course. He has been profiled in the Wall included a diagram of a windmill. Street Journal and his story will also soon Kamkwamba’s fascination quickly turned be filmed. into obsession. In a world accustomed to reading only “The blades on the windmill were driven bad news from this continent - poverty, dis- by the wind... I could have light... With a ease, corruption and political tyranny - windmill, I could stay awake at night read- this is an African story that includes all of ing instead of going to bed at seven with those things, but is also a tale of such the rest of Malawi. But most important, a courage and ingenuity that it frequently windmill could also rotate a pump for reduces one to tears. water and irrigation... “If you want to make it, all you have to do “A windmill could also provide my fami- is try,” declares Kamkwamba. ly with a year-round garden... No more Written with humility, wry humour and skipping breakfast; no more dropping out disarming candour, it should be obligatory of school... I knew if windmills existed on reading for all. 14 SA JEWISH REPORT 16 - 23 April 2010 LETTERS Religious leaders and also The Editor, Suite 175, Postnet X10039, Randburg, 2125 email: [email protected] Guidelines for letters: Letters up to 400 words will get preference. Please provide your full first name and surname, others, should value the place of residence, and a daytime contact telephone or cell number. We do not publish letters under noms de plume. sovereign State of Israel Letters should preferably be e-mailed. Letters may be edited or shortened. Disclaimer: The letters page is intended to provide opportunity for a range of views on any given topic to be MOTTY SACKS the State of Israel. Our expressed. Opinions articulated in the letters are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the (In his personal capacity) experience, unfortunately, editor, staff or directors of the Jewish Report speaks for itself - a frighten- SEVERAL YEARS ago I was ing 3 000 year history, hope- OPEN SHUHADA STREET’S ‘SELF-ABSOLUTION’ DOESN’T WASH privileged to serve as chairman fully never to be repeated NATHAN GEFFEN makes the plea: “Let’s debate, anti-Semites and their leftwing counterparts, of Maccabi Golf in South again. but let’s stick to the rules of civil and lawful behav- Islamist fanatics and other assorted political Africa. During my term in Notwithstanding the hor- iour”, (Jewish Report, April 9). Can this tiny band Neanderthals in the Middle East and elsewhere. office, a resolution of discon- rors of our past history and from Open Shuhada Street truly not appreciate the Your claim to have the interests of the tent was passed at a provincial the acts of Jewish ethnic profound pain they have elicited within the South Palestinians at heart is cynical. The campaign membership meeting, objecting cleansing we are reminded African Jewish community? Or are they simply so being conducted by OSS promotes the belief to the amount of the annual Maccabi of every day, fundamental human infatuated with their personal nobility and infalli- among the maximalists on the Palestinian side membership subscription. nature is such, that our comfort zones bility that such considerations mean nothing to that, with time, erosion of global support com- “Its ridiculous!” declared one of the in South Africa and our good fortune, them? bined with internal demoralisation and other ele- members. “We pay Maccabi R50 every obscure the realities and we tend to For the record (addressing OSS directly), let it be ments of a paramilitary onslaught, will result in year, but what do we get for it?” take Israel’s actuality for granted. clearly known the anger is not about your opinions, the collapse of the Jewish State. Quite obviously, the pride of identi- Support for the State of Israel is demonstrably selective, decontextualised and But the consequences of such a strategy are ty and belonging, the affinity with fel- therefore not a matter of primitive biased though they are. It is about your actions: highly unpredictable and could be disastrous, not low Maccabi members, the bonds of ethnic solidarity, but a profound per- your devious and systematic attempts to publicly for the Jews only, but for the Palestinians them- kinship, and the affiliation with sonal and collective Jewish impera- cast Israel as a pariah state, to sow division within selves. At the very least, such illusions hinder Jewish sociability, was of little value tive. Few Jews in South Africa appre- the Jewish community and to undermine Israel’s rather than help serious negotiations towards a to these people and this, without con- ciate the important role that a secure existence as a Jewish State free to realise her own peaceful resolution and so delay much needed sidering the golfing privileges facili- and sovereign State of Israel plays in destiny as a member of the community of nations. Palestinian realism and self-renewal. tated by Maccabi, the regional and their daily lives. You camouflage your behaviour under a cloak of You have had, and still have, ample opportunity national tournaments, the traditional Given the priceless advantages that a disinterested concern for human and Palestinian to reconsider your stance. There are ample Trophy events, the Maccabi Games unconsciously rights, but few buy into this self-absolution. avenues open to anyone of goodwill and a sem- selection opportunities, and so many enjoy and extract from Israel’s inde- The picture on your website, your name, the con- blance of humility to convey genuine concerns and other institutional and relationship pendence every day, too many in our stant references to apartheid, the exaggeration, differing perspectives in a way which promotes advantages. community do not find it necessary to decontextualisation and selective focus on what respectful debate and the chance of learning from This type of self-absorbed and mer- support Israel. you perceive as “weak points”, are all part of a one another. cenary complaint is unfortunately not Can you believe that nearly 60 per branding exercise in pursuit of your ideological But having selected the course of confrontation, inconsistent with the arrogance and cent of South African synagogue and goals. In short, far from any interest in assisting can you truly wonder why your behaviour has presumption contained in letters to Jewish school membership will not Israel reach its best ideals, you are bending every drawn such revulsion from a wide spectrum of the Jewish Report, which articulate sing Hatikvah, will refuse to recognise sinew to reverse 150 years of Jewish self-renewal perspectives within the Jewish community? I do the sacrosanct right and entitlement the Israeli flag, nor will they willingly and sacrifice and the work of some of the most not condone personal threats or abuse, but you by South African Jews, to criticise the celebrate or associate themselves heroic figures in Jewish history. have chosen to throw your lot in with the Israel- State of Israel for aspects of its custom with Israel-related functions, national Your associates in this task include the usual baiting mob; you have no grounds for complaint. and governance. causes and more particularly honour cadre of the gullible and psychologically obsessed. So, in similar vein, to quote one of the State of Israel’s Day of But, more importantly, you and your ilk are manna Mike Berger your recent letter writers (with some Independence (Yom Ha’atzmaut). from heaven for the David Duke brand of rightwing Cape Town licence): “It’s ridiculous,” writes one Tens of thousands of Jews in South of your readers, “we pay the IUA R50 Africa uncaringly fail to reciprocate WE SHOULD EVERY DAY FACE OUR IMAGE IN THE MIRROR every year, but what do we get for it?” the profound generosity provided by I REFER to Toby Axelrod’s JTA article in your issue trators? Watch children and one sees that they are So let’s consider that on one theme Israel to these Jewish people every of April 9, regarding Ravensbruck concentration not born hating. Religion may or may not have alone. day of their lives, securing their free- camp for women and men. been an overall positive influence, but it has not Since Israel’s birth in 1948, Jews dom, their dignity, and consequently I was incarcerated in the these camps from stopped the killing and massacres. I believe chil- have made astounding, observable their general prosperity. February 1944 until March 1945 and would like to dren should be brought up to be aware of their and acclaimed progress in the So, where does the problem and comment as follows: conscience and their instinctive knowledge of Western world in virtually every sec- responsibility lie? In my opinion, the To the best of my knowledge Axelrod’s article is right and wrong. tor of endeavour, in business, in poli- problem and responsibility lies at the accurate. I think that she could have cast a better To read of remarks made by today’s Germans as tics, in the professions, in the United doors of certain of South Africa’s reli- perspective on this camp by mentioning that out of to why they should pay for past crimes, begs the Nations, and perhaps most para- gious leadership and their followers the estimated 132 000 women and children held question of whether crimes should be paid for and mount, in the visible and overt com- for their lack of recognition of Israel’s there, approximately 92 000 died, in other words, if so, then by whom? munication and expression of its reli- sovereign importance, their rejection three out of every four. Even if only one’s grandparents were involved, gious rituals. of the symbols and emblems of the During most of the six years of its existence, there then were they guilty or living in the house of a Prior to 1948, however, and for cen- State of Israel and generally the influ- was no gas chamber in the camp, thus illustrating murdered Jew and using his furniture and turies before that, Jews may have ence they exercise over broader com- the conditions under which the inmates existed and belongings? Is the questioner not benefiting in made transient advances in society in munities and congregations in such perished. some way from the Holocaust? certain places, but Jewish success was matters. Axelrod discusses whether such periods in history Another says that he wants his grandchildren always fragile and anxious and its reli- I would think that simple human ought to be commemorated and if so, then to what to learn about the Holocaust, “but it should not be gious worship and practice was delib- decency alone, would dictate a level of purpose and how. Please allow me to comment. exaggerated”. What room for exaggeration is erately cautious, discreet and unob- reciprocity to the State of Israel and Mass murders have been part of the history of there in the murder of six million people includ- trusive. for the blessings of the A-mighty, who most peoples on this planet and are continuing to ing one and a half million children? With the Jewish National State has protected the State of Israel for this day. Yet, when one meets another person face to Axelrod begins her article by stating that it is restored to its people and the immedi- more than 60 years, without those face, he or she seldom turns out to be a monster. not easy to face the cold stare of a Nazi perpetra- ate opportunities presented to Jews who preach and/or propagate divisive Those of us who have experienced the conditions tor, even in a photo. Doesn’t part of the answer lie everywhere in terms of the “Right of issues and who elevate and promote mentioned, will know that they can provoke uncon- in facing our own image in the mirror on a daily Return”, Israel’s national sovereignty factors of unnecessary risk to the trollable fear and/or rage. basis? has given Jews of the world greater State of Israel’s existence and sustain- Once the threat or provocation has subsided, peo- freedom, greater independence, a new ability. ple return to normal and I am describing you and Don Krausz sense of identity and belonging and In the face of the dangers to Jewish me. Chairman. Association of Holocaust has unquestionably restored Jewish lives in Israel every day, including the How do we stop ourselves from becoming perpe- Survivors in Johannesburg pride and dignity. threats for Israel’s destruction by its DRAMATIC SHIFT IN RELATIONSHIP WITH ANIMALS NEEDED Jews have become less self-con- enemies in the Middle East, it is nau- scious about expressing their religion, seating to read the continuous con- AS A Jew and vegetarian, I concur with John halachically unacceptable as the product of ille- have become bolder in expressing demnation, the fault finding and the Balcombe, renowned scientist and ethologist, that gitimate means.” (Rabbis and Vegetarianism, their political opinions and can now as ill-informed allegations against the we need to reject the belief that non-humans are Micah pub1995 pg 53) citizens of Israel enjoy diplomatic rep- State of Israel, consciously seeking to objects to be exploited for food and science and The term nefesh chaya “living soul” applied in resentation, protection and commer- undermine Israel’s standing and that we urgently need a new ethic and dramatic Genesis (1:21,1:24) to animals as well as people. cial opportunities in most countries, a security, its rights to defend its citi- shift in our relationship with animals. In terms of our health, in Jewish law the body privilege unknown to any Jewish com- zens and on so many other misguided Nobel prize-winning Yiddish author Isaac needs to be kept healthy so that it is an effective munity before 1948. allegations of human rights abuses Bashevis Singer who lived above a slaughterhouse instrument for the spirit’s activity. Richard Many of those who had previously and breaches of codes of moral con- observed: “There is only one little step from killing Schwartz, PhD maintains that eating meat can be treated Jews with suspicion and con- duct. animals to creating gas chambers à la Hitler and injurious to one’s health. And he (also) refers to tempt, now regard the Jewish people With great respect, it’s time that all concentration camps à la Stalin.” Rabbi Rosen’s contention that it is halachically with a certain respect and as the years the smart Alecs, the smart Richards, Singer saw the disturbing parallels between the prohibited to harm oneself; meat consumption is have passed, even with admiration for the smart professors and certain of systems of confinement, abuse, and slaughter of halachically unjustifiable. (Rabbi David Rosen - their extraordinary progress and their the supersmart religious leadership, Jews and that of factory-farmed animals. While Rabbis and Vegetarianism, Micah, 1995, pg 54.) enormous contribution to society as a considered the adverse consequences the victims are different - except in their ability to In its 1997 position paper on vegetarianism, the whole. to Israel of their dismissive attitudes feel pain, love, joy, fear and grief - the methods of American Dietetic Association stated that scien- Jewish people in the Diaspora have and the damage (to the delight of oppression and persecution are the same. tific data suggest a positive relationship between a grown with pride and confidence both those who daily express the wish to In factory farms animals are crammed together vegetarian diet and reduced risk of chronic as individuals and as a community. exterminate us) that these critical in small, unhealthy spaces violating their natural degenerative diseases, including obesity, coro- Simple logic dictates that by support- allegations and complaints cause to and normal expressions of behaviour. Chickens nary heart disease, hypertension, diabetes and ing and defending the State of Israel, the State of Israel. have their beaks cut off; cows have their horns several types of cancer. Jews in the Diaspora are simultane- The priceless advantages which the pulled from their head; calves (for veal) live their Be it on health or ethical grounds, there ously protecting and defending their State of Israel provides to every Jew lives in tiny stalls unable to lie or move around. appears to be a substantial body of Jewish law very own freedom and liberty. in the world, will only survive Then they are transported in death trucks to the and strong debate on the need to regard animals On these facts alone, it’s not a bad through the broadest possible com- slaughterhouse. (Heather Moore, Care 2) who are sentient beings, with respect and accept- deal for R50 per annum. munity support. Rabbi David Rosen, Israeli Orthodox rabbi and ance that they suffer as we do. So, now let’s give some thought to Respectfully, there can be no com- former chief rabbi of Ireland states that “the cur- life as a Jew without the existence of promise on such an obligation. rent treatment of animals in the livestock trade Heather Howe definitely renders the consumption of meat as , Cape Town 16 - 23 April 2010 SA JEWISH REPORT 15 COMMUNITY COLUMNS ABOVE Critical for Government to allay fears BOARD pressing challenge the Zuma administration turn. This makes it critical for it to take he was synonymous, were diametrically Zev Krengel, has yet to face. Certainly, it has recognised appropriate action to allay people’s fears in opposed to the basic inclusive, nonracial National Chairman the seriousness of the matter. the months to come, not least because it has ethos of our post-apartheid society. The significance of President Jacob Zuma become an international issue as well. Regardless of what Terre’Blanche’s views convening a special press conference for the Its immediate response to the might have been, however, his brutal mur- A column of the SA Jewish Board of Deputies specific purpose of lambasting ANC Youth Terre’Blanche killing cannot be faulted. der, and in a wider sense any incitement to League President Julius Malema for his Despite this being the Easter weekend, top violence or hatred on the basis of race, eth- NOT SURPRISINGLY, the murder of Eugene intemperate statements and behaviour, government officials, including the Minister nicity or any other grounds, is unacceptable Terre’Blanche and possible links between should not be understated. of Police, hastened to meet with the and has no place in the kind of just, peaceful this and the inflammatory rhetoric emanat- Normally, the ruling party sorts its prob- Terre’Blanche family, and an enormous society we are trying to build. ing from the president of the ANC Youth lems out behind closed doors, and it is high- amount of effort is now being put into calm- We do not see there being a specifically League have dominated our media of late. ly unusual for it to publicly censure one of its ing people’s fears and ensuring that matters Jewish angle to this matter. As citizens of The question increasingly being posed is senior office-bearers. do not spiral out of control. this country, however, it is obviously a cause whether this marks a dangerous departure The Government is well aware that it can- Eugene Terre’Blanche was no friend of the for concern and we are monitoring develop- from the principled commitment to non- not allow a situation to develop where a large Jews nor, for that matter, of any minority ments very carefully. racialism and peaceful inter-ethnic co-exis- minority of its citizens feel so threatened group in South Africa outside of his own. As tence that has underpinned South Africa’s that they will become radicalised in their such, he and the AWB movement with which This column is paid for by the SAJBD post-1994 democracy. Fears of an imminent race civil war are certainly exaggerated. In its recent past, South Africa has come a great deal closer to this, without going over the brink. Nevertheless, it is undeniable that the Terre’Blanche murder, coming as it did at a time of already heightened concern over the provocative statements being made, has cre- ated a precarious situation in this country. Defusing this volatile, potentially explo- sive state of affairs is probably the most LETTERS DRAMATIC US TURN-AROUND ON ISRAEL VIRTUALLY UNREPORTED THE DRAMATIC about-turn of its Middle Eastern policy by the United States, on Saturday March 20 and Sunday March 21, of this year, remains largely unreported. Ironically, it was the Arab TV news channel, Al Jazeera, which told most of the story by giving full coverage, “live”, to the speech by US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton in New York, before the Jewish lobby-group, AiPAC, on March 21. The reason was the special attention, suddenly devoted, almost worldwide, to an Orthodox Jewish housing scheme in the eastern part of Jerusalem. Clinton’s speech was deliberately inserted into the AiPAC programme at short notice, in order to precede a previously-arranged address by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. A day earlier, on March 20, we were treated to not only hostile, but even down- right poisonous, anti-Israel statements - not only by Clinton, but also by the US spe- cial envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell. These could have been due to oil-rich Saudi Arabia’s pressure. Saudi Arabia, not only - unwisely - backs Mahmoud Abbas in the “West Bank”, but is infuriated by the rededication of the Churvah Synagogue. But, on Sunday, March 21, already prior to the Clinton speech, the situation reports took on a much milder anti-Israel tone. Even the UN secretary-general’s highly negative comment on the housing scheme (China’s oil-concerns?) was modified. Israel had stood firm and neither China nor the US can afford a Middle Eastern conflagration. Clinton’s AiPAC speech attempted to reconcile two separate policy trends. But she even called the Goldstone Report “deeply flawed” and she reassured Israel of the US’s firm support. So, what’s the answer? Mahmoud Abbas is discredited after losing the general elec- tion in 2006 and sweeping the 2010 election under the carpet. He is clutching at straws. The Orthodox Jewish housing scheme, in eastern Jerusalem, is one of them. The answer could be to ditch Mahmoud Abbas! The only Arab politician with solid support in the “West Bank” is Marwan Bargouti, presently serving three concurrent life-sentences in Israel, for terrorism. As in the case of PW Botha and Nelson Mandela, couldn’t someone like Yuval Steinitz (or even someone from Saudi Arabia) quietly visit Bargouti in jail to find out his bottom-line? Is a presidential par- don by Shimon Peres impossible?

Julian Schragenheim Cape Town

More letters on page 16 16 SA JEWISH REPORT 16 - 23 April 2010

LETTERS The Editor, Suite 175, Postnet X10039, Randburg, 2125 email: [email protected] THERE ARE WIDER ISSUES AT PLAY HERE THAN HATE SPEECH GORDON MISREPRESENTS ATTITUDE OF CHRISTIAN READERS THERE HAS been a huge amount of com- play here. With “The Jury is Out” there is TOWARDS ISRAEL always the agenda of correcting the short- ment on the Goldstone Report, both IN A bizarre coincidence, my Yom Hashoah was very saddening: How could post- comings of a perceived right-wing commu- International and local, the vast majority 2010 did not start at the Jewish Cemetery of Holocaust Jewry allow such disrespect of the nity leadership. A default PC position has of which has been reasoned analysis and Pretoria, but at the early morning mass of perished people in Auschwitz? developed in public discourse that “right” critique, some in great depth, available to the Roman Catholic Church at Sunnyside The climax of the remembrance was, in is wrong and “left” is right. all. (Pretoria) on the same morning of April 11. my opinion, the Partisan Song. To think that The “left” are noble and good and true; One does not have to read, as suggested The priest, Evantus Kene spoke about Mordechaj Anielewicz, the leader of the the “right” are not. This tendency encom- by Mr Justice Dennis Davis (“Play the ball Jews being murdered in gas chambers just Warsaw Ghetto Revolt was singing it in the passes other buzz terms employed regu- not the man”, JR March 26) all 600 pages to because they were “different”. For about 10 weeks before he was gunned down... larly such as “progressive” and “plural- be able to formulate an informed opinion. minutes, he related about Victor Frankl, the However, thousands of Jewish fighters who ism” - whatever these mean. the implica- A few local yokels have indulged in char- Jewish Holocaust survivor who wrote a died for the same cause in the Holy Land, in tion being that the Jewish community’s acter assassination and loshan hora book about his experience (“The Meaning of the last 100 years, were even younger than sensitivity to compassion and human against the person of Justice Richard Life”). I wish I’ll one day have the opportuni- Anielewicz. rights, is held only by self-styled social Goldstone. Yet Davis chooses to focus on ty to read in the SA Jewish Report about It is interesting that the last word that was justice Jews. this small minority, unacceptable as they Victor Frankl’s writings. uttered in the Remembrance was David Forman writing in the Jerusalem are, as if they represented normative com- To my understanding, Victor Gordon mis- “Jerusalem”, because it is the last word of Post states that “there is no rule that says munity values. represented the attitude of Christian read- the Israeli national anthem. Is there mention political and social views must be consis- It is the same tactic used by those who ers towards Israel at the Yom Hashoah of a capital city’s name in any other national tent with one another. The late Knesset complain that every criticism of Israel is remembrance. Just as anti-Zionism infested anthem? member Yuri Shtern (Israel Beitenu) was silenced by being branded anti-Semitic. only a minority of Jews (some of them reli- But Barack Obama with David Axelrod a political rightist and yet was a true The few becomes the whole. There is a dif- gious, the most leftist), so is anti-Zionism not and Rahm Emanuel (both Jewish) on his social democrat whose concern for human ference between loshan hora and, in light infesting mainstream Christians. sides and (pro-”choice”) speaker Nancy rights, both in Israel and the territories, of the outrageous lack of judicial ethics Rather than to lump Christian anti- Pelosi at his back, contrive to compel the made him the deeply moral human being which beggars belief, justifiable question- Zionism with rampant Muslim anti- Jewish nation to share Jerusalem with an he was”. ing of Goldstone’s motives. Zionism/anti-Semitism, he could have com- alien country. The same applies to political leftists who Surely, especially as Davis points out, he pared it to Jewish anti-Zionism. It seems that the Republican (pro-”life”) criticise Israel to promote dialogue was held in such high esteem, (that) The message on behalf of the youth, given Party and the Christian right will not allow it because they genuinely wish for a “better” Goldstone’s conduct of the investigation by Kira Kumin was, of course, touching. I to happen. On the Voice of America news Israel as they see it. The problem lies in was highly uncharacteristic, erratic and wonder, however, if her perception that bulletin of April 12 (05:30 SA time) a study of extreme positions, accusations and lan- irregular not to mention in particular the Judaism was dominating the intellectual life the Institute for Research of Anti-Semitism guage so as to demonise. Hence Goldstone conclusions damning and insulting of a of most of the murdered, corresponds with of the Tel Aviv University, was cited on the is a traitor, Israel is committing genocide whole nation. reality: How many times in his life did occasion of the International Holocaust and apartheid. Communication ceases. Yet, we are asked to censor all these con- Albert Einstein, for example, see the inside Remembrance Day. It clearly vindicated my In fact, it is a pity that these labels of left cerns because it insults and impugns a of a synagogue? Were millions of the mur- remark regarding Gordon’s address. and right should be used at all. distinguished jurist. We must be careful dered Jews not Jewish to the extent that Meaningless generalisations only serve to not to lose perspective. When Davis writes Albert Einstein was? Dan Friediger encourage the “Good Jew / Bad Jew” syn- that “speech directed at the diminution of The keynote address of Anthony Court Pretoria the esteem of a reputation represents an drome. We should be well to remember egregious attack on the dignity of the tar- this in our engagements within our com- geted individual”, I am sure he is not munity to have a better chance of not talk- THE SOURCE OF THE WORD ‘KITKE’ AND ITS SA SOURCE implying that the rest of us without such ing past each other all the time. I REFER to a letter in Jewish Report enquir- German Kitt and the Slavic suffix -ke, which esteemed reputation should not also be We have enough enemies from without. ing after the origin of the word kitke. Did is found in many Yiddish words and names. treated with dignity. you know that Kitke is actually a town in (Like pushke, kishke and katshke) Moreover, No reasonable person can take issue Stephen Paul Lithuania? kitke, as is shown by the Language and with the writer in his condemnation of Was it the town where the first “twisted Culture Atlas of Ashkenazic Jewry, was a hate speech. But there are wider issues at Cape Town loaf of bread” was baked? That remained a Yiddish word restricted entirely to mystery. However, the word is alive and list- Lithuania, where it generally existed in tan- THE WORD ‘KITKE’ GETS SA JEWS A-THINKING ed in Harkavy Yiddish-English Dictionary. dem with khale. This explains why it is so There it is defined as “a twisted loaf”. prevalent to this day among South Africans. GWEN JACOBSON asked about the origin Jewry. In Eastern Europe there were five Volume III of the YIVO Institute for Litvish Yiddish is the reason. of the word “kitke” used in South Africa to other words used to describe challah - Jewish Research’s Language and Culture On a short trip in the “Johannesburg Bible refer to the plaited bread used on Shabbos including kitke. Atlas of Ashkenazic Jewry is devoted to the Belt” on Friday, you will be welcomed by or Yomtov. For some inexplicable linguistic reason, various words by which Sabbath and festival wonderful aromas of warm baked delights Philologos published an article in the the word was in very common usage breads were known to the Jews of Central coming from the many bakeries which are Forward (2005), entitled “South African throughout Lithuania, hence its frequent and Eastern Europe. now offering a variety of different kitkes - Challah”, in which he discussed the matter. usage in South Africa - known in Jewish Although “Challah” or the Yiddish traditional, sweet, wholewheat, rye with (Philologus writes about matters of linguis- terms as a “province” of Lithuania. “Khale” has taken over, nearly eradicating sesame seed or without and more - a real tic interest, particularly pertaining to all of its rivals, five other words exist for taste of Shabbat in Johannesburg. Yes, kitke Yiddish). Cedric Ginsberg such a bread namely berkhes, dacher, koy- is proudly Litvishe South African! The answer to Gwen’s question is con- Johannesburg latsh, shtritsl and kitke. tained, according to him, in an extensive Back to kitke: According to Fred Hamori Naomi Dinur article published in Vol lll of YIVO’s Also see Naomi Dinur’s and Rabbi in his “Tabulation of words”, kitke derived Sunningdale (aka Bible Belt) Language and Culture Atlas of Ashkenazic Liebenberg’s letter on the subject - Editor. from proto FinnUgor. We can also find it in Johannesburg Literary circles mourn the death of Shirley Kossick DR LYNDA GILFILLAN reflected in the way she presented herself: retired to the Peninsula, where she lived in businesslike, neat, meticulously groomed, with her companion, Claudia LITERARY CIRCLES in Cape Town lost a precise both in expression and appearance. Taynton. She remained active in the field of luminary when Professor Shirley Kossick, It is perhaps not surprising that Shirley’s literary studies, becoming a book critic for professor emeritus in English at the first employment was in the business the Mail and Guardian newspaper, a coun- University of South Africa, passed away on world - she excelled in the field of advertis- sellor on the English Academy’s Language February 25 at St Luke’s Hospice in Fish ing - yet, fortunately for her many students Advisory Service, and giving a number of Hoek, Cape Town. Professor Kossick who and followers, her love of literature was a lectures on various topics, such as ‘Women was 76, had fought a long battle against powerful counterforce. and the Booker Prize”. cancer. The self-knowledge and decisiveness Although she had interests in fields as From 1995, the year she retired from the required by a career change (which some diverse as Old and Middle English, Department of English at the University of questioned as dubious), were among Shakespeare and contemporary fiction, South Africa, Shirley Kossick was a well- Shirley’s strongest attributes her particular field of specialisation was known figure among book lovers in Cape Her talents and insights were honed dur- women’s writing, and her lectures ranged Town. Over a 15-year period, she generous- ing a brief spell in England where, shortly across a broad landscape, covering well- ly shared her love and knowledge of litera- after joining Unisa in the 1960s, she took up known international writers such as Zadie ture with people who were captivated by an appointment at the Open University. On Smith and also more obscure local authors her comprehensive lectures on contempo- her return to Unisa, Prof Kossick con- such as Dora Taylor, a fearless advocate of rary writers of fiction. tributed to academic journals and was the human rights who lived in South Africa A formidable figure with an alternately ing a misdirected comment. On such rare editor of the departmental journal, “Unisa from 1926-1963. steely and mischievous stare, Shirley’s occasions, after a brief but telling pause, English Studie”. Second only to Shirley’s love of litera- immediate impact as she stood behind a Shirley would communicate her displeas- She was an editor of “A University ture was her love of fine art, and she num- lectern was to reduce the audience’s chat- ure in a few well-chosen words that unfail- Anthology of English Poetry” as well as bered among her closest friends the late ter to an expectant silence. She would ingly hit their target. the revised “A New University Anthology Cecil Skotnes as well as Cecily Sash - the pause, then launch into the kind of lecture She was fearlessly forthright. I recall her of English Poetry”, published in 1993 - the latter being her co-editor in the study of art that became her signature. riposte to my recommendation that she latter still a prescribed work in the Unisa historian Heather Martienssen, “Art and She was a voracious reader with catholic attend Antony Sher’s performance of English Department. Articles”. Shirley was also the editor of tastes, and she seemed to read every new “Primo”, where he portrayed Auschwitz Yet her abiding love was teaching, and “Insights: Selected Essays of Heather book that arrived on the bookshelves. survivor Primo Levi: “Thank you, Lynda, she guided and inspired countless under- Martienssen”, and wrote the introduction Every so often, she gave a lecture to a vari- but I don’t do the Holocaust as entertain- graduates and also mentored postgraduate to it. ety of audiences on these new arrivals, cov- ment.” students - becoming, eventually, head of Shirley Kossick will be remembered not ering plot, character and theme in an Brevity and directness were her hall- the department’s postgraduate section. only for her incisive mind, but also for her effortless and entertaining manner. Her marks, reflecting a sharpness of mind and Upon retiring from academic life after 30 fierce courage in refusing to allow disease powers of recall were astonishing as she wit that penetrated to the core of an issue. years’ service in the Department of to disengage her from life around her. By moved from one book to the next. A no-frills type, she used language as a English, she was made professor emeritus. opening up other worlds to those she During question time, only a fool would tool of communication rather than a Born in , the only child of encountered, she has left the world a rich- risk asking an irrelevant question or offer- means of embellishment. This was also Margaret and Sydney Kossick, Shirley er, more resonant place. 16 - 23 April 2010 SA JEWISH REPORT 17

LETTERS The Editor, Suite 175, Postnet X10039, Randburg, 2125 email: [email protected]

A RABBI RESPONDS TO THE KITKE DEBATE denotes a loaf. Although I am a third generation South I AM responding to Gwen Jacobson’s Goldfein, having spent many years in Some years ago I was studying the excel- African, I believe it is important to pre- request for more information regarding South Africa, used the word “kitke” when lent work on Jewish law entitled “Aruch serve the traditions of our Lithuanian for- the word “kitke”. As she correctly states, referring to the Shabbat bread, prompting HaShulchan” by Rabbi Yechiel Michel bears who had a unique manner of observ- the word is used almost exclusively by his host to comment that he had not heard Epstein (1829-1908) of Navardok, Lithuania. ing Judaism and whose style of Torah South African Jews of Lithuanian origin. that word since his youth in “der heim”. In the section about Purim (Orach Chaim learning has been mimicked in almost However, it is not a South African inven- Apparently it comes from the word 695:7) the author notes that it was custom- every yeshiva. Words like kitke should not tion of the 20th century, but has its roots in “braid” in the Lithuanian language, since ary to place on the festival table “the be allowed to disappear from the mouths of pre-First World War Lithuania. Every traditionally Shabbat bread consists of sev- important bread called kitke”. our youth. country in Europe had its own dialect of eral plaits. This is perhaps a more accurate Obviously this was a delicacy in Yiddish and when Jews immigrated to description than that conveyed by the Lithuania reserved for special occasions Rabbi Matthew Liebenberg countries such as America, Australia or Hebrew word “challah”, which simply such as Purim, Yomtov and Shabbat. Claremont, Cape Town Canada, the immigrant population would generally use the dialect of the majority group. That is why words such as “kitke” fell into disuse in the United States. Many Lithuanian Jews began to use the words, phrases and pronunciation of the predominantly Polish dialect of Yiddish, including “bubby” instead of “bobba” and “zeidy” instead of “zeida”. However, many older “Litvaks” pre- served their unique dialect and held on to the words of their youth. My late rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi AC Goldfein, of blessed memory, once related that while on a visit to his native America, he spent Shabbat with one of his teachers at the famed Telshe Yeshiva in Cleveland. The faculty of the Yeshiva at the time consisted largely of Lithuanian rabbis who had escaped the Holocaust. Rabbi STILL MORE LIGHT SHED ON THE ELUSIVE CHOIR PHOTOGRAPH I READ the article in the Jewish Report of March 26 (page 28) headlined: More light on the elusive choir photograph and noticed a picture of myself. I therefore wish to correct and provide some additional information. Number 30 is not Trevor Nathan but myself, Vernon Nathan. Trevor is my broth- er. Number 32 is a photograph of Ian Merkel who lives in Vancouver, Canada. I still have the original photograph taken at that time.

Vernon Nathan Johannesburg 18 SA JEWISH REPORT 16 - 23 April 2010

YOUTH TALK Alison Goldberg [email protected] From a lofty ideal to a practical outcome JORDAN MOSHE, GRADE 10 PHOTOGRAPH SUPPLIED

WHEN I look back at how far Yeshiva College’s Pesach appeal project has come, it feels surreal. I guess it started like all things start, with an idea and ended up with an amount of approaching R40 000. I remember thinking: “How do I go about raising money SAUJS committee members are pictured with kids from the Just One Child Orphanage. for an appeal?” From there everything just Back: Rafael Eliasov; Carine Pick; Ori Tobias; Daniel Lifshitz; Itai Propheta; and Joshua slowly fell into place. Schewitz. Middle: Daniella Propheta; David Simmons; Mpho; Megan Barlin; Valencia; Managing a Pesach appeal was not going Jordan Moshe handing over some of the Joseph; Sarit Swis; Janet; Petra; and Yaffit Swisa. Front: Stephanie Hodes with Thembi. to be easy, but when the determination is money to Hedley Lewis of the Chevrah there, anything can be accomplished. Kadisha. As the head of the Yeshiva Chessed Committee, I had to decide on a new money the next day. And that was just the SAUJS again spreads its fundraising project for a worthy cause, and start of a huge turnaround. nothing seemed more worthy than donating And obviously, when the money came in, to the Chevrah Kadisha for Pesach. the race was on. Not only were the grade 10s After much thought and preparation, the involved, but the grade 8 girls also wanted to helping hand far and wide Pesach appeal was launched at our school. be a part of this, and joined in with vigour. The plan was formulated that any high Slowly, one thing led to another; the grade 7 STEPHANIE HODES At Just One Child the kids are clothed, school class could donate money and the boys soon joined in. And already, things NATIONAL CHAIRMAN, SAUJS fed, and cared for by loving volunteers. class that raised the most would win a trip to were looking a whole lot better. PHOTOGRAPH SUPPLIED. SAUJS kept them busy with a chocolate egg- Gold Reef City. Money kept coming in for the whole week, hunt, followed by icing Marie biscuits and After the project was launched, I remem- and the competition was tough. Even ALL SAUJS’ focus lately has been on com- making Fruitloop necklaces, and after ber thinking that the road would be easy moments before Friday’s deadline, dona- munity work, and it has been committed to lunch the boys played soccer and the girls from there. However, it didn’t turn out like tions were brought in. And by the end of the doing its bit for those less fortunate than our- had a dancing competition. that, as by the middle of week two of three, day, we had raised an amazing R36 000! It selves. The children were delighted with the we had under R500 donated, and our positiv- was truly unbelievable! Our recent event, ‘Sing for your Supper”, goodie bags we gave them, that were filled ity took a dive. I would like to thank everyone who helped that took place on March 17, was a resound- with bubbles, pens and stickers, and I remember how despondent I felt. The us, but there are particular thanks that I ing success. Students turned out in their enjoyed the company of the energetic bunch project was looking grim and it looked like want to make. Firstly, I want to thank Mrs numbers to sing karaoke for charity, had fun, of students who came to bring a little joy no money would be given to the Chevrah Bloch and Rav Perez for giving me the and raised R4 500 for IkamvaYouth, a non- into their lives. this year. opportunity to run such a project, which will profit organisation that enables young South In Cape Town, SAUJS committee mem- But suddenly a miracle happened in an hopefully start many more. Africans to get themselves out of poverty and bers have been volunteering at the Haven instant. While sitting in class, one of my I want to thank my friends and family for into university or employment. Shelter soup kitchen in Claremont which is friends approached me and said: “Hey, has their encouragement and support, without This amazing organisation provides after- currently providing temporary shelter to 18 anyone given money to the Pesach appeal which I would have given up all hope. And school academic support, mentoring, com- adults, as a result of the Claremont bypass yet?” and I shook my head and replied: “It’s lastly, but most certainly not least, the class- puter classes, HIV awareness workshops, road having caused the destruction of the not looking too great...” es that took part in the project - the grade 7s, testing and counselling and extracurricular old shelter. Suddenly his face broke into a massive 8s and the grade 10s, who I also wish to con- activities to learners in grades 9 to 12. It was The community portfolio within the grin and he said: “So, we can win the trip?” I gratulate on their winning the competition an honour to have been able to contribute to SAUJS structure is one that is both impor- laughed and said: “If you bring in enough This project has really been brilliant and I this admirable cause. tant and valuable to us, and under the funds.” And he was gone, calling out to the hope we can have many more like it, or even On Sunday April 4, SAUJS members threw exceptional leadership of community offi- rest of the class, telling them all to bring better than this one. an Easter Party for the children of Just One cers Megan Barlin, Sarit Swisa and Nathan Child Orphanage in Wendywood. The Rose, students are thriving on the opportu- orphanage is home to 10 children between nity to be able to give of themselves, not the ages of five and 14, some with disabilities only to the Jewish community, but to our Lots of fun and laughter with and others orphaned by HIV/Aids. broader South African one too. a visit from Little Bright Stars Oh, what fun on top of a horse! MELISSA BRAITHWAITE Herzlia’s beautiful new playground and PHOTOGRAPHER: MAUREEN SHAGAM making friends with the visitors. REPORT AND PHOTOGRAPH BY RABBI Little Bright Stars has invited Herzlia MOTTI HADAR THE MIDDLE group children from to come and visit their school, in Herzlia in Cape Town were very excited to and Herzlia looks forward to A YUD SHVAT campaign at Torah welcome visitors from Little Bright Stars, such a visit next term. Academy Boys’ High spanned three weeks a pre-school in Heideveld. A special thank you to Jacqui d’Offay, of classes during break, spot quizzes, Twenty two children arrived on the day Mandy Goldberg and June Hayman, for Sunday davening, adding stringencies in and they joined our children for some music making the day such a success. their personal Judaism, with the climax: a and fun. Percussion, day of fun with the reward of horse-riding singing and dancing, at a ranch near Soweto, topped with pizza enabled the children to get at Michelo’s, bowling in Bramley, swim- to know each other. ming, and a braai at the home of Ari and Fruit and sandwiches Chani Zwick. were shared under the Pictured are Menachem Deutch, Mendy trees in Herzlia’s new Wineberg and Yudi Segal on horseback. play area after each school said their differ- ent prayers. Fun activities were set Netzer’s Shabbaton Shorashim: up on the outside veran- dahs for the children. The most fun was had, Discovery of our roots though, with the simple SOFIA ZWAY peulot about Pesach. joy of playing in Channichim learnt more about their own THREE WEEKS after an incredible identity and the meaning of Pesach in their Hadracha seminar, Gauteng’s talented lives. There were many fun games, deli- KDVP madrichim put their skills into practice at cious meals and unbreakable bonds, Netzer’s Shabbaton Shorashim. shared by all. The huge success of The theme of the sleepover, Shorashim Shabbaton Shorashim serves as a positive High’s new (meaning roots), provided channichim and indication of the exciting year ahead that madrichim with a diverse educational Netzer has planned. Junior theme to discover. The Shabbaton began As madrichim, we aim to educate and with Netzer madrichim leading the service inspire our channichim. The truth is that at Beit Emanuel. The service was thor- we are educated and inspired by the incred- Councillors oughly enjoyed by all. ible channichim who attend this move- STORY AND PHOTOGRAPH BY As the weekend progressed, the amount ment. Netzer is not just a place where chil- YAEL GORDON of ruach and kef grew rapidly. The 19 chan- dren come to learn. It is a place where we nichim who attended the event, were treat- are inspired to harness our Judaism. KING DAVID High School ed to a fun-filled, educational weekend, the It is a place where we are inspired by our Victory Park’s Johannesburg Netzer way. leaders to become leaders. It is a place Junior Councillors for 2010 - Activities included peulot about where friendships are made. Netzer is a 2011, are Galit Seligman and Jewish/South African identity, a Parshat home away from home... the perfect place Saul Moross, pictured here. Hashavuah activity about sacrifices and for your children to be. 16 - 23 April 2010 SA JEWISH REPORT 19

YOUTH TALK Alison Goldberg [email protected] Pine Street tots raring to go STORY AND PHOTOGRAPH BY HAILEY FOX

THE PUPILS from Pine Street Play School pic- tured here - Benjamin Levin; Mia Berger; and Jessica Woznica - could not wait to get back in the sandpit in their play- ground when school Reminiscing about Herzlia are Eric Michaels; Gordon Futeran; Eliot reopened last week Osrin; and Gerald Kleinman. Monday. Herzlia at 70 Look at these Hebrew celebrates in style TRACY KLASS be a stimulating debate between Pre-Primary busy bees! PHOTOGRAPH BY ANDREW the Herzlia debating team and EMDON some of the school’s world-class STORY AND PHOTOGRAPH BY alumni. For more information SUE BENJAMIN HERZLIA SCHOOLS have turned e-mail Mark Helfrich on 70. And to mark this glorious [email protected] The children at Sydenham occasion, the city’s Jewish com- • Alumni Golf Day on Thursday Hebrew Pre-Primary have had munity is celebrating with the August 5: for more information school. e-mail Tanya Golan on a lot of fun building with Herzlia is one of the jewels in [email protected] coloured crates in the garden. the crown of the Cape Town • Shul services will be held at all Jordan Jacobson is hard at Jewish community. Over 5 500 shuls on Friday night August 6 work! Eitan Miller, Yoni Porter pupils together with their par- and Saturday morning the 7th. and Jordan Mosselson are sit- ents, have passed through our Services will be run jointly by ting at their computers! doors over the last 70 years. “Let the congregation and Herzlia us make this a year to remem- alumni, co-ordinated by the ber,” the schools are urging par- Jewish studies department of ents, friends, former Herzlians Herzlia. Contact Goldie Norris and learners. on 464-3310 or e-mail her on A “Herzlia Heroes Cocktail [email protected] Party” was held on Thursday • Gala dinner, Sunday night March 18, to kick off the celebra- August 8. The venue has still to Congratulations tions, where the chairman and be confirmed. Tickets will be the chairman of the board of available through the schools’ trustees who hosted the event, PTAs. Details will be published to KDL’s Kate thanked and honoured all those at a later date. lay leaders who gave so gener- • Herzlia soccer jerseys: - “Player ously of their time to make 70” soccer jerseys have been and Hillel Herzlia the success that it is. designed for Herzlians to wear “Celebrate 70” is a stage show on Fridays. These magnificent JODI STARKOWITZ starring Herzlians past and pres- personalised shirts are avail- ent, to mark the 70th celebra- able from Dafna at a cost of KING DAVID High School Linksfield’s newly-appointed tions. R150 to R180, depending on size. Johannesburg Junior City Councillors are Kate Directed by Roxy Levy and her Contact Sharon, (021) 551-7481 Berkenfeld and Hillel Tradonsky. artistic team of Linda or e mail [email protected] Gawronsky; Jacqui Kowen; Ivor United Herzlia Schools’ 70th Joffe; Aviva Pelham; and Selwyn AGM will be held on May 12. Shapiro, the function will be held “Fan Park” in the Middle on Monday May 31 at the CTICC School for the duration of the With bated Auditorium 1 at 17:00 and 20:00. Soccer World Cup, will provide a Tickets will be R120 for adults safe and secure environment for and R60 for learners and are Herzlians, parents and family to breath, watching available through the PTAs, or watch the World Cup, eat wonder- contact Rynette Ritz on (021) 464- ful food and get into the vibe. 3300 or [email protected] Herzlian alumni are planning the eggs hatch Herzlia will host a host of reunions all around the world. events from August 1 - 8. Some of Contact Paula Cohen at the alum- SHEVA MESSIAS, PRINCIPAL. the highlights are: ni office on (021) 464-3393, or on PHOTOGRAPH: ROMY ADLER • Alumni versus pupils debate on [email protected] for more Tuesday August 3, promises to information. After vigilantly watching and monitoring eggs in an incubator at Yiddish Folk and patiently waiting for them to hatch, the thrill of finally holding these adorable fluffy chicks, was great! Pictured are Michael Gingell and Jake Herman. When the tots literally saw red STORY AND PHOTOGRAPH BY SANDRA HIRSCH

EVERY WEEK at Rosabelle Klein (Waverley) Nursery School, the children learn about a new colour. Last week they learned about red so on Thursday, all of them dressed in red. Lauren Kier shares the colour with the children in the younger group. They are sur- rounded in red - red clothes, red tablecloth, red building blocks and even red pictures in the background! It also means stop when you see a RED traffic light. Lauren Kier with her kids celebrating the colour red. 20 SA JEWISH REPORT 16 - 23 April 2010

WHAT’S ON Barry Bilewitz [email protected]

NOTE: Deadline for all entries is 12:00 on the Friday Contact (011) 645-2500 or (011) 645-2523. Israel’s fallen, in the Solly Liebgott Hall at the Yeshiva • Second Innings Tea n Talk is hosting Ros Lamont prior to publication. • South African Zionist Federation (SAZF), campus in Glenhazel, at 18:30. Everyone very wel- who will talk on “Humour in Literature”. Johannesburg - Beyachad, 2 Elray Street, Raedene. come. For more information call Miriam Garb on Key to organisations, venues, Contact Froma, (011) 645-2505. (011) 645-2531, fax her on (011) 640-1992 or e-mail Monday (April 26) contact details and cost: • The Israel Centre. Contact Debbie (011) 645-2560. [email protected] • The Jewish National Fund (JNF) Choir, Beyachad, 2 Elray • WIZO SA launches “Campaign 2010” with WIZO India • Beyachad Resource Centre/Library, 2 Elray St, St, Raedene. Contact Crystal Kaplan. 083-376-5999. • Temple Israel in Port Elizabeth is hosting a 3 km Leo President Yael Jhirad in Durban. Raedene, 2192. Norma Shulman (011) 645-2567. e- • The Jewish Outlook Team. Contact Ryan Cane. Baeck Memorial fun run/walk and shuk at 09:30. mail:[email protected] Support line: 27 76 215 8600; e-mail info@jewishout Enter on day from 08:00 at 7A Upper Dickens Street, • UJW Johannesburg presents Ian Sher on “Rescue • Bikkur Cholim - Jewish Society for Visiting the Sick, look.org.za; website www.jewishoutlook.org.za Central. Lucky draw at 10:15. R20 per adult, R10 per Mission in Haiti” at 09:30. 7A Chester Road, Greenside East, Johannesburg. • The Jewish Women’s Benevolent Society (JWBS) - under 13. Contact: Yona (041) 373-6642/084 771- Joy Gafin (011) 447-6689. Sandringham Gardens, 85 George Avenue Sandringham 1866. Wednesday (April 28) • CAJE - College of Adult Jewish Education, 2192. Contact Carolyn Sabbagh. (011) 485-5232. Sydenham Highlands North Shul (011)640-5021. • The Simcha Friendship and Cultural Circle (SFCC), • Second Innings Tea n Talk presents Prof Emeritus • Balfour Park Parkinson’s Disease Support Group is • CSO - Emergency phone number 086 18 000 18. Johannesburg - Sandton Shul. Contact Sylvia Shull, Trefor Jenkins on “Darwin, Race and Slavery”. meeting in the board room at Randjes Estate at 10:00. • ELBM - Emunah Ladies Beit Midrash. 60 Mejon St (011) 783-5600. Meetings on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd A member of the St John Ambulance Foundation will Glenhazel. (011) 887-2910. “Lessons of our Lives” Wednesday of every month at Sandton Shul at 10:00 • RCHCC is screening “Heir to an Execution” at 19:30. speak on and demonstrate basic first aid and how to course on Wednesdays at 10:00. R350 for the unless stated otherwise. Were the Rosenbergs traitors or heroes? deal with choking, falls and other emergencies. course or R50 per shiur. • The United Sisterhood, 38 Oxford Road Parktown. Contact Rosemary Burke on (011) 640-3919. • FFHS - Friendship Forum for Holocaust Survivors, Contact Marian (011) 646-2409. website: www.unit Monday (April 19) Second Generation and Members of the Community edsisterhood.co.za • UJW Cape Town presents David Davidson on “South Affected by the Holocaust. Presentations held at the • Tiyulim (Jewish Outdoor Club) - Contact Martin 082- • UJW Johannesburg presents Bev Goldman on “Israel Africa at the Chelsea Flower Show 2009”. Gerald Horwitz Lounge, Golden Acres, 85 George 965-7419 or Greg 082-959-9026 Beyond the Conflict” at 09:30. Ave, Sandringham • Union of Jewish Women (UJW), Johannesburg - 1 • UJW Johannesburg presents Dr Lorraine Chaskalson • HOD - Hebrew Order of David International. HOD Oak Street Houghton. Contact (011) 648-1053. Cost Tuesday (April 20) on “Unlocking Paradise Lost” at 09:30. Centre Oaklands Road, Orchards. Office (011) 640 R15 for the Friendship Luncheon Club and a R20 3017 - [email protected] donation for lectures unless otherwise stated. • UJW Johannesburg will host Estelle Sher on Wednesday (May 3) • JAFFA - Jewish Accomodation for Fellow Aged. • Union of Jewish Women (UJW), Cape Town - (021) Beethoven’s 9th Symphony (Choral) Part I. Venue: (012) 346-2007/8. 434-9555, e-mail: [email protected]. 301 Eton Place, Kernick Ave, Melrose North. Time: • UJW Johannesburg presents Clem Sunter on “The • KDSF - King David Schools’ Foundation. King David • UJW Cape Town AED Programme - Venue: 09:45 to 12:00. Donation R30. World and South Africa Beyond 2010” at 09:30. Alumni [email protected] (011) 480-4723. Stonehaven, Albany Road, Sea Point. Time: 10:00 for • Nechama Bereavement Counselling Centre - Room 10:30. Entrance: R15.00 (incl refreshments). Zionist Federation Yom Ha’atzmaut celebrations at Tuesday (May 4) A304, 3rd Floor, Hospital Wing, Sandringham • United Zionist Luncheon Club (UZLC), Johannesburg - Gold Reef City. 13:00-19:00. Fun for all. Tickets R50 Gardens, 85 George Avenue, Sandringham, 2192. Our Parents Home. Contact Gloria, (011) 485-4851 or from Jewish Schools or from (011) 645-2550/2512. • UJW Johannesburg will host Estelle Sher on Contact (011) 640-1322. 072-127-9421. Beethoven’s 9th Symphony (Choral) Part II. Venue: • New Friendship Ladies’ Group - A group for single • UOS- Union of Orthodox Synagogues (011) 485- Wednesday (April 21) 301 Eton Place, Kernick Ave, Melrose North. Time: women - contact Lucille (011) 791-5226 or 082- 4865. E-mail: [email protected]. Fax 086-610-3442 09:45 to 12:00. Donation R30. 927-5786. • WIZO Johannesburg - Beyachad, 2 Elray Street • UJW Cape Town presents Sally Frankental on “The • ORT and ORTJET South Africa - 44 Central Street, Raedene. Contact Joyce Chodos (011) 645-2548 or Open Society - Meeting, Dating and Marrying Out”. • WIZO Tuesday Movie Club is screening “Turn Left at Cnr 10th Ave, Houghton. Contact (011) 728-7154. Sandy Kramer (011) 645-2515. Email: wizopublic the End of the World” at 09:30 at Beyachad. • Preview Theatre - 9 Valerie Crescent, Bagleyston, [email protected] • UJW Johannesburg outing to William Kenbridge’s (011) 640-1061. garden at 72 Houghton Drive, Houghton at 10:00. Wednesday (May 5) • Rabbi Cyril Harris Community Centre (RCHCC) and Today Friday (April 16) Donation R30. Booking essential: (011) 648-1053. Great Park Shul, Johannesburg. Contact Hazel, (011) • UJW Johannesburg presents Dr Lorraine Chaskalson 728-8088 or Rene Sidley (011) 728-8378. Cost usu- • SA Jewish Museum Cape Town is holding the Thursday (April 22) on “Unlocking Paradise Lost” at 09:30. ally R50, including refreshments. “Memories of Muizenberg” exhibition until June 11. • SAIJE - Sandton Adult Institute of Jewish Education, Contact (021) 465-1546 for details. • WIZO SA launches “Campaign 2010” with WIZO Monday (May 10) Sandton Shul. E-mail: [email protected]. India President Yael Jhirad in Cape Town. Functions (011) 883-4210. • UZLC presents Jack Bloom, on “Reflections on a Visit at 09:30 and 19:45. Venue: President Hotel, Sea • UJW Johannesburg presents Hilary Joffe on “Nation- • Second Innings, Johannesburg - Jewish Community to Gamla in the Golan”. Point. alisation and Other Policies of the ANC” at 09:30. Services - Donald Gordon Centre, 85 George Avenue Sandringham. Their group meets at the Gerald Sunday (April 18) Friday (April 23) Wednesday (May 12) Horwitz Lounge, Golden Acres, 85 George Avenue Sandringham every Sunday morning for tea at 10:00 • WIZO SA launches “Campaign 2010” with WIZO India • UZLC presents Ilan Solomons, national liaison officer, • UJW Johannesburg presents Dr Lorraine Chaskalson followed by the meeting at 10:30. Contact Grecia President Yael Jhirad. She will appear in Johannesburg SAUJS, on “The State of Student Activism in 2010”. on “Unlocking Paradise Lost” at 09:30. Gabriel (011) 532-9718 for information. today, tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. • Society of Israel Philately (SIP) - [email protected]. Sunday (April 25) • WIZO Fortnightly Forum invites you to join them for Contact Maurice (011) 485-2293. • The Embassy of Israel, SAZF, Israel Centre, IUA-UCF breakfast with Israeli Deputy Chief of Mission Ya’akov • South African Jewish Board of Deputies and Zionist youth movements will be hosting the • WIZO SA launches “Campaign 2010” with WIZO Finkelstein. Entrance R80. Booking essential. Contact (Johannesburg) - Beyachad, 2 Elray Street, Raedene. annual Yom Hazikaron ceremony to commemorate India President Yael Jhirad in Port Elizabeth. Sandy (011) 645-2515. THE BRIDGE LOUNGE by Jeff Sapire CROSSWORD NO 158

LIKE EVERYTHING else, the game of bridge es East would have to take some action, with BY LEAH SIMON has changed too. One of the biggest develop- double being best. West would clearly remove ACROSS 12. Give gripe a go, badly, for series of ments is the use of computers to analyse hands it to 5S, which would end the auction, and this 1. Etch Penny - she’s uncooked (4) chord tones (8) and to come up with the best ways to play and contract would come home on any lead. 3. Goes rigid, with four points around the 15. Claim era is mean (7) defend. But let’s look at 5D by South and start off argument (8) 16. Dances around, to go up (6) simply. Suppose the defence lead and continue South dealer, neither vul 8. Smell awful, but have the right to 18. ——- Villa, UEFA football club (5) either clubs or spades. Declarer ruffs, draw NORTH exclaim in surprise (4) 19. Arm or leg concealed by kelim buyers two rounds of trumps and plays a heart. When 983 9. These swine drive a really bad deal! (4, 4) (4) the king appears, he takes the ace and then A10952 11. How a cricketer acts to assert inde- leads the ten from dummy and runs it, making 74 pendence? (3, 3, 3, 3) SOLUTION TO CROSSWORD NO 157 11 tricks. 1075 13. ——— Panza, Don Quixote’s compan- ACROSS: 1. Veal; 3. Marigold; 8. Vase; 9. All very well, but what happens if West WEST EAST ion (6) Swabbing; 11. Scrambled egg; 13. Candle; decides to lead the king of hearts instead? Of KJ10752 AQ6 14. A very loud song for the matter (6) 14. Shrill; 17. Mezzo soprano; 20. Givenchy; course this is not a likely lead, but remember, K J874 17. How the set designer draws unwel- 21. Ahab; 22. Done deal; 23. Very. we are using GIB now, and trying to find the 5 Q3 come attention? (6, 1, 5) DOWN: 1. Vivisect; 2. Also ran; 4. As well; solution. The effect of this lead is that it has Q9632 AKJ4 20. True about rind - and the trespasser (8) 5. In bad shape; 6. Owing; 7. Dogs; 10. removed an entry from the dummy prema- SOUTH 21. Admirer gets 1 000 for the long, sharp Emblazoned; 12. Algoa Bay; 15. Ivanhoe; turely. 4 tooth (4) 16. Asthma; 18. Erven; 19. Aged. In order to make the extra heart trick, Q63 22. Bad fine adds nothing - but trumps have to be drawn first, else West will AKJ109862 it’s quite legitimate (4, 4) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ruff immediately. But if you draw trumps by C 8 23. Forbid bad vote (4) playing the A-K you cannot get back to Probably the best computer programme dummy to take the heart finesse against DOWN 8 9 around is GIB, and after a session at many East’s jack. 1. Sleepy creature sour about tournaments in South Africa, if you collect a The solution? You have to specifically lead mode (8) 10 sheet of the hand records, there is a square box the seven of diamonds from dummy at trick 2. Welsh mining village in which shows what contracts can be made in all two. If East covers, you then play the two of which 116 children were 11 the suits and NT, with the exact number of diamonds to dummy’s four, and then play killed in a colliery disaster 12 tricks. hearts as before. And if East doesn’t cover, in 1966 (7) GIB has changed the game for the experts, you can now run the ten of hearts from 4. The kind of truck that 13 14 15 allowing them to look much further into dummy, as West is out of trumps. weighs 1 814,37 kg (3, 3) hands, but one must of course be aware that GIB never makes mistakes, and there is 5. Finds at fag, somehow - but 16 the analysis is double dummy - that is, the com- always an answer. dying rapidly (6, 4) 17 18 puter is looking at all four hands, and may (Every Tuesday (intermediate) and 6. ——- Gay, US aircraft that sometimes make plays that would not be con- Wednesday (advanced), I run bridge workshops dropped the atomic bomb 19 sidered normal or standard. from 10:00 – 12:00 at the Great Park Shul - alter- over Hiroshima (5) A friend showed me this recent hand, where nating play hands one week and a bidding lec- 7. Like this, again - not very 20 21 GIB said 5D can always be made, and it got me ture on the other. Venue: Corner Glenhove Rd good (4) thinking. Have a look yourself and see if you and 4th Ave, Houghton. For more information, 10. Dutch courage? No - can figure it out. call me on 076-341-1411 or e-mail me at jeff- American courage, they 22 23 I’d open 5D as dealer here, but after two pass- [email protected]) say! (5, 5) 16 - 23 April 2010 SA JEWISH REPORT 21 Jewish Brides:

SMS Code 70 SMS Code 72 Now the ‘great Andrea Falk SMS Code71 Jeanine (née Bruyns) Loren Danilewitz(née Groom: Salkinder (née Blumenau) wait’ is here Daniyel Samowitz) Groom: Saul Married: Groom: Wayne Married: OWN CORRESPONDENT March 22 2010 Married: November 8 THE POPULAR bridal competition, a joint effort between Chuppah: August 5 2009 2009 WIZO Aviv Shaff and the SA Jewish Report, with Oxford Shul Chuppah: Chuppah: Lechaim.co.za providing online voting facilities, has run Photographer: Great Park Shul Oxford Shul its course. The deadline was March 31. Ilan Photographer: Photographer: Jewish Report will still publish photographs of brides Ossendryver Toni Jade Bruno Gila who entered BEFORE the deadline, but whose photo- graphs only arrived AFTER the deadline. This competition has rightly so, become a highlight on the Jewish social calendar. The function to announce the winning bride will take place on May 30. The stunning array of brides which we have already published on our pages over many months, is testimony to the fact that there are no losers here - they are all winners. This is why the public, by voting online for their favourite SMS Code 73 SMS Code 74 SMS Code 75 bride, can assist the panel of experts in charge of judging. Tarryn Davis Donnay Simone Download your entry forms or vote for your favourite (née Milner) Wizman (née Schneider (née brides online at www.Lechaim.co.za Groom: Russell Baetz) Goldman) Please SMS “WIZO” and “Number of Bride” to 34008 to vote via SMS. Unlimited SMS entries allowed. SMSes are Married: Octo- Groom: Yaron Groom: Grant charged at R2 each. All proceeds are donated to WIZO ber 14 2009 Married: March Married: Jan- Each bride has been assigned an SMS code (it appears at Chuppah: 14 2010 uary 14 2010 her entry) and friends, family and the public are encour- Campbell Chuppah: Chuppah: aged to go online and SMS their vote as per the instruc- House Sandton Shul Waverley Shul tions above. Photographer: Photographer: Photographer: There again will be a host of mouth-watering prizes to Quinton Quinn Trevor Sachs Toni Jade be won by the bridal beauties. Rolene Marks and Sandy Kramer are the WIZO contact persons. They can be reached at (011) 645-2522 or on email: [email protected] The brides on the shortlist must be present in Johannesburg at the time of judging. The top 25 finalists must be in Johannesburg for the final interview judging, SMS Code 76 at their own expense, or they will be disqualified. Mandy Lee SMS Code 78 The winner must become an active member of WIZO for Solomon (née SMS Code 77 Belinda one year following the competition. Davis) Bianca Rabbie (née All photographs submitted were judged with the origi- Groom: Darryn Sidelsky (née Shapiro) nal photograph, so no digital images were permitted. Married: Talpert) Groom: Eddie November 22 Groom: Russ Married: March Please send in your photograph with: 2009 Married: 11 2010 Bride's first and maiden names Chuppah: February 21 Chuppah: Yeshiva Glen- 2010 Suikerbossie, Groom's name hazel Chuppah: HOD Cape Town Place of chuppah Photographer: Photographer: Photographer: Date of wedding Greg Reynolds Toni Jade Brian Tjasink Name of photographer Contact telephone number (bride)

Contact telephone number (groom)

SMS Code 79 SMS Code 80 E-mail address Lauren Gerson Nicole Penn (née Grittman) (née Kurland) Postal address Groom: Dean Groom: Marc SMS Code 81 postcode Married: Married: Kayla Canin Cell number January 14 March 23 2010 (née Ferrer) Signature, consenting to the printing of this photo- 2010 Chuppah: Groom: Greg graph Chuppah: Ron- Suikerbossie, Married: March Would you like to get your photographs back? YES / mar Road, Cape Town 18 2010 NO Morningside Photographer: Chuppah: Note: No entries will be accepted unless all the fields Photographer: Sandton Shul Clifford Alexan- (name, telephone number, e-mail address etc) are Christiaan der Photographer: filled in correctly. David Mario Sales

SMS Code 82 Hanni Ress (née Rosenfeld) Groom: Gavi Married: June 9 2009 Chuppah: Suiker- bossie, Cape Town Photographer: Shawn Benjamin 22 SA JEWISH REPORT 16 - 23 April 2010

IMPORTANT NOTICE THE JEWISH REPORT RUNS ADVERTS IN THE CLASSIFIED SECTION IN GOOD FAITH, HOWEVER WE WOULD LIKE OUR READERS TO KNOW WE CANNOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE QUALITY OF SERVICES OFFERED AND CLAIMS MADE.

HOW TO PLACE A CLASSIFIED ADVERT: 1. Only adverts sent via email to [email protected] will be accepted. 2. You will be advised on cost & payment details. 3. Payment is prior to the advert appearing. 4. DEADLINE for BOOKING and PAYMENT is Tuesday 12pm. If deadline is missed the advert will appear (when payment is received) in the next edition. Our banking Classifieds details: SA Jewish Report, Nedbank Randburg, Account To book your classified notice or advert contact: Tel (011) 023-8160, Fax 086-634-7935, email: [email protected] Number: 1984 514 865, Branch Code: 198405

NOTICES COMMUNITY NOTICES PERSONAL BEAUTY & HEALTH LIFTS LIFTS CONSECRATIONS SOULMATES ISRAEL CENTRE COUNTRYWIDE-MANY AIRPORT SERVICE CAPE TOWN GAUTENG AND CAPE JHB SHUTTLE MEMBERS COMING TO Will be hosting the Israel RESULTS; 181 COUPLES CONNECT EXPO end of MARRIED! 261 COUPLES Reliable, CAPE TOWN? MATCHED! Reasonable Rates! AFFORDABLE May. We’re looking for MAZELTOV TO JEFF & ANN, Contact Arnold, RATES. people selling Israeli arts, ON YOUR ENGAGEMENT! 082-447-0185 AIRPORT BEAUTIFUL/HANDSOME SIN- 011-454-1193 crafts & products. GLES SEEK MATCHES TRANSFERS Please contact Anneri Beautiful musician 34yr; hand- FROM R180 some attorney 25yr; pretty AIRPORT SHUTTLE NEW or Debbie @ blonde teacher 24yr; beautiful ----- R150 ---- COMFORTABLE airhostess 32yr; stunning CA From Glenhazel / Senderwood / (011) 645-2528/60 or VEHICLE 39yr (in London); handsome CARE Lyndhurst areas. Reasonable [email protected] grad (Shomrei) 31yr; handsome rates from all other areas. PHONE ANDY grad (owner large co) 55yr; COMPANION/CAREGIVER SAM (011) 728-5219 082-336-9780 handsome advocate 69yr; pretty with nursing background, avail 083-627-8516 psychologist 26yr; pretty estate to live in. Excellent refs avail. CHELSEA EXECUTIVE agent (own bus) 43yr, beautiful Very experienced with elderly. A-TAXI SERVICE CHAUFFEUR. model 49yr; good-looking 6ft Contact Felicity Bower Let Warren Pogorelsky chauffeur Legal, with permit from the pharmacist 55yr; elegant slim (011) 884-1470 you to your destination in Jo’burg and back only R100 round trip. transportation board. Let me singer 52yr; handsome widower or 083- 980-7125 Tel: 082-399-6187 chauffeur you safely. (retired) pharmacist 72yr; charis- CHILD Reasonable rates. matic prof gent 38yr; stunning FOR A QUOTE CALL model 35yr; good-looking vet TUTOR ABE 082-574-9010 48yr; pretty psychologist 36yr; Qualified Teacher with 7 yrs beautiful blonde attorneys 33, experience avail to tutor EX ISRAELI SERVICEMAN 49, 53yr; pretty bookkeeper 45, your child. offers safe and secure lifts. 24- handsome attorney 65yr, pretty Call Loren: 072-601-9026. hrs. Airport lifts, malls, courier chic pharmacist 32yr; advocates etc. Also student lifts available from schools. 31, 45, 58yrs; good-looking LEGAL engineer 46yr; handsome pilots Call Neil 072-050-9927 62, 36yr, handsome surgeon 59yr; pretty hairdressers 26, 34, Experienced, reliable driver 58yr; handsome estate agent available to lift you (own bus) 60yr; pretty financial anywhere/anytime. 24 hrs. Call Paul 083-542-6480 consultant 48yr; handsome grad (owner 3 bus) 52yr; beautiful IRENE'S SCHLEP beautician 55yr; good-looking SERVICE grad (owner huge co) 36yr; BRIAN K LIFT SERVICE & COURIER I will take you anywhere: charismatic handsome co owner School, Shops, Doctor, Friends 67yr; pretty grad 40yr; stunning “AIRPORT SPECIAL R140” Secure, comfortable & safe. and Airport. Honest and doctors 28, 30, 35, 43, 49, 58, Anywhere 24/7. (JHB – PTA) Trustworthy 62yr; handsome attorneys 29, Call Brian on Schlepped by Irene 33,38, 46, 56 68yr ETC. ETC. 072-366-4262 072-356-0282 ETC. Not on Shabbat SO MANY OTHER PRETTY/HANDSOME PROF/EXEC/BUSINESS/ TRADE SINGLES ARE WAITING TO MEET YOU! LIFTS CALL SANDY (011) 485- 4034/082-357-3616 NOW!

SERVICES BEAUTY & HEALTH

CHIROPODY TREATMENT R120 Call Ruth now (011) 616-4305 16 - 23 April 2010 SA JEWISH REPORT 23 LIFTS PROPERTY TO LET RAYMOND K'S LIFTS ACCOMMODATION TO LET/SHARE Issy Singer - a Yom Ha’atzmaut A reliable lift service. COLLEGE MEWS - Specialising in lifts to & from air- GLENHAZEL carnival at Gold ports, shops, appointments, 3 beds, 2 baths, huge living centenarian companion. room, maid's suite, double Call Raymond Reef City! garage, pool. Bright & light. 076-481-1495 Restful garden. Completely ren- of note EXCITING THINGS are set to ovated with top of the range, happen at Gold Reef City in SMILE-LEE'S LIFTS tasteful finishes. Occup May. A reliable lift service. STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY Johannesburg on Tuesday after- Private letting, R15 000pm. Specialising in lifts to and from TZIVIA GRAUMAN noon April 20, at the Yom [email protected] or Ha’atzmaut carnival. airports, shops, appointments, 082-834-1979 casinos and courier. IT’S NOT every day one comes across a person Aerial displays, helicopters, Call Charna 083-391-6612 skydivers, “build-a-bear”... are ORANGE GROVE blessed to celebrate 100 years. But the way in which Israel Singer did it at Sandringham just some of the excitement Garden flatlet to rent with awaiting members of the Jewish HOME SERVICES secure offstreet parking Gardens on March 15 this year, was truly Issy Singer’s cousins, Philip and Arlene community. CLEANING 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom extraordinary. Ginsberg, his son Stanley, who lives in It promises to be a spectacular, R2600 incl L & W Issy is one of the most positive, pleasant and Canada, and cousin Daniella Assness, sur- sensational, superb celebration! 083-268-9539 happy people one can ever wish to meet. He rounding Issy, the “celebrant of the moment”. Immediate Occupation exudes optimism; his open, ready smile is It will run from 13:00 - 19:00 and wholehearted and warm. he entered the clothing industry, where he there will be something for people Lovely large 2 bedroom flatlet He attributes his longevity to his belief in G-d quickly learned to speak English, isiXhosa, of all ages. Tickets at R50 are cottage, bathroom on suite, and the strength of his prayers, which remove seSotho, isiZulu and Shangaan. After joining available at the Jewish day separate toilet, big kitchen, stress and negative emotion from his life; in the South African army a few years later, he schools or from (011) 645- lounge, dining room. being active and in caring for others. learned to speak Afrikaans as well. 2550/(011) 645-2512. Full security, DSTV, MNET, W/L At Sandringham Gardens, the home for the At the age of 43, he married Sonia, a 30-year- included. Own Garage. aged where he has been resident since 2007, Issy old Holocaust survivor, who had lost most of Available immediately. is totally independent and extremely popular. her family in the death camps. In South Africa, Contact ALAN on His cheerful attitude is infectious and his com- she worked for a furrier, while Issy doubled as a AROUND THE 083-701-2596 pany, a delight. He loves going for walks, social- parking attendant for the city council for 17 ising with his friends and leading an active life. years, and also worked as a real estate agent. WORLD CUP RENTALS Born in Lithuania on March 15, 1910, Issy was The couple had two children, Celia and Stanley. WORLD CAPE TOWN the oldest sibling of four boys and a girl. His And the family grew, adding three grandchil- NEWS IN BRIEF WORLD CUP father was in the army; his mother ran a dren and two great-grandchildren. ACCOMMODATION cafe/restaurant to make ends meet. As a boy, After Sonia’s passing in 2007 at the age of 83, 1 Bedroom Duplex. Sleeps 4, MERIDOR: ISRAEL NOT MEN- Issy rode horses and often travelled long dis- Issy moved to Sandringham Gardens. He cele- Bantry Bay RCI Gold Crown brated his century with his children and TIONED AT NUKES SUMMIT Resort. tances to collect orders and make deliveries for his mother. He went to the local Jewish school, cousins and the many friends he has made GENERAL 18 to 25 June. but left for South Africa at the age of 16. among staff and residents. He is happily looking WASHINGTON -- No one had pub- 7 nights, R1500 p/n. Negotiable licly discussed Israel's alleged BUILDING & Take a look at In South Africa, he lived with relatives who forward to the next 50 years, insistent that he is were employed on a mine close to Boksburg and not at all tired of life. nuclear weapons capability at the RENOVATIONS www.bantrybayinternational.co.za summit in Washington, the leader * Repairs * Additions Contact Simone Bloom of Israel's delegation said. [email protected] * Painting * Ceilings "We are not the central topic * Waterproofing here, the main topic is preventing * Paving & tiling On a sound note, welcome nuclear terror," Dan Meridor, the FREE QUOTES BRUMA deputy Israeli prime minister said. Phone Jack 1-bed unit @ 084-725-3050 Knightsbridge. "No one has mentioned us, even to the Beders among those you might expect to." R3800 + elec. Meridor, speaking to Israeli HANDY GRAMPS Available Immed. RITA LEWIS Household, general repairs and reporters on Tuesday afternoon, maintenance. Contact Stella : cautioned that the conference was THE EXPRESSION, “it’s all in the genes”, MITCH 072-196-1939 (011) 786-1119 not yet over, but his report seemed could not be more apt than it is in the case of to undercut the explanation advis- REPAINT the three generations of the Beder family who ers gave for Prime Minister Specialists in: LONEHILL all got together recently to put on a remarkable Benjamin Netanyahu's last-minute Painting, tiling, maintenance, New bachelor flat. musical soiree for a number of close friends at decision not to attend. The advis- plumbing & gutters. the home of their matriarch, Stella Beder in ers had said it was Israel's under- Industrial and domestic. R3700 + e & w. Melrose, Johannesburg. standing that Arab and Muslim Michael Fehler Available immed. The occasion was the visit of Brendan Beder nations would call for greater 083-700-3025 or Contact Marian : and his two children, Justin 11 and Michael 15, transparency from Israel on the (011) 648-0375 were here from the UK to visit Brendan’s nuclear issue. www.repaint.co.za (011) 786-1119 mother, the well-known opera singer, Stella Meridor said he exchanged a Beder who has been the lead soprano in many friendly greeting with Turkish MR PICKUP AND HANDY- PROFESSIONAL & BUSINESS operetta productions at the Civic Theatre, Four members of the musically talented Prime Minister Recep Tayyip MAN SERVICES. Pretoria’s State Theatre and in many parts of Beder family: Justin; Brendan; Stella and SERVICES Erdogan, who has been one of the Owner supervision, repairs, the country. She was lead soprano with ‘Pact’ Michael Beder. most vocal critics of Israel's policy maintenance, security gates and COMPUTERISED for some 22 years and is now part of the groups of "opacity" - refusing to confirm burglar proofing, tiling, damp ACCOUNTING/ “Tony Bentel and Friends” and “Klass Act” Marks Synagogue and participated in a CD of or deny reports that it has up to 200 proofing etc. BOOKKEEPING SERVICES which perform at corporate and private func- children’s songs. nuclear warheads. MIKE: 073-892-3691 Please phone Jack tions in Johannesburg. As a boy soprano he performed a solo part of Meridor said the atmosphere 072-203-5305 After many requests from family and friends Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms and was "good, one of co-operation," WANT TO RENOVATE (011) 882-9701 who had heard of the visit of the two sons and recently sang in the Jewish Youth Choir to an YOUR HOME BUT AFRAID and that Israel's attendance as one their father who had emigrated to the UK many audience of over 3 000 in Trafalgar Square. He OF COMPROMISING of 47 nations spoke to its status years ago, the three, including Stella decided to also sang with the choir at various venues, SECURITY? EMPLOYMENT among advanced nations. "This is a put on a soiree. including on the top of Masada, when they • Over 30 years of experience EMPLOYMENT WANTED substantial forum of nations that Brendan accompanied his mother Stella on • On site supervision visited Israel. wish to preserve the international QUALIFIED GERIATRIC NURSE • Only reliable, skilled & the piano and also sang a duet with her. He is Michael has also blown the shofar for a con- order," he said. trustworthy labour used With outstanding contactable an accomplished pianist and has inherited his gregation of over 2 000. He also plays the clar- Meridor said the Israeli delega- • Bathrooms, kitchens, lighting, refs. Avail for home nursing. mother’s singing ability which he showed off inet, piano and guitar and has composed sev- tion had a brief meeting with Phone Denise cupboards with his baritone voice singing various Hebrew eral songs. He hopes to join his parents’ band President Barack Obama. (JTA) 083-273-3699 • Renovations & additions medleys. as a singer and guitarist in the near future. • General repairs undertaken While still living in Johannesburg, he and his Together with three of his grandparents IRAN EXCEPTED FROM Call Max Swartz VEHICLES mother recorded two albums for the Jewish (including his 101-year-old London-based OBAMA'S NEW NUCLEAR Board of Hebrew Education (one when he was on 082-443-7310 WANTED great-grandmother) and his maternal grand- POLICY only 10 years old). mother who is a concert pianist, he has per- During the 1980s, Brendan created a band formed for many charity affairs. WASHINGTON - President Barack ARE YOU “The Connection”, which became a leading His aunt and uncle are also well-known pro- Obama's new strategy to limit US South African gig band fessional musicians in London, as are Stella’s IMMIGRATING use of nuclear weapons would not Now in the UK, he sings and plays keyboard other two sons, Laurence and Andrew. apply to "outliers like Iran and OVERSEAS AND for “Harmony” a band he started in 1990 with Younger brother, Justin (11) also shows North Korea", he said. which he frequently plays at popular West End much talent as a singer and guitarist. WANT TO SELL The new policy, which Obama venues, including the Dorchester, Claridges He was chosen as the lead male vocalist in discussed in an interview with The YOUR VEHICLE? and Hilton hotels. Europe’s largest Jewish school, the Jews Free New York Times that was pub- Despite being divorced from the lead singer School Soul Band - despite being five years lished on Monday, ahead of the of the band, Brendan continues to sing and per- younger than everyone else. president's planned nuclear securi- form with Felicia, the mother of his two chil- He also sings with the Jewish Youth Choir ty summit, would apply strict con- dren, herself the daughter of a concert pianist. in London and has performed in front of thou- ditions on when the United States On his Jewish side, he sings in the Alyth sands of people in Trafalgar Square, the would be able to use nuclear Community Choir which often swells to over Victoria and Albert Museum and London’s weapons. It would commit the 2 000 over the Festivals. Roundhouse. United States to avoid using His two talented children have both sung solo Stella Beder herself needs no introduction. nuclear weapons against non- in front of audiences from a very early age. Being an opera singer, she has sung with the nuclear states in compliance with Please Contact Michael (15) was selected from London’s best Johannesburg Operatic Society from the age the Nuclear Non-proliferation young Jewish vocalists to sing on “A Sephardi of 15. She has sung the lead with Anne Ziegler Solly Kramer Treaty, even if such states attacked Celebration” CD, a project to preserve and and Webster Booth in Night in Venice and in America with non-conventional 082-922-3597 record the music of the Spanish and New Moon with Sergio Galli Franci. arms such as biological or chemi- Portuguese Jews’ Congregation. She spent 22 years with the Metropolitan cal weapons. (JTA) anytime He has also sung solo in London’s large Bevis Opera. 24 SA JEWISH REPORT 16 - 23 April 2010

After big win, Avram Grant visits Auschwitz ISRAELI COACH Avram Grant’s celebra- When Grant travelled to the former Nazi father. Meir Granat died in October shortly tions after steering newly-relegated English death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau for the after urging his son to return to manage- club Portsmouth - because annual “March of the Living”, he was ment at Portsmouth. Granat was the only of its financial woes - into the FA Cup final, remembering family members who froze or family member to survive Siberia and had to were tinged with sadness as he prepared to starved to death in a Russian forest after bury his parents and siblings - some of the make an emotional pilgrimage to honour fleeing Poland in 1941. six million Jews who perished in the family members who died in the Second Providing added poignancy for Grant is Holocaust. World War, Associated Press reports. that he travelled to the commemorations in “My father suffered a lot but he was the Debt-ridden Portsmouth’s remarkable 2-0 Poland two years ago, the morning after most optimistic guy I ever met in my life,” victory over Tottenham Hotspur coincided guiding Chelsea into the Champions League Grant said. “He said: ‘Don’t live in the past, with the start of Holocaust memorial day in final. live in the future.’ My father was always Avram Grant attends the “March Of The Grant’s native Israel and throughout the “It’s emotional - I wanted to win anyway, happy, never hated people, even when they Living” as part of Holocaust Remembrance. semifinal Grant wore a black armband. but for the second time it has happened, to did wrong.” However traumatic Portsmouth fans may reach the final at this time,” the Israeli said That optimistic outlook inspired Grant as raise cash. feel their season has been with the club in broken English. “It’s more than symbol- he battled to keep Portsmouth in existence “We had a belief and the courage to win nearly going out of business, it’s all put into ic.” as the owners were forced to seek bankrupt- this game; we knew we could do it,” Grant perspective for Grant by his family’s history. This time Grant didn’t travel with his cy protection. said. “They are a good team with a great “I tried every day to keep the club alive manager, but tactically we played very well. and give hope to people who didn’t do any- The players gave their hearts. It was not thing wrong,” Grant said. easy. Daniel keeps up proud As a result of entering financial adminis- “Five players were not 100 per cent and tration, Pompey were docked nine points by some players did not play in their right posi- the Premier League, which doomed them to tions and we did not even have one defender relegation. That was confirmed last on the bench. In spite of this, we played foot- family tradition Saturday by West Ham’s victory over ball, scored two goals and I could not ask for Sunderland. more.” JACK MILNER to be held in Durban this But Grant, who was discarded by Chelsea Now Grant is looking to end the season - month. after missing out on the 2008 Champions and potentially his stint at Portsmouth - by PLAYING WATER polo is Consensus is that he is League title on penalties, has pulled off an beating his former employer, Chelsea, in the a Yach family custom and the first Herzlian to com- incredible achievement by beating a May 15 FA Cup final. now 18-year-old Daniel, in pete at senior Currie Cup Tottenham side packed with many of the “This club, this year... I will not forget it all matric at Herzlia, is keep- level while still at school. players Portsmouth was forced to sell to my life,” Grant said. ing up the tradition. He is But he still has a little the third generation of way to go to quite step Daniel Yach the family to compete at into the family flippers. has been the top level of the sport. Grandfather Solly and selected to Daniel has been select- father Theodore have ed to play water polo for represented South Africa represent Western Province under- at the sport. Solly took Western 19 A at Currie Cup level in part as a Springbok in Province in the senior men’s division the Olympics of 1952. water polo. Running bug bites Laurice JACK MILNER January, she made history. Laurice placed first over all LAURICE MENDELOWITZ Israeli women and second in the née Bolnick, grew up in international event, setting a Johannesburg, where she time of 02:58:50, (her personal attended King David Linksfield best is 02:58:12). and matriculated in 1977. Today Laurice belongs to the She has lived in Israel for the elite group of only 13 women past 26 years with her husband ever to complete the marathon Peter Mendelowitz and their in under three hours, and she is two children, Shiran 24 and the oldest Israeli woman (50 Reuel 20. years) to have ever won the title Laurice caught the running of “Israeli women’s Marathon bug late in life, at the age of 39, champion”. when a friend invited her to Laurice, as well as being one join her on a jog along the of Israel’s five top woman run- beach. ners, also holds all the Israeli “I agreed and told her I records for her age group for 5 would walk while she ran,” she km, 10 km, 15 km, road and says. “Maybe it was the sea air track half-marathon, and and the energies that did some- Laurice Mendelowitz. marathon. thing, but I ran and thoroughly Laurice, who heads the aero- enjoyed it. I got hooked and next time when bics, Core, spinning and pilates depart- I was invited to join her, I no longer hesitat- ment of an Israeli country club, as well as ed.” being an instructor herself, is cautious not In no time she found herself running her to come across as over-ambitious. maiden long-distance run, a 12 km course “My ambition was always to break the near Tiberius. She took part in that run three-hour boundary,” she says. “I thought mostly to experience the atmosphere of the I’d calm down after that, but now I still event. However, as she ran further, a com- want to improve. I can feel it in my feet.” petitive instinct seemed to creep in. Whether or not she improves her person- “I saw someone pass me and wanted to al best time, one thing she knows for sure is overtake her just to see if I could,” she that this will not be her last marathon. says. “I ran past her and then those ahead “I plan on running for as long as I can,” of her.” she vows. “I don’t know how many more She drove back to her home in Kochav years I can remain competitive, but in any Yair and forgot about the whole thing. The case I won’t stop running. It’s an important following day she received a call from a part of me. It’s my oxygen, my daily medi- friend who had attended the award ceremo- tation.” ny and accepted the third-place prize for She adds: “Running is me. Every day that her age category on her behalf. I can lace my running shoes, I am satisfied After that, it didn’t take long - within a with the reward - the reward that running year she had worked her way up to running is my sport and no one can pull me from marathons. my passion. I believe in me, and I believe in At the last Tiberius marathon in the run.”