PREDICTABLE ENDING DOESN’T BOOKS: SPOIL ENGROSSING PLAY / 10 MANDELA - JEWISH ARCHIVIST ARVAN JUST CAN’T MEMORIES BE PUT IN A BOX / 10 / 11 Subscribe to our FREE epaper - go to www.sajewishreport.co.za www.sajewishreport.co.za Friday, 16 September 2011 / 17 Elul, 5771 Volume 15 Number 35 Embassy attack in Egypt stokes Israeli fears of the new Egypt PAGE 3 Noam Shalit, father of captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, wants his son’s plight to be part of the discussion of Palestinian statehood SHALIT TAKES CASE TO at the United Nations. Shalit was in New York last week meeting with UN ambassadors from various nations. He met with more than FREE SON GILAD TO a dozen UN ambassadors to urge them to block any statehood recognition until his son was free. In the picture: Noam Shalit, right, with Knesset member Michael Eitan during a protest on behalf of Gilad outside the prime minister's residence in Jerusalem on THE UNITED NATIONS Gilad's 25th birthday, August 28. (MIRIAM ALSTER/FLASH90) Mary Kluk’s vision SAKS: New intellectual FREUND: Change perceptions Possible new of leadership / 5 ammunition for Jews / 8 one book at a time / 9 diabetes cure / 7 YOUTH / 17 SPORT / 20 LETTERS / 14 CROSSWORD & BRIDGE / 19 COMMUNITY BUZZ / 6 WHAT’S ON / 19 2 SA JEWISH REPORT 16 - 23 September 2011 SHABBAT TIMES PARSHA OF THE WEEK September 16/17 Elul September 17/18 Elul ‘Next year in Jerusalem’ Ki Tavo Margaret Starts Ends has been fulfilled 17:44 18:33 Johannesburg Rawicz; Rina 18:10 19:12 Cape Town Taviv; and 17:31 18:22 Durban MamaEarth’s 17:51 18:41 Bloemfontein Ruth 17:52 18:44 Port Elizabeth PARSHAT KI TAVO Rabinowitz. 17:43 18:34 East London Rabbi Berel Wein Founder and director of the Destiny Founda- tion Jewish women actively involved THE MAIN part of the parsha is concerned with the Published by description of the woes that will befall the Jewish peo- in climate change conference S A Jewish Report (Pty) Ltd, PO Box 84650, Greenside, 2034 ple in their long years of exile and persecution. The STORY AND PHOTOGRAPH BY RITA LEWIS energy, transport, modal shifts, communi- Tel: (011) 023-8160 Torah sees this as being a form of redemptive punish- ty awareness, disaster management etc. Fax: (086) 634-7935 ment for the Chosen People who chose to imitate the THE GAUTENG Government, with the National government’s climate change Printed by Caxton Ltd idolatrous and immoral ways of the general society. support of the national government, last response commits the country to a long- EDITOR - Geoff Sifrin However, as the exile of Israel stretched into cen- week held a two-day “Water and Climate term transition to a climate-resilient and [email protected] turies and then into millennia, the Jews began to feel Change Summit” at Gallagher Estate low-carbon economy and society. To COMMERCIAL MANAGER that somehow the punishment was rather excessive re- Conference Centre in Midrand. It had a achieve this, integrated, people-based, Sue Morris lative to the crime. Therefore other explanations for the Jewish organisational flavour. development-planning approaches and [email protected] length and bitterness of the exile of Israel were The objective of the summit, which was tools need to be implemented immediately Sub-Editor - Paul Maree advanced. attended by some 400 people, was to create by municipalities in order to respond to the Ed Co-ordinator - Sharon Akum The Talmud itself, hundreds of years after the a greater awareness of all government climate change challenge. [email protected] destruction of the Second Temple, offered that the scat- organisations, the private sector and civil The aspects and ramifications of climate Senior Reporter - Rita Lewis tering of the Jewish people throughout the world was society, on the impact of global climate change were discussed, painting a discon- [email protected] to allow non-Jews who wished to convert to Judaism, to changes and how this is affecting South certing picture of what is already happen- Sports Editor - Jack Milner be afforded the opportunity to do so. Africa. Also discussed was the upcoming ing: thousands of eco–refugees, destruc- [email protected] Others suggested that the dispersal of the Jewish UN “Convention on Climate Change” to be tion of traditional agricultural patterns, Books Editor - Gwen Podbrey Diaspora was to allow Judaic values and attitudes to held in Durban in December. droughts, floods, extreme weather, etc. Arts Editor - Robyn Sassen penetrate the non-Jewish world as well. Two Jewish women involved in the Photographs were shown of erosion of [email protected] It was through the bitter exile itself that the Jewish organisation/preparation of the summit, South Africa’s coastlines and the detri- Youth Editor - Alison Goldberg people would fulfil its mission of being a light unto the were Rina Taviv and Margaret Rawicz. mental impact on crops due to the chang- [email protected] nations of the world. The survival of the Jewish people Taviv is acting director, Air Quality for ing rain patterns. Cape Town correspondent under the oppressive conditions of its exile, also raised Gauteng. She co-ordinated the new strate- Although Earth’s climate changes all the Moira Schneider: 021-794-4206 questions and problems for the Christian world. gy for climate change that is being devel- time, the planet’s temperature is consis- Pretoria correspondent The concept of the “Witness People” gained curren- oped by the province. tently rising due mainly to CO2 emissions. Diane Wolfson: 082-707-9471 cy in the Christian world - that somehow Jews had to During the event, she not only spoke on Rawicz says the Jewish community has Advertising - (011) 023-8160 survive to “witness” the eventual reappearance of the [email protected] “What is Climate Change?” but also led the its part to play; her rough guide shows that Christian saviour and finally convert to Christianity. workshop at which public and government with careful attention, each person can Britt Landsman: 082-292-9520 Thus the Church established the institution of the [email protected] representatives gave their ideas for climate save about 4,5 tons of CO2 per annum from “Pope’s Jews” who were protected from harm, since Manuela Bernstein: 082-951-3838 mitigation measures. being emitted to the atmosphere by car- [email protected] they had to survive to be the “Witness People”. Be all of On this she said: “There needs to be an pooling, recycling of waste, tree planting Freelance Advertising Executives this as it may, what is clear is that every word of the ongoing communication effort within all etc. Marlene Bilewitz: 083-475-0288 Torah regarding the fate of the Jews in exile, has come communities to educate people on what cli- The Gauteng Department of Agriculture [email protected] true - true literally and not allegorically. As the mate change is and what each person can and Rural Development had organised Adi Lew: 083-407-8034 Ramban phrased it, it is astounding that a book written do to help slow it down. This would involve, exhibition space for local CO2 saving inno- [email protected] thousands of years before the events occurred, should saving energy, water, fuel, recycling and vations. Included was a water heater Classified Sales record those events so truthfully and faithfully. planting trees.” fuelled by sticks and pieces of wood. Charissa Newman It is of comfort that since the tragedies recited in the Rawicz has been an environmental con- Another innovation was by former [email protected] parsha that would befall Israel have all come true liter- sultant for the past 30 years and has Inkatha Freedom Party MP, Ruth Rabino- Manager: Distribution ally, that we can be certain that the blessings and worked to assist government to develop witz who in 2009 founded a non-profit Britt Landsman redemption similarly told to us in the parsha, shall also legislation for industries to control pollu- organisation, MamaEarth Foundation, Design and layout undoubtedly be fulfilled literally. Frankie Matthysen tion and waste outputs. She was on the which she directs. Nicole Cook Some of them have already been realised in our time team of the Gauteng government as a rep- Her innovative “business cart” was with the ingathering of the exiles of Israel to the nas- Website resentative of NGOs assisting the setting unveiled that enables any individual to run www.sajewishreport.co.za cent Jewish State. Others are still developing and com- up of the summit. a business from the remotest spot on Ilan Ossendryver ing. The keynote address was given by Earth. It gives access to the latest cutting- IC-Creations The Torah never placed any time limits either on Minister for Water and Environmental edge information and communication [email protected] Jewish exile or redemption. The L-rd has His own reck- Affairs Edna Molewa. Various government technologies and is capable of doing any- Subscription enquiries oning that no human can be privy to. The rabbis, there- and provincial representatives as well as thing normally done in an office environ- Avusa Publishing (Pty) Ltd fore, strongly discouraged prognostications of dates for Tel: 0860-13-2652 delegates from the various affiliated ment. The single requirement to drive the the arrival of the redemption and the Messianic era. departments, also gave presentations on cart, is sunshine. BOARD OF DIRECTORS Over the many centuries of Jewish exile, many dates South Africa’s response to climate change; This product can be used in the town- Howard Feldman (Chairman), Issie Kirsh (Deputy Chairman), Stan Kaplan, were forecast to be the ones of redemption, but all of Gauteng’s “Green Economic Programme”; ships or in rural areas and uses photo- Marlene Bethlehem, Norman Lowenthal, them have come and gone and the redemption is yet adapting to climate change and the prepa- voltaic panels to charge cell phones and Bertie Lubner, Benjy Porter, unfulfilled in actuality or completeness.