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The source of quality content, news and insights t See page 7 www.sajr.co.za Humanity’s best rises after violent unrest MIRAH LANGER efforts simply haven’t been the delivery of essential items to a local doctor and a pharmacist, Friedman. “Last week, people didn’t sufficient, she said. “In spite of the community through protected who opening up his pharmacy know if they were going to have he KwaZulu-Natal Jewish the announcements from the convoys. “mid riot”, worked together to food for Shabbat, and one of the community has begun government, the SANDF [South “To date, we have received help provide chronic medication. rabbinical families at the shul got emerging from the shock African National Defence Force] medication, non-perishable items Volunteers brought bakkies and flour from all the people that they Tof last week’s chaos, remaining isn’t here to protect residential such as flour, tinned foods, oil, could find, and made challot for all vigilant and expressing gratitude areas or citizens, it’s here to the families.” for assistance provided by the wider protect national Last Tursday, the centre community. Moreover, they are key points. Te SA Jewish Board of Deputies clean-up efforts in Daveyton, Gauteng established a helpline with the paying it forward wherever they can national and tagline, “Do you need help, or do to others in need. metro police are you want to help?”

Tose working in relief under-resourced Ilan Ossendryver Photo: “Since the message went out until operations in KwaZulu-Natal and and outnumbered.” today, I’ve had to charge my phone Gauteng describe a spirit of ubuntu As such, while four times a day,” said Friedman. (humanity towards others) among “the community “Tere is just an endless stream [of ordinary South Africans that has certainly calls], and credit goes to the people sparked practical, powerful change. appreciates the on the ground making a difference.” ”We not only helped ourselves, efforts of the SAPS Rabbi Shlomo Wainer of Chabad we helped others, and they in turn [South African in Umhlanga echoes Friedman’s helped us. Regardless of religion Police Service] and appreciation of support. Along or ethnicity, there was aid,” said Metro Police, the with other Jewish community Hayley Lieberthal, the media community has taken organisations, he is now helping spokesperson for the South African care of itself”. to co-ordinate assistance to Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) Lieberthal said impoverished areas in Inanda and KwaZulu-Natal Council. the community was Phoenix, having been in long-term Te Jewish community in the still trying to come to contact with a bishop and pastor in coastal city was hardest hit by last terms with the reality those vicinities. week’s violence and looting, in of what had hit it. “It’s “We have launched what we called which businesses were destroyed, very difficult for those who ‘Operation Beyond Relief’ because food and fuel supplies were weren’t directly impacted by this pasta, toiletries and personal I don’t believe that relationships disrupted, and communities felt crisis to understand what it was like hygiene items including adult vans to take goods to distribution are only for now because of the under threat. Now, they say they are to be in the thick of it. Children and nappies, sanitary towels, formula, centres at shuls, and some acted as difficulties. Tis is for the continued humbled by the chain of support adults alike were terrified. We hope meal replacements, medication, personal shoppers, moving from relationship of goodness and that has encircled them. that this nightmare is over. It’s now and kosher meat – all of which has store to store to try and get the kindness at all times.” Lieberthal said the community time to pick up the pieces and try been delivered or handed out,” said products needed by the elderly. Wendy Kahn, the national continued to “adopt an attitude and start again.” Lieberthal. Some are manning the phones, director of the SAJBD, said it was of constant vigilance”, noting Te national leadership of the Reverend Gilad Friedman of trying to make contact with every involved in this project as well that threatening “fake news” still SAJBD, as well as a number of the Umhlanga Jewish Centre community member on record to as numerous other operations to circulated and patrols in residential other communal organisations, described the individual heroism check up on their welfare. provide food aid across affected areas continued throughout the corporations, non-profits, small that underpinned collective efforts. More than just providing for areas. “Te past weeks have been night. businesses, and private individuals Tere were those who organised basic needs, there is also a sense devastating for our country, and Government security has been fundamental to ensuring private flights to deliver goods; and of spiritual unity, according to Continued on page 14>>

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SIMPLY DRAG AND DROP A COIN WITH THE CHEV’S SMARTCAN APP 2 SA JEWISH REPORT 22 – 29 July 2021 Shabbat times this week Commonwealth Jewish Council calls for release of ‘Nigeria three’ Starts Ends TALI FEINBERG Kingdom, he says he is alarmed that the men have been than 40 countries, including South Africa, are members. 17:19 18:11 Johannesburg held in detention for more than a week without being Although the media reported that “three Israelis” were 17:43 18:37 Cape Town ll Rudy Rochman wanted to do was to shine charged. “That would indicate it’s only an investigation, arrested, it’s unclear if all three have Israeli citizenship. 17:01 17:54 Durban a light on unknown, disconnected, and re- but they still have no legal representation, and how can Lawton says Rochman and Leibman entered Nigeria 17:21 18:14 Bloemfontein emerging Jewish communities around the such an investigation take more than a week?” on their American passports, and Benaym on his French 17:14 18:09 Port Elizabeth world,A but something went horribly wrong. He says the CJC has written to the Nigerian high passport. “We knew that they planned to make this 17:07 18:01 East London The charismatic 27-year-old Israeli activist, who has commissioner to the Commonwealth, His Excellency documentary and were in the frst stages of flming. They more than 97 000 followers on Instagram, was working Sarafa Tunji Isola, urging him to pressure his government went to south-east Nigeria to visit a community. Like David Friedman on a new documentary series titled, We Were Never Lost, to release them soon. “They are being detained on anyone making such a visit, they wanted CEA, GPr LS, BSc (Surveying), MSc (Eng), M Philwhich focused on these “lost tribes”. At the beginning of the fimsiest of pretexts. to bring artefacts or objects to present July, he and his team travelled to Nigeria to flm their frst I’m sure the Nigerian to them. In this instance, they very episode. government wouldn’t generously brought a Sefer Torah.” However, Rochman, flmmaker Andrew Noam want to cultivate an Two weeks ago, Rochman wrote [email protected] C : +27 (0)83 451 1456 www.choicenet.co.za W: +27 (0)44 533 5981 Leibman, and French-Israeli journalist Edouard David image that foreign on Instagram about how his team

Benaym were arrested by Nigerian security services when visitors can be snatched Instagram Photo: had “just acquired a beautiful Torah the three presented a Torah scroll to a local community. up on spurious that survived the Holocaust and is They remain in custody, haven’t been charged, and accusations,” says believed to have come from an old Properties Garden Route haven’t been given legal representation. Organisations Lawton. community in Ukraine about 200 RESIDENTIAL • COMMERCIAL • FARMS and individuals around the world are working desperately He has also written years ago”. to get them released. to the secretary general “The scribal experts our team Appliance Repairs on Site “Our frst season is set in Africa, and we are flming our of the Commonwealth spoke to stated that the ktav rs, ashe frst episode on the Jews of Nigeria,” Rochman’s team of Nations, Baroness [writing] had since gone extinct, ishw s wrote on Facebook on 8 July. “There are many Jews in Patricia Scotland. “In this and they couldn’t believe their , D s, Stove es chine Nigeria, Igbos included, and we are here only to help family of nations, the eyes when we sent them idg Ma Fr ing local practising and observing Jewish communities, to quality of relationships and pictures of the scroll. ash more W Dryers & provide them with resources, and to document their lives, expectations of decency carry “We will be bringing the ble um Call Jason experiences, and aspirations. We don’t take any position a lot of weight. It’s shocking Torah and gifting it to the youth T 082 401 8239 / 076 210 6532 on political movements as we aren’t here as politicians that Nigeria might continue Rudy Rochman’s arrival in Nigeria, with a Torah movement of Igbo Jewish FREE QUOTATIONS nor as a part of any government delegation.” to hobnob with other heads that he presented to the communitycommunities shortly of Nigeria for them to have But the next of governments while treating before he was arrested access to our nation’s holy text.” day, they were foreigners like this. It should be “It would seem that some separatist activists wrote arrested, supposedly seen as shameful. Yes, they might need to investigate Facebook messages along the lines of ‘welcoming this for supporting something, but that doesn’t take 10 days. This isn’t just an act of solidarity’”, Lawton says. “But in fact the flmmakers “separatist activists”. investigation. It’s intimidation. Acting without due process categorically stated that they had no interest in political Commonwealth Jewish is against Commonwealth principles,” he says. issues and were there for a cultural reason – to make a Council (CJC) Chief He hopes that the less formal relationships between flm. Executive Clive Lawton is Commonwealth countries will make an impact. “At the “They arrived on a Thursday, and visited a synagogue,” one of the many people very least, they should be released to go home. But more he says. “That was when Nigerian security services working behind the desirable would be that they be allowed to return to their entered the synagogue and arrested them, taking them scenes. Speaking to the cultural activity of making a documentary.” to the capital, Abuja. On the Friday, the men’s embassies SA Jewish Report from Lawton says his organisation seeks to build were alerted, and sought to get involved. Chabad in Abuja his home in the United relationships between Jews from around the world. More Continued on page 14>>

Torah Thought Rabbi Yossy Goldman, life rabbi emeritus, The never-ending voice Sydenham Shul nd Charlton Heston came down up in the civilization of ancient Greece, in the revere them, look after from Mount Sinai and gave us the beauty, culture, philosophy, and art of the them in their old age. ten commandments. Oops! Sorry, day. And they might question, “Is Torah still Live moral lives, don’t makeA that Moses. And he was carrying the relevant?” tamper with the sacred tablets with the Big 10, repeated this week Perhaps he foresaw Jews empowered fbre of family life. in Deuteronomy as part of Moses’ review by the industrial revolution, where they Dedicate one day every week, and keep that of the past 40 years. He describes how G-d might have thought Torah to be somewhat day holy. Stop the madness. Turn your back spoke those words in a mighty voice that backward. Or maybe it was during the on the rat race, and rediscover your humanity didn’t end. Russian Revolution, where faith and religion and your children. Don’t be guilty of greed, Rashi writes that Moses is contrasting G-d’s were deemed to be absolutely primitive. envy, dishonesty, or corruption. voice with human voices. The fnite voice of a Maybe Moses saw our own generation, Are these ideas and values dated? Are human being, even a Pavarotti, will fade and with space shuttles and satellites, these commandments tired or irrelevant? On falter. It cannot go on forever. But the voice teleprompters and technology. And he saw the contrary. They speak to us now as perhaps of the Almighty didn’t end, didn’t weaken. It young people questioning whether the good never before. remained strong throughout. book still spoke to them. Does anyone know this today better than Is this all the great prophet had to teach us And so, Moses tells us that the voice that us South Africans? about the voice of G-d? That it was a powerful thundered from Sinai was no ordinary voice. The G-dly voice has lost none of its baritone? Is the greatness of the Infnite One, This was a voice that wasn’t only powerful at strength, none of its majesty. The mortal that he didn’t suffer from shortness of breath, the time, it didn’t end. And it still rings out, voice of man declines and fades into that He didn’t need a few puffs of Ventolin? Is still resonates, and speaks to each of us in oblivion. Politicians and spin-doctors come this a meaningful motivation for the Jews to every generation and every part of the world. and go, but the heavenly sound reverberates accept the Torah? Revolutions come and go, but revelation down the ages. Moses was the greatest of all prophets. is eternal. The voice of Sinai continues to Moses knew what he was saying. Torah is He foresaw what no other prophet could see. proclaim eternal truths that never become truth, and truth is forever. The voice of G-d Perhaps he saw his people becoming caught passé or irrelevant. Honour your parents, shall never be stilled.

Editor Peta Krost Maunder – [email protected] • Sub-editor Julie Leibowitz Journalists Nicola Miltz • Tali Feinberg • Mirah Langer • Photographer Ilan Ossendryver The source of quality content, news and insights Editorial co-ordinator Martine Bass – [email protected] Proofreader Kim Hatchuel Advertising Britt Landsman: 082 292 9520 – [email protected] • New business development manager Laura Kaufman [email protected] • Design and layout Bryan Maron/Design Bandits – [email protected] • Distribution Sandy Furman Subscriptions Avusa Publishing (Pty) Ltd. Tel: 0860 525 200 • Board of Directors Howard Sackstein (Chairperson), Dina Diamond, Herschel Jawitz, Shaun Matisonn, Benjy Porter. • Advertisements and editorial copy do not neccessarily reflect the views of the editor, staff and board of directors. Tel: 011 430 1980. 22 – 29 July 2021 SA JEWISH REPORT 3

Expats watch SA unrest I want to with heartache and horror buy your bobba! old or new, TALI FEINBERG close family in Durban are fearful for the future and feel we’ll pay you helpless at being so far away.” a price “Last week’s events ripped the plaster off of a big wound. Jenna Lewinsky, who lives in Israel, says, “I felt really wow They forced me to re-examine my life in South Africa – saddened as I lived in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) for 28 years for your car. things I miss and don’t miss, my reasons for leaving, and and understand that many innocent and law-abiding my experiences there,” says Dan Brotman, who lived in citizens are now left not only to defend their own homes, South Africa for 10 years before leaving for Canada late but have no food security.” last year. He is one of many expatriates who have been She even emailed Prince Thulani Zulu from the royal Call Alan: 082 850 0004 heartbroken watching the recent civil unrest from afar. Zulu household. “He emailed me back that he was in Many Jewish South Africans living abroad say that urgent need of food parcels for people in rural areas. I www.alfinauto.co.za while we might imagine they feel glad to be far away, jumped into action to get quotations for truck haulage in reality, it’s often the opposite – their connection to the from Johannesburg to Ulundi, and got a price for a country feels even stronger at these times. four-ton truck with two-ton trailer. I looked online at what one of those meetings, “The last week drew me closer to other South African groceries cost, and estimated about $5 000 [R72 900] my good friend Jeremy expats,” says Brotman. “I found myself getting together needed to be raised to send a truck with food parcels Droyman [who still lives with a lot of South Africans, discussing events and down. An American friend and I made many calls, but so in Durban] appealed how painful it was to watch this happen. I don’t know far have got no donations for the cause. COVID-19 has to us to remember the of expats saying, ‘Thank G-d I got out.’ Our hearts are reduced small and medium businesses to ashes globally, ageing community breaking from afar. Even if we don’t live there right now, and it’s hard to mobilise support.” there. I got the idea we still feel connected to the country.” Her mother still lives in KZN, “and she couldn’t even of building a global South Africans gathering for fll her tank with petrol or buy virtual community, and a peaceful protest in London enough groceries. I have, of set up a website and on Mandela Day 2021 course, helped her. And I got Facebook page titled, a group of people to daven It’s Durban Calling.” for the safety, well-being, The Facebook and rebuilding of the Jewish page is a dynamic community and also for favour and growing group for those that need to move to with Jewish Durban Israel. But I’m not happy until expats from all over prayers are matched with action, the world. So when events transpired last week, it was were devastating! I had a lot of hope seeing [former and even though I’m just one perfectly positioned to lead relief efforts for the Durban president Jacob] Zuma going to jail. [After the riots], my person, I’m trying my best to Jewish community. “Not being able to do much from main emotion was sadness. I have a lot of friends that drum up whatever support I can.” overseas was scary. So we decided to do an emergency live in townships, and it’s been heart breaking to hear Michael Foreman, who now appeal. Jeremy said he was planning to airlift supplies, what’s going on. They’ve all been really scared – gunshots lives in London, says, “I’ve always and we organised a fundraiser for it. We already had through the night. And now they’re the ones suffering an international PayPal account and a the most.” It’s a sentiment many other expats share, describing charitable trust set up, so we were able She’s upset about the notion of “smug expats”. “A lot how they couldn’t sleep for days as they watched the to launch the appeal very quickly.” They of us were offended [by this] because we’ve been doing rioting and looting on their screens. “Even though I live managed to raise R70 000 in 24 hours, everything we can [fnancially] to help people there in Israel, I’m still deeply invested in South Africa,” says and that amount is growing [R105 000 especially during COVID-19,” she says. “I love South Africa Guy Lieberman. “My work and projects are there. I own raised as of Tuesday morning 20 July]. and I want her to fourish. South Africans living out of a home in Joburg. I’m committed to, pray for, and rely “Every bit helps, and it allows the South Africa still strongly identify as South Africans.” on the success of the South African economy. Beyond community abroad to do something.” Liora Benater in Australia says, “South Africa will that, South Africa is my frst home country – it’s where I Meanwhile, expats who hail from always have a piece of my heart. Last week’s events made grew up. It’s who I am. My family and friends are there other cities in South Africa have also me incredibly sad and overwhelmed, seeing so much – the brilliant, talented individuals that make up our been deeply affected. Elan Burman, destruction, businesses being lost, and the vaccine rollout community. now in the United States, says, “I still being halted. Most of the events weren’t publicised on “I felt ill seeing the looting unfolding. Last Shabbat, feel a very close connection, both Australian news, which was alarming, and I had to source not knowing what was happening and being so far because so many family and friends videos and information myself. away, was gut-wrenching,” he says. “I had friends who Leah van Zyl Photography Photos: are still there, and because of how “I checked in with my brother almost every day to were affected, a relative who was stuck on the N3 inalienable South Africa is from my make sure he and his family were safe, and my husband who witnessed the fres, and a friend whose Durban remained connected – my parents stayed in Durban. personal identity. I wish I could have been part of the did the same with his family. Family members reported warehouse was ransacked and their feet set alight.” My mom passed away last year and my dad now lives in crowd cleaning up and helping.” hearing gunshots from their home in Johannesburg. A For those who grew up in Durban and now live [the Jewish aged home] Beth Shalom. It was terrifying He called on his American friends to make donations number of Facebook friends posted things like South overseas, it has been especially hard to watch. “I felt for the residents to receive videos of unrest so close to to organisations like Afrika Tikkun, and to purchase Africans living abroad shouldn’t comment or judge, heartbroken. I’m still very connected to Durban,” says where they were living, and the staff that care for them South African food and wine to support the South African which made me angry. We decided to leave South Africa, Tanya Hirsch, who lives in the United States. “I was 18 not being able to come to work. The shopping centre economy. “Now, more than ever, my soul is in South but this doesn’t mean we don’t care anymore.” when I left Durban, and it’s still very much part of my where my mom used to do her shopping was less than a Africa, hoping for a brighter tomorrow,” he says. soul. I was scared and couldn’t sleep for days, afraid for kilometre away, and it was badly looted. Sianne Menashe, who lives in the United Kingdom, • To support the Durban Jewish community, visit what the community must be feeling, and with lots of “A group of us who were at school together would get says, “My dad and sister [and her family] plus in-laws and https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_ memories. Other expats who are here who still have together often [before COVID-19] and are very close. At friends are all still in South Africa. The videos and images id=GTKQ48MPZVCR4

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NICOLA MILTZ ability to engage effectively of Israel”, and as Israel’s He said the SAZF looked forward to with one another.” new diaspora affairs further engagement with the minister on he newly elected Israeli minister Shai said he minister, he looked “developing and building upon the crucial of diaspora affairs this week sent a was sure that forward to finding relationship and bond between the state heartfelt message of support to the his upcoming opportunities of Israel and the South African Jewish TSouth African Jewish community following meeting with to further community”. last week’s devastating protests and riots. the South strengthen the Shai was in South Africa in August 2017, Dr Nachman Shai this week expressed his African relationship when he led a delegation of five members “warmest regards and personal blessing” in Zionist between of the Israeli Knesset to “promote dialogue, a letter to the community. Federation South African understanding, and co-operation”. “All of us in Israel have watched the (SAZF) and Jewry and Te delegation met leaders across the recent events in the KwaZulu-Natal region leadership the state South African political spectrum, including and around South Africa with deep concern. would be and people Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, former President We stand with you in solidarity, and are the first of of Israel in Kgalema Motlanthe, former Johannesburg particularly thinking about the Durban and many “as the coming Executive Mayor Herman Mashaba, and Johannesburg Jewish communities during we develop months. former Democratic Alliance (DA) leader this challenging time.” an ongoing Rowan Mmusi Maimane. It held meetings in He said it was also a difficult moment conversation Dr Nachman Shai Polovin, parliament, and met members of the DA, for Jewish communities around the world. between us”. the national Congress of the People, African Christian “In South Africa, we witnessed the rise of “The secret of chairperson of Democratic Party, Inkatha Freedom Party, antisemitism following Operation Guardian Jewish resilience the SAZF, said he and Freedom Front Plus. Te delegation, a of the Walls, which challenged your safety rests in our sense of appreciated Shai’s product of co-operation between the Israeli and sense of security.” shared responsibility towards heartfelt message. Knesset, the Israeli foreign affairs ministry, His ministry is a partner in ensuring the each other. With this frame, I look “The past few months have been an and the Jewish Agency, also met leaders resilience of the community, and engaging forward to working hand in hand with all extremely challenging and difficult time of the Jewish community and engaged actors within Israel to understand how its of you to live up to our potential as both a for South African Jewry. Our connection as with the key figures in the Christian and military actions had a direct impact on the diverse and unified Jewish people.” Jews living in the diaspora remains vitally business communities, where it reiterated Jewish world, Shai said. He said the South African Jewish important as a continued source of comfort Israel’s commitment to sharing expertise “Our ability as a Jewish people to take community had long been “a thriving and strength at all times, but particularly in and experience in agriculture, water, and on our shared challenges depends on our epicentre of Jewish life and a true friend times of hardship.” hi-tech. WhatsApp messages use Jewish community to sow divisions TALI FEINBERG been used specifically to send this them crisis in which everyone that often there’s little consequence message – a clear sign of someone loses. Te resultant chaos allows for it.” s social media in South trying to incite hatred. People who agents provocateur to behave with However, South Africa’s new Africa last week became use fake numbers would never put impunity, confident they won’t Cybercrimes Act, which has just been a minefield of fake news their names to a message. have to face consequences, and signed into law, may start to have an andA incitement amidst civil unrest, “Te number is registered in relish in their apparent power to impact. “Malicious communications one WhatsApp user attempted Sioux Falls South Dakota, United sow further division. on social-media platforms are to draw the South African Jewish States,” Sackstein said. “I have “Multicultural society is detested offences under the Act. Part two of community into the fray. searched, and there appears to be by bigots, and the antipathy the Act makes it an offence to incite Messages written by someone no Jewish community in Sioux towards multiculturalism in our damage to property or threaten to who called himself “Ari Goldberg Falls South Dakota. I have googled, own community provides fuel for damage property or persons,” Allen – Israeli peacekeeper” were full of and there is no Ari Goldberg in the expression of hatred towards said. profanities and hate speech against Sioux Falls South Dakota. All this others. Only if we move from an Furthermore, “if tweets, messages, the Indian community, including the means is that someone thinks this ‘us-and-them’ mentality to a ‘we’ or conversations include fake or line, “Te Jews in Israel will kill you.” is a good time to try create racial mentality can we reduced bigotry.” deliberately manipulated images, Tey were posted with images hatred between Jews and Indians Said Karen Allen, senior the offences may amount to of Israeli flags on a group called where none exists. One has to ask, research advisor on emerging cyber forgery. Simply re-sharing “Durban Support”. According to a what sort of sick person would do threats in Africa at the Institute deliberately manipulated content member of the group, most of the this?” for Security Studies, “We see this that is malicious could make any people on it were members of the He requested that his message [kind of message] at times of one of us unwittingly assistants in Indian community. be sent to the WhatsApp group heightened tension and unrest. committing a crime.” Te person also changed the topic where the ugly messages were People stir the pot by tossing Sackstein said that these messages of the group from “Durban Support” posted. “People must know that divisions into the mix, especially aren’t necessarily created to support to “Mossad is watching you!” and political looters and criminals must when they are feeling vulnerable. one side or the other, but to “create “SA must burn and die”. Members of be exposed and dealt with. I have For example, we saw it during as much chaos as possible, because the group told its admin to remove been to India four times, and many the xenophobic attacks or at if you destabilise your opponent, it the user, which it did. However, the of my close friends are Indian – no the beginning of the COVID-19 weakens them”. Tat’s why someone damage he caused may have the fake instigator will ever drive a pandemic. Often there are writing a message like this may be long-term effect of sowing divisions wedge between us.” more users on these platforms a person who would “benefit from between the Jewish and Indian So, why would someone create a during difficult times, so it’s an additional racial strife”, and the communities where none existed message like this, hoping to stir up Arthur Goldstuck. “As a result, opportunity to amplify messages. Jewish community is just a tool for before. hatred and divisions between Jews individuals feel emboldened to stir Tey aim to drive divisions at certain them to achieve that. Tomorrow, Te messages were shared with and Indians? “In vulnerable times the pot with a mixture of their own points in time. they could post a similar message SA Jewish Report chairperson and like last week, we see the best and bigotry and their desire to see the “Also, social media allows for a trying to create discord amongst tech guru Howard Sackstein, who worst in people,” said local social- worst happen to the ‘other’. Refusal much wider reach. Imagine that this other communities. immediately tried to put out the media expert Sarah Hoffman. “We to acknowledge the rights of those person took to the streets of Durban “It’s important that we fire by emphasising that they were have witnessed people trying to with different views is a ‘pandemic’ with a loudhailer, he would reach understand the context and the created to sow division and hatred at rebuild, but we’ve also witnessed in itself. Our own community only a certain number of people,” dangers. It’s a deliberate attempt to a time when communities are feeling existing prejudices and burning witnesses this daily, as do others, she said. “But on social media, the sabotage. Be very careful what you vulnerable. hatred. When people are under and religious and political leaders way the algorithm is designed, it share or forward as you are possibly “Tis is clearly fake nonsense pressure, it’s an opportune time to don’t have the emotional intelligence amplifies such messages. So even if being manipulated,” he said. specifically sent to try ferment racial make such kind of comments.” She to understand their own roles you share this message online to say Meanwhile, Police Minister Bheki hatred,” he responded to the person encouraged people to disassociate in either condoning or failing to it’s awful, the fact that you shared it Cele said in a speech on 13 July, who queried it. “It’s quite obvious themselves actively from such condemn such attitudes. propels it further.” “We issue a stern warning to those from the following – the guy claims comments if they are shared on a “You don’t have to be an extremist Terefore, she advises that users circulating inflammatory messages to be an ‘Israeli peace keeper’, but WhatsApp group, and to encourage to be a bigot, and that’s part of the don’t re-share something abusive on social-media platforms which Israel doesn’t deploy peace keepers the group admin to block the user. problem,” he said. “Ordinary people or hateful, even if it’s to criticise it. are aimed at inciting violence anywhere. Te number used [to In the wider context, “We have who see themselves as decent and “South Africa is a divided country,” and disregard of the law. Tose send the messages on WhatsApp] seen massive polarisation of society even reasonable develop blind she said. “Touchstone issues include who engage in such acts will be is American, not Israeli. India and globally, as witnessed during spots when it comes to other races, race and sometimes the divisions liable for criminal offence and can Israel have a very close relationship. elections in the United States and nationalities, and political views. between certain communities. Te receive a fine or be sentenced to “Te telephone number is unlisted Israel, and in political divisions in Blind support of populist leaders fact that social media and messaging imprisonment for a period not on True Caller, which means it has South Africa,” said local tech expert has created a massive us-and- platforms can be anonymous means exceeding three years.” 22 – 29 July 2021 SA JEWISH REPORT 5 COVID-19 crashes the party for kosher caterers NICOLA MILTZ grit, and hard work, many say it has become too diffcult. expressed genuine sadness, perhaps seeing themselves the community and his staff. This is a huge loss.” “It’s a very diffcult time,” said Leonard Meyerowitz of refected in the mirror of his company’s demise. “I was Some caterers who wish to remain anonymous for fear he sudden closure of Gary Friedman Caterers, Kosher Pie Works and Jozi Coffee Pizza Pasta. COVID-19 devastated when I heard the news,” said trained chef and of repercussion say the Gary Friedman closure goes far one of Johannesburg’s largest and much-loved restrictions with no seating at eateries or very limited caterer Hayley Hack. “Gary is such a good, kind man.” beyond caterers. kosher caterers, has left the community in shock numbers at functions; the drastic drop to zero simchas Hack and her former partner, Sharon Sheer, parted In spite of a humbled Beth Din following the Stan & Tand shone a spotlight on a troubled industry dramatically from shul brochas, brit milah, weddings, Barmitzvahs and ways amicably when COVID-19 decimated their once Pete treif chicken scandal and the continuing saga of the affected by the pandemic. Batmitzvahs have taken a toll. thriving, small catering and function co-ordinating high cost of kosher food, the organisation is seemingly During the best of times, kosher catering is tough, the “Add to this the number of days we are closed because business. unsympathetic at this time, they say. overheads and costs are high, the margins are small, and of Shabbos, fast days, and Jewish holidays, rising “The Beth Din has improved its accessibility and the community is dwindling, say insiders. During bad emigration, not to forget Eskom power cuts, it’s receptivity, but it’s still not customer-centric and now more times, it’s seemingly impossible, and many are hanging really hard on all of us,” he said. than ever, it needs to be,” said one kosher caterer who by a thread. South Africa has enjoyed being a fagship wished to remain anonymous. According to many insiders who wish to remain of kosher food around the world, but it’s slowly “Where is the Beth Din now when we need all the anonymous, the world of kosher is fraught with losing its big anchor establishments, said one support we can get?” asked another. a toxic blend of favouritism, nepotism, and ferce concerned supplier. “Kosher food and catering is prohibitive. The Beth competitiveness which has led to market cannibalism and Din has to do something about the exorbitant cost of an unsustainable future for many. kosher meat and chicken, end of story,” said another Kosher industry players are doing what they can to commentator, who also wished to remain anonymous. stay afoat. Innovative ideas by one caterer advertised on “Kosher chicken breasts cost between R244 and R268 Facebook are sometimes copied the next day by another, “It simply wasn’t fnancially viable to work as a team per kilogram. Something isn’t right. It has become utterly sometimes for less. Several establishments are selling the anymore, especially with 90% of our functions being unaffordable, and it’s affecting caterers and restaurants. same products or dishes, often at lower prices than their cancelled. We walked away with a heavy heart, but at “Young couples are battling to keep kosher. Many neighbouring kosher competitors. The exorbitant and least we didn’t incur debt. It’s very sad because we were are deciding it’s easier not to. My biggest concern is that rising cost of meat and chicken continues to rear its head established in the industry,” she said. kashrut is going to be diluted as more and more people and plague consumers. In the beginning, they tried to make money by selling resort to ‘kosher style’ food which is not under the Beth Even before COVID-19, but certainly during the delicious salad dressings and delivering meals, but found Din, like you see happening more and more in places like pandemic, there has been a proliferation of home that it wasn’t viable, so parted ways to work on their own Australia.” industries that profess to be kosher but aren’t certifed after terminating their contract with function venue The Rabbi Dovi Goldstein, the managing director of kashrut by the Beth Din. These are run by people who are also Middleton in Morningside. Hack continues to cater on a at the Beth Din, said the closure of Gary Friedman Caterers trying to make an honest living. However, they are having small scale and Sheer remains hopeful that functions will had come as a “huge blow to all of us”. a negative impact on the bigger players who have Beth resume and things will get better once lockdown is lifted. “We are in discussion with Gary as to various Din kosher licencing fees, mashgichim fees, high rentals, Long-time caterer Estelle Sacharowitz of Love is in possibilities of how to assist him,” he said. large staff complements, and other business overheads Just after noon on Tuesday, 6 July, Gary and his wife, the Kitchen said she was “heartbroken” when she heard Kosher SA remained dedicated to ensuring the highest to account for. Tamara, dropped the bombshell in a letter to all their about Friedman. “He has an incredible legacy. This is a sad kosher standard, Goldstein said. “At the same time, we will Kosher caterers and restaurateurs have been hit doubly clients and suppliers explaining that their company was loss for the industry,” she said. continue to look at ways to assist all our establishments. hard by the see-saw, stop-start nature of business during no longer able to weather the storm of COVID-19. Ian Isenberg, of Spice Premium Biltong & Butchery We have, to date, provided payment holidays across the wave after wave of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions. An It brought to an end an era of simcha and revelry at the said, “Gary is the ultimate mensch in the industry. He gave board during hard lockdowns, and extended help on a industry heavily reliant on simchas, celebrations, and HOD, where he largely operated from. Friedman declined me a chance as a newcomer, and even when the chips case-by-case basis. festive good times, it has taken an irreparable knock. In to comment further. were down for him, he still helped to cater a wedding [last “We are deeply concerned about the diffculties that all spite of impressive pivoting, unprecedented resilience, Several caterers and kosher suppliers this week month] for a couple who couldn’t afford it. He did a lot for our certifed food services are going through.” 6 SA JEWISH REPORT 22 – 29 July 2021 south african A crisis not to waste Theewish source of quality content, news and insightseport J R OPINION DANIEL SILKE

outh Africa has survived an insurrection, if Of course, the catalyst for the Just get vaccinated President Cyril Ramaphosa is to be believed. unrest was Zuma. He was the fuse s the dust settles on the violence and looting that This is no laughing matter. The extent and that lit the spark. And it was a spark took place last week, the community has bonded Scontext of the violence unleashed within KwaZulu- that became a fire on the back of an economically in raising funds and gathering essential goods Natal and Gauteng last week should leave many deprived and stressed populace who, when faced with forA those sorely affected by the chaos. Tese include our unsettled and insecure about the state’s ability to the prospects of looting without any consequences, community in KwaZulu-Natal. provide security in the short term and stability in the resorted to a mass criminal event. I was astonished to see people, many of whom were medium term. South Africa has a long history of political protest fasting on Tisha B’Av, making their way into townships There should be little real surprise at the turn linked to the destabilisation of the country. And this to help clean up over the weekend. Te kindness and of events. It was, indeed, a perfect storm across a was yet another chapter. Instigators used criminal generosity of our community has, again, come to the fore. number of indicators. Primarily, the looting and elements to assist, and the sabotaging of schools, Literally millions of rand has been raised in days to pillaging was a function of the confluence of both theft from blood banks and ammunition supplies, help people, mostly in KwaZulu-Natal. People who have political instability and economic stress. They came water plants, and cell phone masts showed an intent barely left their homes in months made their way to help together in a toxic cocktail that has left well in excess well beyond the criminal hysteria visible. pack boxes and sort through essentials that were destined for Durban. of 200 people dead, thousands without jobs, and an Ultimately, insurrection often occurs in a weak state It was amazing how the horror of the pandemic took a back seat to the crazed looting, economic bill likely to run in excess of R100 billion – and for sure, this was the ticket that allowed the burning, and madness that was believed to have been caused by Zuma’s cronies, now known as with a possible 0.5% drop in gross domestic product devastation to ensue. the “dirty dozen”. just as a result of the violence of a fateful 72-hour Those participating in the free-for-all looting spree For a week, our focus shifted to another devastating situation in our country. period. themselves have been victim of the broad failure But as the damage is being weighed up and the true toll on the economic and political The protests began just hours after former of economic policy over the past decade to pursue playing field is tallied, the rest of us return to the reality of the pandemic and that level 4 President Jacob Zuma reported to prison on contempt growth-oriented policies. lockdown is still with us. Te number of people with COVID-19 is still extremely high, but it’s of court charges. The effects of the Zuma presidency The ANC has largely concentrated on redistributive dropping. Tis is a huge relief. on the country are now well-documented. But, the policies seemingly unable to overcome ideological Tere is undoubtedly hope in the air, and that hope comes in the form of an injection, a jab, ascent to power of Ramaphosa upset the existing constraints to deregulate our economy and embrace a shot, or a vaccination – call it what you will. patronage networks established under Zuma, some the private sector in partnership with the state. Add Never before have I witnessed people crying with joy when they receive a vaccination. And of which form part of the state capture enquiry while COVID-19 to this mix, and the instigators keen to many are willing to wait quietly, in their masks and keeping a social distance, for hours on end others represent a crony capitalism and clientelism weaken the Ramaphosa presidency found a ready- just to get that small vial of muti vaccinated into their arm. which favoured connected elites and individuals with made army even if many of those unwittingly just I know I was quite emotional when I had my first jab. It felt like one step towards freedom. lucrative contracts and access to state tenders. took advantage of the complete state of anarchy. One step towards being able to live a life without so many restrictions. As I was vaccinated, I The switch to Ramaphosa was a signal that these With unemployment at more than 40% for all pictured myself surrounded by my loved ones at a dinner table. murky relationships were likely to be investigated adults and more than 65% for those under 25 years, Isn’t it amazing how regular events that we took for granted have become something we and upended. Ramaphosa, for all his detractors, has economic policy hasn’t worked. Rising poverty levels long for? been a reformer within the African National Congress and inequality have been a feature of the country While most people I know just want to be vaccinated for all the same reasons I do, I don’t (ANC). And, reformers who disrupt cosy established for the past five years. There is, frankly, nothing new understand why there are others who seem to look for excuses not to. Now, normally (if there networks run major personal risks themselves. about the inadequacy of state policy. Analysts have is such a thing), I believe in letting people follow their own path. If they don’t agree with my With the Zondo Commission breathing down the warned about the consequences of failed strategies views, so be it. Tey don’t have to. necks of Zuma as well as ANC Secretary-General Ace and non-existent implementation for years. However, the only way we are going to get to population or mass immunity is if more than Magashule, amongst others, it was always going to be In the end, South Africa faces some major hurdles 65% of the population is vaccinated. So, it isn’t as simple as looking the other way. a risky period for the governing party. should we begin to move away from the highly To get to the point where we can’t carry coronavirus and make someone else sick, many dangerous atmosphere more of us need to have one of the vaccines on offer in South Africa. At this stage, we are President Cyril Ramaphosa prevailing. The violence at vaccinating about 200 000 people a day. So far, we have given 5.5 million individual doses. hand is a direct consequence Te government’s aim is to vaccinate 300 000 a day. of ANC politics and policies. According to the most recent research done by experts at the University of Cape Town While we can – and should and Stellenbosch, nearly one in four are still hesitant to be vaccinated. And one in 15 are – rebuild the physical and strongly opposed to it. Teir reasons vary from not trusting that the vaccines have been social damage caused, tested for long enough to vaccinations being a global plot. I have heard and read the most it’s the ANC that needs an ridiculous reasons for not getting vaccinated. Te point is, those people who are dying and internal flush-out. very ill in hospital are generally not vaccinated. Isn’t that enough of a reason to get the The only way to pressurise vaccine? the ANC is via enhancing Te reality is that as a nation, we can avoid a fourth wave. Te sooner we’re all a competitive democracy vaccinated, the sooner we can resume a semblance of normality. that begins to threaten the Can you picture it: going to the cinema, dinner in a cosy restaurant, parties where we governing party at the polls. dance with each other. In mature democracies, Imagine going to a concert in the park with people all around us, dancing, smiling, and it’s only the fear of being laughing. It seems almost like a dream. booted out of office that gets Te idea of going to shul and sitting next to a friend and enjoying a brocha afterwards governments to act. It’s a pity seems like a fond memory. Political factionalism and in-fighting occur in in South Africa’s case that the opposition continues to Just being able to walk down the street and smile at people and see them smiling back at a variety of state quarters, with the mistrust and be fragmented and perhaps requires an “alliance for you would be so pleasurable. And South Africa is one of the few countries in which strangers malfeasance involved stretching across a swathe of change” umbrella to reduce intra-party sniping. smiling and greeting each other happens all the time. state-owned enterprises. This level of political decline Secondly, South Africans have appeased this Te truth is, this isn’t that far off if we all just get vaccinated. Everyone from the age of 35 has been evident for many years. And the ANC’s own decline for too long. Pressure has to be brought to and older can get their jabs now. debilitating moral decline has served to undermine bear from our powerful business community who In the next few weeks, the SA Jewish Report is going to focus on trying to dispel myths and authority and credibility. With the conflation of have often sought to cosy-up to government in answer any questions, worries, or concerns about vaccines so that we are all armed with all the party and state in the country, the ANC’s problems exchange for contracts rather than speak their mind. facts. have spilled over into South Africa’s problems – as There is little room for mealy-mouthed expressions of Tis Sunday, if you are registered on the Electronic Vaccination Data System, you can go witnessed last week. concern in the current environment, which threatens along to Te Base Shul in Glenhazel where they are vaccinating. Anyone is welcome as long as The problem for Ramaphosa is that he himself is a physical infrastructure as well as lives and livelihoods. he or she has their identity document and is registered. You can be on a medical aid, but you fragile leader elected with a super-slender majority Thirdly, South Africa needs an economic re-boot. don’t have to be. You certainly don’t have to be Jewish. within his own party. Although he allowed the legal It’s clear that the damning statistical decline of our Our responsibility isn’t just to get ourselves and those in our family above 35 vaccinated, it consequences of the Zondo Commission (ironically indicators requires new thinking. And for that to extends to those in our circle or those we know. What if the security guard at your office block established by Zuma himself) to weaken his political happen, political pressure has to be brought to bear has had difficulty registering and/or getting somewhere that he could be vaccinated? Don’t let enemies, his own insecurities resulted in a broader to end the ideological myopia that has held us back. him wait, help him to get there. state apparatus bloated with former Zuma acolytes. We need a modern, market friendly, and socially Te same goes for your domestic workers, gardeners, other staff, or even that woman you Similarly, Ramaphosa’s desire to balance the responsible environment without the dictates of an know down the road. Do a mitzvah, help someone or a number of people to get vaccinated. various ANC constituent forces resulted in the interfering state. Make it your commitment to get yourself vaccinated, and everyone you know who wants to appointment of an executive (cabinet) that prioritised While we can join hands around an “ubuntu” be protected against this killer coronavirus. ANC unity over that of efficiency, expertise, and renewal and a basic income grant, it’s a deeper As a community, let’s do the right thing. We have seen too much death and illness, it’s time political reliability. From a leadership perspective, structural problem in our political make-up that to bring it to an end. Ramaphosa’s choices in the security cluster have been requires a shift. If this shocking week of violence And it’s not about which drug will work better and will there be a hospital bed if you get very particularly problematic and given the events of this assists with that in any way, maybe then it will be a ill with COVID-19. It’s all about doing everything you can to prevent you, me, and everyone last week, a failure. crisis we won’t waste. else from getting this virus. While issues will still be clarified in ensuing Let’s do it! months, the president has been sorely embarrassed • Daniel Silke is a political-economy analyst and Shabbat Shalom! by the lack of adequate intelligence as well as a keynote speaker based in Cape Town. Follow him on Peta Krost Maunder police ministry clearly incapable of a semblance of Twitter @DanielSilke and view his website at Editor public-order policing. www.danielsilkeglobal.com 22 – 29 July 2021 SA JEWISH REPORT 7 What if this IS us? OPINION HOWARD SACKSTEIN ’m cursed with optimism. But as the smouldering cinders the assets of the IEC which had been stolen, of last week burned themselves to charcoal and our looted, and plundered during our first president flanked by his podgy unkempt generals wailed democratic vote. Iwar talk of an insurrection, and social media was overrun Te detective taught me a valuable lesson. Twenty percent with stirring renditions of the national anthem and images of the population will always steal, he explained, 20% of of people sweeping the broken shards of debris from a week the population will never steal, but the remaining 60% of of shame, I felt short changed. people will steal, rob, and loot if they are presented with an I cannot allow my optimism to blind me like cataracts to opportunity where they are likely to get away with it, when reality. law and order has broken down, and where criminality has In a slight elevation from his usual monotone, the become an acceptable norm. president informed us that an unnamed Zuma and a dirty And very sadly, that’s the environment we have created dozen of saboteurs wrought havoc on our nation. In an in South Africa. We have watched the Zumas, the Guptas, attack on our democracy, they targeted road arteries, ports, the Magashules, and most of our last few governments loot oil refineries, and strategic key-points, but their attempted the state. Pravin Gordhan, our minister of public enterprise, resurrection had come to naught. estimates that R500 billion was stolen from the people of Te woke coterie of TV commentators berated us with South Africa during the Zuma era. stories of how what we are witnessing is the poor, destitute, Analysts believe that corruption has lost the country R1.5 and unvaccinated taking food to which they were entitled trillion since the advent of democracy. Tat’s about R50 000 given long COVID-19 shutdowns, gross income inequality, per adult South African stolen by a government which swept and insufficient government support. to power in order to liberate and transform South Africa. Tat’s been the price for each individual South African, stolen from pensions never paid, houses never built, jobs never created, and grants never paid. When you live in a society with no consequence, when theft is all around you, when those in power are never brought to justice, then the fertile ground is ploughed for anarchy. Permission is granted to everyone to say, “If he Looting in Gauteng can, why can’t I?” If the police stand My fellow squad of optimists tell us how the country has back and watch the looting, swearing helplessly at the come together, how people of all races have manned the criminals, but allowing the chaos to engulf the nation, then barricades, protected the malls, how taxi associations have you are guaranteed crime with no consequence. sought out the fugitives, and how, with brooms in hand, In Rwanda, ordinary citizens turned on their neighbours by sweeping the destruction of supermarket aisles, we will and became murderers for a month. Tey weren’t murderers rebuild South Africa. before, and they weren’t murderers afterwards. Channelling a national therapist, our president assured Similarly, in Nazi Germany, in places like Lithuania, where us that this past week wasn’t us, “Tis isn’t who we are as most of us herald from, Jews were killed by their neighbours a people,” he said. But what happens if he’s wrong? Isn’t it who didn’t kill before and didn’t kill again. But the climate time to take a really good look at ourselves in the mirror and was created in which there was no consequence for the realise that this is exactly “us”, this is exactly who we have crime, where criminality was the norm, where everyone was become as a nation. given permission to be part of the mob rather than the one What concerns me isn’t that a kleptocratic former to stand against the tide. president and his criminal cohort attempted to overthrow a In these circumstances, ordinary, law-abiding, tummy- democratically elected government. What doesn’t worry me filled South Africans took to the streets to steal R67 000 is that sadly, Pick n Pay and Shoprite Checkers were robbed couches that don’t fit into their homes, to loot 75-inch of bread, milk, and eggs. What concerns me most is the TVs that can’t fit into their cars, and to line up orderly and image of long lines of orderly, disciplined luxury and semi peacefully waiting to loot and plunder their local mall and luxury vehicles waiting peacefully in line for their chance to store. loot the Makro distribution centre in KwaZulu-Natal. So, Mr President, this wasn’t an aberration, this was Tese cars and their jubilant occupants weren’t the poor, “us”. Tis was the real South Africa that we have created, a the hungry, the destitute. Tese were middle class and country with no consequence, a country that the apartheid upper-middle-class fat cats, willing to steal because order apologists warned us about. and society had simply broken down. It’s time we looked in the mirror and realised that the real After the 1994 first democratic elections, while executive South Africa just punched us all directly in the face. director of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), I employed the services of a private detective to track down • Howard Sackstein is chairperson of the SA Jewish Report. GetGet youryour COVID-19COVID-19 vaccinevaccine atat TheThe BaseBase This Sunday, 25 July Everyone over 35 is welcome. No medical aid necessary. First and second dose Pfizer vaccine if your due date has arrived. designbandits.co.za/210721 Book now: www.thebase.org.za/vaccine 8 SA JEWISH REPORT Tu B’Av 22 – 29 July 2021 Making matches in heaven work on earth In celebration of Tu B’Av, the Jewish holiday of love, Mirah Langer asked communal spiritual leaders to share their personal stories and insights about relationships.

Rabbi Yossy and Rebbetzin Rochel Goldman Rabbi Levi and Rebbetzin Chaya Avtzon Life rabbi emeritus, Sydenham Shul: Johannesburg Linksfeld Senderwood Hebrew Congregation: Johannesburg After 48 years together, the Goldmans’ advice is that “the first 25 years are the hardest”, jokes “He’s going to marry that girl!” This was the confdent declaration of Rabbi Avtzon’s sister after Rabbi Goldman. In actuality, in their decades together and as the parents of 11 children and he came home “grinning ear to ear” from his frst date with Chaya. numerous grandchildren, the couple are a wealth of wisdom when it comes to relationships. “Less than three weeks later, we were offcially engaged. You might say, ‘Three weeks – so “Understand that you won’t change people. Learn to respect each other. ‘Love’ is a four-letter long?’” they quip, “The truth is, we were ready after two weeks, but waited for Chaya’s parents word. So is ‘work’. It’s a work-in-progress. Be patient. People who rush to the lawyer often to come from South Africa to celebrate the engagement.” regret it.” Although Chaya is from South Africa, they met when she had fnished at seminary and was The Goldmans have forged a life of Jewish practice and service, and it’s this, ultimately, teaching in New Jersey. At the time, Avtzon was living with his family in New York City. which they see as having centred their marriage together. “Living an observant, traditional After their marriage, which took place in the Johannesburg City Hall, the couple settled in Jewish life and feeling the presence of Hashem in your lives adds to your quality of life. New York City. However, it was Avtzon, who about a year after being married, initiated moving Practices like Shabbos and mikvah go a long way to enhance marriage and family life,” reflect to South Africa. Chaya didn’t need much convincing. the couple, whose union was bestowed with the blessing of the Lubavitcher Rebbe right from “Within two days, it was the start. fnalised. We moved here “Though we came from somewhat different backgrounds in terms of our families, we had not long after. We had zero similar values and goals in life. We also received the guidance and blessings of the Rebbe to job prospects, just a strong go ahead with it, and that gave us intuition that this place confidence,” the couple says. would be good for us. How They first met on the suggestion of right we were!” Goldman’s sister, who had come to know This week, on the 14th Rochel at seminary. “I was studying in of Av, they celebrate their Montreal and she was working in New 12th Hebrew wedding York. I flew in for a quick first date, and anniversary. The couple, who when we saw there was potential, we are blessed with six children, dated on my next trip to New York for a say that the core of every few weeks.” marriage needs to be about Married in June 1973, their unity “lots of talking and sharing”. is forged by a belief in the importance “Two adults working on and sanctity of marriage. “Once we had becoming better people children, keeping the family strong, is the simple recipe” for stable, happy, and together was a positive relationships, priority in our lives. We believe in suggest the Avtzons. bashert, that we are soulmates, so we “Marriage is made out to be just have to work things out.” much more complicated and The couple study Torah and Chassidic sophisticated than it actually is. Most issues in marriage aren’t marriage issues per se. They are philosophy together “which gives life his or her individual character faws that need work and maturing [from]. If two people work on greater depth”. Since lockdown, they themselves each day, the marriage will fourish.” have also enjoyed the simple pleasure of The couple continue to build a life of shared values together, and in their downtime, also taking walks together. enjoy the art of constructing something beautiful: completing puzzles and even sometimes Lego together.

Rabbi Greg and Rebbetzin Andrea Alexander Rabbi Sam and Rebbetzin Aviva Thurgood Temple Israel Cape Town Progressive Jewish Congregation Beit Midrash Morasha at Arthur’s Road: Cape Town “We have been together for 20 years, and you don’t get there without being It was as Bnei Akiva madrichim at the age of 18 that Rabbi Sam and Rebbetzin Aviva Turgood first willing to apologise, forgive, be patient, understanding, agree to disagree, met. “We started off being friends, and I think that really is a beautiful way to start,” reflects the and make time for your relationship. All of this is important and holy work.” rebbetzin. So reflects Rabbi Greg and Rebbetzin Andrea Alexander on the path they While Turgood jokes that getting married was a “leap of faith”, his wife reminds him how a have followed in their relationship. lighter moment during camp duties become a deeper sign of the kind of union they realised they The couple first met when he was at rabbinical school in London and she might share in the future. “Sam was fun-loving, as he is now. He had this cap, a special one that he was running the cheder of the progressive synagogue in Budapest. had got from America. We were doing something with the kids [at Bnei] and it was lots of fun. We “The backstory is that [Andrea’s] rabbi was trying to shidduch [match- ended up with excess flour, and we started throwing flour and water at each other.” make] her with Greg’s chavrutah [study partner]. Before she met the Although it “ruined his cap, for which he’s never forgiven me”, laughs the rebbetzin, “he did once chavrutah say to me that in that moment, he knew that we would have fun together. I think that’s a great however, quality to have in a relationship”. she met From this starting point, their relationship has “continued to develop over time” and they are Greg, and united in knowing that “we can learn together and from each other”. Te parents of four children then sat also believe in the importance of having common goals. “We have always been heading in the same in on a direction, and even when we are at different places, we’re still converging rather than diverging,” text study says Turgood. session Te advice he gives the couples he he was marries is that “a happy marriage isn’t leading. a given and isn’t even the average; a They good, happy, and strong marriage is an started above-average result, and will require to discuss an above-average effort. You can’t rely Torah, and on an average amount of forgiveness, the rest is compassion, kindness, and conflict history.” resolution. You have to bring an above- A week average amount of commitment to all later, they of those things for true results.” begun to “I would just add, never stop discuss enjoying being together,” says the marriage. rebbetzin. After all, throughout their Two relationship they have kept their bond decades with the same shared sense of joy and and adventure that brought them together three children later, they have forged a connection on a number of levels. as teenagers. “Even when things are Together, they do Tai Chi and climb Table Mountain, and when it comes to tough,” they always know that “we can principles and practices, they share “dreams, ideals, the way we imagine and laugh and have fun”, she says. Indeed, dream about community, love of creativity, culture, ritual, love of theatre, for a recent wedding anniversary – they love of being citizens of the world, love of music and singing together. Love. have been married for 13 years – they Work and more work. When things are difficult, you have to dig deep and went paragliding together. Next up, work through it.” they hope, is a sky diving escapade! 22 – 29 July 2021 SA JEWISH REPORT 9 From the cockpit – secrets of a Jewish pilot Veteran South African pilot Robert Schapiro wrote Secrets from the Cockpit before he died. His wife, journalist Arlene Getz, talks to Mirah Langer about it. How did the book come into being? many of them did get deployed to the name-calling. Then he either fought back who reigned over their cockpits, expected enough to wake him up with the clacking It evolved from Robert’s decision to write border. What was different was that his hard or ran away and hid. blind obedience, and thought the rules of their claws in the middle of the night. about his life for our son, Morgan. As passion for fying made him agree to join didn’t apply to them. He ended up keeping just one of the Robert wrote in his introduction, Morgan the Permanent Force because it was the How did the two of you get three, and of course, he named him Claw. loved his stories, and always said he only way he could get the pilot training married? What did Robert’s Jewish identity should write them down. he needed to get into South African We started dating after we bumped mean to him? Tell us more about what he was like Robert fnished the manuscript after Airways (SAA). into each other at a restaurant in Cape He didn’t just see himself as a pilot, he beyond the pages of the book. he was diagnosed with mesothelioma, a Town. He was already in SAA, and I’d saw himself as a Jewish pilot. Robert was, to use one of his favourite rare asbestos-related cancer that affects He was subject to rampant recently graduated from Rhodes with my Tradition was important to him. He words, a mensch. He was kind and the lining of the lung, and I promised antisemitism. How did he cope? journalism degree. When we got married grew up in an Orthodox home, loved generous. him I’d edit it and get it published. Robert sums up the antisemitism right a few years later, one of his aunts told me family Shabbat dinners, and had us all He was enormously talented. He made at the start of the book, when he wrote, how happy she was that we’d fnally got in stitches when he used to describe the gorgeous wooden furniture, restored The two of you attended Herzlia. “Not a day – sometimes not an hour – of together because as a child, he’d never weird sounds of meat being put into the old houses, and was an excellent cook. What are some of your earliest my years in the South African military stopped talking about me. mincer when his granny made pirogen. He baked incredible bread. At the same memories of him and his went by without one of my Afrikaner He was an active member of our New time, he was genuinely modest. determination to break the Robert offers a behind- York shul community, and impressively He was very much his own person. mould of expected careers the-scenes look at some of dedicated to teaching Morgan his When he wasn’t in his pilot’s uniform, for “nice Jewish boys” at the the behaviour and culture Barmitzvah portion. he lived in torn T-shirts and baggy shorts time? Robert Schapiro of SAA. What did he fnd covered in paint stains. He hated formal Robert and I met when we were the most startling? Which is your favourite anecdote in clothes, and thought he was very clever in a school play in primary school. Air crews could have as long the book and why? when he found sweatpants that were the Even back then, fying was all he One story same colour as the fying pants issued Robert Schapiro and Arlene Getz talked about. I remember clearly that is just by Nippon Cargo Airlines (NCA). He used how so many people either made so Robert to change into those after take-off, and fun of him for it or just felt sorry is when he tell himself that no-one could tell the for him because fying school was decided he difference. NCA managers didn’t see it so competitive. needed a pet quite the same way. For me, Robert’s memoir is to keep him He was a wonderful father. And I relevant on many levels. Yes, it’s company couldn’t have asked for better, or funnier, about a young man who fought the odds barrack mates calling me Jood [Jew]. during one of husband. to live his dream. But it’s more than just They weren’t saying it to be nice.” his training the story of one person’s life. It’s also He said that it wasn’t unusual for the courses How does Morgan feel to see the a snapshot of an era in the evolution Jewish recruits to be pulled out of the ranks in Japan. book in print? of aviation and in the history of South to do unpleasant menial jobs. In Robert’s Hotel rooms Robert always regretted that his fying Africa. case, it must have been worse because he aren’t exactly meant he had to spend so much time would have been the lone Jew. as a one-week stopover in places like conducive environments for that, but away from us. Years ago, he wrote, In order to fulfl Robert’s dream of Sometimes he’d have to talk his Lisbon, and it wasn’t unusual for some Robert decided that one of the small red illustrated, and self-published a series of becoming a pilot, he had to enter way out of things, like the time when pilots to spend the time waiting for their crayfsh he’d seen at the local fshmonger children’s stories for Morgan. The frst one the apartheid-era South African his barracks mates asked him to speak return fight doing little else but visiting would be the answer. was called, Where Does Daddy Go? and it Air Force and was even involved in “Jewish”. He started telling them in local bars. On Robert’s frst international He ended up having to buy three of showed Morgan what Robert did when he the border war. Yet, he was clearly Hebrew how little he thought of them, trip, the captain got so drunk one night, the creatures because the fshmonger was on a fight. It ends with Robert telling ideologically against the state. How and realised when he saw their shocked he ended up passing out on the foor of wouldn’t sell him less than 200g worth, Morgan how he misses him every day that did he navigate this? faces that he’d actually switched his a local train. brought them back to his room, agonised he’s away. Remember this was the 1970s, when all insults into Afrikaans by mistake. Robert also disliked the autocratic over what to feed them, wondered why Morgan loved those books and is the young men of my generation were Most times, he said, he ignored it captains known in the airline as the Royal they barely moved, and then hid under thrilled about the memoir making it conscripted for national service, and unless it became more than harmless Family. Many were World War II veterans the sheets when they became energised into print. Icy response to Ben & Jerry’s decision to exit settlements JTA STAFF brand, but have often used their frozen treats to push government from contracting with entities that orientation. social-justice causes.) boycott Israel. Jeremy Ben-Ami, the president of the left-leaning osher supermarkets are rethinking their Reactions from Israel’s leaders were harsh. In spite Israeli cabinet minister Orna Barbivay posted a Israel advocacy group J Street, said that Ben & Jerry’s inventory. Politicians are emptying their of the distinctions Ben & Jerry’s made in its statement TikTok video of her throwing a pint in the trash; the was drawing “a principled and rational distinction freezers. And the foreign minister of Israel is between Israel and the “occupied Palestinian favour she tossed couldn’t be determined at between commercial transactions in the state of Israel ges Kvowing to get involved in local American politics. territory”, Prime Minister Naftali Ima press time. and those in the territory it occupies”, and said the y ett The reactions were all part of the frestorm that Bennett, a long-time supporter /G Other Israeli public fgures term “antisemitism” didn’t apply to the company’s ee am quirky ice cream manufacturer Ben & Jerry’s set off of the settlements, called N appeared to compare the actions. c M on Monday morning, 19 July, with its announcement the decision a “boycott ice cream company’s Daniel Sokatch, chief executive of the left-wing n i

that it would no longer sell ice cream in “occupied of Israel” and said Ben W settlement boycott to New Israel Fund, said that Ben & Jerry’s wasn’t being

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The Vermont-based company, founded by two brand itself as an anti- P an editor at Israel’s because “these lands aren’t sovereign Israel”. Jews and long known for its left-leaning politics, had Israel ice cream”. His Ben & Jerry’s co-founders Jerry public broadcaster, “Attacking people who try and distinguish between gone dark on social media for two months since the predecessor, Benjamin Greenfield, left, and Ben Cohen tweeted that the colour sovereign and non-sovereign Israel by calling them recent outbreak of violence in Israel and Gaza. The Netanyahu, tweeted, “Now scheme on Ben & Jerry’s antisemitic is to evade a matter of fact, abuse the announcement broke that silence, simultaneously we Israelis know which ice statement was similar to meaning of ‘antisemitism’, and ultimately gaslight infuriating Israel advocates who said the decision cream NOT to buy.” that of the fag of the terror group those who would try and work towards a future of was an unfair attack on Israel, and disappointing pro- Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, Hamas. equality and justice for Israelis and Palestinians alike,” Palestinian advocates who said the company should the architect of the current ruling coalition, who is Amichai Chikli, a right-wing legislator in Israel’s Sokatch said in a statement. have gone further. generally to Bennett’s left regarding the Palestinians, Knesset, tweeted, “Ben & Jerry’s you picked the wrong The Anti-Defamation League, a centrist group, Israeli politicians, supermarkets in the United went even further, calling the decision a “shameful side”, and posted an infamous photo from 2000 of said it was “disappointed” by the move. “You can States, various pundits, and even Ben & Jerry’s current surrender to antisemitism, to BDS [the Boycott, a Palestinian who had just killed two Israeli soldiers disagree with policies without feeding into dangerous Israeli licensee went after the ice cream maker and its Divestment, Sanctions movement], and to all that is displaying his hands through a window, covered in campaigns that seek to undermine Israel,” it said, but corporate parent, British multinational Unilever, for wrong with the anti-Israel and anti-Jewish discourse”. the soldiers’ blood. refrained from calling for specifc action. its statement. (The company’s Jewish founders, Ben He called on US states to take domestic action against American Jewish groups offered varied responses And the right-wing Zionist Organization of America Cohen and Jerry Greenfeld, no longer manage the Ben & Jerry’s based on state laws that prohibit the to the company’s scoop that mapped to their political Continued on page 10>>

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www.israel-properties.com | Tel/WhatsApp IL +972 50 446 9515 | Tel/WhatsApp SA +27 82 608 0168 | [email protected] 10 SA JEWISH REPORT 22 – 29 July 2021 MP calls for recognition of Pretoria shul’s heritage TALI FEINBERG significance from a South African perspective,” Hicklin says. “Accommodating a head office is hen Madeleine Hicklin fantastic, but what are they going to do to preserve recently viewed the the history that the building signifies? dilapidated state of the “It was the first synagogue to be consecrated OldW Synagogue on Paul Kruger Street in Tshwane, which means it has tremendous in the Tshwane city centre, she was significance to the Jewish population,” she says. moved to tears as she realised that “Ten, by memorialising the South African history, a “heritage icon for Jews and South The Old Jewish we will ensure that future generations understand Africans” now lies in ruins. Synagogue that our democracy ‘started’ in that building. So Along with being a shul and a place there needs to be a space that celebrates that, as of simchas and memories, the building well as the Jewish contribution to the evolution of was converted into a court and was South Africa. Tis contribution the site of the start of the treason is immense, and should be trials of 1960 and 1964 as well as the honoured. inquest into the death of Steve Biko. “My promise is that as long Now, in her role as Democratic as I’m in this department, I Alliance shadow deputy minister of will ‘hold their feet to the fire’ the department of public works and to make sure this happens,” infrastructure, Hicklin is fighting she says. “We won’t let go of for the shul to be restored, and for this as Jews or South Africans. it to house a memorial, museum, Sometimes in South Africa there education centre, archival collection, is selective memory, but history or aspects of all of these. cannot be re-written, and it needs But it will be an uphill battle, as tourists. Te proposal has been submitted to DSAC, Te required feasibility study will to be recorded. Te treason trial there are plans to accommodate and is awaiting its concurrence.” be commissioned on receipt of and the Steve Biko inquest hold the department of sport, arts and She added that “the execution of this project concurrence from DSAC for the a ‘dark place’ in South African culture’s (DSAC’s) head office on via a public-private partnership is subject to the proposal presented.” history, but we can’t just let them the property. Tis means that the completion of the feasibility study and associated “Even if the government doesn’t look at ‘disappear’. We need to preserve all parts of history building should be restored, but procurement plan for National Treasury’s approval. the building from a Jewish perspective, it has so we don’t repeat the mistakes of the past.” Hicklin is worried that it won’t honour the history of the site. She says she will continue to push for Transforming a rubbish dump into an oasis at least a corner of the space to be dedicated to the past. ILAN OSSENDRYVER them off from mainland Aviv. Hicklin says that in May, she wrote Egypt in the heat of the The gas released by the landfill is being to Public Works and Infrastructure fter greening the Sinai. collected and rerouted underground, past the Minister Patricia de Lille asking what desert with fruit Today, the luscious Shapirim Stream and Route #1 (the main Tel the Heritage Advisory Services was and vegetables, green park has Aviv – Jerusalem highway) to a textile plant doing about the shocking state of the IsraelisA looked elsewhere little lakes, dams, in Azur, where the gas is converted into green building. to make improvements. and revitalised energy. She also asked whether the The country’s latest rivers, with a According to Shlomit Doten Gissin from the department would “restore the environmental department of environment and building to its former state either achievement is to turn sustainability at the park, the as a synagogue or a monument the Hiriya rubbish dump number of bird species has risen to be used as a heritage education between Tel Aviv and Ben from only 80 to more than centre for both the Jewish and the Gurion Airport into a park. 200 species, with bird hides South African community at large in This former dump has been everywhere for visitors to Tshwane”. transformed into the largest watch birds in silence. Finally, she queried “whether the green area in the Middle East, with Gissin says the department will enter into a public- more than 8 000 dunams (8km2) of vegetation in the private partnership with interested parkland. park was specifically individuals with a view to opening an The Hiriya dump (Hiriya in planted to encourage education centre, where educational Arabic means good in the sense low-flying birds so as tours could be offered to tourists and of goodness and blessing in not to interfere with scholars interested in the history of the past) was an eyesore and the flight path to Ben the Rivonia Trial and South African a rather smelly one at that, Photos: Ilan Ossendryver Gurion Airport. Hundreds of Jewry”. accumulating the majority indigenous plants, trees, and In her response on 6 July, De Lille of garbage from the shrubs have been planted among said that plans for restoring the greater Tel Aviv area. fresh water ponds. building were underway. “In this The vision to convert Some plants have been planted regard, a redevelopment proposal as this dumping ground into huge variety of diagonally on the slopes to allow easy well as a pre-feasibility study have a green space came from plants, bushes, movements of butterflies so they don’t hit a been conducted and recommended the late Prime Minister Ariel and trees. Aptly, “wall” of plants. There are also tiny animals to the best use for the facility. Sharon. He was also the general it has been named be found, even jackals and smaller cats. Notwithstanding the fact that the who, during the 1973 Yom the Ariel Sharon Tis park is one of the wonders of unusable space synagogue building envelope isn’t Kippur War, led his soldiers and Park. Venture to the being converted into flourishing public spaces in in a good condition, the building’s tanks behind the Egyptian Third edge of it, and you see Israel. Completion should take about another year, roof has been refurbished to ensure Army and surrounded them, cutting a spectacular view of Tel but it’s already being enjoyed by many. that the interior is kept stable and dry until it is restored. Tere is Icy response to Ben & Jerry’s decision to exit settlements furthermore a 24-hour security >> Continued from page 9 presence on the site,” she wrote. called for a boycott of the ice cream, proclaiming that push against Ben & Jerry’s. consumers to continue purchasing the ice cream brand De Lille said that “the restoration Ben & Jerry’s is “bad for your moral and physical health”. Meanwhile, CodePink, an international left-wing women’s because hundreds of local workers needed their support. will be guided by established The call was echoed by others such as Jewish conservative group, praised the decision for showing that pressure works. In a recorded video, Chief Executive Avi Zinger said he conservation principles” and “will commentator Ben Shapiro, who said he would stop eating But the group also said the company should do more. had been notifed earlier on Monday morning that the recognise the different historic the brand. “Ben & Jerry’s included in the statement that they will company wouldn’t renew his license when it expires at layers embedded in the Old Jewish Vermonters for Justice in Palestine, an activist group be remaining in Israel,” said Danaka Katovich, a Middle the end of 2022. Synagogue. Te feasibility study based in Ben & Jerry’s home state that has been leading a East campaign coordinator for CodePink. “I hope Ben & “They did this because we wouldn’t agree to stop supported the option to redevelop years-long campaign against the ice cream maker for doing Jerry’s continues to listen to Palestinians and their demands selling ice cream in all parts of Israel,” Zinger said. “The the property and maximise state land. business in Israel at all, said the move didn’t go far enough. moving forward, and will recognise that Israel’s system of reason they did that is because of BDS pressure. We aren’t In this regard, the recommendation “By maintaining a presence in Israel, Ben & Jerry’s apartheid exists not only in the occupied territories but from surrendering, and it’s important that you support us.” is to accommodate the DSAC’s head continues to be complicit in the killing, imprisonment, and the Jordan River to the Mediterranean sea.” In happier times for Ben & Jerry’s Israel relations, the office on the property. Te Old dispossession of Palestinian people and the faunting of The Israeli licensee of Ben & Jerry’s, which operates company made a concentrated outreach to its customer Jewish Synagogue is proposed to be international law,” the group’s president, Kathy Shapiro, a factory in the town of Be’er Tuvia, took to social media base with original, Israel-exclusive favours, including used as both a monument and as a said in a statement. A related group, Occupy Burlington, had hours after the announcement to denounce the American charoset and matzah crunch – both certifed kosher for multi-use centre for conferences and been a driving force behind the most recent social-media corporation and its parent company. It called on Israeli Passover. exhibitions, open to the public and WITSIES AROUND THE WORLD

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For more information visit wits100.wits.ac.za WITS. FOR GOOD. 12 SA JEWISH REPORT 22 – 29 July 2021 South Africa’s “Jewish Mandela” on Cyber addicts life and rebirth slip under SAUL KAMIONSKY In I Am Here, the witty, bubbly, and a larger-than-life Blumenthal is represented as having an aura similar to the “Madiba magic”. COVID-19 radar he oldest South African Holocaust survivor, Ella Her zest for life comes through in the life-affrming OPINION ANTONY RADOMSKY Blumenthal, turns 100 this Shabbat, the day after I Am documentary, which won the Audience Award for Best Here, the award-winning documentary made about her Documentary at the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival and is backed by sycho-social media and maximise cyber-safety in general: Tlife, has its frst showing at the Durban Film Festival. the Claims Conference, which has supported many award-winning literature have long highlighted • Be extremely selective when posting Nonetheless, Blumenthal who lives in Cape Town, will begin her flms, such as Hungarian Holocaust flm Son of Saul. the negative effects that the or re-posting images, conversations, Friday with her usual routine of catching up on emails, Facebook, At her 98th birthday celebration, Blumenthal opened up to Pcyber age is having on our youth. videos, articles, and so on. Check and Instagram before calling her family overseas on FaceTime. Due close friends and family about her story of survival during the Te computer screen, cell phone, with adults. Adults need to do their to COVID-19, she will be spending Shabbat with her immediate Holocaust in a way she had never done before. Her recollections, internet, game console or tablet, best to be constantly aware of what family. including tales of narrowly escaping death in a gas chamber and when abused and/or used to replace their children/young adults are “A few shuls have arranged a pre and post-Shabbat Zoom other harrowing incidents, put South Africa’s current challenges of human teaching and live interaction posting out there; session for my birthday,” she said. “On Sunday, I will have a Zoom COVID-19 and looting into perspective. rather than as an educational tool, • If you become aware of any online call with my entire family from Along with uplifting aren’t helpful. More often than not, cyberbullying on groups, posting of around the world.” stories, like dissuading her they lead to the sacrifice of basic skills inappropriate messages or images, Speaking to the SA Jewish niece from ending her life of analysis, synthesis, and application leave the group after reporting Report on Mandela Day on and being saved by a nurse of knowledge. Add to this the decay the event/s to a responsible adult 18 July, Blumenthal said – her childhood friend – the in gross motor development and even in your home or school. Even about former President Nelson immensely rewatchable flm interpersonal skills, and you have the though you may not have been the Mandela, who died aged 95, includes animation juxtaposed real issues at play. person who originally posted the “I didn’t have the privilege of with present-day footage of But what about the other dangers negative post or image, once you meeting the great man. I’m in Blumenthal performing her of unmonitored use of these devices forward it, you are held accountable awe of his values, love of all weekly spiritual rituals. by our youth? for perpetuating the chain of people, and his ability to forgive.” With antisemitism and Te use of media devices and publication of that post/image; However, the similarities Holocaust denial rife around platforms increased with the advent • Be aware of games that can have a between these two memorable the world, I Am Here and the of home or lockdown learning in the negative impact and dull sensitivities humans isn’t lost on those who new animated Where is Anne COVID-19 environment. But, due to towards others when played too know her. Said Jordy Sank, the Frank couldn’t have come at a the focus of our collective frequently; director of I Am Here, “I can see so better time. psyche shifting • Certain things should many similarities between him Asked about the symbolism to safety from always remain in the and Ella. They are both incredible Ella Blumenthal of the blue butterfy, an COVID-19 and fear private domain. Don’t examples of people who chose animated visual that appears of contraction overshare, but be love and understanding over throughout I Am Here, Sank of the virus, mindful of what’s hate, and their life’s purpose is to spread positivity to everyone said, “The blue butterfy symbolises the Jewish people, hope, pre-COVID-19 posted. Ask yourself around them.” faith, and so much more. I often like to let people gather their own awareness of prior to posting, “Am They are both born around Shabbat Nachamu (Comforting), the interpretation of what it means, but as a flmmaker, it was a visual the danger of I happy for this post sabbath after Tisha B’Av. way of us communicating Ella’s spirit and faith.” unmonitored to appear on the front Both were destined to live long lives. Former Western Cape Said Gabriella Blumberg, the producer of I Am Here, “Ella, teenage (and even page of the news tomorrow Premier Helen Zille praised both of them in her autobiography. In leading by example, shows us how to truly take time to appreciate younger) access and morning?”; addition, Blumenthal travelled to Paris shortly after her liberation. each day, and notice the good that exists in the present. Her behaviour in cyberspace has • Digital profiles should have privacy She met her husband, Norman Blumenthal, in France’s capital. remarkable resilience in spite of all she has been through makes ironically slipped off the radar. settings in place; Less than four months after his release from prison, Mandela paid her a role model to us all.” “I’m on my Google Classroom/ • Create specific times that you cut a two-day visit to Paris. There, he was joined by his second wife, Said Sank, “I’m sure that for Ella, seeing the sheer devastation WhatsApp group researching out screen time such as meal times, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. Further, the name “Evelyn” is shared and upheaval that took place during the lootings was reminiscent assignments,” is the prevalent reply to family gatherings, bed time, or by Mandela’s frst wife, and one of Blumenthal’s children. of her time during the war. But I just know that she would pray for parents when asking their children or homework and study time; and Blumenthal and Mandela are also linked by the number three. peace and for a speedy resolution. young adults what they are doing on • In most cases, parents are paying for The former spent time at the Majdanek, Auschwitz, and Bergen- “Ella is always able to see the silver lining in any situation, the devices. the phone and contract. Audit your Belsen concentration camps, and Mandela’s 27 years in prison even COVID-19. I heard once that someone was complaining to While this may be true to varying child/young adult’s phone at random were split between Robben Island, Pollsmoor Prison, and Victor Ella about how they were feeling during lockdown, and Ella was degrees, a device in the hands of intervals and ban inappropriate Verster Prison. concentrating on the sunset and told them that we have so much a child or young adult with the sites, games, activities, or platforms. Like Mandela, who was a keen swimmer in his youth, to be grateful for.” knowledge that mum or dad doesn’t Stay alert – stay safe! Blumenthal enjoyed swimming as a girl growing up in Warsaw. Blumenthal’s advice to those who are struggling is to “never really ever check his/her phone, is a Today, Blumenthal said, “I used to swim at the Virgin Active give up and be positive. Know that the dark days will be over soon, potentially precarious situation. • Antony Radomsky is the principal every morning, except Shabbat, doing 18 lengths. I also used to and that the sun will shine again for all of us. We are here!” Here are some tips for parents, of Eden College in Lyndhurst, walk along the promenade outside my fat every afternoon. But children, and young adults to better Johannesburg. since COVID-19, I’ve been staying with my daughter in Camps Bay, • Book to watch the virtual screening of ‘I Am Here’ at the Durban and have to be content with short walks every day.” Mandela, too, International Film Festival from 23 July to 1 August. Tickets are was an avid walker. free. https://www.durbanflmfest.com/flm/i-am-here/ Herzlia Kerem breaks new ground he tree-flled haven says. KDVP pupil’s Gulag of Herzlia Kerem “The quality of the UJW ices the Pre-Primary School’s teaching and the facilities project wows Tnew campus in Constantia [at Kerem] are something cake for carers offers the same warm, we are proud of,” says stimulating preschool Andries van Renssen, international judges experience as before, with the executive director of dam Bertoldi an added sense of wonder United Herzlia Schools (King David at nature in all its glory, say (UHS). “Most pupils who High School the school’s teachers. fnish Grade R at Kerem will VictoryA Park) beat “Just being at the come to Herzlia Highlands thousands of contestants campus evokes feelings Amanda and Chloe Nerwich on her Primary in the City Bowl around the country for of wonder and calm, with first day at Toddler Group at when they go to Grade 1. frst place in the 2021 beautiful trees, wide open Herzlia Kerem Pre-Primary It’s clear that the quality of South African National space, and bunnies happily playing side-by- teaching and care at Herzlia Kerem is the single Geography Olympiad. side in the lush grass with our children,” says biggest contributing factor to the success of Round one of the Cara Jacobs, Herzlia Kerem’s head teacher. those who come from there. We celebrate the Olympiad took place on This safe and beautiful new haven caters for opening of their new building.” 18 May 2021 and round children from 18 months to Grade R. “Kerem “Herzlia focuses on developing self-esteem Adam Bertoldi Bev Cohen, executive member of the UJW in Johannesburg and two, a written task, was educates pupils using old-fashioned values and nurturing each child’s potential. Herzlia Vanessa Weltman, project manager of UJW Johannesburg, deliver held on 23 June 2021. and methods while incorporating the latest Kerem has a magnifcent and dedicated team 67 cupcakes and cakes to Netcare Rosebank Hospital in honour of The second round, in which 2 231 pupils participated, in technology like smart boards for a rich, of teachers who stay up-to-date on the latest in Mandela Day on 18 July required the submission of a research project. Adam balanced learning foundation. We always say childhood trends and issues,” says Geoff Cohen, he Union of Jewish Women in Johannesburg showed it cared on submitted a geography project on the Gulags of the Soviet that people make a space, and then imbue it UHS director of education. Mandela Day by delivering a number of cakes, scones, and cookies Union. It was assessed internationally, and they were with their energy. The dedication, time, and Kerem offers morning and aftercare to the Norwood Police Station, Netcare Rosebank Clinic, various extremely impressed with the standard. Adam has won an effort that has been put into creating our school throughout the year from playgroup through TAmpath and Lancet COVID-19 testing stations, a department of Helen ESRI GIS (geographic information system mapping) course is tangible and visible. Everything has been to Grade R. Enrolments are open. 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CALL US ON 011 784 8551· VISIT SCOINSHOP.COM 14 SA JEWISH REPORT 22 – 29 July 2021 A column of the SA Jewish Board of Deputies RIP Fred, terrier of my life Compelled to clean up and contribute red died this morning. Not to speak ill of n the early days of his presidency, when the dead or anything, it needs to be said the United States was all but crippled by that he was a bit of a narcissist. We were the effects of the Great Depression and ABOVE BOARD Fnever close, and if I’m honest, I could hardly INNER VOICE Ia pall of despair and despondency hung Shaun Zagnoev stand him. I’m also confident that he felt the Howard Feldman heavy over the nation, Franklin D Roosevelt same way towards me. And whereas my family famously said, “It’s common sense to take by scenes of utter devastation, but together is bereft at his passing, I probably won’t miss I got the message from my daughter that he a method and try it. If it fails, admit it with local community members, they him. had shuffled off the mortal coil. In truth, I was frankly, and try another. But above all, try painstakingly set about sweeping, cleaning, Fred Feldman was a Yorkshire Terrier with surprised, more than anything because he had something.” As history shows, these weren’t and removing debris such as rocks, broken plenty of attitude and no personality. He was done something for himself. I left the studio mere words, but a statement of intent that glass, and discarded packaging until the task self-absorbed and relentless, and would do as soon after my show ended, but noticed that underpinned what came to be known as was done. anything for a piece of chicken breast. But the day was distinctly warmer, and the sun the New Deal, a comprehensive array of Commenting on the experience, National nothing for schnitzel, because he hated to chew was shining that little bit brighter than the day laws and state-headed social upliftment Director Wendy Kahn wrote afterwards, anything for himself. before. I’m certain that I wasn’t imagining it. initiatives that, while not solving the “We left knowing that we had played some Fred joined our family in a prisoner-swap deal I didn’t need to be a body language expert country’s problems overnight, kick-started role in restoring some order to this area. that went down in Centurion outside Pretoria. to interpret the look on my wife’s face when I the essential process of rebuilding. And we had also showed a community in the Te terms remain vague in my mind, but I know walked into the house. It contained a written What’s true for governments is equally East Rand that the Jewish community was that it involved a road without a name, a house warning that suggested exactly what was true for ordinary citizens. In times of concerned about them.” without a fence, and a handler with a heavy expected from me. I needed to be supportive difficulty, each individual should look At both national and local level, the Board accent and legs with more varicose veins than and contrite. And sad. No humour. No jokes. for ways to be part of the solution and is involved in many outreach projects with I thought was possible. I do recall that we were And definitely no celebration. I didn’t seek contribute, even in a small way. As our own Te Angel Network and other partners to required to leave my daughter’s “Nuk” dummies clarity on the duration that the edict would be tradition puts it, “You aren’t obligated to assist communities affected by the unrest. in her dustbin in exchange for a six-week-old in place. Which in retrospect might have been complete the work, but neither are you free Since Durban and other places in KwaZulu- puppy that would torment me for the next 13 a mistake. to desist from it.” (Pirkei Avot, 2:21). Natal were especially hard hit by the years. Had I known then what I know now, I I’m not going to win any parenting awards Last week, the South African Jewish Board violence, much of this critical work is being would gladly have offered my three-year-old a this week. of Deputies, as the representative body of undertaken by our KwaZulu-Natal branch, lifetime supply of whatever colour she preferred After 18 months of excess death, sickness, the Jewish community, had the opportunity the Council for KwaZulu-Natal Jewry. and an orthodontal treatment plan. of watching friends and family suffer through to make a difference on the ground when Of immediate concern is alleviating the Parenting is seldom easy, but the morning isolation and anxiety, this morning was a we joined with our fellow South Africans desperate poverty which so many were of Fred’s passing was particularly difficult. I welcome reminder. It was a day reminiscent of a from across the spectrum to clean up the suffering from even before the unrest, and had carried him downstairs at about 04:00 as time when we would focus on the loss of a pet, Mayfield Mall in Daveyton in the wake of the which the violence and looting has greatly I normally do (he hated to walk so early in the the sadness of a girl who lost a companion. It devastating looting and destruction that had exacerbated. You can assist us in this work day), and I had taken him outside, where he did was a reminder of a time when we would drive taken place there. by supporting our Food Relief Appeal at nothing but wait to come inside (preferring to to Centurion to find a road without a name, a Following an approach from the office SA Jewish Board of Deputies, Standard Bank use my study for his ablutions). I had cut him house without a fence, and a heavily accented of the MEC for sport, arts, culture, and Killarney, Account 200305190, Swift code some chicken breast (schnitzel not being his woman with varicose veins. I also know that as recreation, Mbali Hlophe, we put out a call SBZAZAJJ, Reference Food Relief. thing) and then went to do some work (me, not much as he annoyed me, tomorrow morning to the community and early on Tursday, Fred). Although he normally nagged me to pick at 04:00, I will miss picking up that selfish 15 July, a seven-car convoy set out from the • Listen to Charisse Zeifert on Jewish Board him up and put him on the couch (he didn’t like Yorkshire Terrier, carrying him downstairs, and KosherWorld parking lot. When it arrived at Talk, 101.9 ChaiFM, every Friday from 12:00 to jump up), he didn’t do that this morning. cutting him chicken breasts because he never its destination, the volunteers were greeted to 13:00. It was toward the end of my radio show when liked schnitzel. Tis column is paid for by the SA Jewish Board of Deputies

Letters

WHO ARE THE REAL LOOTERS? Having witnessed probably the worst outbreak of civil unrest thieves with that 52-inch flat screen TV or trolley full of food. true cost could be substantially higher. since the dawn of democracy, one difficult question needs to Te real looters are far more sophisticated. While the crude Finger pointing by some “honest” ruling party leaders be answered. Who are the real looters? looting took place over only a few days, the sophisticated is really part of the African National Congress’s (ANC’s) What took place last week was pillaging in its crudest form. ransacking has taken place over many, many years, and internal factional conflict. Does anyone really believe that Such plunder has been experienced in many countries around probably continues today. only one faction is complicit in corruption? the word, recently in the United States and right now, in both Anyone listening to the evidence presented before the Te plunder happened under the watch of the current Cuba and Swaziland. Looting and plundering in its crudest Zondo Commission these past two years could name tens leadership. Only days after the COVID-19 pandemic was form seems to be the knee-jerk reaction of the oppressed and if not hundreds of politicians, director generals, public recognised as a national emergency, a host of “shady” PPE disadvantaged. Sadly, in the case of South Africa, the damage servants, municipal leaders, executives, and managers of (personal protective equipment) tenders were awarded to was enormous. state-owned entities, as well as leaders in private business the strangest of people, and who can ignore the very recent It seems, according to some analysis, that looters didn’t who plundered the country with such efficient sophistication, issue of a sitting health minister fingered for questionable attack and wantonly destroy much infrastructure. In the it would make the Wolf of Wall Street look like an amateur. deals? main, they looted, stole what they could get their hands on, Paul Holden, who runs the non-governmental organisation Te façade of respectability by the “connected and and fled with their spoils. Te jury is still out on that. Te Shadow World Investigations has traced more than influential” is starting to wear thin. Even the masses are question remains who the real looters are – not those crude R50 billion plundered from the state thus far but says the starting to question the ANC. – Allan Wolman, Israel Humanity’s best rises after violent unrest Commonwealth Jewish Council calls for >>Continued from page 1 release of ‘Nigeria three’ the SAJBD, in addition to assisting and said that within four days, they had managed to supporting our Jewish community in KwaZulu- collect more than R500 000 in funding, and had >>Continued from page 2 told by our people. But sadly, some local people hijacked Natal, has prioritised the alleviation of hunger already dispatched trucks loaded with 1 800 food has managed to organise provision of kosher food the original intention of Rudy and began to make that the past unrest has unleashed in KwaZulu- parcels, 200kg of nutritionally fortified e’Pap, for them, which the security services agreed to allow. political capital out of it. The team was bringing a Sefer Natal and Gauteng.” 14 000kg of mielie meal, and one ton of soya They also agreed for Benaym to be transported to Torah to be donated to our community. We were very In collaboration with other foundations in meal to help those left in the direst conditions the French embassy for medical attention, as long as happy that many Israelis would get to know about our Gauteng, “in the past week, we have supported after the unrest. he was returned to detention, and that is what was Israelite heritage and know that we are brethren. the distribution of hundreds of food parcels to “We have seen the worst of people, and now done. Israel has no ‘formal locus’ to help as they didn’t “Our people are very saddened by the arrest, but we areas in distress”. Tese include Eldorado Park, we have the chance to see people at their best. enter on Israeli passports, but it has sought to engage don’t want to heighten tension by making utterances as Orange Farm, Kliptown, Vanderbijlpark, as well More than anything [in the aftermath], it has government and services.” the matter is being handled. We keep praying for their as Alexandra, and more help is being planned for been ubuntu in its truest form,” said Wolman. He believes that they are being held in some kind of safety. We believe they will be released because their the East Rand. Jewish humanitarian group Cadena’s director “detention circumstances”, but cannot say what these visit was for religious reasons. We don’t believe they On the ground, the Board took part in of international alliances, Miriam Kajomovitz, conditions are like, if they are separated, or if they are came here to undermine the security of Nigeria. In our clean-up operations in Daveyton. “Although it echoed Wolman’s observations. Te organisation being held with others. But he says that the fact that the synagogues, we don’t entertain separatist activities. We was heart wrenching to see the destruction, it has been helping in Gauteng in various French embassy was willing to return Benaym suggests are very sad about their plight. We see it as someone was also incredibly uplifting to be part of the capacities, be it clean-up operations, organising it was “probably not extreme”. getting into unforeseen trouble while in search of a long solution. We were so moved by the community psychological support, and now planning small- A member of the Igbo community, speaking to the lost brother.” in Daveyton, that we intend to return with other business relief for those whose livelihoods SA Jewish Report on condition of anonymity, says, “Our The most recent update on the We Were Never Lost ways of supporting the community,” said Kahn. were destroyed: “We are all working together. information is that Rudy and co. came here to do a Instagram page is that, “Rudy, Noam, and David are still Te SAJBD is also working with Te Angel Everyone is giving of their expertise and what documentary on the connection of the Igbo people to in custody, but are ok. Their spirits remain high. Three Network in KwaZulu-Natal as it organises truck they can for the good of all. Biblical Israelites. Many Igbos are reviving the practices embassies are working diligently towards a resolution. and air deliveries of essential goods. Glynne “Crisis is always an opportunity for change,” of their ancestors and returning to Judaism. This is what No other action is necessary from the community at this Wolman, the founder of Te Angel Network, Kajomovitz observed. Rudy and his team wanted to do – to hear our story as stage, but thank you all for the care and support.” READY TO TAKE POWER BACK?

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LUKE ALFRED warm-up game under foodlights against Manchester United Reserves at the United training ground called A Jewish Report readers of a certain generation ‘The Cliff’,” he says. “Although we lost 2-1, Sir Matt might be vaguely familiar with the name Con Busby, the United manager, was so impressed, he Travis, a stand-up and television comedian of singled me out as the star of the team. He asked me Sthe late 1970s and early 1980s. What they probably if I was interested in signing professional terms but I don’t know, however, is that Travis – who was born in politely refused.” 1926 and is currently a sprightly 94 – had an equally Playing sport, whether soccer or cricket, was always illustrious career as a goalkeeper in Wales in the an amateur affair for Travis. He was married and had 1950s. a young family to support by the time Busby’s offer came along, not to mention being in the Con Travis, saving a goal for Newport County latter stages of his studies to become an at their home ground, Somerton Park aeronautical engineer. “After graduating, I ended up in Downsville, Toronto, working on the prototype for the Avro Arrow. Irishman. Whelan, you’ll remember, died in the Radio. “With the arrival of television [in 1976], I was “As an aircraft, it was years ahead of its Munich Air Disaster with seven other members of the approached by director Ronnie Wilson who wanted time, a phenomenal, delta-wing plane, but United side in 1958. As a ‘Television Entertainers XI’, my help with a new comedy show called Biltong and the Canadian prime minister refused to we played in a charity game to raise money for the Potroast,” remembers Travis. “I was slightly surprised support the project and in one fell swoop next of kin afterwards.” to be on the Biltong side rather than the other way put 20 000 workers out of a job. I was one Before long, the wanderlust bit Travis – his full round,” he says, laughing. “I did only 10 shows before of them.” frst name is Conrad – once again. Off he went to opting out but that was a whole lot of fun.” With his best years as a footballer behind a booming South Africa, seen by many in gloomy Never one to stand still for very long, Travis was him and no job as an aeronautical engineer, Britain as the land of milk and honey. By then, he also instrumental in bringing Maccabi soccer to Travis suddenly found himself facing an had remarried and had two young sons by his second Durban, with good friends Bobby Bloom and Dennis uncertain future. He had always been able wife, but he’d always had a social conscience and he Port. “I’ve also held the two-year presidency of the to make people laugh, was friendly and continued the charity work he’d started in Britain when Hebrew Order of David,” he says. “We’ve raised gregarious, so with little formal training and playing for teams like the “Television Entertainers” in money for a number of Jewish charities, as well as He kept goal with distinction for both Cardiff City a suitcase full of chutzpah, he and his young family their fundraising matches against various “All Star XIs”. Guide Dogs and Tape Aides for the Blind. It’s work I’m and Newport County, with City playing in the then went back to Britain where he began a fedgling “As well as doing comedy work in South Africa, I tremendously proud of.” English Second Division alongside Spurs, Wolves, career as a comedian. was actively involved in charity work,” said Travis. “I In a long life lived to its fullest, Travis has seen Fulham, and Bolton Wanderers. “It was strictly In the years to follow, he appeared on stage with remember the Germiston Callies goalkeeper, Fred the world and rubbed shoulders with the good, the amateur in those days, tea money and bus fare,” says such luminaries as Connie Francis, Sammy Davis Jr., Green, suffering from terrible head injuries while famous, and the great. Across all his experiences, Travis with a chuckle. “If I’d been professional I would Eydie Gormé, and Rosemary Clooney, the mother of playing for Callies, and we put on a charity exhibition though, nothing quite compares with the day in have earned £12 (R238) per week with £2 (R39) for the more-famous George. match to raise money for his wife and children before 1946 on which he played in goal for an Occupational a win!” “I didn’t forget my Manchester United experience,” he tragically died.” Services XI against a Russian XI in post-World War II Travis’ big day as a goalkeeper came in 1953, when he said. “In the game under foodlights we played During the South African years, Travis became Tokyo. “We were both part of the occupying army in he was chosen in the Great Britain Maccabi team to in 1953, I became friendly with two of their younger a regular at Cyros night club in the centre of Japan,” he says. “We beat them 3-0. That was quite participate in that year’s Maccabi Games. “We had a players, Billy Foulkes and Liam ‘Billy’ Whelan, the Johannesburg. He also appeared on Springbok something, I can tell you.”

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