J EWISH A FFAIRS 70 Years 1941-2011 Price R50,00 incl. VAT Registered at the GPO as a Newspaper ISSN 0021 • 6313 J EWISH A FFAIRS MISSION EDITORIAL BOARD In publishing JEWISH AFFAIRS, the SA EXECUTIVE EDITOR Jewish Board of Deputies aims to produce a cultural forum which caters for a wide variety David Saks SA Jewish Board of Deputies of interests in the community. The journal will be a vehicle for the publication of articles of significant thought and opinion on contemporary Jewish issues, and will aim to ACADEMIC ADVISORY BOARD encourage constructive debate, in the form of Professor Marcus Arkin South African Zionist Federation reasoned and researched essays, on all matters Suzanne Belling Journalist and editor of Jewish and general interest. Dr Louise Bethlehem Hebrew University of Jerusalem Marlene Bethlehem SA Jewish Board of Deputies JEWISH AFFAIRS aims also to publish essays Cedric Ginsberg University of South Africa of scholarly research on all subjects of Jewish interest, with special emphasis on aspects of Dr Elaine Katz University of the Witwatersrand South African Jewish life and thought. Professor Marcia Leveson University of the Witwatersrand Scholarly research papers that make an original Naomi Musiker Archivist and Bibliographer contribution to their chosen field of enquiry Professor Reuben Musiker University of the Witwatersrand will be submitted to the normal processes of Gwynne Schrire SA Jewish Board of Deputies academic refereeing before being accepted for Dr Gabriel A Sivan World Jewish Bible Centre publication. Professor Gideon Shimoni Hebrew University of Jerusalem JEWISH AFFAIRS will promote Jewish Professor Milton Shain University of Cape Town cultural and creative achievement in South John Simon University of Cape Town Africa, and consider Jewish traditions and The Hon. Mr Justice Ralph Zulman Appeal Court of South Africa heritage within the modern context. It aims to provide future researchers with a window on the community’s reaction to societal challenges. In this way the journal hopes SECRETARY – Golde Goldsmith critically to explore, and honestly to confront, TYPESETTING/PRINTING – Bookpress, Johannesburg problems facing the Jewish community both in South Africa and abroad, by examining national and international affairs and their impact on South Africa. The SA Jewish Board of Deputies is committed © South African Jewish Board of Deputies 2011 to dialogue and free enquiry. 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Original, unpublished essays of between 1 000 and 6 000 words on However, in keeping with the provisions of all subjects are invited, and should be sent to: the National Constitution, the freedom of speech exercised in this journal will exclude The Editor, JEWISH AFFAIRS, PO Box 87557, Houghton 2041, the dissemination of hate propaganda, personal [email protected] attacks or invective, or any material which may be regarded as defamatory or malicious. The Editorial Board reserves the right to cut the length of articles In all such matters, the Editor’s decision is accepted for publication, and to make any stylistic changes which it final. may deem necessary. J EWISH A FFAIRS VOL. 66 b NO. 3 b CHANUKAH 2011 Editor: David Saks OBITUARY Harold Rudolph Suzanne Belling ...................................................................................................................................................... 3 ISRAEL, THE DIASPORA AND THE MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT Utopia, the Liberal Left and Israel Chuck Volpe............................................................................................................................................................ 5 Real South African Lessons for the Middle East David Benatar ...................................................................................................................................................... 12 Trying Times for Venezuela Jewry Sammy Eppel, Steven Gruzd ................................................................................................................................. 16 SOUTH AFRICAN JEWISH NOTABLES The Life and Extraordinary Times of Arthur Goldreich David Saks ............................................................................................................................................................ 19 A Year in Paris - Moses Kottler and the École De Paris Ute Ben-Yosef ....................................................................................................................................................... 25 Episodes in the Life of a Jewish Prosecutor Norman Sher ......................................................................................................................................................... 30 ISSUES AND ANGLES Green Jews: The New Role of the Environment in Jewish Life Benjie Shulman ..................................................................................................................................................... 33 Perth Jewry – Past and Present Israel Abramowitz ................................................................................................................................................ 36 Dear Mrs Stein Annette Dubowsky ................................................................................................................................................ 39 FICTION Chanukah 1898 Gita Gordon ......................................................................................................................................................... 40 BOOK REVIEWS Jewish Memories of Mandela Reuben Musiker .................................................................................................................................................... 42 The Routledge Encyclopaedia of Jewish Writers of the Twentieth Century (2010) Roy Robins ............................................................................................................................................................ 44 The Other Booker Prize Hilda Sandak-Lewin ............................................................................................................................................. 45 The Farhud: Roots of the Arab-Nazi Alliance in the Holocaust Gary Selikow ........................................................................................................................................................ 46 NEW POETRY Charlotte Cohen, Ros Posel, Israel Silberhaft ..................................................................................................... 48 JEWISH AFFAIRS N CHANUKAH 2011 OBITUARY HAROLD RUDOLPH * Suzanne Belling Harold Rudolph, who passed away in Affairs with terms allowing him, as a member of Johannesburg on 16 November at the age of 64, an opposition party, complete freedom of speech rubbed shoulders with kings and world leaders. and the right to criticise apartheid. Tempting He had honours bestowed on him before and after though the offer was, he eventually turned it he became mayor during Johannesburg’s down for family reasons. As he told me in an centenary in 1986. At the age of 38, he was the interview last year, “I realised that my family youngest ever first citizen of the city. Despite came first and their lives were paramount in my this, he remained a ‘mensch’ – the most frequent decision to turn down the offer. I know our children description of Alderman Professor Harold would always be my top priority – and now, with Rudolph by his family, friends and those who the grandchildren, they still are and always will worked with him in the civic, legal, academic and be”. communal sphere. Harold was first elected to the City Council in Although beset by Parkinson’s disease in his March 1972, at a time coinciding with his final years, Harold and his wife, Reva, were about admission as an attorney and his upcoming to fulfil their dream of aliyah and were packing wedding. “We had originally planned a February their lift to complete the process when he had a wedding but my election campaign took over. tragic fall after which he suffered a brain Instead of Reva becoming my bride, she became haemorrhage. He passed away on November 16, my election agent, with the help of Annette and was buried in Ra’anana, Israel, where he was Schwarz, wife of the late MP Harry Schwarz (“as to have made his home, two days later. he had been my friend and mentor,” he said at the Harold was fond of recalling that he and Reva time). His mayoral theme was “Together the attended approximately 1400 functions and that Future”, in which he declared in a statement still he delivered 800 speeches during his term as pertinent today: mayor. On completion of his mayoral term, he turned down the offer of a diplomatic post in the I believe that if there is one single precious United States from the Department of Foreign commodity that we are in dire need of at this