March 26, 2026 By Karen Milner Ambulances aren’t political. They save lives, Jewish and non-Jewish alike. Hatzolah doesn’t discriminate. In fact, no organisation better demonstrates the positive impact of Jewish communities on their surroundings than Hatzolah, a volunteer organisation providing a critical service at life-or-death moments. The targeting of a Jewish ambulance service is an act of unremitting evil. Let’s call it what it plainly is: an antisemitic terror attack.

March 19, 2026 By Karen Milner This week, the Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC) at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) hosted its once-vaunted Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW). Historically, IAW has been a source of hostility, intimidation, and even violence on campus, and a key driver in making Jewish students feel unsafe at this critically important South African university, which also happens to be my place of employment. Previous iterations were absolutely hostile:

March 12, 2026 By Karen Milner This week, I’m writing from Australia, where I’m visiting family. While here, I’ve had the privilege of meeting with Daniel Aghion KC, president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry. Daniel and I spoke frankly about the well-being of the Jewish community in Australia following the horrific Bondi attacks. What struck me most was learning that there’s been a broad understanding in Australia that importing foreign conflicts into local disc

March 5, 2026 By Karen Milner How swiftly the world can shift. Just last week, as we prepared to welcome Purim, I reflected on the festival’s powerful examples of women’s leadership. I drew strength too from the extraordinary women of Iran who, at immense personal risk, continue to take to the streets demanding dignity and freedom. Like Esther, they embody what becomes possible when individuals choose to speak truth to power, refusing to be silenced. Now, as the world become

February 26, 2026 By Karen Milner Monday night marks the beginning of Purim, one of our most iconic and joyous festivals. Like so many of our holidays, Purim carries multiple layers of meaning and instruction. Among its central themes is one that resonates particularly in our current moment: women’s leadership, and the varied forms courage can take. The Purim story presents us with two female protagonists who embody distinct but equally important models of feminist leadershi

February 19, 2026 By Karen Milner I had the privilege last week of representing the Jewish community at the State of the Nation Address (SONA). I attend this annual event with a sense of profound gratitude for our democracy and, having witnessed the apartheid years, acute awareness of how far we have travelled as a nation. That we are invited every year and represented at SONA as the Jewish community carries deep significance. Our inclusion offers living proof, not that any

February 12, 2026 By Karen Milner The furore around the King David versus Roedean girls’ tennis match revealed so much about the nature of modern antisemitism, our experience of it, and our responsibilities as community members, leaders, parents, and students to tackle and confront it. King David has endured a painful history of overt antisemitism. Hitler salutes. Swastikas. Our students have faced these acts of intimidation and bigotry repeatedly during sports events over

February 5, 2026 By Karen Milner This has been a difficult week for South African Jewry. On Friday, 30 January, the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) announced via social media that Ariel Seidman, Israel’s chargé d’affaires in Pretoria, had been declared persona non grata and given 72 hours to leave the country. The South African Jewish Board of Deputies immediately mobilised, advocating its position across television, radio, and print media. This

29 January 2026 For the first time since 2014, there are no Israeli hostages in Gaza. This is a momentous inflection point, marked by emotions as complex as they are profound. While the instinct might be to celebrate, we carry with us the sobering reality that so many of those returned came home as mortal remains, their lives brutally cut short, their families forever incomplete. Yet there is undeniably relief and definitely a measure of joy at the conclusion of Israel’s long

The SAJBD KZN Council was pleased to host its Annual General Meeting at the Durban Jewish Club on Thursday, 13 August 2026. It was a meaningful evening of reflection and appreciation, as we celebrated the dedication and contribution of our leadership, Board, affiliates and community partners over the past year. We extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone who attended and to all those who continue to contribute to the strength, unity and vibrancy of the KwaZulu-Natal Jewish com

📍Highlights from the SAJBD delegation at the 70th National Women’s Day Commemoration at the Union Buildings Together, we heard powerful messages from Mme Sophie Williams-De Bruyn, one of the last surviving leaders of the historic 1956 Women’s March, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai, and President Cyril Ramaphosa. Together, we honoured and celebrated the legacy of the women of 1956, women who stood up, spoke out and helped shape the South Africa we know today. And

Women are not only central to Jewish communal life, but they run the main communal organisations, too. Wendy Kahn is the national director of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD); Stacey Dembo is executive director of the South African Zionist Federation (SAZF); Ariellah Rosenberg is chief executive of ORT South Africa; Bev Schneider is national director at the Jewish National Fund South Africa; and Sasha Said is national chairperson of the South African Union o

Empowered women empower nations. 🇿🇦 Today, on National Women’s Day, we honour the courageous women of 1956 who stood together and changed the course of our country and the women who continue to lead, inspire and build South Africa today. At the South African Jewish Board of Deputies, we are proud to be an organisation where women lead from the front. From our National President and National Chairperson to our National Director and provincial leadership, women are at the hea

“Imagine walking through the centre of almost any major city in the diaspora in 2026 wearing a T-shirt celebrating your Jewish identity. For many Jews, that would feel like an act of courage. Yet on Sunday, 26 July, a team of Johannesburg Jews did exactly that. As part of 702’s Walk the Talk, our team proudly wore shirts emblazoned with the words “Jews 4 Jozi”. We weren’t simply taking part in a walk. We were making a statement: Jews belong in Johannesburg, and we are proud t

From boarding the Gautrain to shlepping through the inner-city streets of Jozi and past its iconic landmarks, we walked proudly as Jews and as South Africans, celebrating the city we are so privileged to call home 👟🇿🇦✡️