Dear Jewish community In the three days since our last community letter there have been further developments around Covid-19 and in terms of our community and government’s response to the pandemic. Below are the revised guidelines that have been created by the Jewish communal leadership, the various sectorial clusters that have been established (education, welfare and religious) in close consultation with experts in the field of infectious diseases. The community is urged to

Dear Friends At this time of great challenge we must be strong and determined. With the advent of the newly reported cases of those infected with the coronavirus in our community, there are a number of new guidelines with regards to shul and simcha gatherings that have been developed under the direction of Prof Barry Schoub, founding director of the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, and Dr Richard Friedland, CEO of Netcare. These guidelines, which have been discus

Individuals who have come into contact with a positive, probable or suspect COVID-19 case should be self-quarantined for 14 days. This also includes people who have travelled from countries where there is significant local transmission of the virus eg Asian countries, Western European Countries, Israel, US, UK and Australia. Asymptomatic people (not exhibiting any signs of illness) should remain at home and avoid contact with groups of people outside the home environment. Dur

Dear School Parents. At a meeting this morning with the leadership of the Jewish Day Schools under the auspices of our Jewish Education Cluster to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on our schools, it was unanimously agreed to institute a temporary closure of all of our schools for a one week period effective Monday 16 March. Our Jewish community education cluster will reconvene on Wednesday to reassess the situation taking into account external factors and will then decide on fu

There is an unfortunate tendency for people to resort to irrational scapegoating when confronted with threats they are unable to fully understand. History has shown time and again how collective fear can lead to the emergence of all kinds of noxious prejudices, usually aimed at those faced by those very same threats. Almost invariably, scapegoating targets vulnerable minority groups who are seen as an alien element in society and therefore somehow untrustworthy. From our own

Following on our attendance at the State of the Nation address, last week the Board’s National Vice-President Zev Krengel and Parliamentary Liaison Chaya Singer attended the National Budget Speech in Parliament. This was preceded by various scheduled meetings with, amongst others, National Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise, ANC Deputy Chief Whip Dorries Dlakude, EFF President Julius Malema and DA Interim Leader John Steenhuisen. Additionally they had opportunity to interact with

This coming Monday, 9 March, Jewish Joburgers will prepare for the upcoming Purim festival in a unique way by doing their pre-festival shopping at the Chinese Market in Bruma. The SA Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) is organising this initiative as a gesture of solidarity with the Chinese community following the upsurge of unjust and irrational sentiment against South Africans of Chinese origin resulting from the Coronavirus epidemic. SAJBD National Director Wendy Kahn said t

Hazel Jungbacke is the youngest daughter of the late Feodora Clouts. A social worker by profession, she worked for over twenty years for the Highlands House Jewish aged home in Cape Town. The title of this article is taken from the obituary of Feodora Clouts (1899-1996) by Willie Katz. It well sums up the impact and energy of this remarkable woman, a redoubtable Jewish communal worker, Zionist activist and educationalist, and the mother of, amongst others, the distinguished S

One of South Africa's most accomplished poets, Sydney Clouts remains surprisingly little known outside academic circles. A new, intimate appraisal helps redress the matter. . Marge Clouts was born and educated in South Africa. In 1961, she and her husband, Sydney Clouts, and their three children immigrated to the UK, where she taught English as a Foreign Language, English literature in various London colleges and Creative Writing in the Cotswolds. She has written many litera

The Transvaal Automobile Club long dominated South African Squash, largely through its many Jewish players. Steven Katzew describes this golden age for the TAC and for the sport in SA. Steven Mark Katzew is a Johannesburg-based advocate. He attended High School in Welkom, Orange Free State, going on to study Law at Rhodes University, Grahamstown. His articles on South African Jewish sporting personalities have appeared in Soul Sport and Jewish Affairs . This is a story abou

The "Cane Mutiny", a "Feral Culture", rawfers and shluppers and liedjies on the school bus - All this and more in this final part of the author's history of Herber House hostel. Stuart Buxbaum holds an honours degree in Sociology from Wits University (1970) and an honours in Judaica from UNISA (1984). After working in the social research unit of the SA Jewish Board of Deputies in the early 1970s, he farmed for many years in Mpumalanga. This is the third and final part of my

Faith Communities meet with President ahead of SONA At the time of writing, the upcoming State of the Nation address (SONA) on 13 February is the dominant issue on people’s minds. Last week four representatives of the SAJBD, together with Chief Rabbi Dr Warren Goldstein participated in a meeting of faith-based leaders at the Union Buildings in Pretoria. The meeting was convened for President Ramaphosa to engage with religious leaders prior to his addressing the nation. Minist

Silver linings at SONA Together with the Board’s Parliamentary Liaison Chaya Singer, I attended last week’s State of the Nation (SONA) address in Parliament. Without underplaying the very formidable challenges that still need to be overcome, what we heard was a cause for at least cautious optimism. Much of what President Ramaphosa said remained on the level of hopeful rhetoric rather than substantive action, but I was personally encouraged to learn about the genuine progress

The horrific murder of Lindokuhle Cele is the latest in a wave of horrendous attacks against members of the LGTBIQ+ community in our country. Alana Baranov, the SAJBD representative on the Hate Crimes Working Group said that “this senseless killing has no place in a nation built of human rights for all and, once again, shows the urgent need for hate crimes legislation in our country to better tackle the scourge of hate in all its forms.”

Did the SA Jewish Board of Deputies shirk the challenge of opposing Apartheid or was its policy of neutrality during most of that era justified in view of its core mandate to safeguard the security, civil rights and general well-being of the community it represented? Gwynne Robins explains the Board's stance while also showing how its Cape branch consistently adopted a more liberal, activist stance on the apartheid question. Gwynne Schrire, a veteran contributor to Jewish Aff

We extend our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Joseph Tshabalala, a true legend of contemporary South African music. We have lost an African giant. May his legacy continue.

Dr Israel ‘Boomie’ Abramowitz, who passed away this week in Perth, Australia at the age of 91, was a true gentleman from the old school of Jewish communal leadership in South Africa. In the course of a long and distinguished communal career, he can truly be said to have epitomised the particular strengths that have made the South African Jewish community so respected a component of global Jewry. All this he achieved while simultaneously pursuing his career as an eminent vascu

Douglas Davis, born in Pretoria, was exiled from South Africa in the mid-Sixties. He has since lived all over the world, including 10 years in Israel, where he was a senior editor of the Jerusalem Post. He was subsequently based in London as the paper’s European correspondent. I didn’t know what to expect, but there was no doubt that the figure striding confidently into the car park of the Jerusalem Post was Denis Goldberg. He looked completely at ease; as though he belonged;

With the number of Holocaust survivors alive today dwindling, the poignancy of having more than 100 Auschwitz survivors and their families under the same roof will remain with me always. This was at the formal commemoration ceremony at Auschwitz in Poland of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the camp on 27 January. The courage of these extraordinary men and women, all with a number tattooed on their arms, is a source of constant inspiration. But the reality of life be

Global anti-Semitism is on the rise, 75 years after Holocaust Read article here