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August 13, 2026 By Karen Milner This weekend, we witnessed a momentous moment for our community. Rabbi Doron and Mrs Shelly Perez met President Cyril Ramaphosa at the Union Buildings to express their appreciation for the government’s tireless efforts to facilitate the return of their son Daniel’s body, allowing him to be brought home to Israel and laid to rest with dignity. Daniel was one of our own. He and his family were born and raised among us, and they have remained an

August 6, 2026 By Karen Milner Every so often, we get to open our doors and show gratitude to the people who have stood beside us. On Shabbat, the Board hosted an extraordinary evening in honour of US Ambassador Leo Brent Bozell III, the US embassy, and the members of his diplomatic team who have supported us through some of the most difficult years our community has known. The evening began with us walking together to a Friday-night shul service. From there, the ambassador

July 30, 2026 By Karen Milner On Sunday 26 July, more than a hundred members of our community pulled on shirts that proudly declared “Jews 4 Jozi” and joined the tens of thousands who took part in Walk the Talk. What made it especially poignant is that, for the first time ever, the walk moved through the city itself, through the central business district, the streets of Doornfontein, Bertrams, and Troyeville. A geography that is precious to so many of us and yet has come to

July 23, 2026 By Karen Milner Last Friday, the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) had a rare and important opportunity. We sat down with the heads and commissioners of the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), an institution with which we share a long and storied history. The SAHRC and the SAJBD have worked together on a number of significant cases over the years, none more so than the Masuku hate speech matter, which the commission took all the way to t

July 16, 2026 By Karen Milner This week, alongside our incredible community volunteers, we packed and delivered hundreds of food parcels to members of the Congolese community in Johannesburg who are facing severe humanitarian hardship. This is a community with almost nowhere to turn. There is no citizen registry, little support from their official representatives, and precious few safety nets. We were alerted to their plight by a trusted partner with whom we have worked sinc

June 25, 2026 By Karen Milner There is a sense of anxiety that has gripped not only our community but all of South Africa this week. The fear that xenophobic violence will erupt again, as it did in 2008, 2015, and 2019, sits heavily with us all. Against that backdrop, the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) was invited to an interfaith meeting convened by President Cyril Ramaphosa to brief religious leaders on the government’s strategy for managing the situation.

June 11, 2026 By Karen Milner Next week, South Africa marks the 50th anniversary of the 16 June Soweto Uprising, a day that is a defining part of the moral architecture of this country’s history. Few in our community are aware that one of our own is woven into that story, not at its periphery, but at its heart. Dr Melville Edelstein was a Jewish social worker who had dedicated his professional life to black South African communities. On 16 June 1976, he was in Soweto to host

June 4, 2026 By Karen Milner This week, members of the Gauteng and Cape Town leadership of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) represented the South African Jewish community at the American Jewish Congress (AJC) Annual Global Forum in Washington, DC. The AJC is one of the oldest and most important Jewish advocacy organisations in the world. Founded in 1918, it was built on a conviction that has lost none of its urgency in the century since: that the security a