Last week, SAJBD National President Mary Kluk attended the annual meeting of the World Jewish Congress executive committee, on which she sits as the representative for SA Jewry. A key focus of the discussions was on ensuring the security of Jewish communities throughout the world, particularly the smaller ones who lack the resources to maintain the requisite security levels. The WJC has established a sophisticated security department which has, inter alia, established effective channels of communication with constituent countries and through which it works with the respective countries’ leaderships to identify how and where the WJC can assist.
One of the highpoints of the meeting was an address by Judge Neal Hendel describing how Israel goes about fulfilling its mission to be a Jewish state while at the same time striving to uphold the highest standards of democracy and equality for all its citizens. It is a complex challenge in a complex society, yet what Israel has achieved and is achieving in terms of these ideals remains a measure against which all countries with diverse communities ought to be measured.