The SAJBD is saddened to report the passing today of long-serving SAJBD member and doyen of the Jewish community of KwaZulu-Natal John Moshal. The scion of one of Durban Jewry’s leading families, John was inspired by his uncle, the distinguished community leader and philanthropist Sol Moshal, to become involved in Jewish communal affairs. Among other positions held, he served as Chairman of the United Communal Fund, as President (later Honorary Life President) of the Council of KwaZulu-Natal Jewry and the Durban Jewish Club. For thirty years, he sat on the National Executive Council of the SAJBD.
Alongside his involvement in Jewish communal affairs, John was renowned for his philanthropic record. Through the JAKAMaR Trust, the Moshal family humanitarian foundation that he and his wife Anna set up, he established a number of upliftment projects around the world. They included Chiva Africa, which provided HIV/Aids training to local health professionals, the Moshal Scholarship Programme that has provided hundreds of full scholarships to needy students, the importing of refurbished computers and their distribution to disadvantaged KZN schools, DIVOTE, which rehabilitates victims of terrorism in Israel and the assisting of homeless, abandoned and abused Jewish children in the Ukraine through the Tikva project.
In 2017, John Moshal was presented with the Eric Samson Mendel Kaplan Communal Service Award at the SAJBD national conference.
We extend our sincerest condolences to Anna, children Antony, Martin, Karyn and Richard, brother Brian and the whole Moshal family. May they be comforted among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.
