CONTROVERSIAL
AUTHOR ANDREW
FEINSTEIN TALKS
ABOUT HIS
JEWISHNESS / 8
www.sajewishreport.co.za
Friday, 23 November 2007 / 13 Kislev 5768
SIVAN
RAPHAELY
SHINES
IN ‘RENT’ / 12
Volume 11 Number 43
If Annapolis summit fails,
what then for peace?
‘AFTER OSLO and Camp David, this is already the third attempt by
Israelis and Palestinians to reach a permanent-status agreement based
on a two-state solution. This time it is being carried out by what the
international community perceives as a dream team on both sides.
And if the dream team cannot get a deal on this, who can?’ PAGE 10
US invites 40
to peace talks
THE US has invited over 40 countries including
Syria to participate in Israeli-Palestinian peace
talks. Invitees include much of the European
Union, most Arab nations, large Muslim
nations, major NGOs, Russia, Japan and China.
President George W Bush called Saudi King
Abdullah on Tuesday to appeal to him to attend
or to send a senior Cabinet minister. Such a
presence would represent a breakthrough in
Israel-Arab relations that Israel's government
hopes will help sway Israeli public opinion
toward major concessions on borders and
Jerusalem.
The invitation to Syria comes despite the
Bush administration's efforts to isolate the
Bashar Assad regime because of its attempts to
dominate Lebanon and its backing of anti-Israel
terrorists.
David Welch, the State Department's top
Middle East specialist, would not count out
Syria raising its own peace agenda with Israel,
including its demand that Israel agree to return
the Golan Heights as part of a deal.
The emphasis, however, will be on IsraeliPalestinian talks. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud
Olmert and Palestinian Authority President
Mahmoud Abbas will lead their respective delegations. (JTA)
YOUTH TALK / 16-17
Shtieblach and
synagogues: Are we
flourishing or
fragmenting? / 18
Raymond Ackerman
draws on Victor
Frankl’s teaching / 18
"I had lost my job with Checkers after 12
years and had a wife and four children.
My father had just died and I was starting
off on my own. I was wallowing in self pity
but then I read Frankl's work, ‘Man's
Search for Meaning’ and it changed my
life... Frankl talks a lot about hope. South
Africa today is about hope despite Aids,
unemployment and corruption. We must
concentrate on the positive and have
hope."
Social Scene: Hand in
Hand with elderly / 6
Helen Zille’s optimism
about South Africa / 5
Satirists Zapiro and
Borat’s new books
reviewed / 13
“The sharpness of Zapiro’s probing pencil
may be slightly softened by his humour,
but it never fails to find the rotten spot in
the system... the irrepressible Sacha Baron
Cohen who here, as his alter ego Borat,
picks up the thread of his recent movie to
bring the Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
back into focus. “
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, right, meets with Palestinian President
Mahmoud Abbas in Jerusalem, on November 19, as part of a last-minute round
of talks to bridge gaps before the Annapolis summit. (SOURCE: GPO / BPH IMAGES)
LETTERS / 14
CROSSWORD & BRIDGE / 20
SPORT / 23-24
INSIDE SUPPLEMENT:
WIZO News and Views
SAZF PLANS FOR ISRAEL’S 60TH / 19
2
SA JEWISH REPORT
23 - 30 November 2007
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Kiss or curse?
WHICH IS the greater test of faith:
affluence or poverty? Is it harder to
be a good Jew when you’re rich or
when you’re poor?
No doubt, we would all much
rather accept upon ourselves the
test of affluence, wouldn’t we? But
let’s not be subjective about it. Let
us rather take an objective historical approach.
Back in the early 19th century,
Napoleon was conquering Europe
and promising liberty and equality
for all. When he squared up
against Russia, many rabbis sided
with him, hoping he would finally
bring an end to Czarist persecution
and enable Russian Jewry to enjoy
full civil rights.
Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi,
founder of Chabad, thought differently. He actively opposed
Napoleon and even had his
Chassidim assist in intelligence
gathering for the Russian army.
When his colleagues questioned
his apparent lack of concern for
the well-being of his own people,
he argued that while Napoleon
might be good for the Jews materially, his victory would result in
spiritual disaster.
History proved him correct.
Minus the “Little Emperor”,
Russian Jews remained staunchly
Jewish, while French Jewry virtu-
PARSHAT
VAYISHLACH
Rabbi Yossy Goldman
Sydenham Highlands
North Shul
ally vanished. How many Jewish
Rothschilds are left in the world? Gd knows we could have used them.
There is a fascinating Midrashic
interpretation in this week’s parsha
about the dramatic encounter
between Jacob and Esau. The Torah
says: “And Esau ran towards him
(Jacob) and embraced him... and he
kissed him.” The Hebrew word for
And he kissed him is Vayishakayhu.
Says the Yalkut Shimoni that there
are dots above the word to teach us
to read it differently; not
Vayishakayhu but Vayishachayhu,
not he kissed him, but rather he bit
him!
How can we understand a
Midrash which seems to change the
entire meaning of the word? A kiss
is an expression of love and a bite is
the opposite! Says the Sfas Emes,
“When Esau kisses, Jacob is bitten!”
The kiss of the anti-Semite is
never a kiss of love. It can be the
most dangerous show of affection
SHABBAT TIMES
imaginable. When anti-Semitism
bites, intuitively, Jews know how to
respond. But when anti-Semites are
in a kissing mood, when we are dazzled by love, friendship and an
apparent affinity, we don’t quite
know how to handle it.
We are often overwhelmed and
take the bait. We fall all over ourselves trying to reciprocate. The
result? Rampant assimilation.
The American experience confirms that freedom, democracy and
equal rights, while a wonderful
blessing for Jews, also present a
profound challenge to our Jewish
identity and way of life.
In the melting pot of the United
States, Jews have integrated so successfully that they are virtually disappearing! Success and affluence
are wonderful gifts of opportunity,
but we don’t seem to be passing the
test of faith with flying colours.
The French philosopher, Jean
Paul Sartre, argued that antiSemitism has been good for the
Jews. It has kept Jews Jewish!
While no one wants to be
oppressed, and we reject antiSemitism categorically, the man
does have a point.
I remember as a young rabbi
working with university students
in Johannesburg in the late 1970s,
who were completely apathetic to
Judaism. My colleagues and I were
struggling to elicit any meaningful
response to Jewish programmes on
Linksfield-Senderwood Shul turns 50
STORY AND PHOTOGRAPH BY
RITA LEWIS
THE LINKSFIELD-SENDERWOOD
Shul in Johannesburg last weekend
celebrated its 50th birthday not only
with pomp and ceremony - and gratitude, but also with a visit and
address by the Chief Rabbi Warren
Goldstein and a service taken by
guest chazzan Steven Leas.
A concert where three chazzanim,
all connected to the shul at some
time or another, enthralled the
guests, were a fitting conclusion to
the celebrations
Shul chairman, Stephen Danziger
welcomed the shul’s previous chazzan, Steven Leas from London, while
at the same time bidding farewell to
the shul’s present incumbent, Adam
Davis, who is moving to Glenhazel.
The concert included both Leas
and Davis, together with Chilly
Chrysler (who spent two years at
Linksfield-Senderwood Shul but is
now chazzan at Glenhazel Shul).
The magnificent concert, which
was attended by several hundred
people including Linksfield-Senderwood’s Rabbi Avigdor Bukov, was a
fitting tribute to a shul, which first
started off with a Yomim Noraim
service in a hunting lodge.
The lodge had belonged to Sir
George Farrar, a mining magnate,
politician and close friend of Sir
Lionel Philips (of botched Jameson
Raid notoriety in 1895).
Historian, founder member of the
Linksfield-Senderwood Shul and
writer of The Golden Years, a history of the Linksfield-Senderwood
Hebrew Congregation, Herb Abro
said Farrar was the founder of
Benoni and owned much of what is
today Bedfordview, Senderwood and
LinksfieldSenderwood’s
treasurer, Brian
Weinberg, with
Herb Abro who
wrote booklet on
the history of the
Linksfield Shul and
Stephen Danziger,
Linksfield’s
chairman.
Linksfield. He said it was ironical
that “a religion which abhors blood
sport and decrees that you should
feed your animals before yourself”
should have “ended its days in a
shtiebl”, which prior to its demolition had been a hunting lodge.
The formation of a community
was placed in the hands of Dr Solly
Shippel who obtained an introduction to Isaac Goss (before he gained
his smicha) and who agreed to
become the spiritual leader - “thus
commencing an association which
lasted some 30 years, initially without remuneration”.
After the demise of the hunting
lodge, subsequent services for the
growing community were held in
various King David School classrooms. This, however, did not suit
either the school or the congregants and a new venue for the shul
had to be found.
This was no easy task. It took
some 21 years of frustration,
heartache and nail-biting, mostly
due to the restrictive township conditions existing at the time and the
inability to find land that was
acceptable to everyone involved.
Finally, a compromise was
reached and a piece of suitable
land found. Accordingly, in July
1976 a sod-turning ceremony was
held with Chief Rabbi Bernhard
Casper and Rabbi Isaac Goss officiating.
The foundation stone was laid a
short while later in February 1977
by Chone Wasilewsky in memory of
his wife Jessie and on November 15
1977 the new building was finally
handed over to the congregation by
the builder and architect Neville
Latinsky, who was a shul member.
The new Linksfield-Senderwood
Shul was officially opened on
November 12 1978 to much publicity,
happiness and fanfare, and the ceremonial key presented by the then
chairman, Ruben Swidler to Hymie
Shippel, the chairman of the building sub-committee.
Since then, many people had
given their all to build up the shul
including Herb Abro who has worn
many hats and written the celebratory booklet on the shul from which
much of this information was taken.
Rabbis Isaac Goss was succeeded
by Gavin Michal.
Rabbi Bukov who has been at
Linksfield-Senderwood for some 13
years said as the shul was situated
outside the ‘frum’ area of Glenhazel, it had been a struggle ‘to keep
our youth’. It was for that reason
November 23 / 13 Kislev
November 24 / 14 Kislev
Starts
18:15
18:07
18:15
18:20
18:00
18:15
Ends
19:15
20:14
19:12
19:30
19:45
19:33
Johannesburg
Cape Town
Durban
Bloemfontein
Port Elizabeth
East London
campus.
During one particular meeting,
we seriously contemplated getting
up in the dead of night to spraypaint some swastikas on the
Student Union Building. Surely,
that would get some reaction!
Of course, we never did it. But
the fact that the thought actually
crossed our minds, demonstrates
how external threats have a way of
making Jews bristle with pride
and righteous indignation.
May we never again face the test
of poverty or persecution. Please
G-d, we will be proud and knowledgeable Jews successfully meeting the spiritual challenges of the
good life.
that Bnei Akiva had recently been
engaged to organise activities to
build up a more lively atmosphere
at the shul. ‘As a result the shul is
turning ‘more young’.
Over the years. there have been
several chazzanim, committee
members, women leaders and
chairmen etc who have all come
and gone - but each one played his
or her own part in taking the congregation to great heights.
The three chazzanim at the weekend’s celebratory concert, together
with a choir made up of members of
the Sydenham and LinksfieldSenderwood choirs, were accompanied by Prof Jeanne Zaidel-Rudolph
and Phil Holder on clarinet.
Leas who now lives in London,
was in South Africa especially for
the occasion and held the audience
spellbound - his voice seeming to
improve with each passing visit.
Speaking about his years with the
shul and decision to leave, he said
when he left South Africa he had
had plans to go to the Royal College
of Music for two years to study all
types of music but had been persuaded by various people to stay
within the boundaries of Jewish
music and continue singing Jewish
cantorial and liturgical music.
He recalled that during the previous week he had sung in London at
a concert with well-known Colin
Shachat and Dudu Fisher (who
sang at the JNF concert last week.
He said Shachat, another past
Linksfield chazzan, had very much
wanted to join the other three at the
evening’s performance but had
been unable to attend. Instead, he
had written a letter of his best wishes - which Leas read out -where he
said that although he had left South
Africa some 15 years previously, he
was still often referred to as “the
previous chazzan of Linksfield”.
4
SA JEWISH REPORT
23 - 30 November 2007
23 - 30 November 2007
SA JEWISH REPORT
5
Zille is upbeat about South Africa’s future
STORY AND PHOTOGRAPH BY
MOIRA SCHNEIDER
CAPE TOWN
THINGS WOULD not be much different
under a (Jacob) Zuma presidency to what
they were at present, said Helen Zille, executive mayor of Cape Town and leader of
the DA.
Zille was the guest speaker at a breakfast
held at Suikerbossie Restaurant in celebration of the 75th birthday of the Cape Town
branch of the Union of Jewish Women
(UJW).
“The issue is, which inner circle is going
to benefit,” she said. “I think he will be
bought out just as quickly by big business
as the Mbeki government has been.
“The contest is about who will control
the institutions of state so that they can
deploy confidantes into positions of power.
Both have abused instruments of state for
their own interests,” she alleged.
“What Mbeki has done to the
Constitution over the last few months has
made me very, very worried indeed.”
Yet Zille remains confident that the
country will not “go the same way as the
Anna Berkowitz, Cape Town chairman of the UJW; executive mayor of the city and DA
leader, Helen Zille; and Myra Goldenbaum, honorary vice-president of the UJW.
rest of Africa”, partially because the
Opposition “did not and will not give up.
Tony Leon had to be Nelson Mandela’s
Opposition - try that for a difficult job
description,” she said.
In addition, the depth of civil society including groups like the Union of Jewish
Women and the Treatment Action
Campaign - served as “one of the most fundamental bulwarks between us and a dictatorship.
“The depth, strength, vibrancy and independence of the business sector, not
dependent on government for its success”,
contributed to the fact that she was “enormously optimistic” about the future.
“Nobody’s going to lie down and die here,
I promise you,” she said.
Mina Sable, national president of the
UJW, spoke of the Cape Town branch’s
“glittering past and vibrant future. You
have helped build bridges and contributed
towards a culture of caring and social
responsibility.
“Your humanity and integrity of character have shone through as a role model for
the greater community for 75 years. We’re
immensely proud of you,” she said about
the UJW.
Sable presented Anna Berkowitz, Cape
Town chairman of the UJW, with an
Award for Meritorious Service “in recognition of dedicated service to the community” on behalf of the national body.
6
SA JEWISH REPORT
23 - 30 November 2007
SOCIAL SCENE
Rita Lewis [email protected]
B’nai Brith
lends a hand in
spreading joy
Eileen Wainer
entertains the
gathering
accompanied
on the stage
by some of
the “guests”.
STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY
RITA LEWIS
WHAT A feeling of fulfilment it
must be for all the members of
B’nai Brith involved in Hand-inHand to see the culmination of
months and months of their
work resulting in a hall full of
elderly, indigent people laughing, dancing and clapping and
generally having a good time
before going back to their homes
and what are often, lonely lives.
The aim of having such an
annual event - which has now
been organised annually for 26
years - is to “create an act of
goodwill to (mostly senior citizens) of all religious and ethnic
groups. It caters for everyone
who needs, or wants, a day out away from their normal everyday existence in a room or in
retirement villages where life
can get monotonous and dreary,” said one of this year’s conveners, Eddie Riebeck.
This year Hand-in-Hand was
held at the Edenvale Recreational Centre where some 200
people from the broad spectrum
of the “Rainbow Nation” all
joined to enjoy the day laid on
for them by B’nai Brith.
B’nai Brith (which means
“Son of the Covenant”) is the
biggest Jewish organisation in
the world and has been in South
Africa for some 80 years.
This most successful event
was a group effort on the part
of some 20 B’nai Brith members, all of whom get involved
in some aspect of the event.
“In the old days, over 1 000
people used to flock to the city
hall in Johannesburg when the
city’s mayor used to use the
occasion for his official council
address. But unfortunately, due
to sponsorship issues that has
all changed,” Riebeck said.
“From the centre of town the
event
moved
to
Temple
Emanuel in Parktown and now
some 300 elderly people come to
enjoy themselves here in
Edenvale.
“Now the Mini and Junior
Councils use it as one their official events and provide us with
some 25 young councillors who
interact with the elderly and get
Some of the
younger generation who
came to help
the “guests”
enjoy themselves.
Members of
the Bnei Brith
(on right)
wearing their
distinctive
royal blue
tops join
Eileen Wainer
on the stage.
Young and old
enjoying the
moment.
Honoured for a lifetime of service
RITA LEWIS
AT THEIR annual awards ceremony
held recently at the Sunnyside Hotel
in Parktown, Johannesburg, the
Johannesburg Attorneys’ Association
honoured Zamie Liknaitzky in recognition of his 52 years of practice as an
attorney, notary and conveyancer - the
longest of any previous honoree.
Liknaitzky, who attended Germiston
High School and graduated from the
University of the Witwatersrand in
February 1954 with a BA (Hons) and
LLB, was admitted to the association
in January 1955.
In that same year, he began as a professional assistant to the firm of Sloot,
Broido and Hesselson, becoming a
partner in 1959 and rising to senior
partner, a position which he occupied
until the firm ceased to practise in
1988.
When that partnership came to an
end in 2004, he established a practice
with his daughter Cheryl Burt, under
the name of Zamie Liknaitzky.
He says that moving from a large
practice to a dual-member partnership
has been an interesting, but rewarding
experience. He hopes to remain in
practice for as long as Hashem permits.
Also honoured were a number of
other attorneys who had been admitted to practice in 1968 - a mere 40 years
ago.
Zamie Liknaitzky who was recently
honoured by the Johannesburg
Attorneys’ Association for being the
longest serving member.
them to join in the fun and sing
and dance,” he said.
“It is a very valuable exercise
for them to learn to mix with and
talk to, the elderly.”
Both Ryan Canin the Junior
Mayor from King David Victory
Park and the Mini Mayor Sebastian
Rodrigues from Highveld Primary
agreed with him and led their
councils in joining in the activities
with the elderly.
Rodrigues said the Mini
Council’s motto for the year was,
“We are a youth rooted in unity
and active in our community.
“As part of our commitment...
we have come here today to honour our elders - to bring you a little joy, a meal and a moment of
happiness.”
He spoke of the things he had
learnt from his grandparents “the closest example of the elderly I have” and said young people
should look to the elderly “for
advice, love and guidance” when
they were troubled.
Canin said: “When you are
born, you learn right and wrong
from your parents. Looking at
the gathering, he said “You are
our parents and grandparents.
Times are changing and new
paths have to be set, but you can
feel satisfied and content with
the legacy you have left behind
you.”
Entertainment was laid on for
the function by the popular
Eileen Wainer who is an old hand
at the entertainment game. She
was accompanied by Eric
Berhrind on guitar, Monty Traub
on the piano and Denny Donnelly
on drums.
The four soon had everyone
out of their seats, singing and
dancing - on the stage, off the
stage, in the aisles and between
the chairs - everywhere there
was room to stand.
She said the event aims to
bring the lonely together. “When
they go home, you can see the
upliftment in their eyes.”
The B’nai Brith organisation,
gives their “visitors” not only,
in the words of one of the visitors, “a slap-up meal”, but also at
the end of the day, not only the
memory of a wonderful time out,
but also a beautiful gift to take
home.
23 - 30 November 2007
COMMUNITY BUZZ
LIONEL SLIER
082-444-9832, fax: 011-786-5036, [email protected]
SA JEWISH REPORT
7
in Savoy from 20:00 to midnight. In attendance will be
a 7-piece band. Dress is smart-casual and tickets are
R220 per person.
Singles are welcome. Proceeds are in aid of deserving charities nominated by Bnei Brith.
* For ticket purchases, contact Rollo Berman 076936-6546 or Charmion Kay 082-802-9238.
JOHANNESBURG
HERMANUS
It is the final curtain. Patrick Mynhardt has gone. We
all mourn the passing of a fine actor, a raconteur, a
writer, a man of humour and a mensch.
Mynhardt made no secret of the fact that he loved
the Jewish people. “I am a Joodse Boer,” he would
say. “I love the Jewish people for their spirituality,
their contribution to the world and for me, personally, their love and support of the arts, especially the
theatre.”
He used to say that The Jewish Report was his
favourite paper in all South Africa and he looked forward to Fridays to read it.
In his much acclaimed show, “The Boy from
Bethulie”, there is a scene where he relates an
episode from a South African film, “Seven Against
the Sun”. It is about a group of South African soldiers fighting in Abyssinia during the Second World
War and one of the soldiers is killed.
It turns out that he was wearing a Magen Dovid
and when he is to be buried, kaddish has to be said.
Mynhardt is told by the film director, David Millin,
that he must, in the part of a rabbi, say the kaddish.
Mynhardt then flash backs to a Jewish boy, Hymie
who came to Bethulie as a refugee from Latvia in the
late 1930s. They grew up together as friends. In the
‘60s Mynhardt was working in London when he
bumped into Hymie on the Underground. Hymie was
on his way to Latvia, as he wanted to see the place
where he was born.
Arrangements were made to meet when Hymie
returned to London. A week or so later, Mynhardt
learnt that Hymie had been killed in a car accident in
Germany. He never got to Latvia.
Forward now to the burial scene where Mynhardt
had to say the kaddish and he was in a panic. He
knew the words - as an actor, one learnt words - but
he needed the feeling, the passion. Suddenly from
where, he does not know, but he suddenly remembered his Jewish friend from his childhood and he
said: “Hymie please help me. I have to have a Jewish
feeling.” He then said the kaddish perfectly.
Now on the stage whenever Mynhardt told of this
incident and said the kaddish, there was always
resounding applause and Jewish people in the audience were moved to tears. It was a performance, once
seen, never forgotten.
Two months ago, “The Boy from Bethulie” was
staged again in Johannesburg and it was obvious
that Mynhardt was not well. He had made an
arrangement to speak at the United Zionist
Luncheon Club and he clearly had a touch of pneumonia. He was told that he could cancel the talk, but
he would not hear of it.
“I have never in my life let an audience down and I
am not going to start now, especially to a Jewish
group,” he said. At the luncheon he was clearly not
well.
A week later he went to London, against all advice,
where he had an engagement. Just a few days there
and the news came that he “died of natural causes”.
He did not. He was a sick man.
* Community Buzz received a fax from
C Rosenstein of Cape Town. He writes: “And who is
going to say kaddish for Patrick Mynhardt?”
JOHANNESBURG
Bnei Brith is presenting a Chanukah Dinner Dance
on December 8 (Saturday evening) at the Capri Hotel
From Jonathan Lipman (president) and Mike Kessel
(publicity):
“The committee of the congregation appreciates
the very positive response to the 2007-2008 membership drive. As we explained, while the funding for the
new shul complex has been received, this has been
invested for the project itself and funding for the
future.
“In the meanwhile the subscription income is
clearly needed to meet the needs of the congregation
on an ongoing basis.
“We greatly appreciate those of you who have
made additional donations over and above the subscription amount.
“We are delighted to report that sale of the new site
to our congregation was approved by the Hermanus
Council Committee after having been passed by all
the relevant departments and committees. The size
of the new site (2 787 sq m) is much larger than the
one occupied at present and is being sold to us for
plus/minus R167 250.
“Surveyors are finalising the erf plan and the
architect is calling for tenders so that the shul committee can award and appoint the builder to start in
January 2008. The architect is also in the process of
recommending suitably qualified candidates for the
position of project manager.
“The news is very exciting and we will clearly keep
everyone informed of further progress.”
PORT ELIZABETH
From Rollo Berman: More Humewood Beach
Memoirs.
“The beach manager was a Mr Davies who would
announce the commencement of the ‘Miss
Humewood Beauty Contest’. A few of our local girls
entered. They would parade around the stage erected
on the sand amid humorous wolf-whistles and
remarks.
“A visitor from Grahamstown won the title one year Dolly Gordon, Slim Slonimsky’s old flame. She was
crowned ‘Queen’, received a
sash and a box of chocolates.
“However, the drama went
on. In the distance one could
see a guy who looked like (film
actor) Jerry Lewis hanging
from the prom. This was the
annual prom jump onto the
sand, a drop of 17 feet. He was
my friend of 40 years, Brian
Shear. Who can forget him?
“There were a few nonJewish girls who sat with us.
Alice Smith aka ‘Alice Blue
Gown’, Christel Whittaker
whose nickname was ‘Clear
Waters’, Anita Nottingbet ‘Nuts and Bolts’.
There was a Miss Terreblanche who used to wear a big
hat. She was known as ‘The
Lampshade’.”
8
SA JEWISH REPORT
Judaism provides
Feinstein with moral fibre
the Holocaust provides a context for
examining the dangers of remaining
silent and apathetic in the face of the victimisation and oppression of others many of us did that for many years under
ANDREW FEINSTEIN partially credits
apartheid.
his Judaism for the fact that he resigned
“The reason I’m so proud of my
from Parliament in 2001 in protest at the
Judaism is that the suffering of so many
ANC’s refusal to allow an unfettered
for so long informs a determination to
investigation into the multi-billion rand
fight injustice,” he said.
arms deal.
“Cowardice” had also been a factor in
Addressing a capacity audience under
his decision to resign, he added. “I knew I
the auspices of The Living Newspaper, he
could get a remunerative job and live far
explained that, though he was not an
away from South Africa, not an option
observant Jew, the fact that his mother
open to many of my colleagues,” said
was a Holocaust survivor, had deterFeinstein, who now lives in London with
mined his outlook.
his Bengali Muslim wife and two chilIn South Africa for the launch of his
dren.
book on the arms deal, After the Party,
Feinstein, who remains a member of
Feinstein recalled introducing a motion
the ANC, spoke of the arms deal as “the
on the Holocaust in Parliament in 2000,
moment when our new democracy lost its
the first time this event had been dismoral compass”.
cussed in the legislature.
Mentioning the estimation of British
“One of the things that I said was that
and German investigators
that over $200 million in
bribes had been paid in the
South African arms deal, he
said: “Chippy Shaik (chief of
acquisitions for the defence
force at the time) shouldn’t
have solicited a bribe from
the Germans - they took minutes and they kept them.”
Referring to Minister in
the Presidency Essop Pahad’s assertion that there
was “no shred of evidence of
corruption” in the arms
deal, Feinstein said that
Pahad had forgotten about
former ANC chief whip,
Andrew Feinstein signs a copy of his book for Dr Hackey Tony Yengeni’s fraud conviction and the finding in
Edelstein.
STORY AND PHOTOGRAPH BY
MOIRA SCHNEIDER
CAPE TOWN
23 - 30 November 2007
the Schabir Shaik judgment that the ANC
had benefited inappropriately from the
deal.
“What planet are you living on, Mr
Minister?” he asked.
Feinstein also spoke of President Thabo
Mbeki’s “much more important” role in
addition to ensuring that Mr Justice
Willem Heath, “the only person among
the investigators not sympathetic to the
ANC”, was not part of the joint investigating team.
“The president called in the remaining
investigators and told them who and what
they could investigate, to the extent of
naming some people” who were to be
excluded.
“The joint investigating team presented
a somewhat pathetic report to Parliament
after giving it to the Presidency to edit,”
he claimed, adding that the executive had
been exonerated of any wrongdoing.
“The greatest tragedy is that while we
were spending obscene amounts of
money, we were telling the millions of
South Africans living with Aids or who
were HIV-positive that we didn’t have the
money to treat them.” He referred to the
period of Mbeki’s “denialism” as “undeniably our darkest days since apartheid”.
Feinstein said the idea of his book was
to “posit a return to the politics of hope
that characterised the nation between
1994 and 1999. Politics was based on
morality then,” he maintained.
He said it had not been easy to write the
book because of his “enormous admiration” for the ANC as an organisation.
“Despite the difficulties, so much is going
right in this country.
“The fact that I’m standing here today
saying what I’m saying, is illustrative of
the fact that we do have a democracy here,
warts and all,” he said. He warned, however, that “in the memory of those who died
for our democracy, we all have a responsibility to stand up and be counted”.
Feinstein described the reluctance of
ANC members to speak out as being
“reflective of the level to which the ANC
has sunk”.
AROUND THE
WORLD
NEWS IN BRIEF
ISRAEL, PA CLOSE TO JOINT
DECLARATION
JERUSALEM - Israel and the Palestinian
Authority have inched toward agreement
on a joint declaration for next week's
peace conference.
Advance negotiators from both sides
said they were working together on one
draft declaration, having synthesised
respective demands that previously kept
them from being "on the same page".
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
and Palestinian Authority President
Mahmoud Abbas hope to have an agreedon document to present at the US-hosted
talks in Annapolis, addressing the framework for reviving peace negotiations.
According to negotiators, Israel and
the Palestinian Authority still disagree
on how the declaration should deal with
the need for foreign oversight in the
implementation of the US-sponsored
peace "road map", a precondition for
diplomatic progress.
The Palestinians have also been pushing for some mention of the core issues of
borders, Jerusalem and refugees, though
Israel has balked at any detailed reference to them at this stage. (JTA)
EARTHQUAKE SHAKES ISRAEL
JERUSALEM - A mild earthquake on
Tuesday shook Israel.
The tremor, measuring 4,2 on the
Richter scale, struck the Dead Sea and
was felt as far away as Jerusalem. There
were no reports of injuries or damage.
The Dead Sea valley runs along the
Asia-Africa fault line, making for frequent earthquakes. (JTA)
23 - 30 November 2007
SA JEWISH REPORT
9
10
SA JEWISH REPORT
23 - 30 November 2007
OPINION AND ANALYSIS
FORUM FOR DIVERSE VIEWS
If Annapolis fails, what then?
Waiting for the
grand gesture
WHEN EGYPTIAN President Anwar Sadat broke
ranks with the Arab world and signed a peace
deal with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem
Begin, it was done with a grand theatrical flourish which held the world enraptured - fascinated
by the sight of two erstwhile bitter enemies looking into each other’s eyes and shaking hands.
It was as if the nations stood still momentarily
as the high drama unfolded before them. Sadat’s
arrival in Israel, where he was met at the airport
by Golda Meir and other key Israelis, and his
address to the Knesset, are spectacles difficult to
match.
When Meir shook Sadat’s hand at the airport,
she is reported to have said: “We’ve been waiting
for you a long time.” He replied: “The time has
come.”
Begin had a virtually guaranteed parliamentary majority for concessions he felt were necessary. He used it to make far-reaching territorial
compromises, such as returning the entire Sinai
Peninsula to Egypt. This enabled a solid peace
deal to be reached between Egypt and Israel - an
accord that has held firm for three decades.
There were moments when Israelis and
Palestinians also engaged in such high theatre.
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat’s handshake
with Yitzhak Rabin at the White House in 1995,
watched from behind by an earnest US President
Bill Clinton, captured the attention of the world
and led many to believe peace was finally at hand.
By contrast, the Annapolis summit due to take
place within days has none of that grand gesture
about it. It is riddled by conflicting forces, both
between the different camps and within the
camps themselves, and comes after years of violence and failed expectations.
Not only does Olmert lack support from members of his government and hostility from much
of the Israeli public, but he also faces opposition
from hawks in Diaspora Jewish organisations
such as AIPAC and the Conference of Presidents
of Major American Jewish Organisations, who
have warned him against even raising basic
issues like the future of Jerusalem.
Abbas is believed to be a well-intentioned moderate, but is too weak to push through any difficult concessions from the Palestinians - and his
enemy Hamas is not even represented at
Annapolis.
It is widely expected that Annapolis will not
produce an actual agreement, aside from the possible intention to re-launch the process of negotiation between Israelis and Palestinians.
There is a familiar saying that wars only end
when the two sides are too exhausted to carry on
fighting. There is no doubt that the majority of
the populations on both sides in this conflict are
intensely war-weary, and would embrace a settlement if it could be reached. It is also true that the
broad outlines of such a settlement are already
known - it is a question of how to get there.
Extremists on both sides keep stoking the fires.
Despite the scepticism about Annapolis, however, the fact that it is taking place is indicative of
some important shifts. The most encouraging is
that the heavy manacles of the six years of the
intifada have loosened and Israelis and
Palestinians are at least going back to negotiating.
After the crisis of extreme disappointments
which followed Arafat’s and Rabin’s White House
handshake, the disastrous Oslo process, and the
failed Camp David summit between Ehud Barak
and Arafat, it is understandable that there should
be scepticism towards grand gestures.
It is the fine print and nuts and bolts over which
people are anguishing today. But it might just
take another such grand gesture to move the
players in this conflict to make the psychological
leap which achieving peace will need.
The trouble is, the landscape of leaders on both
sides is bleak today and the world has become distrustful of political grand gestures. There are no
Sadats or Begins with the necessary charisma
and support to take their peoples across the
divide.
But at least Annapolis means we are talking
again. We can only hope it will eventually set the
stage for the ultimate grand gesture where a
Palestinian leader and an Israeli leader finally
bring the conflict to an end.
LESLIE SUSSER
JERUSALEM
DAYS
AWAY
from
the
Annapolis peace parley, the
glaring weaknesses of both the
Israeli and Palestinian leaders
are raising significant questions
about the long-term viability of
the renewed peace process and
the consequences of failure.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud
Olmert, who may have wanted to
use the conference as a dramatic
breakthrough in peacemaking
with the Palestinians, finds his
hands tied by hawks in his coalition government.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, constrained by Arab and Palestinian hardliners, is finding it
difficult to make even minimal
compromises that could advance
the process.
The upshot is that after
months of pre-conference negotiation, the two sides could
arrive in Annapolis without
prior agreement on even a minimalist joint declaration spelling
out a format and timetable for
future peace talks.
Also worrisome, in the
months following they may find
themselves unable to make
progress, discrediting the peace
process and possibly setting off
a new round of Palestinian violence.
Given the limited progress
achieved by the Israeli and
Palestinian sides so far, other
players are making last-minute
efforts to give the conference
some meaning. Now some US
officials are suggesting that
President George W Bush may
use the conference to deliver a
major policy speech outlining
US positions on key issues the
parties have yet to address.
Israeli critics wary of Olmert
capitulating to the hawks in his administration, have been focusing on the
longer term consequences of failure.
One of the worst possible outcomes,
they say, would be the collapse of the
idea of a two-state solution.
“There is a question mark over how
long the paradigm of two states for two
peoples will continue to be a viable
option,” Ami Ayalon, a Labour Party
minister in Olmert’s security Cabinet
and a former head of Israel’s internal
security service, told JTA.
“I don’t want to speak in apocalyptic
terms, but if there is no option of two
states for two peoples, then there is no
option for a Jewish and democratic
Israel.”
The
hawks’
campaign
against
Annapolis picked up steam with an ultimatum: Avigdor Lieberman and Eli
Yishai, leaders of the right-wing Yisrael
Beiteinu and Shas parties, threatened to
bolt the coalition if core issues like borders, Jerusalem and right of return for
Palestinian refugees were so much as
discussed at Annapolis.
Although part of the government
coalition, the two parties then joined
with the Likud-led opposition to pass a
preliminary reading of a bill making
any
territorial
concessions
in
Jerusalem subject to approval by a special two-thirds majority of the 120-member Knesset.
Afraid that his government might fall,
Olmert backed down.
Whereas in September the prime minister had spoken of a “historic opportunity”, and in October boldly promised to
tackle all the most difficult issues, by
November the Annapolis conference
had been reduced to a meeting that
would last no more than a day and merely serve as a launching pad for further
negotiations.
“We fell asleep on our watch,”
Ayalon told a meeting of the Labour
Party last Sunday. “We did not do all we
could have done to counteract the intolerable pressure from Lieberman and
Shas.”
Ayalon, however, believes that in the
final analysis Olmert is intent on making peace with the Palestinians. Ayalon
says that with immense effort, a deal
can be reached in 2008, before the end
of the Bush presidency.
He argues that Olmert gave in to the
hawks now because the process is in its
infancy and it would not make sense for
him to lose his government before the
peacemaking picks up momentum. If
and when that process reaches fruition,
Olmert would be in a position to dump
the right-wingers in his coalition and
push for an election that he could win
on the basis of a peace deal, Ayalon
says.
By the same token, however, Israelis
could throw out the prime minister if
they judge him to have rushed too
quickly into concessions with a partner
that then proves to be unreliable - as
the Palestinians have in the past.
The post-Annapolis process is set to
follow a format wherein negotiations
over a permanent peace deal will take
place while phase one of the “road
map” peace process is carried out. For
the Palestinians, this means ending terror and dismantling terrorist militias.
On this, sceptics argue, the process is
bound to fall, precisely because of
Abbas’ inherent weaknesses: Since he
does not control Gaza, where his radical Hamas rivals hold sway, and is weak
in the West Bank, he will not be able to
deliver security in either place.
If the post-Annapolis peace process
fails, says Gidi Grinstein, president of
the Tel Aviv-based Reut Institute and a
member of former Prime Minister Ehud
Barak’s
negotiating
team
with
Palestinians between 1999 and 2001, radical forces in the Middle East will gain
strength.
The relatively moderate Abbas leadership will go into decline along with
Abbas’ Fatah faction, and Hamas, which
already controls Gaza, will gain in the
West Bank.
The subsequent collapse of the
Palestinian Authority, Grinstein warns,
“may drag Israel into resuming full military, administrative and political
responsibility for the Palestinian population in the West Bank, which would be
a major setback for Israeli national
security”.
Like Ayalon, Grinstein says that support for a two-state solution will erode
on the Palestinian street, and the international community may follow suit.
“After Oslo and Camp David, this is
already the third attempt by Israelis and
Palestinians to reach a permanent-status agreement based on a two-state solution,” Grinstein said. “This time it is
being carried out by what the international community perceives as a dream
team on both sides. And if the dream
team cannot get a deal on this, who
can?”
In Grinstein’s view, the Annapolis
process seems to be playing into the
hands of Hamas and the radicals.
“Hamas has not taken to the streets to
undermine Annapolis because its political leadership is actually betting that
the process will collapse on its own,
with all the political dividends that
would bring them,” he said.
With Annapolis set to have a major
impact on the battle between radicals
and moderates for the soul of the Middle
East, the prognosis does not look promising. (JTA)
23 - 30 November 2007
SA JEWISH REPORT
OPINION AND ANALYSIS
FORUM FOR DIVERSE VIEWS
Time for Divine intervention
THE PERVASIVE scourge of pornography,
whose dissemination has been so dramatically facilitated by the Internet revolution,
can be seen as both a symptom and a cause
of perhaps the most serious long-term
threat to Western society - the belowreplacement birth rates that are increasingly assuming a form of mass cultural suicide.
Particularly in Europe, the native populations are failing to reproduce themselves.
The institution of marriage is in crisis, with
high divorce rates and escalating numbers
of people who do not choose to marry at all.
A growing proportion of married couples,
moreover, are choosing not to have children.
Any population growth that is taking
place is due to immigration from nonWestern societies, including, of course,
many Muslim ones. This last phenomenon is
eliciting increasingly panic-stricken, and
occasionally xenophobic commentary in
many quarters. A peaceful counter-Crusade
seems to be well underway, with burgeoning
Muslim numbers suggesting that the
Islamisation of Europe over the next halfcentury has become a real possibility.
Pornography is the ultimate debasement
of the act of procreation. Indeed, the creation of life is the last thing it encourages,
rather using that impulse to foster a culture
of voyeurism and brutish gratification.
Without going into the loathsome details,
the defining feature of the kind of degraded
acts most commonly depicted nowadays is
that they preclude even the possibility of
creating life.
The manner in which women are brutally
abused, albeit with an appearance of willingness on their part, further underlines
either the staggering failure of the feminist
revolution or even the poisoned fruits of its
unintended consequences.
Was it not feminism, after all, that discredited the traditional notion of women as
mothers and nurturers, the gentler sex that
needed special consideration and protection?
Today, a newer and even more hateful
form of voyeurism is becoming prevalent.
Dubbed “torture porn”, it generates its
thrills by showing helpless people - invariably young, attractive women - being systematically mutilated. There is evidently a
market for those who get their thrills in seeing women slowly hacked to pieces or having acid poured on their faces. The main
guilt might lie with those who create and disseminate such wickedness, but those who
patronise it are also shamefully culpable.
Human beings are so much higher than
the animal world, but no species falls lower
when it chooses to debase itself. Haredi Jews
are scorned for ghettoising themselves, yet
given the culture of defilement that exists
outside their closed communities, can they
really be blamed?
True, pornography has always existed.
The difference today is that it is part of
mainstream culture, thanks in no small part
to the efforts of civil libertarians who have
elevated freedom of expression to the status
of a fundamental right, no matter what
harm accrues to the greater society.
When the churches were the primary disseminators of anti-Jewish sentiment, Jews
presumably would have felt that the disap-
BARBARIC
YAWP
David Saks
pearance of Christianity would be a good
thing. It is therefore a remarkable irony that
today, many religiously observant Jews are
viewing the disintegration of traditional
Christian society with something approaching dismay.
There are no absolute standards anymore
- everything is relative. One sees how badly
more conservative writers fail when they try
to condemn the degeneracy they see around
them without having recourse to the
absolute moral guidelines that traditional
Christianity provided.
Their efforts at the end of the day are
entirely subjective, easy targets for those
who have other opinions and whose same
opinions, in the relativistic universe we
occupy, are adjudged to just as much validity.
Underlying all this is a troubling paradox.
Those who criticise the anything-goes culture that is producing such all-pervasive
ugliness and so disastrously undermining
the foundations of our civilisation, also tend
to be among the most outspoken critics of
the perceived Islamisation of that civilisation.
In reality, traditional Islam comprises a
value system that fiercely and uncompromisingly upholds the kind of ethics and
standards that Christian societies once took
for granted.
Personally, I believe that Muslim communities within Western, post-Christian societies are more threatened than threatening.
There is a stronger possibility that far from
taking over those societies through demographic growth, they will instead see future
generations progressively co-opted by
them.
More insular Orthodox Jewish communities are better placed to withstand such cultural pressures although they too are very
much at risk. The Internet and all the other
spectacular advances in information and
communications technology can now bring
the festering sewers of a degenerating civilisation into the heart of the frummest home
at the touch of a button.
Should it in fact withstand these pressures, Islam ironically may have the potential to rescue the decaying Western postChristian civilisation. Those radical imams
who rail against the rottenness of their host
societies do have a point. The problem is,
trying to convince laissez-faire Westerners
that they are wrong by blowing them to fragments is hardly likely to endear them to
their viewpoint.
Similarly, I suppose, the old National
Party’s strict censorship policy when it
came to anything remotely pornographic
would have enjoyed more credibility if it
wasn’t simultaneously promulgating laws
that were palpably immoral.
Really, without Divine intervention, there
doesn’t seem to be much hope for any of us.
A history defining moment
In a 1978 photo,
Egyptian President
Anwar Sadat, left, and
Israeli Prime Minister
Menachem Begin
acknowledge applause
during a joint session of
Congress in which
President Carter
announced the results of
the Camp David Accords
— one year after Sadat’s
landmark trip to Israel.
(SOURCE: Warren K.
Leffler/Library of Congress
[VIA PINGNEWS]/
Creative Commons)
11
12
SA JEWISH REPORT
23 - 30 November 2007
TAPESTRY
ART, BOOKS, DANCE, FILM, THEATRE
ARTS MATTERS
COMPILED BY
ROBYN SASSEN
Call 084-319-7844 or
[email protected] at least one
week prior to publication
Amoeba, Parkhurst: “Shift”,
ceramics by Loren Kaplan and
tapestries by Yda Walt, until
December 13. (011) 447-5025.
Artscape, Cape Town: “Rent:
The Musical”, until December
15. (021) 410-9800.
Civic Theatre, Braamfontein:
In the Nelson Mandela, “Peter
Pan” until December 30. In the
People’s Theatre, “The Jungle
Book” until December 24. (011)
877-6800.
Tragic comedienne with
endearing sense of bravado
ROBYN SASSEN
“SHE IS not a vain bitch!” This comment was
made by Sivan Raphaely during the
Johannesburg run of “Rent”, when she spoke
to Jewish Report about her character,
Maureen Johnson, who is bisexual, politically conscious and pivotal to the show’s tone.
“She’s very compassionate. She is afraid to
show emotion and be vulnerable, but she is
not afraid to love. This tragic comedienne
has an endearing sense of bravado. She is
perceptive and not one dimensional.”
Raphaely graduated from Tshwane
University of Technology in 1998. Armed
with a taste for old musicals, and an astonishing ability to harmonise vocally, she was
Goodman Gallery, Rosebank:
“What will come” by William
Kentridge, until December 14.
(011) 788-1113.
Maureen
Johnson (Sivan
Raphaely) and
Joanne
Jefferson (Ilse
Klink), with
Mimi Marquez
(Talia Kodesh)
and Roger
Davis (Shaun V)
in the background.
Kim Sacks Gallery, Parkwood: Ian Garrett Vessels, until
December 3. (011) 447-5804.
Liberty Theatre on the
Square, Sandton: “Mile High
with Cathy Specific”, until
December 31. (011) 883-8606.
Gold Reef City Complex,
Ormonde: In the Lyric Theatre,
“Hairspray: The Musical”, until
March 2008. (011) 248-5168. In the
Apartheid Museum, “Steve
Biko: Quest for a True Humanity” curated by Emilia Potenza,
until June 2008. (011) 309-4700.
(PHOTOGRAPH:
RUPHIN
COUDYZER)
Van Graan dissects society with rapier-sharp wit
Market, Newtown: In the
Barney Simon, “Bafana Republic”, until December 16. In
the Main Theatre, “Joe Barber
4” until November 25. In the
Laager, “Grimm Tales” until
December 16. (011) 832-1641.
Play: “Bafana Republic” by Mike van Graan
Cast: Lindiwe Matshikiza
Director: Lara Bye
Venue: Barney Simon Theatre at the Market
Until: December 16
Mentone Road, Morningside,
Durban: “The Year of the Quiet
Bowl” an exhibition by Anthony
Shapiro, until December 2. 083301-5747.
MIKE VAN Graan is a playwright who speaks
his mind and this aspect of his work always
manages to come strongly to the fore in his
plays.
I have seen a number of his hard-hitting productions and each one had something worthwhile to say about the state of the nation and
the human condition.
He has a fertile imagination, a wonderful
use of language and a keen eye on what transpires in our rainbow nation - and very little
escapes him. He does not tolerate government
bungling, ministerial inefficiency and the
Montecasino, Fourways: In
the Piazza, November 28 and 29,
“A Tribute to the Passion of
Pavarotti”. In the Main Theatre,
“Nunsensations: The Nunsense
Vegas Revue”, directed by Alan
Swerdlow, until January 20. In
the Studio, “The 39 Steps”,
directed by Alan Swerdlow, until
January 13. In Teatro, “Lion
King”, until January 20. (011)
511-1988.
National Children’s Theatre,
Parktown: Joyce Levinsohn
directs “Sleeping Beauty”, until
December 22. (011) 484-1584.
RCHCC, Oaklands: Terry Kalinko’s exhibition until December 8. (011) 728-8088.
State Theatre, Pretoria: In the
Opera, SABT peforms Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker Suite”,
until December 16. (011) 8776898.
Wits Theatre Complex: In the
Amphitheatre,
“The
Voice
Beyond the Veil”, with Pippa
Dyer, until December 1. In
the Nunnery, “Coming To” by
Athena Mazarakis, until November 24. In the Theatre, Black
Tie Ensemble perform on
November 28. (011) 717-1376.
18 when she first saw “Rent” - and she has
respected the show ever since, coveting the
role of Maureen.
“‘Rent’ - the musical that is billed to have
changed Broadway - is not a ‘Lion King’, it is
not about how to ‘wow’ the audience, it is
Brechtian, offering a mirror to society. It has
the ability to change perceptions and values.
It is about living this moment as though it
were your last.
“You can’t just switch off and play the part:
it’s not a paint-by-numbers show. I never feel
the same emotion in the same place during
the show. For me, it has been a gift of a role.”
Maureen is the former girlfriend of the
main character, Mark Cohen; she’s now
involved with Joanne, a women’s rights
activist lawyer (Ilse Klink). The context is
Hicksville, Long Island, where the Jewish
community is socially liberated, integrated
and affluent.
Maureen sings a protest-cum-performance
art song, “Over the Moon”. It’s a bizarre,
funny piece that plays deliciously into Rent’s
flavour. “It makes people respond gutturally:
Suddenly, amidst all this Aids narrative,
they laugh. (And they moo on cue!).
“The truth is that one will love or hate this
production. Jonathan Larson, the show’s
writer, was really before his time. Like other
musicals, it deals with a negative issue: Aids.
There have been shows about menopause,
divorce and crime.
“The majority of fans empathise with the
story because it is not only about Aids; it’s
about humanity. You laugh. You cry. It’s
about coming to terms with who you are and
making things work.”
Having returned two years ago from an
overseas stint to gain experience, Raphaely
has been able to see the South African theatre industry from without as well as from
within.
“There is a big sense of community here,”
she said. “The fact that we have several big
musicals on the boards - Lion King,
Hairspray, Rent, Peter Pan, attests to how we
are booming.”
“Rent” fits the bill of all of producer Hazel
Feldman’s projects, with its transparent
agenda to showcase the cream of local talent. American director for ‘Rent’, Anthony
Rap, expressed surprise that more South
Africans are not breaking out into
Broadway, given their talent and versatility.
Raphaely explains: “We believe in ourselves. We are not doing a parochial revival
of ‘Rent’, we are growing the original character of the production.”
* “Rent” with musical direction by Bryan
Schimmel, is produced by Hazel Feldman. It
performs at Artscape in Cape Town, until
December 15. (021) 410-9800.
REVIEWED BY PETER FELDMAN
FELDMAN ON
FILM
Peter Feldman
Beowulf
Cast: Ray Winstone, Anthony Hopkins,
John Malkovich, Robin Wright Penn,
Angelina Jolie
Director: Robert Zemeckis
“Beowulf” is the eagerly anticipated production from Robert Zemeckis who once again
employs the wonders of his pioneering “performance-capture” technology to enhance
his work.
He demonstrated the effectiveness of this
technique in “The Polar Express” and now
improves upon the format with this somewhat indulgent interpretation of “Beowulf,”
that bloodthirsty classic of Old English literature.
Although the film lacks soul, Zemackis
more than makes up for it by creating some
magnificent action sequences and imagery
that fires the imagination. This experience is
inane statements and actions made by the
many so-called movers and shakers who
inhabit our glorious country. And he attacks
them with rapier-sharp wit.
“Bafana Republic” is an entertaining and
often acerbic look at the lead-up to the Soccer
World Cup in 2010 and how South Africa will
cope with the millions of fans who will flood
into the country.
But he doesn’t stop there. Van Graan introduces many other shining facets to his arguments that include taking a dip at Dr Death,
Raymond Hack, Carlos Alberto Perreira and
footballers’ wives. There is a funny spoof on
Bafana Idols and many more colourful sketches to saviour in this energetic one-hander.
Helping transform his script into a vibrant,
living entity is Lindiwe Matshikiza, a young
actress whose work I have enjoyed in the past.
She has done some clever theatrical things
for Van Graan and here she again demon-
strates her consummate acting skills and comic
flair.
She is capable of moving effortlessly from one
character to another, imbuing them with just
the right edge to make them believable without
them falling into gross caricature.
At the start we are introduced to the tour
guide from Rainbow Travel who will enhance
our visit, pointing out aspects of South African
life that, to a foreigner, may appear somewhat
bizarre.
It’s a fascinating picture that Van Graan
paints. Director Lara Bye also helps bring the
production to life through clever use of some
telling Zapiro cartoons, projected onto a screen,
and an otherwise simple but effective staging.
“Bafana Republic” could be interpreted as an
opportunity for Matshikiza to show what a magnificent stand-up comic she can be, but that
would be unfairly downgrading a play with
deadly satirical intent.
heightened by watching it all in 3-D.
Liberties have been taken in its translation
to the screen, infusing the production with
sexuality and bawdy humour that seems at
odds with a work rooted in sixth century
Denmark.
Beowulf (Ray Winstone, given a different
look) arrives with his fellow Geatsmen in
Denmark determined to stop the demon
Grendel’s reign of terror, as the elderly King
Hrothgar (Anthony Hopkins) is unable to do
anything. Robin Wright Penn plays
Hrothgar’s younger, but long-suffering wife
Wealthow.
Crispin Glover is cast as Grendel, while a
fired-up Angelie Jolie plays Grendel’s vengeful reptilian-goddess mother.
Robert Zemeckis has turned an epic poem
composed in Anglo-Saxon and steeped in
Scandinavian folk legend, into a robust allAmerican pop epic.
kung fu movies and attempts to follow the
same comic path of “Blades of Glory” which
satirised figure skating.
The production, however, is a mishmash
of ideas and missed opportunities, with the
funniest aspect being the antics of
Christopher Walken, as a self-made Chinese
warlord named Feng.
The character is funny not because of anything in the screenplay, but because he’s
played by Christopher Walken who lights up
the screen.
The rest is a pretty mundane affair - even
with quirky characters thrown in. Dan
Fogler plays Randy Daytona, a faded table
tennis champion trying to regain his confidence.
One day he’s approached by FBI Agent
Ernie Rodriguez (George Lopez), who wants
him to infiltrate the world of underground
ping pong to take down the mysterious
crime lord Feng. To get invited to the exclusive tournament, Randy learns the secrets
of the game from the blind Mater Wong
(James Hong) and his hot niece Maggie
(Maggie Q).
In short, the storyline is insipid, the comedy often misses its mark and the use of
racial stereotypes is unfunny.
Balls of Fury
Cast: Dan Folger, James Hong, Christopher
Walken, George Lopez, Maggie Q
Director: Ben Garant
“Balls of Fury” is a spoof on table tennis and
WIZO
SOUTH AFRICA
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November 23 2008
Message from President Lorraine Rosmarin
EARLY IN December Jews all over the world will celebrate
the Festival of Chanukah. This festival is of particular
significance to WIZO South Africa as it celebrates the
miracles of the "few" Jews over the "many" within the Greek
Kingdom, which at that time, threatened the very existence
of the Jews by attempting to force them to relinquish their
belief in, and their love for, their beloved Torah.
The vivid symbolism for our organisation is that the
relatively "few" members of WIZO South Africa have
"triumphed" in their quest to provide funds for the
sustenance and continued well-being of the "many"
beneficiaries who are dependent on us for our contributions
to the maintenance and/or improvement of their lifestyles.
When we light our Chanukiot, we will therefore not only
commemorate the miracle of the triumph of light of the "few"
over the "many" that took place in Biblical times, but also
WIZO's "triumph" of ongoing commitment, loyalty and
dedication to the communities that it supports in a spirit of
willingness and enthusiastic generosity.
WIZO South Africa is really proud that it is able to "light up"
President Lorraine Rosmarin
the lives of so many people.
Save this date - April 2008
WIZO South Africa is privileged to present the dynamic and
charismatic Brenda Katten who will be in South Africa
during the first week in April 2008.
Some of the highlights of Brenda's CV include: • Co-ordinating WIZO's NGO representation to the UN
in New York Geneva and Vienna.
• Representing the state of Israel and WIZO at the
United Nations' Annual Commission on the Status Of
Women's Conference In New York
• Chairperson of World WIZO's public affairs and NGO
departments
• Representing Israel's ministry of foreign affairs to the
"Women Defending Peace" conference in Geneva
under the chairmanship of Suzanne Mubarak
• She also led Israel's delegation to the UN" Conference
Against Racism" in Durban
• She has the unique distinction of being the first
woman to chair "The Israel, Britain And Commonwealth Association"
• These are but some of the reasons that you should
make every opportunity to hear her speak.
Published by WIZO SA - PO Box 29203, Sandringham 2131. Tel: 011 645-2552 E-mail: [email protected] Editor: Jane Levitas Advertising: Evelyn Furman
WIZO
SOUTH AFRICA
II
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Views
News
ISSN00437603
November 23 2008
Published by WIZO SA
PO Box 29203
Sandringham 2131
Tel: 011 645-2552
E-mail: [email protected]
Editor: Jane Levitas
Advertising: Evelyn Furman
‘Children for Children’
project launched
WIZO Johannesburg has launched the ‘Children for Children’
project in local Jewish day schools. It is intended to connect
our children with Israeli children less fortunate than
themselves who will benefit from this project.
ALL FUNDS collected are to be
used for the refurbishing of the
Kfar Saba day care centre which
is sponsored by WIZO South
Africa.
WIZO tzedakah tins were
sent home with each child. This
will enable them to fulfil the mitzvah of tzedakah.
Chinese Ambassador
meets WIZO Israel
A HAPPY moment was shared with the Chinese
Ambassador to Israel and his wife who had
expressed a wish to visit a WIZO day care centre.
Neve Amiel - home to
many children
Thousands of children have passed through Neve Amiel since it
was founded in 1953 for Holocaust orphans and Jewish
refugees from the Arab states. Today, one of the residents,
Adam, who is not Jewish, fled his village in Darfur because of
the fighting. He says: “In my dreams I wanted to be in a place
like this. It has changed my life. Now I look to the future.”
Second from left is Tova Ben-Dov, chairman
of World WIZO and at the extreme right is
Helena Glaser, president of World WIZO.
The children in the front are Israel’s future.
WIZO
Johannesburg
Group of poker players at the Aviv Reshet poker
evening fundraiser.
Left: Aviv Reshet
committee at the
poker evening held
at the Simon Kuper
Hall on October 9.
Back row, from left:
Dina Diamond,
Gavin Bernstein
and Ruth Lewis.
Front row, from
left: Sherice
Friedland, Jackie
Gruzin and Karen
Waldman
Solving the
mystery on the
Mystery Bus
Tour with
Fortnightly
Forum - WIZO
Johannesburg.
WIZO
SOUTH AFRICA
III
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ISSN00437603
Views
November 23 2008
Published by WIZO SA
PO Box 29203
Sandringham 2131
Tel: 011 645-2552
E-mail: [email protected]
Editor: Jane Levitas
Advertising: Evelyn Furman
National Aviv seminar
What does a group of dynamic and vibrant women from all over
the country and belly dancing have in common?
WIZO Durban preparing a scrumptious tea.
Accolade from groom to
Orchid - WIZO’s florist
This glowing tribute was sent to Annette Price, who runs
WIZO’s Orchid florist from a bridegroom who was married
in the Great Park Synagogue during August.
“THE MORNING of the wedding I thought the only
thing that would take my breath away that day
was seeing Nathalie in the ‘bedekin’
room. However, when I walked into the
synagogue and saw the chupah, I was
stopped in my tracks.
“It was an image so beautiful that I
can recall it at any time. The strength of
the flowers, yet the delicateness of the
white and green, was the perfect
canopy for us to begin life together as
husband and wife.
“Thank you so much to all who had
a hand in weaving together such a
majestically crafted chupah.
“Nathalie & Darren.”
• If you need to say it with flowers, contact
Orchid (011) 728-4513.
AVIV REPRESENTATIVES from all
over South Africa met up in Cape
Town for the National Aviv Seminar.
Organised and hosted by Bnoth Zion
Association - WIZO. Three days
were spent brainstorming and discussing how we will be taking WIZO
forward, sharing ideas and bonding.
It wasn’t all work!
Tamar Lazarus hosted a wonderful Mediterranean evening where
delegates got to sample delicious
Israeli food and shake what their
mamas gave them with a belly National Aviv Seminar participants.
dancing lesson!
The seminar was an enormous benefit and
We all had the opportunity to get in touch with
great motivator for us. An enormous thank you to
our inner Sheherezade! We all left the seminar
the ladies of Bnoth Zion Association - WIZO for their
motivated and enthused for what we are going to
superb organisation and wonderful and warm hosachieve in the future and reinfused with Zionist and
pitality.
WIZO energy.
WIZO Aviv members from
Pretoria, Belinda Class and
Debbie Letisky with Dalene
Bloom (chairman), hit a birdie
for WIZO.
A ‘champion’ of WIZO PE
Vici Champion, tireless worker for the cause of Israel.
JHB Rebecca Sieff awards
Hannah Diamond (formerly Potchefstroom Women's Zionist
Society) receiving a Rebecca Sieff Award for more than 40 years of
service.
Sylvia Berzack - 70 years of
unbroken service.
Vici Champion, tireless worker and
champion for the cause of Israel.
"How grateful I am that I am now
grafted into the root of Israel and that
faithful Abraham, the father of faith,
can also be counted as my ancestor as
I exercise faith in the G-d of Israel!"
WIZO
SOUTH AFRICA
IV
BENEFITTING: WIZO;
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THE IDF; BEIT
HALOCHEM; JNF
&
News
ISSN00437603
Published by WIZO SA
PO Box 29203
Sandringham 2131
Tel: 011 645-2552
E-mail: [email protected]
Editor: Jane Levitas
Advertising: Evelyn Furman
Views
November 23 2008
Being a volunteer is part
of who Cynthia Batten is
FORTY SIX years ago, in Milnerton Cape Town,
as a young bride, it was taken for granted that I
would join Bnoth Zion. It was a family tradition my great-grandmother, my grandmother and my
mother, whom you all knew was a Rebecca Sieff
recipient and a much loved member of the
Glenhazel branch.
It was a heritage I had to carry on. Israel was
and will always be a focal point in my life.
When we moved to Johannesburg, it was
natural that I join the Glenhazel branch of WIZO
Johannesburg. I moved up the ladder first to the
chairmanship of the branch, then to the executive and then on to the council and eventually
much to my terrified surprise, it was my turn to
be the head girl - president of WIZO South
Africa.
This was an honour and a distinction I would
not have had the temerity to contemplate
decades ago in Milnerton.
Vilma Arenson, a true
woman of worth
FORTY-THREE years ago, with her husband and oneyear-old son, Vilma Arenson arrived in Randfontein
and immediately became involved with communal
work. She joined the Randfontein Women’s Zionist
League where she went from secretary to treasurer
and finally to chairman. Vilma and Issy now had three
children and in 1978 moved to Johannesburg.
True to form, Vilma joined the Linksfield branch of
the Johannesburg Women’s Zionist League and
before long she was approached by Chairman Sarah
Plehn to serve on the executive.
After a few years, Vilma was invited to serve on
the Women’s Zionist Council and in 1988 she and
Cynthia Batten became treasurer. When Cynthia
became president, Brenda Levin, Vilma’s dearest
friend joined her in the treasury.
We say "L'hitraot" to two WIZO stalwarts,
Cynthia Batten, past president of WIZO South
Africa and Vilma Arenson National Co-treasurer.
WIZO Klerksdorp
Guest speaker with Varda Subel and Joan de Jong.
Culminating function
You were all so wild about Harry and
apparently Harry's wild about you!
November 27 9:30
By popular demand we present the return of
HARRY SIDEROPOULOS
Venue: Killarney Country Club (TAC)
Entrance: R90 per member - R100 non-member
BOOKING ESSENTIAL - BOOK
EARLY TO AVOID DISAPPOINTMENT
Contact: Sandy (011) 645-2515/(011) 645-2548
23 - 30 November 2007
SA JEWISH REPORT
TAPESTRY
ART, BOOKS, DANCE, FILM, THEATRE
Zapiro, Borat, satire
from two masters
REVIEWED BY GWEN PODBREY
Take Two Veg and Call Me in the Morning
by Zapiro (Jacana, R133)
THE LIFE of a political cartoonist is not an easy
one. Like the prophets of old, he straddles the sensitivities of his society, maintaining a precarious balance while trumpeting the truth (or,
at least, his own approximation of it).
Needless to say, the hazards of this occupation include the condemnation of those who are angered, humiliated, exposed or simply
depressed by its insights.
Jonathan Shapiro, aka Zapiro, is one cartoonist who has had many
South Africans (particularly Jewish ones) wishing he would go away.
Yet he remains, obstinately holding up a mirror to the country’s
absurdities, duplicity and our arrogance.
This newest collection of his works is the finest one yet, with
Zapiro’s unerring accuracy in locating smelly rats and making us
laugh - often, despite ourselves - at the morass of corruption, treachery and tragedy that have come to characterise daily life in this country.
From the shameful mishandling of the HIV/Aids crisis to the string
of ANC leaders fingered for fraud, to the ongoing
Kebble/Agliotti/Selebi intrigue, Zapiro is spoilt for choice.
Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang - her medical bag
spilling turnips and African potatoes, her pockets overflowing with
filched watches and jewellery, and a bottle of Jack Daniels in hand cavorts across the cover of this collection, and reappears several times
inside it.
The Shaik brothers, noted for forged doctoral degrees, spurious conspiracies and alleged arms dealing, stand ranged for our inspection.
Ronald Suresh Roberts pads puppy-like behind President Thabo
Mbeki, while Mama Jackey Maarohanye - the “Angel of Soweto” - is
stripped of her wings and harp before being arrested; Robert Mugabe
relaxes on a masseur’s table enjoying the “pressure” exerted on him
by SADC leaders, or pounds a helpless Morgan Tsvangirai into a
bloody pulp while neighbouring countries look on dispassionately.
Ekurhuleni Metro Police Chief Robert McBride attends a passingout parade of his cadets, having passed out himself. And, hilariously,
Jacob Zuma - with his trademark showerhead attached to the top of
his skull - dispenses moral guidance from the Bible.
Then there is crime. An eager Borat arrives in South Africa, attracted by our rape statistics; and Annanias Mathe walks blithely out of his
prison cell, having greased not his body with Vaseline, but the palms
of his warders.
The sharpness of Zapiro’s probing pencil may be slightly softened
by his humour, but it never fails to find the rotten spot in the system.
Earlier this year, he received the highly prestigious Cartoonists’
Rights Network International Award for Courage in Editorial
Cartooning, having already received the SA Comedy Award for Best
Humorous Cartoon, the fourth Mondi Newspaper Award for Graphic
Journalism and a Women Demand Dignity White Ribbon Award. All
richly deserved accolades for a man who has become a master of his
medium, and one of the world’s most perceptive, and merciless, lampoonists.
Touristic Guidings to Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan/Touristic
Guidings to Minor Nation of US and A by Borat Sagdiyev
(Sacha Baron Cohen) (Pan Macmillan, R234)
AND SO to a satirist of a very different - and far more
confrontational - kind: the irrepressible Sacha Baron
Cohen who here, as his alter ego Borat, picks up the
thread of his recent movie to bring the Glorious
Nation of Kazakhstan back into focus.
The medium of print allows Borat time to push the
envelope well beyond anything he did on celluloid.
Just as he toured the US exposing the bigotry, racism,
sexism and xenophobia of unsuspecting citizens, here he boasts of his
country’s many attractions.
According to Kazakhstan’s legislation, “no person can be tried for
the same offence twice (unless they have receive verdict of ‘not guiltys’
first time)”. Rape and anti-Semitism are national sports. Women are
forbidden to vote or attend school, and are meant to plough the fields.
A 712,6-foot statue of Mel Gibson (“Melvin the Redeemer”), modelled after the statue of Christ in Rio de Janeiro, stands, arms outstretched, watching over the good citizens of Astana (the capital).
“Melvin Gibsons is hero to my peoples ever since his statement that
the Jews caused all wars. Dr Yamak, our Government Scientist, also
has found proof that it was the Jews who cause the tsunami of Asia in
2004 and were responsible for the end of the dinosaurs.”
A little further away, he tells us, is Astana’s Museum of Intolerance,
“perfect place to bring your childrens - it interactive and they can actual throw rocks at a gypsy or kick a Jew”.
Drawing heavily on crude - even obscene - humour, with explicit pictures, it also features Borat’s guide to the US.
In real life, of course, Sacha Baron Cohen is a deeply conscientious,
observant English Jew and the grandson of a Holocaust survivor. He
is also an intrepid individual who has chosen a startling, offensive but highly effective - vehicle to convey his concerns.
The book finds its mark as only Cohen can, although it requires a
very strong stomach, an open mind and an ability to think beyond the
shock value to his real message.
Few comedians have managed to achieve Cohen’s level of controversy; equally few can match his outrageous material; and almost none
are as wildly, unforgettably funny.
Quint on an artistic
journey of discovery
Concert: Johannesburg Musical Society’s Percy Baneshik
Memorial (Linder)
Artists: Philippe Quint (violin); Francois du Toit (piano)
Programme: Music by Leclair, Rozsa, Prokofiev, Beethoven
and Ravel
REVIEWED BY PAUL BOEKKOOI
PHILIPPE QUINT is gifted to the hilt. More than anything else,
he’s an explorative musician who seldom if ever follows conventional routes in the quest for communicating in newly minted
ways. In this final JMS-concert of 2007 we were taken on a journey of discovery to where only the greatest among musicians
can lead us.
He and his astute accompanist, Cape Town pianist Francois
du Toit, opened their programme with French Baroque composer Jean-Marie Leclair’s best-known sonata: in D major, Opus 9
No 3.
The opening Un poco andante sounded Italianate, the following Allegro in which the doctrine of affections came alive, was
fully expressive, while the haunting Sarabande: Largo had real
purity before the scintillating Tambourin: Presto with its wellknown theme set in. Quint’s agile bow and fingers aided him to
establish playing that was musical, lively and just about weightless.
Miklós Rózsa (1907-1995), famous for his award-winning
soundtracks, led a double life. He also composed serious music,
staying truthful to his Hungarian origins, especially that of folksong. His Kleine Suite, Opus 5 is a direct descendant of this
style.
The composer’s inflections and fantasy were carried by Quint
and Du Toit’s sense of occasion. Refined and well-timed interplay between the two instruments made it exciting.
Prokofiev’s Sonata in D, Opus 94a, originally for flute, was
given with a rare kind of ever-changing tonal opulence, while
never losing sight of an old-world generosity of expression.
The thought never crossed one’s mind that either a self-conscious striving for effect was part of the plan or moments of fantasy were trivialised. There was a fine balance between tonal
weight and intellectual command.
The marvellous Andante never simpered, but oozed a dark
and moody atmosphere. In contrast, the self-important swagger
of the finale became another example of entirely appropriate
characterisation.
Quint’s polished smoothness in long melodic lines as well as
his formidable sustained insight into the whole opus, were only
two of many exceptional elements he demonstrated in
Beethoven’s Spring Sonata. A gentle simplicity with refined
dynamic contrasts was a hallmark of this performance, with the
Adagio molto espressivo - so easy as regards the notes, so difficult as regards the interpretation - sounded precisely right.
After a gentle Scherzo the duo allowed blithe phrasing in the
music of the Rondo-finale to grow into a brilliant awakening.
Ravel’s Tzigane was another unqualified success due to its
very compelling verve and flamboyance. Quint took Ravel’s
sound journey further to the east with his unusually strong
accents and rubati - well judged to give the ear the full gypsy
treatment.
In three encores, Kreisler’s Little Viennese March, a Scott
Joplin rag, and the Meditation by Massenet, Quint managed to
open up new horizons with (in the case of the first two) the type
of irony or humour which places such musics on a higher communicative sphere.
One can still recall the kind of reaction Percy Baneshik would
have had after experiencing awesome music making at this
level.
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13
14
SA JEWISH REPORT
23 - 30 November 2007
LETTERS
Disclaimer
The letters page is intended to provide opportunity for a range of views on any given topic to
be expressed. Opinions articulated in the letters are those of the writers and do not necessarily
reflect the views of the editor, staff or directors of the Jewish Report
WOW PAYS TRIBUTE TO EL AL GENEROSITY
WOMEN of the World is most appreciative
to El Al for their very kind donation of a
free ticket to Israel which was won at our
annual ladies’ brunch on National
Women’s Day in August.
As we have been given tickets from El Al
for the past four years, we were dismayed
to learn of the winner’s dissatisfaction
with the conditions of the prize as till now
we have not had any recipient who was not
accommodated by El Al.
While we would have been very happy
for her to have been able to travel to Israel
on her preferred dates, we do understand
that most prizes, especially airline tickets,
usually come with certain conditions
attached.
El Al were willing to transfer the ticket
to another family member to accommodate the winner, even though they do not
do that, but they could not transfer to Tel
Aviv-Johannesburg-Tel Aviv, as the ticket was given by the El Al South Africa
office and it goes out of their budget.
We thank El Al for their support and
trust that in future suitable arrangements may be found for all parties to be
satisfied, and indeed excited, to receive
such a wonderful prize.
Ronit Beleli
Women of the World Committee
TURKEY - ROLE MODEL FOR ALL MUSLIM COUNTRIES
“Turkey plays Mideast mediator”, by Yigal
Schleifer (SAJR November 16) refers.
It is quite heartening to see that a majority Muslim country, (Turkey in this
instance) governed by a moderate Muslim
party, can enjoy normal relations not only
with Christian majority countries, but also
with Israel.
As a European country with its eyes set
on integration with the rest of Europe,
Turkey is a role model and benchmark for
all Muslim countries to follow when modernising and entering the 21st century.
Turkey (and its governing AKP Party) is
in my submission also a role model for religiously extremist Jews. Your religion
should be a private affair and not imposed
on your fellow citizens.
Only a secular state governed by democratic and liberal principles can truly live
in peace and harmony with its neighbours
and its own citizens of religions different
from the majority of the population.
It is clear to me that there is nothing
inherently inferior or dangerous about
the Muslim religion in the modern world
but rather with Islamic fundamentalism
such as that practised by such pariahs as
Iran.
Turkey shows the world that Muslim
societies can evolve and play a very positive role in the world.
Adrian Gary Skuy
Killarney
Johannesburg
The Editor, Suite 175, Postnet X10039, Randburg, 2125 email: [email protected]
Guidelines for letters
Letters up to 400 words will get preference. Please provide your full first name and surname,
place of residence, and a daytime contact number. We do not publish letters under noms de
plume. Letters should preferably be e-mailed. Letters may be edited or shortened.
BRINGING RELIGIOUS ALTERNATIVES TO SA
LATELY THERE has been a string of
articles and letters written by various
members of the Jewish community complaining that the Orthodox rabbinate
here has too much power and that liberal-minded elements of the community
are increasingly marginalised, particularly in Johannesburg.
In many other Jewish communities
around the world, the above state of
affairs does not prevail because there the
liberal elements have been proactive and
have created strong Reform and
Masorti/Conservative movements with
their own rabbinates, schools, publications, youth movements, and outreach
organisations. Strong, vigorous and
growing Reform and Conservative movements now exist in Britain, Australia,
Russia, Europe, Latin America and elsewhere.
Besides for Reform and Conservative
there are other varieties of Judaism that
may be interesting for South African
Jews, especially many of the better educated ones.
1) Reconstructionist Judaism is the
fastest growing movement in North
America. Its philosophy is that Judaism
is a whole civilisation, with its religion as
an integral part and that it evolves but
remains true to its nature by preserving
essential religio-cultural characteristics.
Reconstructionism is an internally
consistent and very convincing system,
whose ideals are surprisingly similar to
what traditional South African Jews
actually believe in.
2) Jewish Renewal is a sort of neoHassidic variety of Judaism that seeks to
incorporate mysticism, meditation, and
ecology into Jewish life.
3) Humanistic Judaism aims to provide
secular Jews with a connection to their
ethnic, cultural heritage.
4) There is an emerging liberal version
of Orthodox Judaism, often referred to as
Open Orthodoxy. It aims to create an
Orthodoxy that, while maintaining
halachic integrity, strives for spiritual
creativity, greater gender inclusiveness,
and openness to critical Biblical scholarship.
Its yeshiva, Chovevei Torah in New
York, produces rabbis for Orthodox pulpits across North America and these are
beginning to exert a powerful counterinfluence to Orthodoxy’s rightward pull.
5) The Union for Traditional Judaism
is similar to Open Orthodoxy in outlook
but maintains its own network of congregations.
All of these different groups are growing and flourishing alongside every
strain of fundamentalist Orthodoxy you
get in South Africa as well as some fascinating ultra-Orthodox groups that most
South African Jews have never even
heard of. Together they all exert a powerful antidote to assimilation and intermarriage.
The
non-Orthodox
and
liberal
Orthodox also have a more open policy
towards conversions than conventional
Orthodoxy tends to have and this too
would strengthen world Jewry.
So, instead of always complaining
about the status quo, why not change
things by importing one or more of these
alternatives into South Africa? The
“establishment” can not prevent this
from happening, because they do not possess the police power of state. And many
local Jews who cannot find meaning in
the current modes of religious expression might be able to do so at last.
Jared Joel
Sydenham
Johannesburg
PERSPECTIVE ON HOUGHTON CAP MEETING
THE ARTICLE on Muslim Jewish collaboration in Houghton CAP (Jewish Report
October 26) needs a broader debate and
must be seen in its proper perspective.
The issue of crime and security is of
national importance, one which all communities are embroiled with. The sanctity of
life I don’t believe is the exclusive domain of
Muslim and Jews, but should be that of all
of South Africa’s peoples.
It appears that the “Muslim view” was
that of a cleric who happens to sit with
Rabbi (Warren) Goldstein on the inter-faith
religious group, who himself is not resident
in any of the suburbs under CAP!
The collaboration must be seen as one of
convenience, and not as an affirmation of an
ideal world.
Security and uplifting of suburbs must not
be smokescreens for our inner-prejudices
when we host in our suburb democratic
South Africa’s founding father.
M Cassim, Houghton
DON’T HELP THEM PACK FOR SYDNEY
It has been brought to my attention that the
Australian Jewish News has announced a
rather unpleasant programme to market
Sydney’s North Shore to South Africans
considering immigration.
They are adding all sorts of incentives to
convince South African Jews to immigrate
in the next 10 years.
Hopefully the Jewish Report will not
contain adverts of this nature as I believe
that such a move would be both disingenuous and counterproductive.
The project has made some spurious
estimates of a further 30 000 who would
immigrate within the next 10 years. Clearly
this negative conjecture is based on nonsense.
As a Jewish community we have always
said either stay home or go home and we
should stand together in this situation.
Michael Bagraim
Cape Town
It is not our policy to censor ads of this
nature. It is neither offensive nor defamatory. Having said this, we must add that the
Jewish Report, editorially, will never advocate emigration, except to make aliyah. Editor
NEW HOLOCAUST CENTRE WILL BE AUTONOMOUS
THANK YOU for the very positive manner
in which you reported on the forthcoming
establishment of the Johannesburg
Holocaust Centre. We appreciate the newspaper’s support for this exciting initiative,
which we believe will have a significant
impact not just on the Jewish community
but on the broader society as well.
There are two issues which we would
nevertheless like to clarify. Firstly, for the
record, the new centre has not purchased
its own premises but will be using rented
ones. Secondly, and more importantly, I
would like to make it clear that while the
SAJBD initiated the project and, together
with the SA Holocaust Foundation, is facilitating
its
implementation,
the
Johannesburg Holocaust Centre will operate as a completely independent body, with
its own director, premises and management committee.
The SAJBD will nevertheless work closely with the organisation, particularly as we
will have in common the core mission of
combating anti-Semitism.
Wendy Kahn
National Director, SAJBD
23 - 30 November 2007
SA JEWISH REPORT
ABOVE
BOARD
So that we will
never forget...
Zev Krengel,
National Chairman
A column of the SA Jewish Board of Deputies
Joburg’s new Holocaust Centre
As reported in last week’s issue,
Johannesburg will shortly be launching a
Holocaust Education Centre. I warmly
commend our dynamic national director,
Wendy Kahn and national treasurer,
Gerald Leissner, for taking the initiative,
together with the Cape Town Holocaust
Centre, in the setting up of this important
project.
The Johannesburg Centre will be crucial in supporting the teaching of the
Holocaust, compulsory in the national
curriculum, in Gauteng and the neighbouring regions.
Both the centres, operating under the
South African Holocaust Foundation (formerly the Cape Town Holocaust Centre
Trust) together with the Durban
Holocaust Resource Centre, due to open
early in 2008, will then be in a position to
expand their important work across the
country in raising awareness of the universal lessons of the Holocaust.
The Cape Town Holocaust Centre has
truly been one of the outstanding success
stories of our Jewish community over the
past decade. It has made a profound
impact not just in Cape Town but countrywide, inculcating in its many visitors most of them non-Jewish - the kind of values of tolerance and abhorrence of
racism that underpin our democratic
society.
Through its dynamic and professional
programmes, it has succeeded admirably
in sensitising the public to the evils of
anti-Semitism and racism.
The SAJBD in Cape Town has always
enjoyed an excellent working relationship
with the Cape Town Holocaust Centre, and
we look forward to a similarly close association with its new Johannesburg counterpart in the future. We are confident that it
will be of tremendous value both to our
Jewish community and to the wider society.
Another successful SAJBD-GoetheInstitut collaboration
Also in the field of Holocaust education
and remembrance, our latest collaboration
with the Goethe-Institut is likewise proving very successful. The well-attended official opening of an exhibition on Holocaust
memorials in Berlin was followed by a
vibrant panel debate, chaired by our
national vice-chairperson, Dr Jocelyn
Hellig, on Holocaust memorials throughout the world and their effectiveness as a
way of remembering the Holocaust.
Panellists included the well-known local
Holocaust educator Tali Nates (who will
head up the new Johannesburg Holocaust
Centre) and Michael Wald, son of the
artist, Herman Wald, who designed the
Holocaust Memorial in Johannesburg’s
West Park Cemetery.
AROUND THE WORLD
NEWS IN BRIEF
PRINCE'S SUPPORT OF ISRAEL QUESTIONED
LONDON - E-mails between staff members
of England's Prince Charles call his office's
attitude toward Israel into question.
Likely sent by accident to Israel's ambassador to England, Zvi Heivetz, the e-mails
have created a stir in Britain.
The e-mails between two of the prince's
aides, which were printed in Britain's
Jewish Chronicle, stated that there was "no
chance ever" of the prince accepting an
invitation to visit Israel. According to the
Times of London, no member of the royal
family has made a state visit to Israel.
The Israeli Embassy in London recently
had invited the prince's private secretary,
Sir Michael Peat, and his deputy, Clive
Alderton, to Israel as guests of the Knesset.
Peat reportedly had initially expressed
open enthusiasm about the trip, but it
cooled.
The Israeli Embassy reportedly told The
Times that it had no idea how the e-mails
reached The Jewish Chronicle.
Jewish Leadership Council chairman
Harry Grunwald told The Times that
Prince Charles "is a great friend of the
Jewish community" and urged the prince's
advisers to visit Israel. (JTA)
15
16
SA JEWISH REPORT
23 - 30 November 2007
YOUTH TALK
Romy Salant [email protected]
Joseph is back - by popular demand
IAN FUHR
PHOTOGRAPH: FRANK TAPNACK
THE HIGHLY talented learners of King
David Linksfield High School in
Johannesburg will be staging a repeat performance of its production of “Joseph and
the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” on
Sunday, January 27 2008 at the revamped
Victory Theatre in Orange Grove.
Two shows, a matinee and an evening
performance, have been scheduled by popular demand after the show received lofty
accolades when it was performed at the
school in October. An unprecedented
demand for extra shows led teachers Gary
Block and Sheryl Benjamin to book the
Victory Theatre so that the cast could have
another opportunity to showcase their talents.
“It has been the best show ever produced
by the school,” Block said unequivocally.
“The audiences couldn’t believe that these
were schoolchildren, so we felt it deserved
an extended run to accommodate those
who unfortunately missed the performance.
“It is also a wonderful experience for the
learners to be able to perform on a professional stage with all the trimmings.”
Veteran TV producer Clive Morris
directed a highly professional show, assisted by vocal coach and associate director
Yael Benjamin, musical director Matthew
Vlok, and talented choreographers Terri
Krawitz and Tracy Kalish.
The show features an enthusiastic and
talented cast of actors, singers, dancers
and musicians whose combined talents
were blended into a thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable piece of musical theatre.
The show also received many compliments for its outstanding sets, backdrops
and props, designed by art teacher Rene
eral ever-green songs such as “Any dream
will do”, “There’s one more angel in heaven” and “Jacob and sons”.
* Tickets are available from the school.
To book, call Arlene Kaftel on (011) 4854554.
The cast of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” at a rehearsal.
It was songs and
soccer skills...
ANOTHER successful project at King David
Linksfield Primary recently was a sports day
held with Pholosho Primary from Alexandra.
Koch, built by Marcel De Combes, and
painted by a team of learners led by Lee
Sahar.
“Joseph” the hit musical of the ‘70s, written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice,
tells the biblical story of Joseph, the son of
Jacob, and his 11 brothers and features sev-
The learners enjoyed this interactive programme where songs, dances and soccer
skills were the order of the day.
Make y-idols
your singing
platform
HELEN HELDENMUTH
THERE HAS been a wonderful response to our Jewish
youth y-idols singing competition which starts in
February next year, so there is still time for you to enter.
Don’t miss out on this exciting opportunity to showcase your singing talent. The y-idols competition aims to
provide a platform for the music talents of South African
Jewish singers. And y-idols gives aspiring young singers
the chance to get a lucky break and get their singing voices heard, so if singing is your passion, y-idols is your platform. It allows your dreams to come true.
So, if you have the talent and drive, enter the y-idols
competition and you could be our first South African
Jewish idol! Great prizes! Great opportunities!
E-mail your details to [email protected] or contact
Nadine Lazarus 082-891-8252, or Helen Heldenmuth, 083272-8541.
Danny K the multi-award-winner, songwriter and singer,
says he “is pleased to see a
proactive approach to nurturing talent in the community”.
KDVP’s 2007 geography field trip report
CAROL WILSHER, GEOGRAPHY TEACHER
THIS YEAR the trip to the Pilanesberg
was taken by seven grade 11 learners. The
tour started with an immense amount of
camping equipment being loaded onto the
bus, which then drove to the Kromdraai
Mine in the Magaliesberg.
Here the tour of the mine lasted an
hour and was led by a guide who was passionate about both the mine in general
and also about the bats which hibernate
there in winter.
Kromdraai was one of the first gold
mines in South Africa, but is no longer
viable because of flooding.
Sterkfontein was next on the itinerary
and well worth a visit in its new format.
Much amusement was derived from our
being informed that the cave originated
with the finding of the original hominid
known as Mrs Ples, Mr Ples or just plain
Ples.
Maropeng,
the
new
Cradle
of
Humankind Museum, is a very modern
and hands-on display of man and evolution. The group camped in tents at
Manyane, one of the resorts on the border
of the Pilanesberg game reserve.
Early and late afternoon drives in the
park witnessed many diverse animals in
their natural habitat. Although the mornings were very cold, the days were wonderful and warm.
The park boasts the big five, but of
these only elephant and rhino were seen.
A walk/run through the natural bush
bordering the camp resulted in one person getting injured and some others getting lost!
Braaiing and cooking were the order of
the day, and everyone helped around the
fire.
The return trip was via Hartebeestpoort Dam, where the seriously polluted
water
has
been
cleaned.
Unfortunately the cable car to the top of
the Magaliesberg was not functional.
The group returned via the new sustainable development settlement of
Cosmo City to the north-west of
Johannesburg.
Daniel Treves, Dan Ginsberg, Jonathan
Fine, Joel Goldberg and Joshua Sack
chilling out.
Exploring Kromdraai Mine, Carol Wilsher
(teacher), Dan Ginsberg, Jonathan Fine,
Joshua Sack, Joel Goldberg, David
Demby, Daniel Treves and Jessica du
Plessis.
23 - 30 November 2007
SA JEWISH REPORT
YOUTH TALK
Shooby Doob
Shloimy still
pulsates - 2nd
time around
ROMY SALANT
“AN INNOVATIVE
and fun way to
teach Jewish principles through the inspirational medium
of song,” neatly
sums up “The Best
of Shooby Doob
Shoimy”, recently Mark Samowitz
staged at the Eden (Shooby Doob
College Auditorium Shloimy) and
in Lyndhurst, Jo- Shooby Doob kid,
hannesburg.
Josh Gruenstein.
Shooby Doob Shloimy is a children’s real life character
who teaches Jewish values in an animated way through musical tunes. It
was through meeting Mark Samowitz who has become synonymous with the
character - and whose Hebrew name is
Shlomo, that creator Helen Hedenmuth
brought the character of Shooby Doob
Shloimy to life.
Samowitz readily accepted the role,
infusing the “caricature” character
with an energetic, jack-in-the-box personality. As Samowitz - aka Shooby
Doob Shloimy - entered the hall and led
the children in song, their excitement
was clearly visible.
The stage lit up in all the glory of the
primary colours, decorated in red, blue
and yellow, Shooby Doob Shloimy’s
trademark attire. The show combines
catchy tunes with lyrics embedded in
the principles of Judaism and Torah. It
is an interactive way of teaching
mitzvot through song, with songs of
Derech Eretz, mitzvot such as Shabbat,
Shema and Middos (character traits)
and educational lyrics teaching children to “honour your parents and your
teachers too” and to “love thy fellow
neighbour”, “Ve’ohavta lerei’acho
Kamocho”.
The delight on the children’s faces is
evidence of the concert’s success, taking only three weeks to put it together
with an almost entirely new cast. The
concert gives each child the opportunity
to be involved, as the children energetically danced, sang and moved around
the stage.
This is the purpose of the show: to
spread the positive message of doing
mitzvot. As implied by Heldenmuth’s
words, addressing the audience at the
opening of the show: “If they (the cast)
can do it, then you can do it.”
Shooby Doob Shloimy was launched
in Johannesburg, in 2002 and has
achieved success worldwide. It is the
interactive ingredient combined with
the colourful sparkles of fun and energy,
that make the show a recipe for success.
The late Chief Rabbi Cyril Harris said
of this initiative that “One does not
need to be an educational psychologist
to appreciate the effectiveness of teaching items of importance by way of
song”.
Heldenmuth’s writing talents combined with Samowitz’s musical flair,
made for a tuneful duo.
Samowitz has been in the US for the
past two years where he has chazzaned
in Boca Raton, New York, Philadelphia
and in many other cities and states
across America.
With his passion for singing he has
inspired both young and old with his
performances that echo the ethos of
Jewish values and illustrate the ability
to praise Hashem through song.
On his two week visit back to South
Africa, Samowitz wowed the audiences
in the resurrection of Shooby Doob
Shloimy.
17
Romy Salant [email protected]
Yeshiva tots ensure ‘a good time for all’
OWN CORRESPONDENT
EARLY THIS month the grade one parents, up-coming grade R children and their parents of Yeshiva College Primary School, were treated to a wonderful concert by the grade one pupils.
The children only had three weeks to rehearse for their show, yet
managed to impress everyone with their enthusiasm and talent.
After the concert the up-coming grade ones for next year, went with
the grade one teachers to their classes, for a fun filled morning of
activities and a “taste of what’s to come” for next year, while their
moms enjoyed a breakfast in the school hall.
The teachers thoroughly enjoyed meeting the new parents and they
are looking forward to getting to know the new grade ones next year.
Thanks to Morah Jenny Braun and Morah Hadassah Chlamers for
their music and lyrics, and to all the grade 1 teachers for their hard
work and dedication.
Current
grade one
learners
performing
at the end
of the year
concert.
18
SA JEWISH REPORT
23 - 30 November 2007
Synagogue-shtiebl debate Victor Frankl’s message of hope
carries on... and on...
became Ackerman’s lode star
STORY AND PHOTOGRAPH BY
SHELLEY ELK
THE LONG-TERM sustainability of
traditional synagogues was threatened because of the proliferation of
shtieblach
which
also
often
approached synagogue members for
donations. Shtieblach also diluted
and fragmented the community, said
Motty Sacks, chairman of the IUA,
who spoke at the “Shtibl-Synagogue”
debate held this week at CAJE (The
Johannesburg College for Continuing
Adult Jewish Education) at the
Sydenham Highlands North Shul.
It was a paradox that members of
the community relied on the social
functionality of the traditional synagogues (for barmitzvahs, weddings,
funerals, prayers, brit mila, bereavements counselling, charity, etc), while
“competing religious organisations”
in the “sub-catchment area” had no
“fundraising boundaries”.
“While we cannot deny their
superb learning facilities, they are
selfishly diluting funds needed to sustain traditional synagogues and centres,” Sacks contended.
Shtieblach caused divisiveness to
the community in many ways; even a
Haimishe shtiebl had a ring of arrogance to it. It was exclusive, and clublike, a “segregated fraternity”, he
said. This was irrational, illogical and
wrong, he added.
The sense of community was most
important in this debate. Traditional
shuls were a global symbol of Jewish
identity. To undermine its stature and
importance was a grave mistake. The
proliferation of shtieblach seriously
fragmented and weakened the com-
didn’t feel comfortable in a big shul,
and children also felt at home in the
shtiebl environment and were asked
to give worts on Shabbos. People in
shtieblach might have been lost to
assimilation if they had not been
brought in, he said.
From talking to people in the know,
it becomes clear that a synagogue and
a shtiebl minyan can coexist peacefully and that this is a phenomenon
which seeks to meld and enrich the
uniqueness of both.
Rabbi Goldman started a shtiebl
minyan in addition to the synagogue
minyan some 15 years ago, said Rabbi
Yehuda Stern, associate rabbi of
Sydenham Highlands North Shul.
Both minyanim davened together
during the week, and united for the
Shabbos brocah, and Simcha Torah,
and other functions when the community needed to be together.
“Essentially members of the main
shul and the shtiebl are all part of the
Sydenham congregation; there is no
separate database.” Members of both
minyanim were invited to both
shtiebl and shul shiurim and functions, he said.
In Sydenham the shtiebl was
upstairs, at Waverley the Beit Yisroel
Shtiebl headed by Rabbi Ryan Zail,
was downstairs.
“Five years ago membership at
Waverley Shul was down by 40 per
cent and we were financially weak,
losing members to shtieblach, within
a one kilometre and two kilometre
radius,” said Robin Treger, past
chairman of Waverley Shul.
Waverley Shul like Sydenham Shul
has a synagogue and shtiebl minyan.
Treger said “Yesher Koach to the
From Left: Rabbi
Mordechai Rodel of
Chabad Norwood;
Robin Treger, past
chairman, Waverley
Shul; Rabbi Yossy
Goldman,
Sydenham
Highlands North
Shul; Motty Sacks,
chairman of the
IUA; and Rabbi
Anthony Gerson of
the Pine Street
Shul.
munity. “We shouldn’t allow this
fragmentation to continue,” Sacks
maintained.
Rabbi Anthony Gerson of the Pine
Street Shul, said a broad range of people in the community attended traditional synagogues - from the once-ayear shulgoer for observing yartzheit,
to the person who davened three
times daily.
“They want to know the rabbi is
there if they need him. We are here,”
he said.
Rabbi Yossy Goldman, moderator
of the debate, and rabbi of Sydenham
Highlands
North
Shul,
said
“shtieblach are not a new phenomenon. Poland, Lithuania, Russia, had
big choral synagogues and also many
shtieblach”.
“We are all working for the same
cause... from different positions,
catering to different needs,” said
Rabbi Mordechai Rodel of Chabad
Norwood. Each congregant was
encouraged to participate according
to their desire, and his was a “nonjudgemental shtiebl”. It was smaller,
intimate, casual, relevant, with no
reserved seating and personal attention from the rabbi.
Members mixed easily with each
other, and for an aliyah honour, congregants were asked not to give
tzedakah but to take on a mitzvah,
“which is currency in the eyes of
Hashem”.
His shtiebl attracted people who
Shtieblach for attracting members,
we needed to find out what they are
doing that is working”.
“We had to consider what
shtieblach were doing to attract members. We came up with 40 facets
explaining why members were dissatisfied with the shul and why they
were leaving. One of those 40 aspects
was time management.
“Erev Shabbat service went from
18:00 to 19:25, while in the shtiebl it
went from 18:00 to 18:30. Shachrit for
Shabbos started at 08:30 and ended at
11:30, while the shtiebl service went
from 08:00 to 10:30. First day Rosh
Hashanah service in the shul started
at 07:30 and finished at 13:15, while at
a shtiebl the service went from 08:30
to 11:30.
“The last few years the services at
Waverley Shul on erev Shabbat are
from 18:00 to 19:00, Shachrit Shabbat
from 08:40 to 11:00, first day Rosh
Hashanah from 07:30 to 12:00. The full
choir, chazzan and choir master,
worked within the framework of an
allotted time. The rabbi’s sermon has
been cut from 25 minutes, to 10 minutes,” said Treger.
The second facet was that the rabbi
visited each member of the community, brought back lost members, welcomed them, and made them feel at
home. Waverley Shul was now 1 200
strong with a waiting list “and we
now have 90 members in our shtiebl”,
added Treger.
STAFF REPORTER
THE PHILOSOPHIES of Viktor Frankl played a
huge role in the life of Raymond Ackerman,
founder and chairman of Pick ‘n Pay.
Ackerman was speaking on the influence of
Victor Frankl in his life, at the Chief Rabbi
Cyril Harris Community Centre, held in association with The Viktor Frankl Institute of SA, at
a commemoration of Frankl’s work.
The institute presented a series of talks by a
variety of experts in the field of logotherapy
and existential analysis on the topic, “What is
Life Expecting Of Us?”
Ackerman’s topic was: “How I have Used
Viktor Frankl’s Teachings in My Business
Career”. He said his interest in Frankl started
in 1974 when things couldn’t possibly be worse
for him in his personal life.
“I had lost my job with Checkers after 12
years and had a wife and four children. My
father had just died and I was starting off on my
own. I was wallowing in self pity but then I read
Frankl’s , Man’s Search for Meaning and it
changed my life.
“It played a role in my business and personal
life. It asks the questions: ‘What does life expect
of us?’ and ‘Why am I here?’” he said.
The book tells several poignant stories of the
Dachau concentration camp.
Frankl watched people survive and this is the
basis of his philosophies. He tells of a pianist
using bits of wood pretending it was a piano,
and a carpenter pretending to plane wood and a
bird watcher climbing the bars hoping to see a
bird.
“All these people had hope and a desire to live
and return home. Others who didn’t believe
before, found meaning in G-d. His message
changed my life both on a personal and business level and showed me how insignificant my
problems were.
“Frankl talks a lot about hope. South African
today is about hope despite Aids, unemployment and corruption. We must concentrate on
the positive and have hope.”
Ackerman said he and his immediate family
had chosen to stay in South Africa despite hav-
ing the means to emigrate.
“We could have gone long ago, but we stayed
because we believed there would be changes and
we kept feeling there was something inherently
good in this country. We still believe thing will
come right,” he said.
Ackerman said he had several mentors in his life
besides Frankl. His father was one and Professor
William Hutt who wrote business books and who
taught him that the client was sovereign.
“He told us that we are not in business to make a
profit and the more you look after the consumer,
the more the profits will come. My father did not
agree and wanted to pull me out of university. It is
a philosophy of giving - in religion and in business.
“Generally big business and government don’t
care about the man in the street. This is where my
philosophy came in and it spread to fighting collusion in government and cartels for the consumer.
They wouldn’t let me cut branded products at
Checkers.
“I eventually took the labels off and put Checkers
labels on and advertised a price cut. While the
group had been dropping, it suddenly picked up
and within a short time three new stores opened.”
Ackerman said there were four legs to a table:
consumers; merchandising; sales, promotions and
advertising; corporate social responsibility; and
lastly people.
He personally had a fight with (Prime Minister
John) Vorster over the price of bread and he was
thrown out of the former prime minister’s office.
In 1980s Ackerman started the advertising campaign “Here’s to... “ ordinary people who keep
South Africa going.
“The ads got great support because we were
showing ordinary people in life who were making a
difference. It lifted them up too,” he said.
One of the negatives in his life was a massive
strike in 1994, the worst the group had ever experienced.
“The union leaders would not negotiate and I
was despairing and wanted to pack it all in. Again
the teachings of Viktor Frankl gave me hope and I
went back to meet the unions and things turned
around.
“Hope is important, especially in South Africa
where there is so much to be done,” he said.
A fitting musical tribute to the State of Israel
STORY AND PHOTOGRAPH BY RITA LEWIS
WITH EVERY single seat in the Linder
Auditorium being filled - including many extras
placed on the sides and stairs - it could only be
said that “Israel’s Diamond Anniversary
Concert”, the inauguration of a programme of
celebrations to be held during the coming year
to mark Israel’s 60th anniversary, was a highly
successful one.
This success could be judged not only from
the organisational and financial point of view
but from the audience participation, the clapping and the standing ovation at the end, together with the unity and enthusiasm felt during the
singing of the Hatikvah which made for a most
exciting, enjoyable and pro-Israeli evening.
The concert was co-hosted by the South
African Zionist Federation and the Jewish
National Fund and organised by Isla Feldman,
director of both organisations, and her team.
The performers were four well-known and
well-chosen singers and international stars three tenors, Dudu Fisher, Yevgeny Shapovalov,
(Israel’s Pavarotti) and Lionel Mkwanazi with
baritone Colin Shachat, both South Africans,
who all performed magnificently, jumping from
singing songs in Italian to Hebrew to Yiddish
and then back to English.
They were joined by the renowned conductor,
Richard Cock and the Johannesburg Festival
Orchestra.
The concert started off with multi-talented
tenor, Belarus-born Yevgeny Shapovalov showing off his musical prowess and stage presence
with a powerful performance of “Granada”, a
somewhat unusual opening piece given the general theme of the show.
Following on to this, our own “Home Boy”
Colin Shachat brought the audience back to it
roots with a magnificent rendition of Zelzer’s
“Hineini Kan”, Here I am.
Shachat, a baritone who now lives in Israel
and has been away from South Africa for some
15 years, is celebrating his 25th anniversary of
singing in South Africa. He has been invited to
perform at Buckingham Palace for the Queen in
October next year,
During the evening he virtually brought the
house down (not only with his singing, but on the
occasion) when he offered fellow singer Lionel
Mkhanazi a kippa to wear during a duet which
they sang in Hebrew - their voices melding and
blending together in harmony.
This sensitivity was also shown by Dudu
Fisher who despite being the acclaimed
Broadway star of “Les Miserables” struck deep
chords as he sang a medley of songs about
Jerusalem. He then prefaced each rendition from
the show with an explanation on what the words
of that particular song he was singing meant to
him personally.
Prior to singing “Bring him Home”, he spoke of
his fears for those “missing” Israelis and when
his own and other people’s sons were far awaybattling in the army to keep a beleaguered country and population safe, recalling how he prayed
that they should return safely.
Every song showed Fisher as master of melody.
He spoke on his evolving artistry from cantor
to Broadway star and putting so much feeling
into songs like “Empty chairs and empty tables”
which personalised the memory of those friends
who had fought together with him and others,
and who were now no more.
This was a subject also touched on by Chief
Rabbi Warren Goldstein who, in his message,
said that it was “at this time that we also remember and pay tribute to the enormous sacrifices
and suffering of all those who have fought to
establish and protect the State of Israel. We pray
for the soldiers who are being held incommunicado and in places unknown by those who seek our
destruction”.
He said we would acknowledge the awesome
miracles and blessings that G-d had showered us
with from the establishment of the State of Israel
up to the present time.
The two beneficiaries of the concert are the
very many handicapped Israeli soldiers and their
families for whom the JNF is establishing meeting places near army bases where families can
reunite with their children doing their army
service.
The other recipient is the JNF Walter Sisulu
Environmental Centre in Mamelodi which aims
to develop community conservation champions
for the environment.
23 - 30 November 2007
SA JEWISH REPORT
Only geographic commonality binds us
STAFF REPORTER
DO SOUTH Africans exist? This provocative
question was posed by Professor Ivor Chipkin
when he addressed the Union of Jewish
Women recently.
The same question could be asked whether
Indians or any other nationalities existed, he
said.
“It sounds like an absurd question, but after
200 years, is there a sense of being South
African? It is not a question of carrying a
passport - it is a question of identity and is this
a right for all South Africans or not?” he
asked.
Chipkin compares “national” with, for
instance Pakistanis who cannot claim to be
Indian; Indian is the fundamental nature of
being Indian.
“So, what do we ask South Africans? What
is at stake for our identity? What do we have in
common as a people? What don’t we have?” he
asks.
Chipkin said that 200 years ago, between
1776 and 1789, the French Revolution changed
thoughts of how we thought of political communities and it established new principles on
political sovereignty.
Before 1789, the power of kings existed
through divine rule - it was based on theological principles. Kings were anointed; they were
not voted in by the people. It was a divine
selection and people were ruled by readings of
religious texts, mainly Christian.
In 1789, there was a radical upset of the
August legal body
honours attorney
Ivan Levy
DAVID SAKS
LEADING Johannesburg attorney Ivan Levy
was elected to the International Board of
Governors of the International Association of
Jewish Lawyers and Jurists at its 13th
Triennial Congress held in Israel earlier this
month.
Levy is a former national vice-chairman of
the SA Jewish Board of Deputies and continues to serve as co-chairman of its legal subcommittee.
The International Association of Jewish
Lawyers and Jurists was founded in 1969,
inter alia to “promote the study of legal problems of special interest to Jewish communities in the world within the framework of
international and domestic law”.
One of its founders included the eminent
South African jurist, the late Mr Justice Cecil
Margo.
Over the years, the Association has been
centrally involved in dealing with Jewish
issues through the implementation of international and domestic laws wherever this has
proved to be necessary. Its members today
include many of the most eminent lawyers
and jurists around the world.
Israel’s 60th:
SAZF needs
community’s help
THE SA Zionist Federation will be hosting a
number of events next year to celebrate
Israel’s 60th anniversary.
One of the functions will be an exhibition
of “60 Years of Zionism in South Africa”. It
will focus on the very strong connections to
Israel that the South African community has
always had, and the equally strong Zionist
tendencies it displays now and has done in
the past, says Bev Goldman of the SAZF
Information, Media and PR.
“We are looking for relevant pictures and
articles on this particular topic. We would
like as many community members as possible to search their archives and give us what
they have, even if they depict issues earlier
than 60 years ago.
“The more we get, the more chance there is
for the best pictures, etc to be displayed.”
* Please send all relevant information to
Bev Goldman at [email protected], tel:
(011) 645-2510, fax: (011) 640-6758, or cell: 083381-8180, or http://www.sazionfed.co.za
political order. Power was only legitimate if
given by the people and through the people.
The first democratic principles were established. Human rights came into existence
and the idea of democracy became sovereign.
“In 1994, we had a dramatic happening in
South Africa, and the world. We have lost
sight of the new kind of people who came
into being in South Africa. Never before in
human history has there been such a surprising and frightening event - we took a step
back and grouped people in traditional ways.
We are in fright - a worrying fright.”
Is it ethnic or nationalistic principle that
defines South Africans?
Chipkin said that a disturbing thing that
happened after the French Revolution was
the division of nations along ethnic principles which included culture, race, language
and religion.
An example was the Germans during the
Second World War. “This was a violent, terrifying unification along racial principles,
excluding all others. National principle was
questioned after the war. Until the end of the
war, there were always ethnic, national principles involved and this emerged later in
apartheid.”
The year 1994 was the high point for South
Africans in the question of national principle. There was no common religion, language or culture.
“We now pride ourselves that South
Africans are fundamentally different and
unlike each other.
We only have geographic commonality, as
well as democratic values. Our commonality
comes from our democratic values, equality,
respect and tolerance. Do we really share
those values? If so, we are not acting on it.
19
“We are more radical than anywhere else
in the world because we are so committed to
democracy. South Africans are an African
people, with African values.”
Where are we in South Africa today? questioned Chipkin.
We are in the midst of a struggle over how
we define South African people and their
values.
“What are the values which are at the
heart of South African people?”
Chipkin said that in 1947 the ANC drew up
its manifesto which said the country
belonged to all South Africans. The ANC
leadership decided only in 1983, at Kabwe, to
open senior positions to people of all races
and that was a break with tradition.
“At stake is how do you define your people.
If African nationalism comes through, there
would be cause for concern, but I am optimistic we will make it through even though
the ANC has the sense of a natural right to
rule. This is evident from the fight to win
Cape Town from the Democratic Alliance.”
20
SA JEWISH REPORT
23 - 30 November 2007
WHAT’S ON
Today Friday (November 23)
NOTE: Deadline for all entries is 12:00 on the Friday prior
to publication.
Key to organisations, venues, contact details and cost:
• The Jewish National Fund (JNF) Choir, Beyachad, 2
Elray St, Raedene. Contact Crystal Kaplan. 083-3765999.
• The Jewish Women’s Benevolent Society (JWBS) Sandringham Gardens, 85 George Avenue
Sandringham 2192. Contact Carolyn Sabbagh. (011)
485-5232.
• The Jewish Outlook Team. Contact Ryan Cane, Support
line: 27 76 215 8600; e-mail [email protected];
website http://www.jewishoutlook.org.za
• Nechama Bereavement Counselling Centre - Room
A304, 3rd Floor, hospital wing, Sandringham Gardens,
85 George Avenue, Sandringham, 2192. Contact (011)
640-1322.
• New Friendship Ladies Group - A group for single
women - contact Lucille (011) 791-5226 or 082-9275786.
• ORT and ORTJET South Africa - 44 Central Street, Cnr
10th Ave, Houghton. Contact (011) 728-7154.
• Rabbi Cyril Harris Community Centre (RCHCC) and
Great Park Shul, Johannesburg. Contact Hazel, (011)
728-8088 or Rene Sidley (011) 728-8378. Cost usually
R50, including refreshments.
• Second Innings, Johannesburg - Jewish Community
Services - Donald Gordon Centre, 85 George Avenue
Sandringham. Contact Grecia Gabriel, (011) 532-9616.
• The Israel Centre. Contact Debbie (011) 645-2560.
• The Simcha Friendship and Cultural Circle (SFCC),
Johannesburg - Sandton Shul. Contact Sylvia Shull,
(011) 783-5600.
• The United Sisterhood, 38 Oxford Road Parktown.
Contact Helen (011) 646-2409. website:http://www.unitedsisterhood.co.za
• South African Zionist Federation (SAZF), Johannesburg
- Beyachad, 2 Elray Street, Raedene. Contact Froma,
(011) 645-2505.
• South African Jewish Board of Deputies (Jhb) Beyachad, 2 Elray Street, Raedene. Contact (011) 6452500 or (011) 645-2523.
• United Zionist Luncheon Club (UZLC), Johannesburg Our Parents Home. Contact Gloria, (011) 485-4851 or
072-127-9421.
• Union of Jewish Women (UJW), Johannesburg - 1 Oak
Street Houghton. Contact (011) 648-1053. Cost R10 for
the Friendship Luncheon Club.
• Union of Jewish Women (UJW), Cape Town - (021)
434-9555, e-mail: [email protected]
• WIZO Johannesburg - Beyachad, 2 Elray Street
Raedene. Contact Joyce Chodos (011) 645-2548 or
Sandy Kramer (011) 645-2515.
• Bikkur Cholim - Jewish Society for Visiting the Sick, 7A
Chester Road, Greenside East, Johannesburg. Joy Gafin
(011) 447-6689.
• Tiyulim (Jewish Outdoor Club) - Contact Greg 082-9599026 or Martin 082-965-7419.
• King David Schools’ Foundation. King David Alumni
[email protected] (011) 480-4723.
Please note that all contact and venue details can be
found in the key.
• JWB is hosting a book sale from 9:00 outside
Click’s of Rosebank.
• UZLC is hosting Rose Norwich who will speak on
the “Country Communities Project”.
Saturday (November 24)
• WIZO Tzabar is having a sing-along at 20:00 at
Beyachad. Call Shoshi for details. 082-777-7826.
Sunday (November 25)
• Second Innings hosts Prof Hussein Solomon on
“Islam and Tolerance” at The Gerald Horwitz
Lounge, Golden Acres.
• Tiyulim will be going on a 2 hour guided walk at
Kloofendal Nature Reserve, 45 minutes from
Johannesburg. Meet at Balfour Park at 08:00
(near the car wash). Members R40. Non-members R50. Bring picnic lunch (no braai facilities).
• RCHCC is hosting Natalie Knight lecturing on
“Facets of Tsonga and Shangaan Art” at 19:30.
• The Friendship Forum invites Holocaust survivors, second generation and members of the
community who lost family in the Holocaust, to
join them for their end-of-year function. An afternoon of entertainment at Our Parents Home
Auditorium at 14:30. “Forensic Magic” by Dr
Ryan Blumenthal, followed by tea and refreshments.
• Jewish Women’s Benevolent are having a dinner
at the Sandton Shul Hall. Tickets R600. Carolyn
(011) 485-5232.
• Aish Hatorah and Inner Circle invite you to a
charity “Texas Hold’em Poker Tournament” at
15:00. R200 buy-in/add ons/re-buy-ins. Many
prizes. Phone (011) 485-2985. Booking essential.
[email protected]
• UJW, is hosting a dinner for the Kosher Mobile
Meals volunteers, at 18:00 in Oak Street.
Monday (November 26)
• UJW, Cape Town Adult Education hosts Prof
Richard Mendelsohn on “Writing a New History
of South African Jewry”. Stonehaven, 7 Albany
Road, at 10:00. Cost R20.
• UJW, Johannesburg presents Dr Ali Bacher at
09:30 on “Politics and Sport”.
• Torah Academy presents “The Mitzvah Train” at
the Wits Theatre in Braamfontein at 19:30.
Tickets R70 from www.Strictlytickets.com or
083-918-8551. Info 082-600-4857.
THE BRIDGE LOUNGE by Jeff Sapire
DEFENCE is generally regarded as the
most difficult part of bridge. Situations
sometimes arise where one may not even
be aware of something that is happening as was the case in a recent tournament,
where not a single defender got it right. At
the table I was watching this is what happened.
Declarer took the ace of spades, and
with 2 spade losers and the diamond ace to
lose on top, he smoothly played a small
diamond towards dummy. West followed
low, and that was the end of the defence.
Declarer took the queen of diamonds
and pitched his two losing spades on the AK of clubs. Then he played a heart off the
table, with East correctly inserting the
jack, which was taken by the king. There
were no more entries to dummy to play
hearts again toward his hand, but declarer
was home now. He drew a second trump
and conceded 2 trump tricks and the ace of
diamonds.
Of course, what went wrong was that
West did not fly in with the ace of diamonds at trick 2 to cash his 2 winning
spades. Looking at all 4 hands it's very
easy, but yet it beat every defender. Why?
Because West thought it safe to play '2nd
hand low' in order not to perhaps allow
declarer to establish diamonds easily.
But what the defenders should have
been asking themselves is: "Why is declarer playing on diamonds at all? He has a
sure entry in the club suit, and he must be
planning to tackle trumps from the
dummy to finesse through partner. So why
is he not crossing in the club suit?"
South dealer, both vul
NORTH
432
75
Q852
AK76
WEST
KQ95
3
A764
Q1083
SOUTH
A87
AK10862
KJ103
-
Shelley Elk [email protected]
• CAJE is hosting a great debate “Synagogues or
Shtibls” at 20:00, at the Sydenham Highlands
North Shul.
Mystical Motivational Workshop. Tickets R180.
RSVP Mandy 083-380-5268.
Sunday (December 2)
Tuesday (November 27)
• UJW, Johannesburg presents Estelle Sher
on “A Potpourri of the Romantic Music and
Song of the Late 19th Century” at 10:00. Cost
R20.
• Second Innings presents Roni Lea and Avi Kanar,
“Dancing Through the Decades” at 09:45, at the
Gerald Horwitz Lounge, Golden Acres. Cost R50.
Booking: Helen Wolfson (011) 440-8236 before
18:00.
• RCHCC is hosting Professor David Goldenberg
on “Did the Ancient Rabbis Invent Racism?” at
19:30.
• Our Parents Home’s Annual Morning Market will
open from 09:00 till after lunch. Wonderful food
and stalls.
• WIZO’s “culminating function” with entertainer
Harry Sideropolous at 09:30. Booking essential.
Monday (December 3)
• Torah Academy presents “The Mitzvah Train” at
the Wits Theatre in Braamfontein at 19:30.
Tickets R70 from www.Strictlytickets.com or
083-918-8551. Info 082-600-4857
• UJW special year-end function. Entertainment by
Thomas Richards “Ujoma - Spirit of
Togetherness” at 09:30. Cost R50. Booking essential. Tel (011) 648-1053.
Wednesday (December 5)
Wednesday (November 28)
• UJW, Cape Town is hosting John Caviggia talking on “Experiences in Theatre” at 10:00 in
Stonehaven, Sea Point. Cost 12.
• WIZO Cyrildene is having a card day at
Beyachad from 09:30. Phone Crystal 083-3765999.
• WIZO Etgar branch is hosting the launch of
Fay Lewis’ new “Oven to Table” cookbook at
10:00. Tickets R100. Contact Sandy (011) 6452515.
• UJW, Johannesburg presents Dr Lorraine
Chaskalson on “The Novels of Jane Austen” at
09:30.
• Sandton Shul is having a year-end party at Sylvia
Shull’s home in Morningside at 10:30.
Entertainment by Chazan Chilly Chrysler accompanied on piano by Evelyn Green.
• UJW, Cape Town Adult Education Division, is
hosting Ruth Witstein “Say it with Flowers” at
10:00 in Albany Road, Sea Point. Entrance R12.
Friday (December 7)
• JAFFA is having a social morning at 10:00, with
a group of 30 singers. [email protected]
• UZLC is hosting Hymie Jocum talking on “The
History of Namibian Jewry” at Our Parents Home.
Thursday (November 29)
Sunday (December 9)
• RCHCC is having a “Quiz Evening” hosted by
Larry Benjamin at 19:30. Cost R100. Pre-booking before November 26 is essential.
• Enriching Tomorrow: Chief Rabbi Dr Warren
Goldstein and Western Cape Premier Ebrahim
Rasool will be speaking on “Jews and Muslims”
- faith, community and country at 19:30 for
19:45 at The Gordon Institute for Business
Science. RSVP essential: [email protected] or
Jodi 082-468-4590.
• Chabad of Sandton, Emunah, N’Shei Chabad,
ORT, Union of Jewish Women, WIZO,
Women’s Benevolent, Women of the World,
present the first annual “Women’s Gathering of
Jewish Mysticism” at 17:30 to 19:30 at The
Shul, Summer Place, Hyde Park. You can win 2
free tickets to New York. Share “The Secret”
with Rochel Goldman and Mashi Rose, and a
• Pretoria Hebrew Congregation presents “Chanukah
on Ice” at the Kolonnade Ice Rink, at 19:00.
Sunday (December 10)
• Israel Centre invites you to the Zionist
Youth Movements’ summer camps. R1 000 discount for participants in the camp and Israel
Encounter.
• Annual Chanukah Candle-Lighting Ceremony will
take place in the Arena at 19:00 at the Brooklyn
Mall, Pretoria. Latkes and refreshments will be
served.
Friday (December 14)
• UZLC is hosting Syd Chaskalson talking on “Iran
versus Israel”.
CROSSWORD No 49
BY LEAH SIMON
EAST
J106
QJ94
9
J9542
West
North
East
South
1H
3H
Dbl
P
1NT
4H
P
All pass
Opening lead: SK
The answer, as we can see, is that
declarer is not able to cross in the club
suit, so his only chance is to play a diamond up and pray. The more you think
about it, the clearer it becomes that
declarer must be void in clubs, and that
playing low will be fatal, allowing him 2
vital discards.
If West goes up with the ace of diamonds the contract can be beaten 2
tricks. After 2 high spades, a diamond
gives East a ruff, and now he exits with
the queen of hearts, keeping declarer out
of dummy, securing another trump trick
for himself.
ACROSS:
1. Got up for flower (4)
3. Partisan upset - and ambitious (8)
8. American soldier goes in two directions
for young woman (4)
9. Nutritious organic compounds disrupt
sport in east (8)
11. It’s a bit of a box, we admit (12)
13. Abandon arid plain (6)
14. Small person met around dig (6)
17. How enamel manufacturers battle it
out? (5, 3, 4)
20. Are they seated at board meetings? (8)
21. —— Gagarin, Russian cosmonaut (4)
22. Talks indiscreetly (8)
1
2
23. Incline to be thin (4)
DOWN:
1. Dig rice in east anew for 8
king’s murder (8)
2. Reduces psychiatrists, as
they say (7)
11
4. Place emphasis on pressure
(6)
5. Doubtful about schizophre13
nia (2, 3, 5)
6. Clean it again, hiding girl (5)
7. Have trade leader enquire
about chore (4)
10. A favourite with the ladies who makes the pace, too! (5, 19
5)
12. Delay? Nothing in it for male 20
horse (8)
15. Rung up ale for small, compact particle (7)
22
16. Swerve out of control - by
profession (6)
18. Ask nothing about a Japanese city (5)
19. Stops the flow of blood - on those who
strike (4)
SOLUTION TO CROSSWORD NO 48
ACROSS: 1. Tuba; 3. Porpoise; 8. Kist; 9.
Edifying; 11. On the warpath; 13. Expose;
14. Esther; 17. Ball bearings; 20. Stingray;
21. Used; 22. Sporting; 23. Onus.
DOWN: 1. Take over; 2. Bus stop; 4.
Ordeal; 5. Puff pastry; 6. Idiot; 7. Edge; 10.
Sets alight; 12. Crusades; 15. Hands on; 16.
Remain; 18. Amigo; 19. Asps.
3
4
5
6
7
9
10
12
14
15
16
17
18
21
23
23 - 30 November 2007
SA JEWISH REPORT
21
Remembering so that we never will forget
DAVID SAKS
PHOTOGRAPH: ILAN OSSENDRYVER
THE RECENT opening of a new exhibition
at
the
Goethe-Institut
in
Johannesburg, was marked by a sense
both of sadness and of hope for the future.
Balancing the sombre knowledge of
how Germany’s thriving Jewish community was destroyed by the Holocaust was
an awareness of how Germany today is
striving to perpetuate the memory of the
victims of Nazism as a way of ensuring
that such events are never repeated.
Entitled “Absence and Loss”, the exhibition features the work of award-winning
fine arts photographer Marion Davies,
who was present at the opening. It focuses
on the many Holocaust memorials in
Berlin, including sculptures, art installations, unusual plaques and signs.
Each image in the exhibition shows a
different memorial, not only to Jewish
victims of Nazism, but also to other persecuted groups like the Romani (gypsies),
Jehova’s Witnesses, blacks and homosexuals. The labels are detailed and informative, succinctly bringing home the individual tragedies each memorial commemorates.
The opening was co-sponsored by the
Gauteng Council of the SAJBD and the
Goethe-Institut, who are also collaborating on an ancillary programme that
includes two panel discussions and a documentary screening.
Speakers included Goethe-Institut
director, Dr Bernd Pirrung, SAJBD
National Vice-chairperson Dr Jocelyn
Hellig and Axel Heidler, deputy head of
mission at the German Embassy. All three
noted that the function was taking place
on the eve of the anniversary of
Kristallnacht, when legal discrimination
against the Jews of Germany crossed over
into state-sponsored violence and marked
the real beginning of the Holocaust.
Heidler pointed out the
remarkable fact that the date
November 11, marked three
crucial events in modern
German history. On November
11 1918, the Weimar Republic
was proclaimed, ushering in
an unprecedented, if tragically
short-lived, era of civic equality and opportunity for German
Jewry. Exactly 20 years later,
came Kristallnacht.
Finally, in 1989, the Berlin
Wall came down, an event that
was not only a landmark in
German reunification but ushered in a new era of Jewish
immigration, from the Former
Soviet Union countries, into
Germany.
Hellig outlined previous successful collaborations between
the SAJBD and the GoetheInstitut, including the “Visas
for Life” exhibition (2003) and
the 2005-6 “Seeking Refuge”
exhibition on German-Jewish
refugees who settled in
Johannesburg, which she
curated. She paid tribute to the
Goethe-Institut and the spirit
of reconciliation it was working so hard to achieve.
Hellig said that many of the
individuals she had interviewed for the “Seeking Jocelyn Hellig, National Vice-Chairperson of the SA Jewish Board of Deputies, with Marion Davies.
Refuge” exhibition had been
nurtured in and by Berlin, “the
ing to Berlin’s lost Jewish community and
there can be a possibility of reconciliavery hub of German cultural life, which the sense of loss these evoked. She
tion and the emergence of a better world”.
Jews imbibed to the full”.
believed that the exhibition acted both as
The exhibition is open to the public
All this, she said, changed with Hitler’s a warning of the dangers of racism - and
until the end of November at the Goetherise to power and “the metamorphosis of especially of anti-Semitism - and as a
Institut, 119 Jan Smuts Avenue, cnr
Berlin, from the heart of creative life into promise that the victims would be rememNewport Road, Parkwood. For further
the centre of a cruel, heartless and super- bered.
information on the ancillary programme,
efficient death machine”.
It also promised that, “provided the evil
contact Kaja Kopkow on (011) 442-3232
Hellig praised Davies for so admirably deeds of the past are remembered and
or e-mail to: [email protected] the range of initiatives testify- responsibility for them is acknowledged,
goethe.org
Hermanus - where big OutLook slams Orthodoxy’s
things are happening silence on gays and lesbians
DAVID SAKS
JEWISH HOLIDAYMAKERS in Hermanus and neighbouring districts will be able to take advantage of a fully functional synagogue,
including the services of a rabbi, over this December period.
Through the offices of the SAJBD country communities department, the services of Rev Ilan Herman of the Lions Shul in
Johannesburg have been secured for the period December 13 January 1. Rev Herman will be in attendance every morning and
will conduct full Shabbat services, including the Torah reading.
During this period, Rabbi Moshe Silberhaft, spiritual leader to the
country communities, will also be in Hermanus, where he will officiate at the marriage of Hilly Zidel to Tali Stein. This will be the
first wedding to have taken place in the Hermanus shul in over 23
years.
The Hermanus Hebrew Congregation, which reopened its doors
in the late 1990s following a renewed influx of Jews into the area, is
in the process of developing a new community centre comprising a
shul and a communal function hall.
The congregation, with the full support and assistance of the
Overstrand Municipality and its executive mayor, is in the process
of acquiring a new site in the Eastcliff area, near the Hermanus
High School.
Plans have already been drawn up and the final approval of the
purchase by the full municipal council has just been granted. It is
anticipated that the shul section of the complex will be completed
by Pesach 2008, with the remainder being completed shortly thereafter.
Earlier this year, it was decided to sell the present shul building in
the centre of town because of concerns about road realignments
planned by the provincial government that will take place right outside it as well as the increasingly serious security risks and crime in
the immediate area. The shul has served the community since 1930.
As a result of the sale, to a Johannesburg based private consortium, the congregation will be able to both cover the costs of the
planned community centre and to set aside a sizeable amount in
trust for the future, thereby ensuring its financial stability.
The new shul will be similar in size to its predecessor, the whole
interior of which is to be transported and installed in the new single - storey building. The addition of an apartment has been
planned to accommodate individuals who can act as a minister to
the congregation on a regular basis.
The hall will provide a venue for communal dinners as well as
general kosher functions.
* For more information on developments in Hermanus and the
holiday period, contact Jonathan Lipman (president) on 076-070-5577
or [email protected]
ALISON GOLDBERG
THE POSITION of gays and lesbians in South
Africa has changed dramatically since the release
of the short documentary, “Trembling Before
G-d” five years ago.
In the South African Jewish community civil
law acceptance of marriage between homosexuals has underscored the decision this year by the
Progressive Jewish community in South Africa to
perform and recognise such marriages in the religious sphere as well.
Dr David Bilchitz who chaired a panel discussion on the topic recently, following the showing
of Trembling Before G-d, noted that since the
film, Jewish OutLook had been formed, a gay and
lesbian group that, among other things, sought to
create a social network and offered support and
political representation for lesbian and gay Jews.
Trembling Before G-d, a film about homosexuality among Orthodox, religious Jews, had by and
large met with silence in South Africa’s Orthodox
community, it was stated during the discussion.
The panel contemplated whether or not this
“silence” was indicative of a desire to ignore the
issue or whether it represented a softening of
attitudes, since the tour of the film in 2005, where
there had been accusations that the Orthodox
rabbinic leadership had endeavoured to suppress
discussion surrounding homosexuality.
Lael Bethlehem who sat on the panel at the
Killarney Nu Metro’s screening of the documentary, told the audience it was thanks to the ANC’s
block vote for the Civil Union Act that civil marriages were now allowed in South Africa, unlike
in the US where commitment ceremonies only
filled that function.
She cited President Thabo Mbeki and Minister
Mosiuoa Lekota in particular for their work on
the bill to have it passed.
This discussion was arranged by Jewish
OutLook and took place at the Out in Africa Gay
and Lesbian Film Festival. Also on the panel was
Liebe Kellan - who in March married her partner
of 23 years, Margaret Auerbach - and Steven
Lurie, chairman of the SA Union of Progressive
Judaism (SAUPJ).
Lurie said the SAUPJ came to its decision (to
allow gay and lesbian marriages) after a conference in May and consultation within each
Progressive community. The initial question he
said, had been: “How far do we go?” It was pointless to do things in half measures. The decision
meant Progressive Judaism in South Africa was
one of the first religious denominations to recognise same-sex marriage.
An audience member asked the panel why
recognition by the Orthodox community and
society at large was so important. Bethlehem
answered that it was necessary from a legal point
of view for benefits such as medical aid and pension funds and for being able to jointly adopt children. Essentially, however, people strove for
social recognition because “we want both parts of
ourselves to be involved: our love and our being
Jews”.
Bethlehem commented in response to a “suggestion” made at the Limmud conference recently that gays and lesbians should simply learn to
control their urges, that it was not simply a question of urges but who you fell in love with.
She added that there appeared to be some relaxation towards the matter in the community and
Lurie commented that he also did not experience
blatant hostility to the subject.
Noteworthy in the screening of the documentary was the esteemed New York Rabbi Avi Weiss’
reaction to homosexuals and his “all are welcome” in his shul message.
Bilchitz said Jewish OutLook was an affiliate of
the Board of Deputies though this had nothing to
do with the Trembling documentary. The problem was that OutLook wished to have a book
launch with Rabbi Greenberg, a gay Orthodox
rabbi, at Beyachad in Johannesburg - a secular
community centre - but the Orthodox rabbinate
had tried to stop this.
He said in the end the book launch went ahead
with support from the SAJBD. Bilchitz said
regarding the SA Board of Jewish Education, the
head - Rabbi Craig Kacev - had intervened to prevent Rabbi Greenberg from speaking at King
David Victory Park. Jewish bakeries, etc had also
been told not to advertise the events.
22
23 - 30 November 2007
SA JEWISH REPORT
Tel (011) 886-0162 • Fax (011) 886-4202 • email: [email protected]
LIFTS
1. Only adverts sent via email to [email protected] will be accepted.
2. You will be advised on cost & payment details.
3. Payment is prior to the advert appearing.
4. DEADLINE for BOOKING and PAYMENT is Tuesday 12pm. If deadline is missed the advert will appear (when
payment is received) in the next edition. Our banking details: SA Jewish Report, Nedbank Randburg, Account
Number: 1984 514 865, Branch Code: 198405
ZAIDA’S TAXI SERVICE
We specialise in transport,
house-to-destination, school
service, old age homes
and airport trips.
Call Zaida
(011) 646-5265 or
083-751-4229 or
082-921-1090
NOTICES
CONSECRATIONS
COMMUNITY NOTICE
CAPE TOWN MIKVEH
For appointments please phone
Barbara Kahn 3-4 days in
advance between
8 a.m. and 9 p.m. on
021-439 1155.
PERSONAL
BEAUTY & HEALTH
LIFTS
PHYSIOTHERAPIST
HEIDE BLOCK
WORKING IN DECEMBER
VILLAGE MEDICAL CENTRE
12 SEVENTH AVE
PARKTOWN NORTH
082-414-2090
011-788-3404
EVETTE AT YOUR
SERVICE
You name it, I take you with a
smile, day or night. Airport,
shops, appointments, long distance and courier services.
Please telephone me
082 851 6608 or
(011) 786-2250
Extension 7313
BUSH BOSS seeks Cool Bush
Babe for a Hot Time in
Mozambique.
+/- 16 Dec. - +/ 06 Jan. 2008
Or until the Diesel and Tabard
run out.
[email protected]
COMMUNITY NOTICE
WIZO WINNERS
The winner of the 5th DRAW in
the WIZO South
Africa’s “Progressive Jackpot”
Competition
was G. Stein, ticket No. 28569.
Second prize went to J. Moritz,
ticket No. 28255.
The winner of the 6TH DRAW
was S. Saffer ticket
No. 28739. Second prize went
to M. Illman ticket
No. 30475.
CAPE TOWN SHUTTLE
Coming to Cape Town?
Affordable rates
Airport transfers
from R140
Phone Andy
082-336-9780
SERVICES
Reliable,
Reasonable Rates!
Contact Arnold,
082-447-0185
011-454-1193
FRIDGE REPAIRS
The Fridge
Doctor
083-228-2277
GENERAL
FOR HIRE
CASTLEMANIA
Circus Playstation, Monkey
Tunnel, 2 in 1 Activity, Candy,
Helicopter, Obstacle, Slide,
Gladiator.
Weekend deliveries
Elaine (011) 609-1217
HOLIDAY
ACCOMMODATION
ACCOM.OFFEREDSEA POINT
Flat mate wanted
for UCT student in
upmarket,newly renovated
& beautifully furnished and
equipped 2 Bed flat
on Sea Point Beachfront.
Superb Sea Views.
24- Hour manned security.
Available from
15th JAN 2008.
R3450.00p/m.
Phone 083 360 4837.
CAPE TOWN, FRESNAYE.
Exquisite villa, huge lush garden, Pool and sea views. 4
bedrooms, 3 en suite.
High up in the avenues, quiet
and wind free. Pictures on email
on request. Avail Dec/Jan
R5000.00 per day.
083-457-9538
FLATMATE WANTED
From 1/02/08 to mid Dec, 2
bedroom fully furnished flat in
Sea Point, student or young
professional, phone
Elaine 082-496-0518 or
Dani 082-330-1519.
WORK PREMISES
TO RENT
Ideal for a health / wellness professional. Cottage in Highlands
North Extension. Good Security
in Boomed Area. Competitive
Rental. Available from 1st
December 2007.
Contact Darryl on
084-200-0899
MORNINGSIDE SIMPLEX
3 beds, 2 bath, double garage,
lovely garden. Across from Shul.
R9000 pm. Available from
December 1, 2007.
Phone 083-650-9126
DIAL-A-LIFT
Reliable safe transport,
door to door,
airport transfers, etc.
Phone Pip Friedman
(011) 728-3998
cell: 083-267-3281
SOULMATE!
LADIES, MANY SUCCESSFUL,
ELEGIBLE, HANDSOME MEN
LOOKING FOR SOMEONE
LIKE YOU? THEY WONT FIND
YOU IF YOU DON’T CALL!
(O11) 6401657
AIRPORT SHUTTLE
JHB
SMILE-LEE'S LIFTS
A reliable lift service.
Specialising in lifts to and from
airports,shops,appointments,
casinos and courier.
Call Charna 083-391-6612
HOME SERVICES
Dk000326
HOW TO PLACE A CLASSIFIED ADVERT:
ACCOMMODATION TO/LET
SHARE
ARTHUR’S SCHLEPPING
SERVICE
We will schlep you wherever
you want to go. Supermarkets,
hairdressers airport etc. etc.
We work very early. We work
very late. But please don't ask
us on a Shabbos date!
083-788-2509
011-440-5455
GLENHAZEL
Delightful family
home. 3 Bed, 2
bath, guest suite,
pool, SQ. R15000pm.
Denise 082 559 8569
MISCELLANEOUS
TO LET
1st Jan, 2008. 3 bedroom
n/facing. 2 bathrooms and
garden. A happy little complex.
Near Shuls & Savoy Library.
Reasonable rent.
Phone Monica
(011) 481-3419 or
(011) 786-6756
P RO P E RT Y T O L E T
ACCOMMODATION TO/LET
SHARE
Our organisation, requires a Recreation
Officer who is patient, dynamic, tolerant and
creative to co-ordinate various activities and
events for the residents of our
aged home, as well as organise functions
around Jewish Holidays. Candidates should
have experience in working with the elderly or
physically and mentally disabled, be
computer literate and have good
administration and secretarial abilities.
Only short listed applicants will be replied to.
Suitable candidates to forward a current c.v.
to [email protected] or Attention HR Dept,
Private Bag x1, Sandringham, 2131, or
fax 0866327774
TIMESHARE TO LET
EILAT
23-30th December 2007. The
Club Hotel Sleeps 4. Price
negotiable
H.Aber
[email protected]
cell: 083 617 1840
RETIREMENT ACCOM
RIVONIA
Retirement homes for healthy
retired people. 1 Bedroom self
catering units with pvt gardens,
Furnished, Equipped, Serviced,
Laundry, Dstv. No food. Safe
haven. Small Establishment: 9
Units. R 9 000pm.
083 290 2663
BUSINESS &
FINANCIAL
BUSINESS FOR SALE
SANDRINGHAM
Royal Linksfield
2 Beds, 2 baths, 2 tiled lounges,
small garden, upstairs unit, tiled
dining, open plan mod kosher
kitchen. 2 parkings - avail 1st
Dec. R6, 600-00
plus deposit .
Contact June
011 640 4967
GLENHAZEL
Hazelwood. 2 Bed,
2 bath. Occ imm.
R5000pm. Denise
082 559 8569
RECREATION
OFFICER
OUR PARENTS HOME
CAPE TOWN, SEA POINT.
One bedroom beachfront flat
security and sea views. Avail
Dec/Jan
R1500 per day
083-457-9538
FOR SALE
MISCELLANEOUS
ISRAELI PRE-PAID
SIM CARDS
("Starter Packs") available now.
R 350.00 while stocks last.
Asher: 072-270-0460
CAPETOWN ,SEAPOINT,
SEAVIEWS, HALF A
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SLEEPS 4 IN CHARMING
ART DECO BLOCK,
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CONTACT :CLIVE
0824128570
OR OII 7282655.
HOLIDAY
ACCOMMODATION
UMHLANGA ON THE
BEACH
Up-market apartment in prestigious building to let December
or January. 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, furnished and serviced
Call Miriam
083-254-4820
UMHLANGA
BEACHFRONT
Dec/ Jan. Best sea
Views! Enclosed Balcony/
Bedroom. R780 p/day.
R680 p/d for 3
weeks or more.
083 399 1326
FURNITURE REMOVAL
Well established, good
customer base furniture
removal company for sale.
Please contact Sean on
072-194-4612
VACANCIES
DOMESTIC EMPLOYMENT
WANTED
Highly recommended, excellent
and completely trustworthy
domestic available for one or
two days a week. NE suburbs
preferred. From 15 Jan.
Call Joan
082-990-0007.
EMPLOYMENT AVAILABLE
PA REQUIRED
for small export company in
Rosebank. Good computer
skills essential. Ability to work
independently and use own initiative. Half day, flexible hours.
Call Irene 082-461-5593
VEHICLES
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23 - 30 November 2007
SA JEWISH REPORT 23
Successful ORT golf day
ORT SOUTH Africa’s 34th Annual Golf
Classic, which took place on Sunday
October 28 at the Killarney Country Club
in Johannesburg, again lived up to its reputation of excellence and fun.
This amazing event has been driven by
Dr Solly Burgin and his dedicated golf
committee.
In a media release ORT says the funds
from the ORT SA Annual Golf Classic will
go towards sustaining one of ORT’s many
“Educating for Life” projects.
Golfer and ORT SA supporter, Allan
Sher, commented: “What a wonderful golf
event. I enjoy it more each year.”
ORT would like to thank all who have
helped to make this event such a success
over the past 34 years and in doing so have
helped educate thousands of South
Africans, enabling them to get jobs and
support their families.
This year the ORT SA Golf Day raised a
significant amount of money, which will go
towards ORT’s array of projects.
* If you wish to enjoy the day with ORT,
or participate in next year’s golf day and
by doing so help others, please contact
Dr Solly Burgin or ORT House on (011)
728-7154 [email protected]
Michael Sieff, national director of ORT SA;
Dr Solly Burgin, NEC member of ORT SA;
Mandy Yachad of Peregrine.
Jaffa Golf Day a resounding success
DIANE WOLFSON
PRETORIA
WITH THE sun breaking through the
clouds last week, Pretoria’s Jewish aged
home, Jaffa, benefited once again from
the successful annual golf day held at
Wingate Park Country Club.
To date, with this, the 6th Annual Golf
Day, an unbelievable amount of over
R1,5 million has been raised with the
support from the community as well as a
wide spectrum of businesses.
Allen Joss of Allen Joss Motors, together with his family, have committed
R500 000 for the Jaffa Golf Day, to be
spread over a five year period as the major
sponsors. Wally Karpas, president of
Jaffa, stresses that without Farrel
Sternberg at the helm, this day would not
be possible. Everyone goes home with a
(great) prize, as is the Jaffa tradition.
An added bonus that morning was to find
rugby players Victor Matfield, Danie
Rossouw and Fourie du Preez about to start
a game of golf. Our South African heroes
kindly signed caps, golf balls and other
memorabilia which were sold at the prize
giving dinner and raised over R30 000.
Not to be left out, Pretoria’s Rabbi
Gidon Fox spent a few hours riding the
course on a golf cart, learning the tricks
of the trade.
The winning fourball consisted of
Barry Sher and Hilton Feldman of
Universal Paper & Plastics and Gary
Larson and Glen Ferguson of Standard
Bank.
24
SA JEWISH REPORT
23 - 30 November 2007
This could be your space
Contact: (011) 886-0162
or email: ronilea@global .co.za
Anton fights off pain to
ride in Summer Cup
JACK MILNER
DESPITE A broken foot, Anton
Marcus will be riding in this weekend’s R1,5 million Steinhoff
International Summer Cup over
2000m at Turffontein.
Anton did the damage a fortnight
back when the horse he was riding
in the opening race at Turffontein
reared at the start and fell on to his
foot.
At that point it was doubtful if he
would ride Our Giant in the weekend’s Grade 1 race but Anton has
confirmed that he will be riding at
the meeting.
Since being gelded, Our Giant,
trained by Charles Laird, has come
on in leaps and bound. He lost a
warm-up race to Biarritz n a controversial objection and then came out
and won the Gauteng Charity Mile
November Handicap. As a result he
was priced up 4-1 favourite for The
Summer Cup.
“He won that race with authority
but I wouldn’t say he had that much
in hand,” said Anton.
“This year’s race has a real open
look about it, very much like this
year’s Durban July,” said Anton. “I
don’t think that any horse stands
out. However, one has to be positive
and I would say Our Giant is the
horse to beat.”
The Charity Mile was over 1600m;
this race is 400m further, and it was
run on the inside track while the
Summer Cup is on the standside
course.
“He’s won over 1900m so I’m pretty confident he’ll get the trip and the
course makes no difference. He’ll
run on any course.”
Anton admitted that he hadn’t
studied the form of his opposition
too closely at this stage but there
were a couple of horses for which he
does have respect.
“Singing Sword had a very good
run in the Charity Mile and one also
has to respect the Mike de Kock trio
- Emperor Napoleon, Jive Talking
and Mr Brock.
There has been quite a bit of betting support for the lone Zimbabwe
entrant, Earl Of Surrey. He has only
been beaten once in nine races and
trainer Lisa Harris brought her runner to Turffontein for a look at the
track in August.
He did not beat a strong field but
was a facile 4,25 length winner that
day.
“He may not have won in a good
time or beaten the best runners, but
he did win very easily. In every race
the circumstances are different and
he could be very competitive at the
weekend. One can’t fault his form.”
Anton feels that while Biarritz,
who has been close up with Our
Giant in their last two runs, and
Silverpoint are not without chances,
they will have to overcome specific
obstacles.
“Biarritz will have to work to carry
his weight of 60kg but if there is a
slow pace, he does have a chance. It’s
not that I don’t believe he stays the
2000m, it’s just that he is most effective over a mile.
“Silverpoint has come back well
after his knee chip operation but he
has it all to do from draw 18.”
Should Anton win the Summer
Cup he will have captured three of
the big four races and run second in
the other. He won the R3 million
Gommagomma Challenge on Pick
Six and the Vodacom Durban July on
Hunting Tower and ran second in the
J&B Met with Lion Tamer.
Anton
Marcus will
be looking
for his third
win in horse
racing’s “Big
Four” when
he rides Our
Giant in this
weekend’s
Steinhoff
International
Summer Cup.
Sporting excellence a KDVP ethos
JACK MILNER
THERE ARE two statements about sport
that probably best capture the spirit of
what it should all be about. Baron Pierre
de Coubertin, one of the founders of the
modern Olympics said in 1906: “The
important thing in life is not the victory
but the contest. The essential thing is not
to have won, but to have fought well.”
This is matched by the words of
Rudyard Kipling in his poem “If” which
adorn the players’ entrance to the
Wimbledon centre court: “If you can meet
with triumph and disaster, and treat those
two impostors just the same.”
These are the values that will be imparted to youngsters who become members of
the Jewish Academy Of Sporting
Excellence (JASE) on the King David
Victory Park school campus.
As far back as 1896, Jewish sportsmen
and woman have competed at international level. The Jewish athlete who probably
first received the recognition for his
achievements was Harold Abrahams, who
won the gold medal for the 100m at the
1924 Olympic Games, equalling the
Olympic record of 10,6 seconds. His story
was dealt with in the movie “Chariots Of
Fire”.
Since then Jewish athletes have met the
international sporting challenges head
on. Sadly, far less has been accomplished
in South Africa.
But that is about to change with the
establishment of JASE, which will be
established to celebrate Jewish individual
and collective excellence both on and off
the field.
Through JASE a vibrant and sustainable sporting academy will be established
to inspire the community and those
around it, while developing talent and
sporting excellence in a manner never
experienced before.
The focus will be on recognising the
innate sporting ability of every member of
society while ensuring that those gifted
athletes have access to the most professional coaching and mentoring staff to
enable them to realise their full potential.
By recognising potential and nurturing
athletes from an early age, JASE will offer
Jewish athletes from across the country a
platform from which they can progress to
both national and international levels
with confidence and pride.
Involvement in sport is universal
throughout today’s world and serves as a
bridge between nations and peoples. The
ethos of good sportsmanship will form the
basis of all interaction with JASE.
The code of conduct will reflect JASE’s
commitment to true sportsmanship
before, during and after the competition.
Former Springbok flyhalf and centre
Hennie le Roux, has already added his
name and expertise to JASE rugby while
top South African national water polo
coach, Anke Jacobs, will be involved from
January 2008.
In order to provide top coaching, one
needs decent facilities and in this regard
funding is needed to build squash courts.
JASE can be contacted on (011) 446-7860.