To South Africa and Back
Decades ago, my wife and I left South Africa, torn by racism and riven by the injustices of apartheid. Poverty and suffering were endemic.
And yet this was the country that gave my parents refuge from the hideous hostility and losses of the Holocaust. This was the land that allowed the Litvaks, Lithuanian Jews, to recreate the tight-knit communities they had left behind. And in time, they not only celebrated it with their cuisine and Yiddish culture but also by renewing its proud and demanding intellectual tradition at the southern tip of Africa. It was here I learned my Torah from singular scholars, some from the old country itself.
I have returned many times over the years to visit my family and speak to local Jewish groups. Most often, I was the visitor from the thriving and creative Australian community, sharing stories of our proud achievements in this accepting and lucky land. A place of refuge for many Shoah survivors and a proud example of multicultural achievement and multifaith harmony. A peaceful and accepting nation in contrast to the volatile and violent reality of post-apartheid South Africa.
Yet on this visit, a few weeks ago, nothing was quite the same. I had changed, Australia had changed, and South Africa was different.
The world shifted on October 7. There was a tectonic transformation in Jewish consciousness. We are, in the Talmudic phrase, living in an upside-down world.
The South African Jewish community wanted only to hear about antisemitism in our land down under, incredulous about our top ranking in the planetary anti-Jewish Olympiad. For some, there was a barely concealed schadenfreude, for others a genuine fear for their families, which had migrated to Australia -they had left their homes to escape danger, not to meet it in their place of refuge. And yet for others it was confirmation that hostility towards Jews and Israel was as universal as the wild grass, as deeply rooted as the African baobab tree and as widely spread as its extensive and strong root system.
Australia is no longer the same place, but neither is South Africa.
My impressions of South Africa are of a place of perplexing paradox. For the first time in many years, there seemed to be a spirit of optimism in the Jewish community. In the Jewish area of Johannesburg -or Joburg, as we call it- still protected by its own CAP or armed security services (and CSG) there was a vibrancy and confidence. Yes, there still are the stupendously high walls and electrified fences and plans for even more security zones for the gated communities. There are also desperate beggars on so many street corners, and obvious debilitating poverty in this country of deep political corruption and incompetence, staggering unemployment and crime. My niece’s friend had her phone brazenly snatched outside Kosher World... Despite the awareness that beyond the high walls there is gross hunger and heartache, there remains a belief in the future of South Africa and the vitality of this now small community.
There are highly successful and determined Jewish businesspeople contributing not only to the economy but also to the social welfare of the country. There are educators and artists, social activists, doctors and lawyers. And then there are the growing religious communities with new beautiful Shuls and places of Jewish learning popping up alongside a rich variety of kosher restaurants and delis. On Shabbat, I witnessed hundreds of young religious families making their way to shul, and the synagogues I attended were well supported.
There was a sense of having come through the worst and hope that the new coalition government and chastened African National Congress (ANC) would, in time, temper its vile anti-Israel rhetoric and egregious actions, including the absurd genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). There is also a strong belief that most ordinary citizens of South Africa are not intrinsically anti-Semitic, and that their Christian beliefs make them more sympathetic to Israel than their failing ANC leadership. In fact, one of the largest African churches in South Africa is called the Zionist Christian Church (ZCC), its HQ is called Zion City and is located in Moriah in the Limpopo Province!
While the SA universities are not much different from ours in their anti-Israel stances, they didn’t have any determined campus occupations, and they don’t have weekly anti -Zionist protests or marches.
To be sure, there is the same universal vulgar and vituperative antisemitism from the right and the left. The May 1 cover article of the SA Jewish Report featured the first antisemitism hate speech case at the Equality Court legal case in Cape Town against a local comedian for his “depraved videos and utterances” against Jews.
I left South Africa more optimistic about its future and even though there are still power cuts and potholes in the Joburg streets, even though the lights may often go out with such comfortable certainty, you can’t put out the light in everyone’s eyes and this beloved country is not just a place to cry or sigh for. It’s also a place to fly to and barrack for!
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Ralph