click to dowload our latest edition
CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER
Gauteng Human Settlements MEC Lebogang Maile has insulted the Jewish community by accusing Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba of “giving buildings to Jews”, but he refuses to...
South Africa’s envoy to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) this week accused Israel of using Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s planned annexation of the West...
A Zambian politician has accused the country’s president, Edgar Lungu, of smuggling money and drugs on a return trip from a state visit to Israel in...
Attorney Ian Levitt confirmed this week that Matome Letsoalo is to be prosecuted for a string of vicious anti-Semitic comments he posted on Twitter more than...
The Competition Tribunal has given the go-ahead for a bid by an Israeli-led consortium to buy South Africa’s biggest dairy company, Clover.
Over Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, I will pray for peace and harmony. I will especially pray for an end to anti-Semitism.
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin announced on Wednesday night that he would task incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with forming a government coalition. It came as talks...
Amidst the smouldering ruins of Jerusalem, a conversation takes place between two great Jewish leaders of the time. Their words reverberate through history, and have a...
Encouraging Iran to rejoin the community of nations while simultaneously keeping the world safe is one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century.
Just before Geoff Ramokgadi passed away, he told his friend, journalist Suzanne Belling, that he looked forward to seeing “his father, Chief Rabbi Cyril Harris” at...
While South Africa is regarded as one of the most unsafe places in the world, serious violent crime has gone down in most neighbourhoods where community...
Open Mosque President Imam Dr Taj Hargey first envisioned holding an interfaith retreat for all three Abrahamic faiths – Jew, Christian and Muslim – four years...
When Johannesburg teenager Lolo Porter, 17, needed help in finding her way around Harvard, she had no idea the person who would come to her aid...
(JTA) It was a blunt statement in the midst of a cordial conversation: “I’m wondering why you’re here.”
It’s estimated that one in 40 people of Ashkenazi Jewish descent test positive for the BRCA1 or 2 breast cancer susceptibility genes. Those testing positive for...
The House of the Wannsee Conference is a grand structure with high ceilings, artistic finishes, a lush garden, and a spectacular view of a placid lake....
“I’m always worried about my boy’s safety. He often he goes into the field, and I can’t contact him for days at a time,” says the...
The director of the Israel Centre in South Africa, Dr Liat Arran, is a natural community builder and change maker. She is passionate about bringing together...
I found a news article in The Star newspaper last week particularly eye-catching. It related how 21-year-old Antoinette Nthabiseng Thabapelo has initiated a programme, Adopt a...
World War II started 80 years ago this month. Adolf Hitler’s forces invaded Poland on 1 September 1939, and on 3 September, Britain and France declared...
It’s midnight. The dark hills of Shechem (Nablus), a Palestinian city in the northern West Bank, beckon in the moonlight. Escorted by the Israeli army, our...
Guilt is out of fashion these days, like sports jackets, courtesy, humility, and handkerchiefs. It has a sepia-tinted Victorian air about it. It belongs, so it...
The high holy days are a time of introspection, and for many, it’s a chance to apologise to those we may have offended, hurt, or cut...
Every Rosh Hashanah we go back to the point at which G-d decides whether mankind as a whole is worth recreating, and whether we as individuals...
Rosh Hashanah is almost upon us, we can just about taste the sweetness of the honey-drenched apple slices and the sound of the shofar lingers evocatively...
History has been merciless. Nations have risen and fallen. In spite of the seeming invincibility at times of empires which have reached glorious crescendos of power...
Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur attract more Jews to shul than any other time of the year. Unlike other new-year celebrations, ours includes a significant amount...
“Today is the birthday of the world.” We say these words repeatedly after hearing the sound of the shofar. It’s a moment of solemn celebration. We...
Round challot, apples and honey, and a roast in the oven don’t just mean it’s yom tov, it signals family time.
“Apples dipped in honey, we do eat. We daven to Hashem to make the new year sweet.”
I clearly remember the most powerful time I led a congregation in prayer. It was in the thick of the Second Intifada in 2002, and the...
“Sometimes we have to find the strength to forgive, not for the other person, but for our own peace and ability to move forward,” says clinical...
(JTA) Yom Kippur is one of the most, if not the most, important day on the Jewish calendar. For many Jews, fasting and being in synagogue...
Zog the alien comes to Earth. The first human that Zog meets is you. And, as you explain life on Earth, you get to the Jewish...
The curtain on 5779 is about to come down, and the dawning of 5780 is upon us. Our mystics teach that an unusual cosmic occurrence happens...
At the centre of the Rosh Hashanah festivity is the meal, laden with everything from an entire fish with head sans tail, to granny’s gefilte fish,...
Jewish holidays continue to be associated with food – or the lack thereof. Yom Kippur is certainly no exception, considering that we abstain from all food...
(JTA) I can’t help but wonder why Hallmark and the retail world at large haven’t co-opted the Jewish New Year. True, while there may “only” be...
Ever heard a shofar in Zambia? Presumably it’s blown in the Jewish community that still exists there. However, it was somewhat surreal to be in the...
Faith is a loaded word. When hearing or reading it, one person’s heart can swell with serenity and connection, whereas their neighbour’s heart might contract with...
