It’s a stormy season for SA Jewry

Albert Glass, Cape Town

Over the years, the South African Jewish community has weathered many  storms and faced various instances of criticism. It has reacted with   outrage when the cause has demanded this.

Some of the criticism currently being directed at the community has been laced with anti-Semitic vitriol. Some politicians seem to apply this from time to time as part of  their efforts to  score “brownie points” for their constituents. A case in point is the recent outburst from MPL in the Western Cape by Sharon Davids, as well as  comments by Cabinet members such as Naledi Pandor. Hate speech in all its guises is still hate speech and is  not to be tolerated.    

And then there are the storms that rage within our community. These are  worsened by  distrust and  disappointment  . Take the revoking of Stan & Pete’s kashrut licence, which shocked us all    . But when we read so-called  confessions on social media by mashgichim  in the Beth Din about their treatment and what really goes on behind the scenes, this opens the proverbial can of worms.

Can we, as a community, trust the kashrut rulings made by the Beth Din now? All this coming to the fore on the eve of Pesach is worrying . It’s all well and    good to  introduce forensic audits and  standard operating procedures now – why weren’t these implemented years ago?

The onus lies   on the Beth Din to earn back the trust of the community.