Dinner celebrates ‘one of a kindness’ Miracle Drivers

Chabad House Miracle Drivers ’24 demonstrated the impact that doing one small act of kindness can make in the lives of many. In an entertaining evening punctuated by singing, dancing, and a marching band, this was the message shared by speakers including Rabbi Mendel Lipskar and Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie.

“Making the most Jewish guilt since 1989,” as master of ceremonies, comedian Nik Rabinowitz joked, the 35th annual Miracle Drive Gala Dinner was held on 3 September at the Sandton Convention Centre. In keeping with last year’s name change to Miracle Drivers, the event’s core message was that “a single act of goodness and kindness can change the world”.

Speaking of Chabad’s mission to uplift every person in this country, Chabad House Johannesburg director Rabbi David Masinter spoke of the multitude of programmes that strive to realise this goal. From the “Give Prayer a Chance” campaign, which aims to help everyone live life to the fullest by focusing on what we do have; to refurbishing 21 libraries and planning to reach 18 000 children soon throughout the country, the organisation is clearly upping the ante. Through The Kindness Lab, Chabad, in partnership with Henley Business School, is now also teaching how kindness can improve productivity in the workplace.

“Each and every single individual has a unique mission in G-d’s great world,” said Rabbi Mendel Lipskar, the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s head shaliach in South Africa, “without which the world is imperfect.” No-one else can fulfil your ultimate purpose. While today, a ‘satnav’ may guide drivers to their destination, we still need to type in where we want to go.

“The end result of your journey is something that you have to choose because you’re one of a kind,” Lipskar said. “Regardless of how smooth or treacherous our journeys may be, we’ll get to our destination because all that G-d creates has a purpose.

“We sometimes look at the world and wonder, ‘Can this world ever come right?’ This world isn’t a jungle, it’s a magnificent garden, and we all can do something to bring out the colours, the beauty, and the intense joy of that divine garden that G-d created,” he said. We do that by becoming drivers and by recognising and fulfilling our purpose through partnering with G-d in creating a better world.

Inspired by the theme of kindness, keynote speaker McKenzie said his own story embodied the fact that one act of kindness could change individuals, generations, and communities. After he was released from jail, McKenzie was determined to abandon criminality and earn a legitimate living. Yet he found that no-one would employ him. It was through the help of one woman, Rhea Davalios, that his whole life changed. She not only taught him how to speak effectively, but helped him to develop the social skills he’d missed out on while spending years in prison.

“That woman took me under her wing. That woman invested in me,” McKenzie said. Not only did she buy McKenzie, who had no money, basic necessities, she gave of her time. When her family told her she was risking her life in helping McKenzie, she replied, “G-d has given some of us privilege, and we are just a conduit.” That privilege, he told the audience, had been entrusted to them so that they could share it with different people.

Through the skills he gained through Davalios, McKenzie got a job where he saved money and ultimately began his entrepreneurial journey. “I started a small fish business hiring ex-prisoners, started a mining company, and eventually became hugely successful in financial terms.”

But his true wealth lies in the fact that through giving ex-prisoners a chance, he helps them to turn their lives around, indirectly saving those they otherwise would have harmed. “They have purpose because I have purpose,” McKenzie said. “And it was only because Rhea gave me a chance. Today, I give jobs to more ex-prisoners than anyone in this country, I give money to charity, and I’m a political leader simply because I got this chance.”

McKenzie spoke of his support for the Jewish community amid South Africa’s virulently anti-Israel stance after 7 October. Yet, he urged the community to stop threatening to leave the country.

“You live in the greatest country in the world, and you don’t help anyone by saying that you’re going to leave. When everybody was turning against you, there were people who said, ‘We are for you’. A lot of people stood up for you. Stop complaining, not everybody is going to love you, and that’s ok.”

He recalled how at a talk many years ago, he heard Chief Rabbi Dr Warren Goldstein say that no matter which direction you look in South Africa, there’s always someone who will uplift you. “You have been blessed beyond measure in this country,” McKenzie said. “South Africa has blessed you; it has blessed your families; it has given your children a future. This country needs you.

“You come from a great people, don’t let the media, don’t let terrorists, don’t let anybody tell you that you aren’t great,” he said. “I know the work this community has been doing. You were an integral part of our struggle, and we can’t forget those things. The hate was always there, and now it’s come out. But concentrate on the people who admire who you are and who know where you come from, because you come from great people, you have survived worse things.”

McKenzie also spoke of the hope that the Government of National Unity (GNU) holds for South Africa. “The GNU is the best thing that could have happened to South Africa,” he said. “All the ministers are trying to outdo each other, and the beneficiaries of that behaviour are members of the public. This country is going to go from strength to strength because of it.” Not to mention, he said, because of its people, saying, “We are one nation.”