A milestone special read from the Board

ANT KATZ

“2016 marks 175 years since the founding in Cape Town of South Africa’s first Jewish religious congregation,” says David Saks. This, he says, is “an event that in turn marks the formal birth of the South African Jewish community.”

And so, to mark this milestone, The Board has devoted this Rosh Hashanah special issue of Jewish Affairs to looking back on, and celebrating, this heritage.

“This year Jewish Affairs has achieved a milestone of its own, namely 75 years of continuous publication since the appearance, in June 1941, of the first issue of the journal.” David told JR Online today.

“With the support of our loyal subscribers and advertisers, we hope to continue in this proud tradition.”

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This issue begins with an introductory section comprising David Saks’ own reflections and a year-by-year photographic portrait of how the story of SA Jewry has unfolded. David, himself, is an accomplished author and journalist.

RIGHT: The cover of this edition

It is followed by a section looking at some of the main regions where Jewish life developed, says David, like Cape Town, the Eastern Cape, Johannesburg and the rural areas and smaller country towns. The concluding section looks at specific areas of Jewish endeavour – politics, the rabbinate, law and the arts.

A book reviews section also takes a look at some recent publications of Jewish interest.

David says the Board hopes this special edition “will itself come to be regarded as one of the milestone publications brought out by Jewish Affairs over the decades.”