click to dowload our latest edition
CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER
There are so many circles, some so large that they take decades to close. In 2005, the colour orange emerged as a potent emblem of resistance...
I was striving to be responsible. It was Sunday night, and I had sensibly gone to bed at a reasonable hour. All was peaceful until 23:00,...
One of my favourite Joan Rivers comedy sketches is when she tells the audience that although she is Jewish, she decided to erect a Christmas tree...
Last Friday evening, while enjoying what I thought was a quiet and civilised family dinner, I “allegedly” made an inappropriate comment. My family are well aware...
Kobus Johannes Hercules van Jaarsveld wasn’t joking when he said, “Jy lyk soos a Jood vandag.” To him, I did indeed look like a Jew that...
My day starts at 04:00 with my coffee machine telling me what to do. She either requires me to “add water”, fill her bean counter, empty...
It’s not complicated, they say. As long as you buy your vegetables from Woolworths using your Discovery card, but receive your salary on your Investec card,...
I was never quite certain what delinquent turtles were doing with plastic straws, but I know that whatever it was, it was bad enough to get...
First it was the American podcast guy. We were in his studio in Ramat Gan outside Tel Aviv recording an interview, when he asked, “Is there...
I say this in earnest. The story of the Israeli professor who was invited, disinvited, and then – spoiler alert – reinvited to speak at the...
I went cold at the thought. Imagine a Jewish president of the United States trying to work out who to invite to the inauguration, who to...
I’m in the middle of an argument with ChatGPT that is no closer to being resolved today than it was when it began a week ago....
It’s unlikely ever to happen. But just once, I would like to attend an honest funeral. One where the rabbi doesn’t articulate what a loving family...
Thanks to the insistence of my wife, my feet are ready for a holiday. They are shiny and smooth and prepared for whatever my Birkenstocks throw...
You know about my knee. It’s a painfully short story made long. I tripped during the warmup at a Krav Maga session, fell embarrassingly badly, and...
It was yellow. And it cost R11 000. It came after the Valiant Regal, with a missing “g” on the left, which meant it read “Re-al”....
True or not, it’s a great story. And it goes like this. Atatürk, in his efforts to modernise Turkey, sought to reduce the influence of traditional...
Clever Hans was never on Twitter (or X). He didn’t have Instagram or Facebook accounts, and amassed no followers on TikTok. The likely reason is that...
It started with glace cherries. Or more accurately, when our hosts thanked us for the cake that we didn’t send them. It was an old-fashioned chocolate...
We had big dreams back then. We were filled with hope, glitter, love, and rainbows. It was the 1990s. The transition from the apartheid regime to...
One of the most annoying statements is, “Well, that’s 30 minutes we’ll never get back”, often said when reflecting on an experience that was a waste...
Adriaan Basson, News24 editor, is fortunate that my mother is no longer alive. So too is “Hogarth” who crowned me “Mampara of the Week” in the...
One would think that considering all the praying we are about to do over Rosh Hashanah and then Shabbat, someone might remember to ask G-d for...
There’s nothing quite as anxiety producing as a relaxed host – those who nonchalantly wave their arms as if they haven’t a care in the world,...
Rumours that I sustained an injury while cage fighting might be greatly exaggerated. By me. The truth is worse. Because it could be argued that the...
To have adult children is to know that though you are expected never to make a wrong decision, you always will. It’s to know when to...
I would hate to be G-d. Whereas having the power to do pretty much anything must be cool, the job comes with terms and conditions that...
There are two types of people in the world: those who are happy for their WhatsApp phone contacts to see when they were last seen, and...
In the unlikely event of my forgetting to look in the mirror, I have social media to remind me that I’m bald. For good measure, a...
They walk among us. But they aren’t one of us. They are the people pleasers. And they not only invite unhappiness and misery into our personal...
It’s been a long winter. And while it might not have been colder than it usually is, it has felt more desolate. Perhaps because the season...
I’m becoming increasingly concerned that Penny might be an antisemite. Or that even if she isn’t an overt Jew hater, she harbours a deep seated and...
The social media post didn’t go as she would have liked. Because although “get ready with me” reels are all the rage, no-one wants to see...
Honestly, childbirth isn’t what it used to be. I’m not talking about the 19th century, when the mortality rate was higher than the Zambian gross domestic...
It’s hard to imagine a more colonialist endeavour than the Olympic Games. It was, after all, the invention of Greece, one of the greatest land-capturing nations...
It must be one of the more perplexing aspects of the 7 October war: how is it possible that the “woke” left and Hamas terrorists have...
It might not be the same as the story of Purim, but it’s worth celebrating. South Africa and her Jewish community have once again defied the...
Arguably one of the most annoying phrases known to man must be, “I told you so.” For generations, wives have reminded husbands of their unheeded warnings,...
It’s not difficult to spot a fellow South African anywhere in the world. At a restaurant, they’ll be the ones trying to get the attention of...
“I’ve been very angry with you.” Pause. “For years!” he said. And then he went quiet. Clearly, he was waiting for me to apologise. Which I...
