Cape Jewry integral to Mother City, says mayor

“The Jewish community has always played an invaluable part in making Cape Town a city of hope,” said Cape Town Executive Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis, speaking at the Cape South African Jewish Board of Deputies (Cape SAJBD) 120th anniversary celebration on 19 November.

“This incredible impact is not by accident or default, but by a constant effort to serve and strengthen the Jewish community and the broader City of Cape Town and its people,” he said.

“There aren’t many organisations that are still around and active 120 years after their inception,” Hill-Lewis said. “That’s an extraordinary span of time.” Painting a picture of the Cape Town into which the Cape SAJBD was founded, he reflected how electric trams were the main form of transport, the foreshore hadn’t been built, the iconic City Hall was still under construction, the country was emerging from the Anglo-Boer War, and the old Mouille Point lighthouse, powered by sheep fat oil, was about to be replaced by the lighthouse that still stands today.

“It was a thriving little port city, and it was in this almost unrecognisable world that the Cape SAJBD was founded to nurture the safety, welfare, and development of the Jewish community in the Western Cape,” he said. “Through two world wars, apartheid, liberation, a new democracy and a pandemic, you have been here. And through that time, you have gone from strength to strength, playing an ever-increasing role in the prosperity of the people of Cape Town.”

Hill-Lewis said the success of the Jewish community has had a knock-on, multiplying effect on the entire city, with Jewish businesses boosting the economy and giving thousands dignified work and a sustainable livelihood.

“The Jewish community’s investment in basic and higher education has also had an impact on the city, and the way the community supports its own has taken a burden off the state’s shoulders and been an inspiration to all. You are a real community, in every sense of the word.”

Hill-Lewis said people asked him many questions about Cape Town’s success, how it was on a more upward trajectory than the rest of the country. “There are many reasons, but something that sets us apart is that we have active and motivated communities, who each in their own way are rolling up their sleeves to make a difference. We have the most active civil society in the country, and this is especially evident in the Jewish community.

“The Cape Town Jewish community certainly punches above its weight, and this can be seen in how it has played a leading role in Cape politics, with no less than 13 Jewish mayors holding office in the past 120 years,” he said, recalling each of their names and the years they served. “I’m honoured to follow in their footsteps.”

“Mazeltov on this milestone celebration,” said Hill-Lewis. “I know that Jewish history is measured in millennia, not centuries, so you are only 12% into a long and prosperous presence in the City of Cape Town. I have no doubt that the next chapter will be just as impressive, impactful, and productive, continuing to contribute to the well-being of the Jewish community and wider society.”

Cape SAJBD Executive Director Daniel Bloch said it was important for the Cape SAJBD to celebrate this milestone among friends, of which there are many, from across South African society. He reflected how the SAJBD not only works to protect the civil and religious rights of the Jewish community, but engages outwardly on a range of societal challenges, from gender-based violence to climate change, to leadership development.

Cape SAJBD Chairperson Adrienne Jacobson emphasised that the organisation “stands on the shoulders of giants”. She reflected that the first Cape SAJBD chairperson was Morris Alexander, a Yiddish-speaking lawyer who challenged a 1902 law that immigrants had to have literacy in a European language, but excluded Yiddish. After galvanising the community to fight this, Alexander and his compatriots formed the Cape SAJBD in 1904, continuing to safeguard Jewish civil rights, religious life, and culture in the Western Cape, which has continued to this day.

Jacobson said that the events of 7 October “shifted the Jewish world on its axis”, and that her colleagues in the Cape SAJBD and nationally had faced the unprecedented challenges with courage and “strong, principled leadership, working tirelessly for our community”.

She said the Cape Town Jewish community had faced virulent hate, from pro-Hamas protests to vicious boycotts, online bullying and toxicity, bullying, doxing, and threats. “However, we have risen to meet each of these challenges, understanding that this isn’t just a threat to the Jewish community, but to all democracies and the constitutional order.” She also thanked supporters for their friendship and solidarity.

Cape Town member of Parliament and past president of the Cape SAJBD, Michael Bagraim, called the organisation both “the sword and the shield” of the Jewish community, fighting for and protecting its rights and civil liberties. He expressed positivity about the future of South Africa and the country, saying the government of national unity had brought a “sea change in Parliament”, with anti-Israel sentiment lessening by the day. “The South African Jewish community has a bright future,” Bagraim said.

“It appears that reports of the death of the South African Jewish community have been greatly exaggerated,” quipped SAJBD National Chairperson Professor Karen Milner, saying that predictions about the demise of the community have been ongoing for decades. “Yet we are still here, and in one glorious week, we celebrated the national SAJBD’s 120th anniversary, the Shabbos Project, the Absa Jewish Achiever Awards, and this event.

“In the past year, we have survived the storms that this city is famous for,” Milner said. “The Cape community has borne the brunt of an ugly rise of antisemitism, but come the moment, come the man – or the men and women of the Cape SAJBD – who have stood up against those who want to make us feel unwelcome in this city.

“You are in the middle of the arena, and as hard at it has been, there’s no-one else we would rather have alongside us at the national SAJBD,” she said. “We all know it’s worthwhile to fight so hard for this community because it’s a community so worth fighting for.”