MARY KLUK

Re-elected for a second term were Ronnie Herr, president; Jeremy Droyman and Alana Baranov (1^st and 2^nd vice president) and Gary Baranov (honorary treasurer). I congratulate them, and the entire committee, on a very successful term of office and wish them all further success in the year to come.

We were privileged to have as keynote speaker Dr Taddy Blecher, whose topic was “How one Jewish boy is helping change SA for good”. His message was that every one of us is capable of contributing to their society and should strive to do so.

Taddy himself is well known for the outstanding work he does in the field of education for those from underprivileged backgrounds. This culminated in his co-founding the Community and Individual Development City Campus, an accredited university offering degrees in Bachelor of Business Administration.

In devoting himself in this way to the upliftment through education, Taddy had a wonderful role-model in his father Dr John Blecher, a gynaecologist who in addition to putting dozens of members of his own family through university, devoted two days of each working week to treating inmates (including political prisoners) in the women’s jail.

As he spoke about this remarkable individual, it struck me once again how many unsung heroes and heroines we have in our community, people who without ever seeking any kudos for themselves and regardless of race or creed, selflessly devoted themselves to helping the needy and vulnerable in their society.

Just has Taddy Blecher was inspired to accomplish what he has by the example set by his father, so can we likewise be inspired by the plethora of projects and good works carried out by members of our community and look for ways in which we ourselves can become more involved.

Two days prior to the CKNJ AGM, I was in Cape Town to participate in a media workshop for Board members and communal leaders. The panel included academics and media professionals, who provided interesting insights on how the media works and on how the Board can better communicate what it is doing to its own constituency and to the wider society.

Congratulations to the Cape Council for organising this stimulating and thought-provoking event.

Exam alert

At this time of the year, university students are starting to gear up for their year-end exams. The Board has already been alerted to several cases of clashes with Yomtov and is working to resolve them.

I would like to take this opportunity to urge all students to carefully check their exam timetables and report any clashes to our National office as timeously as possible (sajbd@sajbd.org).

The Board will assist in every way that it can in dealing with such problems, but it cannot do so effectively if they are brought to our attention only at the last minute.    

• Listen to Charisse Zeifert on Jewish Board Talk, 101.9 ChaiFM every Friday 12:00 – 13:00.