chairman’s message and ABSA message page 2 It’s difficult to believe that we’re entering the last stretch of 2024. As we reflect on the past few months, we’re encouraged by the green shoots visible in our economy and business environment, and the positive sentiment that has emerged in the wake of the national elections. While there remains a lot of work ahead, the long-term impact of continuous gradual and collaborative progress should not be underestimated. Behind every success story, there are often insightful anecdotes, highlighting that success is rarely a linear achievement. This is also the case for the nominees of the 25th Absa Jewish Achiever Awards. Woven through each of these stories is a golden thread – one of dedication, ingenuity, and perseverance, and an ability to rise above new challenges. As we celebrate the nominees’ achievements and recognise the contributions they’ve made across the arts, business, humanities, and community landscape, we’re reminded of the power of collaboration, inclusivity, and commitment to lasting impact. To all the nominees, we congratulate you and celebrate your success! John Tshabalala Managing Executive: Private Banking Absa Relationship Banking SA’s backbone and proud of it Chairperson’s message The power of collaboration 2 Title sponsor’s message Last year, we gathered for the Absa Jewish Achiever Awards in the shadow of a looming war. Our wounds were wet, our grief was real. Over the past year, so much and so little has changed. It’s said that Jews don’t have history, we have memory. We commemorate and celebrate our past as if we ourselves were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt; as if we ourselves were the victims of the attempted genocide of Haman in Persia; as if we ourselves were banished to exile and our temple destroyed. Next month, we will light the candles of Chanukah as if we ourselves were liberated from colonial occupation and were rekindling the oil lamps in our temple 2 200 years ago. Our past is our present, our lives inextricably intertwined in a mosaic that blends our rich 3 000-year old history, our inspiring present, and our dreams for the future. Although we have been celebrating these Jewish Achiever Awards for the past 25 years, our community has nourished the dusty red soil of Africa for the past 125 years. Our hearts beat to the rhythm of the soul of Africa. In that time, we have built this country and dug deep into its earth. We have been its refugees, its labourers, its trade-union movement. We have fought in its wars, we rose in the streets in revolt against injustice, we built its stores, healed its sick, drafted its laws, and fed its poor. It’s with unabashed arrogance that I ask where this country would have been today if not for its Jewish community. A community that has woven itself into the very fabric of our nation’s identity. Today, we stand on the shoulders of the giants who came before us, unbridled by our nation’s dark history, and enormously proud of all we have done. We didn’t land on these shores as privileged colonialists; we arrived as penniless refugees fleeing pogroms and persecution. In an inhospitable land, in a troubled divided nation, the Jewish community took root and flourished. We travelled from town to town smousing goods; and we laboured on farms, in sweatshops sewing suits, and selling coal. We didn’t just build businesses, we built a society, a nation. Just as John Vorster and Hendrik Verwoerd protested our arrival in this country, so did the clubs of privilege deny us entry and proclaim, “No Jews; no dogs.” Barney Barnato, who donated the land to build the Rand Club, was denied membership to the very club who took his land as a gift. So we built our own, we sought not their approval, their status, or their largess. We didn’t seek their approval then, and we don’t seek it now. Our community has been a beacon of light in this country. So, at the Absa Jewish Achiever Awards, we celebrate not only our new winners but the remarkable South Africans we have recognised over the past 25 years. It is with unabashed arrogance that we ask the question, “Where would South Africa be without us?” Where would the mining community be without Barney Barnato, Ernest Oppenheimer, Lionel Phillips, Sir Mick Davis, Ivan Glasenberg, or Gary Nagle? Would we have a stock exchange or a manufacturing sector without Sammy Marks? Would we have supermarkets without Checkers, Shoprite, Pick n Pay, Woolworths, Clicks, Dis-Chem, KosherWorld, and OK Bazaars? Where would we shop without Mr Price, Foschini, Woolworths, Truworths, Ellerines, Core Group, or @Home? Would we have had shopping malls without Donny Gordon and Michael Rapp? Where would we insure without Liberty or Discovery, or holiday without Sol Kerzner and Arthur Gillis? Would we have internet without Dave Frankel and the Apteker brothers, or hospitals without Jackie Shevel and Richard Friedland? Where would the struggle against apartheid be without Joe Slovo and Ruth First, Arthur Goldreich and Harold Wolpe? Who would have stood up against apartheid if there was no Helen Suzman? These are some of many who risked everything so the nation could be free. Would we have a Constitution without Arthur Chaskalson and Albie Sachs, or even have written the Freedom Charter at Kliptown? Where would we eat without Nando’s, Spur, or McDonald’s? What would we drink without SAB Miller, and who would have given our people water to drink if not for Sivan Yaari? Who would have fed the poor if not for Operation Hunger and Ikamva Labantu, Afrika Tikkun, The Angel Network, and the Kirsh family? Where would South Africa be without the music of Johnny Clegg – “Le Zoulu Blanc”, the hysterical biting drag of Pieter-Dirk Uys, the drawings of William Kentridge, the cartoons of Dov Fedler, the writings of Nadine Gordimer, and the photography of David Goldblatt? We are the intel inside, the trailblazers, the visionaries, the engine behind this nation. Our lists are long, and your time is short, so forgive me for not listing the thousands – no tens of thousands – of Jews who have made this nation greater than its potential. We celebrate and recognise the building of this nation together with our partners. We do this each year together with our title sponsor, Absa, which is deeply committed to telling the inspiring stories of our nation. It banks our nation so that we can sleep at night; it funds our businesses so we can employ people and feed families; it is the epitome of a bank that builds a nation. Absa has been our partner in this holy mission for the past 23 years, finding the extraordinary and unique, and celebrating all that can be achieved in South Africa. I, too, wish to thank our other sponsors who are so deeply committed to the development of South Africa: the Kirsh family; the Ellerine family; the Lubner family; the Ichikowitz family; the Mann Made family; and Europcar, which is so determined to recognise women leaders and create role models for all of South Africa. Our teams of organisers: Dina Diamond, Jodi Kramer, Dori Weil, Britt Landsman, Peta Krost, Sandy Furman, Dylan Berger, Nkateko Mkasi, Makgale Mohuba, and Felicity Kantor complete a world beating team. Our five panels of judges, 35 in total, vet all contestants, and subject all winners to due-diligence. This contribution to the Absa Jewish Achiever Awards is immeasurable. A total of 825 people were nominated, and we have 11 winners. Over the past 13 months, we have witnessed the rise of bigoted Jew hatred in this country. Yet we are resilient, we will not slumber nor sleep, we are the moral conscience of our nation. It is us who built this country, and it is us that will continue to employ our nation and educate our youth. We are the ripples of hope in a river of debris. Our job is to turn those ripples into a tsunami of love. Howard Sackstein Chairperson, SA Jewish Report and Absa Jewish Achiever Awards
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