Rabbi unbothered by Kathrada criticism

ANT KATZ

Although Kathrada was buried in terms of the Muslim faith, it had been his wish that prayers were also said by Jewish, Christian and Hindu religious leaders. In the words of 2014 Jewish Achievers Awardee, Jonathan Jansen: being in a place “where Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu and other faiths come together in a broad swathe of South African humanity to remember a man who fought for all of us. For a moment, just a moment, it felt good to hope again,” he wrote afterwards.

Kathrada was a staunch Boycott, Divest, Sanction (BDS) supporter and angered many Jewish leaders by his strong anti-Israel stand. However, those who knew him well insisted that he was a humanist above all else.

While he was vociferous in his stance that Israel was an apartheid state, he was vehemently opposed to being called anti-Semitic. He and his wife, Barbara Hogan, have been Rabbi Shaked’s guests at Beit Emanuel shul services a number of times, says the rabbi, who was not concerned about his or Kathrada’s critics.

Shaked, ​​pictured at right. is a member of the Kathrada Foundation and pointed out that a number of the Foundation’s members had attended a special Human Rights Shabbat Service at Beit Emanuel last year. Kathrada was not able to attend due to his ill health.

Of the funeral, Jansen said: “On and off the stage, no one racial or ethnic or religious group dominated the event.

“Show me another country where the Anglican Archbishop prays at a Muslim funeral; where a white man chairs the proceedings to remember a leader from a black liberation movement; …and where the widow of the black man being buried is a white woman who gave her life to the struggle for freedom.”

The faith leaders who said prayers at the funeral were Molana Bham, Archbishop Thabo Makgoba, Guru Jay Naidoo and Rabbi Shaked.

Shaked says he chose to read – in both Hebrew and English – psalms that would resonate with the multi-ethnic audience. He first read Psalm 15: “O L-rd, who will sojourn in Your tent, who will dwell upon Your holy mount? …” followed by Psalm 23: “The L-rd is my shepherd…”

“I was asked not to make a speech, but to deliver prayers,” says Rabbi Shaked, adding that he “was the least important person there”.

The funeral became a political catalyst for change after it was disclosed that Kathrada had written to President Jacob Zuma a year ago asking him to stand down. The family asked Zuma that if he attended he shouldn’t speak. He never attended and a State memorial, planned for Saturday, was later cancelled.

The funeral saw the first open chastisement of Zuma by high-ranking ANC politicians like immediate past-President Kgalema Motlanthe. The following day, at midnight, Zuma made his Cabinet move and added impetus to the #ZumaMustFall campaign and the marches that will be taking place countrywide this week.

As Jansen said after the funeral: “Show me a country where a sitting president of a developing country is told to step down in a letter from the deceased stalwart of his own party.”

Asked about the speed with which the anger at the President had grown since the funeral, Rabbi Shaked said: “Zuma will go, and all the troubles will stay.”

Just as in Israel, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gets blamed for everything that goes wrong, said Shaked, “when Netanyahu goes, do you think the problems will go away?”