Raising concerns at highest level

Events in Cape Town over the past six months were the main subject of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies’ (SAJBD’s) meeting in Pretoria on 5 July with National Police Commissioner General Sehlahle Fannie Masemola and other senior officials from the South African Police Service. The inflammatory nature of much of the rhetoric and activities against our community during this period has become a genuine cause for concern, and as the representative voice of the Jewish community, we felt the time had come to raise this at the highest level. During the meeting, National Director Wendy Kahn gave a sobering PowerPoint presentation on how historically, incitement has led to antisemitic violence, including in South Africa. We greatly appreciated the warm welcome we received, and left feeling assured that any threats to the Jewish community are being taken very seriously.

Lessons from the Srebrenica massacre

Meanwhile, on the international stage, SAJBD National Vice-President Mary Kluk continues to do us proud. Last week, she wrote about her attendance at the annual Claims Conference meeting in New York, and on Monday, 10 July, she was in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where she participated in a Srebrenica Collective Memory Conference. Srebrenica was the site of one of the worst atrocities to take place in Europe after World War II, with the mass killing of more than 8 000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys in and around the town. The conference was a joint initiative of the World Jewish Conference (WJC) and the Srebrenica Memorial Center.

Mary has long served on the WJC executive, initially in her capacity as SAJBD national chairperson and thereafter as an elected member in her own right. She continues to chair the important WJC security committee. On the local front, Mary has over the years increasingly devoted herself to Holocaust education, most notably in her capacity of founder and director of the Durban Holocaust & Genocide Centre. At the Srebrenica conference, she was a speaker on a panel titled “Preserving memory, memorials, museums, and education”.

Snow in Joburg

The usual Monday morning blues were somewhat dispelled this week with Johannesburg and other parts of the country experiencing their first real snow falls for many a year. It was a real moment of joy for Joburgers across the spectrum, particularly in the wake of so many difficult months of loadshedding, post-COVID-19 pandemic rebuilding, and other pressing challenges facing our city. For a few brief hours, everyone was able to share and simply enjoy the rarity value and appreciate the freshness and beauty of it all. At the same time, however, we need also to remember those who lack warm clothes and shelter, and who urgently need whatever assistance those more fortunate than them can provide. As I wrote in my last column, there are many Jewish-led social upliftment programmes underway that help relieve the hardship so many are experiencing, including through clothing and blanket drives. The Board, through its Jubuntu project, is documenting and in due course will be publicising these initiatives. I again urge those involved in this area to get in touch on sajbd@sajbd.org.

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