SA Jewry dwindles; not for the usual reasons

GEOFF SIFRIN

Jews have always been on the move, everywhere. They came here in the late 1800s and early 1900s from Europe to escape anti-Semitism and seek a better life.

It is astonishing that after the terrible things that happened in Europe in the last century, including the Holocaust, Jews are in distress again and wanting to leave. History keeps replaying itself.

Three countries serve as examples: In Spain, Barcelona’s Chief Rabbi Meir Bar-Hen warned last week after terrorist attacks in which 14 victims and five suspected terrorists died in Barcelona and Cambrils: “Jews are not here permanently.” The attacks were not aimed specifically at Jews.

“I tell my congregants: Don’t think we’re here for good… Better [get out] early than late.” He calls Spain a “hub of Islamist terror for all of Europe”.

In France last year, Paris’ Synagogue de la Victoire Rabbi Moshe Sebbag claimed every French Jew is considering leaving because of anti-Semitism. French Jews number between 500 000 to 600 000. Many will not do so, because they fear the upheaval in their lives.

A recent Human Rights First survey said anti-Semitic incidents in France had risen dramatically in the last few years; and some 82 per cent of Jews had experienced anti-Semitism, but not reported it.

One leader said Jews in Paris and elsewhere feel “they can’t safely wear a kippah outside their homes or send their children to public schools, where Muslim children bully Jewish children”.

In Britain, an anti-Semitism survey shows British Jews feeling directly threatened by BDS’ anti-Israel activities; some 31 per cent had “considered” leaving the country. And some 37 per cent of respondents said they avoided “displaying outward signs of their Judaism in public”.

How does South Africa fit into this picture? The reasons Jews leave are starkly different from Europe. It is not anti-Semitism, which remains very low – indeed, displays of racism are generally confronted quickly and harshly by the media and government. Jews have little fear of identifying themselves publicly as Jews.

But there is increasing fear about the country’s future, as it teeters ominously under President Jacob Zuma’s corrupt and inept government. Uncertainty is rampant about future prospects, epitomised by the downgrading to “junk status” of its economy by respected international rating agencies.

Questions are asked about how minority groups – such as the white Jewish community, Afrikaners and others – will be treated in future.

Many younger Jews, when asked, will say they are emigrating not so much for themselves, but for their children’s future, as they witness the decline in the quality of schools and universities, diminishing prospects for whites in finding jobs in the face of affirmative action policies, and other factors.

One local leader most familiar with the issue is Rabbi Moshe Silberhaft, known as the “travelling rabbi”, who takes care of 220 Jewish cemeteries containing 30 000 graves, in rural areas and small towns where once flourishing Jewish communities no longer exist.

In his address to Sunday’s SAJBD conference in Johannesburg, he said one of the questions he is most often asked is how many South African Jews remain. The only answer he could give – rather glumly, as his expression revealed – is that “the numbers are down”.

The declining numbers cannot be denied. On a more positive note, the real challenge going forward is for South African Jewry to recalibrate itself as a smaller community, but staunchly part of this country and involved in all its affairs. The opportunity is there.

Read Geoff Sifrin’s regular columns on his blog sifrintakingissue.wordpress.com