SA Jews meet crisis head on

SHAUN ZAGNOEV

Our success in negotiating these tough times will very much depend on how much we help one another, especially those whose livelihoods have been imperilled. Many members of our community will need assistance in getting back on their feet, and to the greatest extent possible, we should support those communal organisations that are doing outstanding work in helping them do so. At the same time, we must continue to support initiatives aimed at alleviating hunger and hardship in the greater society.

I have mentioned previously some of the inspiring projects that have been launched since the lockdown and before to help those most in need. Joining traditional social-outreach organisations like Afrika Tikkun, the Union of Jewish Women, and United Sisterhood are relatively new humanitarian bodies like the Angel Network, Cadena-SA, and Fingertips of Africa. To this should be added the numerous initiatives being conducted by smaller, ad hoc Jewish-headed groups under the Community Action Network (CAN) umbrella throughout Johannesburg, and the work of our regional bodies in Pretoria, Cape Town, Durban, and other centres.

Through the South African Jewish Board of Deputies’ (SAJBD’s) Food Relief Fund launched last month (largely thanks to a generous donation for that purpose by a community member), we are contributing to a number of these outstanding organisations. On Monday, our national director, Wendy Kahn, accompanied Yehuda Lazarus from Fingertips of Africa to view its work in Alexandra.

This remarkable charity, founded by Yehuda in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, is supporting seven organisations. Beneficiaries include the homeless in and around the Edenvale/Greenstone area, a home for abused women and children, grandparents in Alexandra informal settlements taking care of younger generations, and orphaned and child-headed homes.

Another organisation our fund is supporting is Boikanyo – The Dion Herson Foundation. Founded by Marilyn Bassin to look after indigent children and their caregivers in Gauteng’s poorest townships, this organisation has since the beginning of the lockdown been working with the e’Pap Foundation and Angel Network to reach some of the farthest-flung regions of the country. Most recently, the Save a Soul project, sponsored by the SAJBD, provided three-weeks’ worth of food parcels to various villages in the Giyani district of Limpopo.

We applaud the life-saving work that is being done by Jewish organisations and individuals in all parts of South Africa, and are proud to be able to participate in it. Much remains to be done, but when looking back on this difficult and traumatic period, we know at least that at the moment of great crisis in our country’s history, South African Jewry hasn’t been found wanting.

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