Time for Israelis to pray for South Africa

For as long as I’m able to remember, we have always added a number of prayers into our Shabbat morning service. Aside from what was prescribed by the rabbis of yesteryear, we have continued to add and add, but somehow never seem to remove any.

It wouldn’t surprise me at all if in 70 years’ time, the Shabbat morning service has so many additions that it becomes a full day affair. In this sense, I’m grateful that I won’t be around to have to endure that.

Somewhere during the service, “the congregation will now rise” for a prayer for the sick, for the South African government, for the welfare of the state of Israel, and for missing soldiers. There might even be more.

I believe it’s time to revisit this. Whereas there’s no doubt that the sick could do with our prayers, as could missing soldiers, I’m wondering if we should still be intoning a prayer for the state of Israel. Especially considering that it is in a much better place than we are. So much so, that I believe that they should be praying for us and not the other way around.

Ahead of Yom Ha’atzmaut, it might be the perfect time to reconsider. Given the state of the state of South Africa, I recommend instead that communities in Israel start adding a prayer for us in this country sometimes during their Shabbat services.

We have certainly done our praying bit, and I believe that it’s well time they returned the favour. This isn’t to say that we aren’t concerned for the welfare of both the Jewish state and her people, but I genuinely think that we have significantly more to worry about than they do.

The United Nations supports my contention. In its World Happiness Report of 2021, it offers unequivocal support for my motion. According to said index, South Africa is listed as the 103rd most happy out of the index’s total of 149 nations, whereas Israel came in at 12th place. That’s an improvement of two spots, in spite of the survey being conducted before the country went to its fourth election in a matter of two years. And yet, we pray for them?

Consider the vaccine roll-out. At the time of writing, according to the New York Times vaccination index, 0.5 out of every 100 South Africans received the vaccine compared with 114 for every 100 in Israel (the Pfizer vaccine requires more than one dose). Or to put it more simply, 269 000 South Africans have been jabbed against the virus versus more than 10 million doses in Israel. It’s us who need their prayers, not the other way around.

And the economy and unemployment? Indeed, it might be true that property is expensive in Israel and there are certain demographics who suffer the ills of poverty. However, compare the booming start-up nation with our struggling economy, and it’s clear who should be praying for whom.

And that’s without Eskom.

I concede that my motivation is perhaps more about time in synagogue than it is about the principle. But even given my disingenuous agenda, it’s worth considering just how much prayers for South Africa are needed.