When the going gets tough.…

This week marks the anniversary of the devastating outbreak of violence and looting that gripped large parts of KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng last year. The impact of those traumatic few days continue to be felt, particularly for those whose very livelihoods were destroyed virtually overnight.

In the aftermath of the unrest, the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD), in partnership with the Angel Network, Union of Jewish Women, and other nongovernment organisations, was involved in relief and recovery efforts in both affected provinces. Our KwaZulu-Natal Council instituted a community helpline for those seeking advice or assistance and with its affiliates, provided emergency food relief, including Shabbat meals and medication for community members affected by the violence. In the case of the wider community, the SAJBD delivered food and other necessities to aged- and children’s homes in Inanda and Phoenix, assisted Ditau Primary School in Orlando East to continue its children’s feeding programme after all its food supplies were stolen, and participated in a clean-up initiative at the Mayfield Mall in Daveyton.

If measured against how much more needed to be done, the impact of these initiatives wouldn’t be great, but they brought immediate help to real people on the ground at a time of acute need. They further provided opportunities for those who wanted to do something about the situation to make a practical contribution rather than simply deploring it from the side lines.

Bombarded as we are by so many bad-news stories of violence and tragedy, we should also remember how much good work is being done, generally behind the scenes and out of the public eye, by ordinary people wanting to make a meaningful difference. We saw that very much during the COVID-19 period, when uncounted individuals from health and social workers through to religious and community leaders, humanitarian activists, teachers and many others did so much to help South Africans get through the crisis. Many such people in our own community came to the fore.

It was during the early stages of COVID-19 that the Board established a Food Relief Fund to help alleviate the plight of those especially hard hit by the lockdown. With the generous assistance of certain donors in the community and in close partnership with the Angel Network, we have since been able to provide nearly R30-million’s worth of food and essential supplies to communities in distress countrywide.

From our tradition (Pirkei Avot/Ethics of the Fathers), we learn that if it’s not incumbent upon us to complete the task, neither are we free to abstain from it altogether. The fundamental message we can take from this is that we all need to ensure  we’re doing everything we reasonably can to make things right. Our response to the many daunting challenges facing our country should be – even when small and seemingly inconsequential – to strive to make a positive difference as a community and wherever possible in our day-to-day lives as individuals. Through this, we not only contribute in a practical sense, but do much to counter our own debilitating feelings of pessimism and helplessness.

• Listen to Charisse Zeifert on Jewish Board Talk, 101.9 ChaiFM, every Friday from 12:00 to 13:00.