chanukah lamp - hashalom

T H E M O N T H L Y J O U R N A L O F T H E K W A Z U L U - N A T A L J E W I S H C O M M U N I T Y

December 2013 / January 2014 Volume 18 No. 4 Established 1923

CHANUKAH LAMP Poland, early nineteenth century

E D I T O R I A LContents

The views expressed in the pages of Hashalom are not necessarily those of the Editorial Board or any other organisation or religious body unless otherwise stated. Hashalom merely reflects views of that particular organisation or individual.

Hashalom Editorial Board:Chairman: Prof Marcus Arkin Editor: Prof Antony ArkinCommitee: Dr Issy Fisher, Ms Diane McColl, Mrs Lauren Shapiro.Production Manager/Secretary: Mrs Mikki Norton

Notice to Organisations/Contributors:All material to be submitted by email to [email protected] DEADLINE FOR THE FEBRUARY ISSUE: 10 Jan 2014

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Hashalom is published under the auspices of the Council of KwaZulu-Natal Jewry, the KwaZulu-Natal Zionist Council and the Durban Jewish Club.

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2 HASHALOM December 2013 / January 2014

Editorial page 2In Perspective page 3JEWISH WORLDFirst steps taken to identify trove of Holocaust-era art found in Munich page 4 Ambassador Alan Baker (Retired) Letter to U.S.Secretary of State John Kerry page 5Turning to poetry, 75 years after Kristallnacht page 6Chanukah: a double holiday as it was at first page 7ISRAELWith Israeli help India can feed the world page 8In the typhoon-ravaged Philippines, Israel brings its experience in disaster relief page 9Center Field: Yes, Minister Lapid, Israel can beboth Jewish and Democratic page 10

COMMUNITY NEWSBubkes page 11Past Tense page 12-13Young Israel Centre page 13DIVOTE page 14Beth Shalom page 15Eden College page 17Durban United Hebrew Congregation page 18Wotsup Wizo page 19Umhlanga Jewish Day School page 20Moriah page 20Chaverim Project page 21Durban Progressive Jewish Congregation page 21Netzer page 21Talmud Torah page 22Talmud Torah Generations page 22JNF page 23KwaZulu-Natal Zionist Council page 25Union of Jewish Women page 26Council of KwaZulu-Natal Jewry page 27Durban Holocaust Centre page 28Above Board page 29Cooking with Judy & Linda page 29Social & Personal page 30 Diary of Events page 30

Visit our website: www.hashalom.co.za

Prof Antony Arkin

THE STRUGGLE OVER THE JORDAN VALLEY

One of the great privileges of attending the annual conferences of the World Zionist Organization and Jewish Agency in Jerusalem is seeing parts of Israel not usually

visited. In a recent discussion on BBC News Yolande Knell argued that the fate of the Jordan Valley is key to the Israel-Palestine talks. This bleak moonscape makes up a quarter of the West Bank. It was captured by Israel during the 1967 Six Day War, and most of it is still under Israel's military and administrative control. In a report in the Washington Post General John Allen argued ..."the most contentious issue under discussion is military control over the Jordan Valley". The fate of the valley is said to be one of the points on which Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are struggling to find a compromise.

The Israeli position is that "Israel will not return to the indefensible lines of 1967". Just one month after the War Deputy Prime Minister Yigal Allon proposed Israel retain territories of strategic importance for its defense that would replace the vulnerable 1967 lines. Legally Allon based himself on the UN Security Council Resolution 242 which according to its drafters, envisaged the creation of a new secure border that would replace the old armistice lines.

The Allon plan, which was largely based on Israel retaining the Jordan Valley has remained a critical component of Israeli military thinking. Thus on October 5, 1995, two years after Israel signed the Oslo Agreements, Prime Minister Rabin declared before the Knesset "The security border of the State of Israel will be located in the Jordan Valley, in the broadest meaning of the term". Even after he announced his disengagement plan Prime Minister Sharon told Ha'aretz on April 14, 2005 that Israel must continue to control the Jordan Valley. Israel's control is not only needed for defense against conventional attacks, but also for neutralizing the growing threat from advanced weapons that can be smuggled to terrorist organizations.

Minister Allon established two rows of settlements along the border parallel to the Jordan River. The Valley had very few Arab inhabitants, except for Jericho. The World Zionist Organization joined the IDF Nahal units to create the "security belt". Since 1967 the Valley has been transformed. The enormous disadvantages of high salt content in the soil, harsh climate and the total dependence on artificial irrigation have been overcome.

Agro-technical tehnologies have been developed, professional guidance has been given and research and development units established. The high temperature yields early ripening in the spring and late ripening in the autumn, allowing for high financial gains. The strong sun radiation encourages the growth of fruit and vegetables. The below average rainfall and moisture contribute to low infestation resulting in high quality crops. Treated waste water from Jerusalem has allowed agricultural production to be cultivated on 35000 dunam at a value of 500 million NIS.

These crops include 18000 dunam of top quality dates, with over 80% exported, 5000 dunam of table grapes, 50% of the yield is exported. Bell peppers are a major vegetable on 3500 dunam. Herbs and spices are grown on about 3000 dunam. These include basil, aragula, spearmint, tarragon and chives. Other crops include cherry tomatoes, eggplants, flowers, citrus, olives and pomegranates. After years of hard labour and searching for crops suitable for the harsh climate and arid land the farmers of the Jordan Valley have achieved remarkable success. Today the Valley comprises 66% of Israel's agricultural exports.

December 2013 / January 2014 HASHALOM 3

I N P E R S P E C T I V E

Prof Marcus Arkin

JEWISH FOLK BELIEFS AND SUPERSTITIONS

The notion that Jewish superstition exists separate from Jewish culture and religious belief is misleading. Superstition has a great deal in common with both science

and religion. In traditional, pre-modern communities religious belief, as defined by the Rabbis, and the beliefs of folk religion co-existed, albeit uneasily. Despite the fear that these beliefs seem at first glance to contradict Jewish notions of monotheism, the incorporation of a vast array of demons and other occult figures into a folk pantheon and their successful assimilation into religious ideology, is an old as the Bible itself.

Modern Biblical criticism indicates clearly that the Hebrews made extensive use of the myths and legends of neighbouring people shaping their own myths. Theodor Guster Customs and Folkways of Jewish Life says "It must be clearly understood that the expression ' Jewish folkways' is but an overall, comprehensive term covering what is in fact a manifold, heterogenous diversity. Indeed if there is one thing that the study of these folkways brings home, especially, it is that Jewish life is, and always has been, a sea fed by many rivers".

Light and water are two powerful agents used to dispel the evil intentions of demons. The Talmud mentions the value of carrying a torch at night to ward off evil spirits and light is virtually a universal element in ritual processes. Candles for example, are carried at wedding processions even when they take place during the day. The number three is particularly significant because it is commonly believed that even numbers are both unlucky and dangerous. Three, the first odd number after one, has a rich history as a favoured number in magic and religion.

Loud noises are supposed to be able to startle demons and frighten them away. The blowing of the Shofar, either by itself or in conjunction with specific holidays, has this effect, as does the breaking of glass at the wedding ceremony. Other acts of propitation include shaving the bride's head and the cutting a three-year-old child's hair on Lag B'Omer.

Deception and concealment are frequent elements in Jewish folk beliefs and ritual practice. Jewish weddings provide ample evidence of this. Guster relates that in the 15th century bridegrooms in the Rhineland wore mourning garb and covered their hair with ashes. This is an extreme expression of the implicit funereal aspect of the wedding ceremony and is carried out in order to fool evil forces. Both bride and groom fast prior to the wedding ceremony to enhance the notion of sobriety and mourning. Guster mentions the custom of not naming the new born child until the brit, since it is thought that the days which precede the brit are critical ones.

Amulets provide an important line of defence against evil spirits. The mezzuzah which is placed on the doorpost is seen as a particularly effective amulet and must be checked periodically to guard against eradication of key letters or phrases. Without the correct formulation, the inhabitants of the house might forfeit the protection they seek.

Births too were facilitated through magic. A woman in labour would be led to and from the threshold of her home and anything that could be opened such as drawers, was opened.

Even the key to the synagogue has its own special powers as an opening device useful in facilitating delivery.

Sympathetic magic has a negative side to it as well. Pregnant women should not step over ropes, fearful that the body will become entangled and die. Floors should not be swept or cleaned after someone leaves the house since this is customary procedure after someone dies. Babies should not be dressed by more than one person since this is how dead people are dressed (i.e. by the Chevra Kadisha). Even sewing buttons onto a piece of clothing while it is being worn creates the possibility of interfering with a person's ability to reason.

In Jewish folklore one's enemies become incensed at one's successes. As a protective device, laudatory remarks need to be accompanied by a phrase such as kin ayne hore (no evil eye). Since the evil eye and the spirits that provoked that cast it are provoked by success or great joy, enumerating people and wealth could lead to ruin. The proper counting of children, therefore, is as follows: nit eyn, nit tsvey, nit dray and so on (not one, not two, not three). The term "evil eye" was itself seen as a danger and frequently the euphemism "good eye" was used in its place.

The effect the evil eye on a child can be detected by the presence of fever, emaciation, and excessive yawning. The method of combating the spell was to place part of the garment of the suspected culprit on glowing coals together with dirt from the four corners of the room.The smoke that resulted was blown into the child's face. Another means of combating the evil eye was through mirrors which reflect the curse.

Folklorist Dov Noy divides beliefs regarding demons into three main categories. Those that suggest a direct contact, those that seem to compromise, and those that are designed to deceive. Folk beliefs speak to the broadest range of human consciousness. They serve the human need for a sense of order in the universe. By presenting a set of practices designed to bring about desired changes or prevent undesirables occurences, they soothe the pain of helplessness and create the illusion of control.


J E W I S H W O R L D

FIRST STEPS TAKEN TO IDENTIFY TROVE OF HOLOCAUST ERA ART FOUND IN MUNICH

Toby Axelrod

The extraordinary disclosure that a trove of more than 1,400 vanished artworks were found in a Munich apartment has raised more questions than it has answered.

What were these works, which were produced by masters such as Chagall, Matisse and Picasso? Who are their rightful owners? And where is Cornelius Gurlitt, the son of a Holocaust-era art dealer in whose apartment they were found?

Responding to growing international pressure, German authorities have begun to offer some preliminary answers. The state prosecutor in Augsburg has started to put names and images of the works into a database run by Germany's central office for lost cultural property, whose website promptly crashed due to an overload of requests.

Authorities also have confirmed that the collection contains at least 380 works that the Nazis confiscated during a 1937 campaign against so-called “degenerate art.”

Still, much remains unclear about the provenance of the works and how they came to be stored in Gurlitt's apartment.

The case has unfolded like a suspense novel. On Sept. 22, 2010, customs agents searching for tax evaders on a night train from Zurich to Munich caught Gurlitt with 9,000 euros, just under the legal limit. Suspecting him of tax evasion and embezzlement, investigators were intrigued to find no record of Gurlitt ever working, paying taxes or receiving Social Security.

On Feb. 28, 2012, customs investigators carried out a search and seizure order of his apartment. Over three days, they carted off more than 1,400 works of art -- many by artists banned by the Nazis, some of which were unknown to experts. The seizure was kept secret until last week, when it was revealed by the German magazine Focus. Since then, it has been the talk of the nation. “My reaction was ‘wow. Really wow!' " said Hannah Lessing, the secretary general of two Austrian government funds for Nazi victims who has worked to help heirs recover stolen art. “Maybe [now] there will be some people who inherited a whole house from their grandparents … and maybe they will ask themselves ‘where did this art come from?' "

The Munich find is by far the most significant discovery of Holocaust-era artwork, pieces of which occasionally surface over the years in auction houses, vaults and even abandoned cellars. In 2010 in Berlin, workers excavating a subway tunnel unearthed a stash of sculptures by artists disliked by the Nazis.

Meanwhile, European governments have made significant progress in identifying seized Holocaust art. In Austria, nearly 20,000 artworks and cultural items held in state collections have been returned to their original owners since the 1990s. In Holland, the Restitution Commission recommended in favor of the claimants of 430 objects, which fetched more than $10 million when they were sold at auction in 2007. And in France, a government probe of 2,000 paintings resulted in the restitution of six paintings in March to Thomas Selldorff, 84, of Boston.

“More artwork has been coming on the market as people die and their heirs try to sell it off,” said Wesley Fisher, director of research at the Conference of Jewish Material Claims Against Germany. “But there’s been nothing as spectacular as this.”

Gurlitt's father, Hildebrand, was a German art dealer well known to restitution campaigners. Among other things, he was hired to

procure works for the so-called Fuhrer Museum in Linz, Austria, and he was sent to Paris 10 times between 1941 and 1944 to purchase art on its behalf, according to a sworn statement Hildebrand Gurlitt provided to U.S. authorities in June 1945. The elder Gurlitt also was used to scour markets for sellable art that could bring in money to the German treasury. In his statement, Hildebrand Gurlitt said he had heard about art and furnishings confiscated from Jews and held in a Parisian palace, but insisted he had never seen it. Nor, the elder Gurlitt said, had he ever bought anything from someone who did not want to sell.

In 1950, the United States returned “a whole bunch of art” to Hildebrand Gurlitt, according to Willi Korte, a Washington-based researcher for the Holocaust Art Restitution Project who, along with a fellow investigator Marc Masurovsky, dug up an inventory of the elder Gurlitt’s collection compiled by the U.S. military at the National Archives in Washington.

Fisher is combing through the inventory of works taken from the Jeu de Paume museum in Paris between 1940 and 1944. The museum was used as a repository for works looted by the Nazis from French and Belgian Jews. According to The New York Times, at least eight of the paintings that the U.S. military returned to Hildebrand Gurlitt had been stolen and stored there.

Cornelius Gurlitt apparently sold off pieces of his father's collection occasionally and lived off the proceeds. In 2011, he sold a work by Max Beckmann, “The Lion Tamer,” that brought in more than $1 million. At a news conference Nov. 5, prosecutors said they did not know the whereabouts of Gurlitt.

The website Paris Match published a picture of a man it identified as Cornelius Gurlitt and claimed he was still in Munich. His collection is being held at a customs warehouse at an undisclosed location, where it is being cataloged by art historian Meike Hoffmann of Berlin’s Free University.

A task force of six experts will assist in the provenance search, it was announced.. The move comes after pressure from Jewish groups and restitution advocates who were troubled that the Germans had not made the full list public. “The process is “both literally and legally complicated, difficult and time consuming,” the office of the chief public prosecutor in Augsburg said at a news conference.

Jewish groups and restitution advocates had criticized Germany's initial sluggishness in publicizing the contents of the collection. Deidre Berger, the head of the American Jewish Committee office in Berlin, had called on Germany to move quickly to address the ownership question and welcomed this week's developments.

"Valuable time has been wasted,” World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder told the magazine Die Welt this week. “Neither the possible claimants nor possible witnesses in the return process are getting any younger.”

Fisher of the Claims Conference said he found the delay outrageous, yet he acknowledged that “legal aspects” of the case make some delay inevitable. “Evidently the Germans are afraid they will get lots of claims, and maybe some of them false,” he said. “But that comes with the territory.”

Anne Webber, director of the London-based Central Registry


of Information on Looted Cultural Property, said her office has “been inundated with requests from families all over the world asking if their lost works of art might be in this collection."

At least one family reportedly has submitted a claim already. Marianne Rosenberg, an American attorney and granddaughter of the French dealer Paul Rosenberg, identified a Matisse unveiled at the news conference as belonging to her family.

With the decision to gradually publish the list of works, heirs now have a good chance of starting legal proceedings. Ultimately, courts will have to decide whether works in question were obtained legally, were stolen or were purchased at deflated prices from sellers under duress.

“Those who think we are at the end of this, that we shouldn’t make such a big deal about it,” said Korte, “they don't have any fricking idea what they are talking about."

(JTA's Cnaan Liphshiz contributed to this report.)

AMBASSADOR ALAN BAKER RETIRED LETTER TO U.S.

SECRETARY OF STATE JOHN KERRY

This letter should help explain that the settlements are not illegal nor is building in them. There is so much misinformation in the media that it is not surprising that the public at large

is confused.

Dear Secretary Kerry

After listening to you repeatedly over the past weeks that “Israel’s settlements are illegitimate”, I respectively wish to state, unequivocally, that you are mistaken and ill advised, both in law and in fact.

Pursuant to the “Oslo Accords”, and specifically the Israel-Palestinian Interim Agreement (1995), the “issue of settlements” is one of the subjects to be negotiated in the permanent status negotiations. President Bill Clinton on behalf of the US is signatory as witness to that agreement, together with the leaders of the EU, Russia, Egypt, Jordan and Norway.

Your statements serve to not only to prejudge this negotiating issue, but also to undermine the integrity of that agreement, as well as the very negotiations that you so enthusiastically advocate.

Your determination that Israel’s settlements are illegitimate cannot be legally substantiated.

Oft-quoted prohibition on transferring population into occupied territory (Art.49 of the 4th Geneva Convention) was, according to the International Committee Red Cross’s own official commentary of that convention, drafted in 1949 to prevent the forced, mass transfer of populations carried out by the Nazis in the Second World War. It was never intended to apply to Israel’s settlement activity. Attempts by the international community to attribute this article to Israel emanate from clear partisan motives, with which you, and the US are now identifying.

The formal applicability of that convention to the disputed territories cannot be claimed since they were not occupied from a prior, legitimate sovereign power.

The territories cannot be defined as “Palestinian territories” or, as you yourself frequently state, as “Palestine”. No such entity exists, and the whole purpose of the permanent status negotiation is to determine, by agreement, the status of the territory, to which Israel has a legitimate claim, backed by international legal and historic rights. How can you presume to undermine this negotiation?

There is no requirement in any of the signed agreements between Israel and the Palestinians that Israel cease, or freeze settlement activity. The opposite is in fact the case. The above-noted 1995 interim agreement enables each party to plan, zone and build the areas under its respective control.

Israel’s settlement policy neither prejudices the outcome of the negotiations nor does it involve displacement of local Palestinian residents from their private property. Israel is indeed duly committed to negotiate the issue of settlements, and thus there is no room for any predetermination by you intended to prejudge the outcome of that negotiation.

As such you are taking sides, thereby prejudicing your own personal credibility, as well as that of the US.

With a view to restoring your own and the US’s credibility, and to come with clean hands to the negotiation, you are respectfully requested to publicly and formally retract your determination as to the illegitimate nature of Israel’s settlements and to cease your pressure on Israel.

Respectively

Alan Baker, attorney, Ambassador (ret’d)Former legal counsel of Israel’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs.Former ambassador of Israel to CanadaDirector, Institute for Contemporary Affairs, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.Director, International action division, The Legal Forum for Israel.Copy H.E.Daniel Shapiro, US Ambassador to Israel.

continued from page 4



TURNING TO POETRY, 75 YEARS AFTER KRISTALLNACHTJanet R. Kirchheimer

Let us remember … that in the end we go to poetry for one reason, so that we might more fully inhabit our lives and the world in which we live them, and that if we more fully inhabit

these things, we might be less apt to destroy both. — Christian Wiman

It was evening and it was morning, Nov. 9 and 10, 1938. Those days that became known as Kristallnacht, with its deceptively beautiful and poetic sounding name, “Night of Crystal,” - or, more commonly, “The Night of Broken Glass.”

Kristallnacht was a two-day pogrom unleashed by Nazi party officials and carried out by storm troops and the Hitler Youth. About 100 Jews were killed, almost 270 synagogues destroyed and 7,500 Jewish-owned establishments looted. Tens of thousands of Jewish men were arrested and sent to concentration camps. My father was one of them.

After hiding for the night in the family basement in Niederstetten, a small village in southern Germany, my father was ordered to report to the town hall on the morning of Nov. 10, 1938. When he asked what he had done wrong, he was told if he wanted to go home, they would arrest his father instead. The police had a quota of 10 men to arrest. So along with nine others, my father was loaded onto a truck and taken to Dachau. He was 16 years old.

It has been 75 years since that day. My father and I have talked many times about his experiences in Dachau. He told me how he stood in line to be photographed, fingerprinted and have his head shaved, how he stood naked before SS guards who aimed fire hoses at prisoners and then gave them a striped cotton uniform.

“If you were lucky,” he said, “you got a hat.”

My father passed away two years ago. Other survivors of the Shoah are dying every day. How will we remember when the last survivors are gone? And what form will that remembrance take?

As the child of two survivors, I have given much thought to what will happen after the survivors are gone and the next generation assumes responsibility for sharing the Holocaust narrative. There have been many efforts to ensure Holocaust remembrance, including academic study, recorded survivor testimonies, memorial services, museums and Holocaust education.

While all of these are invaluable, the disappearance of firsthand witnesses will require new ways to transmit the moral lessons and wisdom that can be gained through remembering.

“After the death of the last witnesses,

the remembrance of the Holocaust must not be entrusted to historians alone,” the novelist Aharon Appelfeld observed. “Now comes the hour of artistic creation.”

In 2007, I published a book of poetry about the Holocaust and my family, “How to Spot One of Us.” Working with director Richard Kroehling, I am now producing “BE•HOLD,” a performance film that explores Holocaust poetry from the rise of Nazism to the present day. Highlighting poems by well-known and lesser-known poets, we are creating a deep well of voices responding to evil and its aftermath.

Poetry, like all great art, provokes us. And poetry about the Holocaust in particular can provoke us not only to remember, but to live more fully and with more meaning. Lawrence Ferlinghetti called poetry “the shortest distance between two humans.”

Though nothing can take the place of the survivors themselves, the poetry left by victims and survivors can shorten the distance between survivors and succeeding generations, helping to ensure that the Shoah is remembered. It can also help us internalize the Shoah and use its moral lessons for our personal lives.

Toward the end of his life, my father was concerned that everyone in our family knew the stories of his family members who were murdered in Auschwitz. I told him I will always remember their stories and pass them down.

There are many ways to remember. I choose to remember through poetry.

(Janet R. Kirchheimer is the author of “How to Spot One of Us” and producer of “BE•HOLD.” She is a teaching fellow at Clal-The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership.)

Acknow. JTA



CHANUKAH: A DOUBLE HOLIDAY AS IT WAS AT FIRSTRabbi Allen S. Maller

American Jews will celebrate a double holiday this year as they first did 2,177 years ago, in the year 164 BCE.

Thanksgiving Day will coincide with the first full day of Chanukah, the eight-day Jewish festival of lights, which begins at sundown the previous night. The last time the two holidays converged occurred 125 years ago, in 1888. The next convergence of Thanksgiving and Chanukah will not happen until 2070, when the first night of Chanukah — the holiday begins at sundown — will fall on Thanksgiving Day.

The American holiday of Thanksgiving was originally inspired by the Biblical holiday of Sukkot, a fall harvest pilgrimage festival of thanksgiving. The pilgrimage festival of Sukkot during Biblical times was one of the two most important holidays in the Jewish year, especially for Jewish farmers. In Jewish sources it is often called “HeChag”—” “The Holiday.”

On Sukkot vast numbers of Jews travelled to Jerusalem to give thanks to God for the crops they had just harvested. Thus, the Temple was usually crowded with grateful worshippers rejoicing on Sukkot as at no other time of the year. And then came the dreadful years of persecution by Antiochus IV, the Syrian Greek king. This was the first known attempt at suppressing a minority religion, but unfortunately not the last.

Other well-known attempts were the three century long Roman persecution of Christianity, and the persecution of Muhammad and his followers by the majority of pagan Arabs in Makka. All three religions emerged from their varying periods of persecution stronger than ever, and this is the ongoing spiritual lesson of the Chanukah lamp that once lit by faithful believers, filled with hope and trust in God; lasts longer than anyone else thinks possible.

The history: In 200 BCE, King Antiochus III of Syria defeated Egypt and made the Land of Israel a part of the Seleucid Empire. King Antiochus III, wanting to conciliate his new Jewish subjects, guaranteed their right to “live according to their ancestral customs” and to continue to practice their religion in the Temple of Jerusalem.

However in 175 BCE, his son Antiochus IV invaded Judea to put in power a pro-Syrian high Priest. As the first century Jewish historian Josephus relates:

(In 167 BCE Antiochus IV,who named himself ‘Manifest God’): “came upon the Jews with a great army, took their city (Jerusalem) by force, slew a great multitude of those that favoured Egypt, and sent out his soldiers to plunder the Jews without mercy. He also polluted the temple (erecting an idol in it that looked like himself, and thus) put a stop to the daily offerings (to God) for three years and six months.”

He also banned circumcision and ordered pigs to be sacrificed on the altar of the Temple. This provoked a large-scale revolt led by a man called Judah Maccabee and his four brothers. When the Maccabees recaptured Jerusalem and completed the purification of the Holy Temple, they were faced with a problem.

The Greek polytheists who had taken over the Holy Temple for the previous three and a half years, were still in control of the Temple a few months before, in the month of Tishri, Thus, for a fourth year Jews had refused to go on the pilgrimage to Jerusalem to celebrate Sukkot.

Sukkot: Now that the Temple was theirs again, their first act was to belatedly celebrate Sukkot, two months later, in the month of Kislev.

Celebrating the Sukkot pilgrimage in Jerusalem’s Holy Temple was so important, that it was “better late than never.”

They marched around the Temple alter seven times, and sang the Hallel Psalms as on any Sukkot, celebrating for eight days, the length of Sukkot. They participated in the Sukkot torchlight processions. The torchlight procession and large golden oil lamps burning in the Temple Courtyard lit up the entire city of Jerusalem. (Mishnah Sukkah 4:9-5:5) The first eight-day celebration of the Maccabees was a belated Sukkot celebration.

Chanukah: The following year, the new Festival of Chanukah, celebrating the purification and rededication (Chanukah) of the Temple, borrowed some of the rituals of Sukkot from that first celebration—the eight days, the recital of Hallel Psalms, the lights brightly glowing (eventually in every Jewish home).

The Second Book of Maccabees, originally written in Greek, was clearly intended for distribution to the Jewish communities living outside the land of Israel, especially in the bustling commercial Mediterranean port city of Alexandria in Egypt.

The purpose of Second Maccabees is clearly stated in the two letters that open the book, urging the Jews of Alexandria to adopt this new festival, which it appears, they were slow to accept. The author claims that his source for the history of the Maccabean war was a (now lost) larger five-volume history by one Jason of Cyrene.

Chapter 10:1-8 of Second Maccabees describes the purification of the Temple as follows:

Judah the Maccabee and his men, under the Lord’s leadership, recaptured the Temple and the city of Jerusalem. … After purifying the Temple, they made a new altar… a new fire and … offered sacrifices and incense … lit the lamps. … On the anniversary of the very same day on which the Temple had been defiled, the 25th of Kislev, they now purified the Temple.

They celebrated joyfully for eight days, just as on Sukkot, knowing that (a few months before) on Sukkot they had (been unable to celebrate at the Temple) and had spent the festival (hiding) like wild animals in the mountains and caves. That is why they came… and sang hymns of praise (Hallel), to the One Who had given them the victory that had brought about the purification of His Temple. By a vote of the community they decreed that the whole Jewish nation should celebrate these festival days every year. (Second Maccabees 10:1-8)

Thus Chanukah which started as a delayed Sukkot harvest pilgrimage festival, became an additional holiday on which we can give thanks to God, not just for the fruits of the land, but even more important, for the fruits of attaining freedom to worship according to our own religious principles.

Thus, on this once in a lifetime occasion, when both holidays overlap. we should be twice as grateful as usual, for our good fortune.

The historical part of this essay was mostly prepared by Rabbi Manual Gold. Rabbi Maller’s web site is: rabbimaller.com

Acknow.The Times of Israel



WITH ISRAELI HELP INDIA CAN FEED THE WORLDBrett Jonathan Miller

With right water and agricultural management, India can feed the world in the future with lessons from Israel, Brett Jonathan Miller, consul-general of Israel in

Mumbai, said recently at Goa university.

A small country like Israel, which has to rely mainly on markets outside to export its produce, will look at India and China more than ever in the near future with Europe's economy weakening, Miller said.

Speaking to students of the Centre for Latin American and International Studies at the Goa university on his visit to the state, Miller said that while more than 50% of water in areas like Mumbai is wasted even before it reaches homes due to poor pipelines, Israel recycles 70% of its water for use.

"We have no land, no water and no natural resources, except the gas discovered recently. India can provide for us in the future with the right management," Miller said.

Miller spoke at length about the increasing political conflict, civil wars and terrorism in the Middle-east and Israel's concerns at maintaining safety in the country in middle of the region.

"The important question is if what began as a democratic movement in the form of Arab Spring has seen more successes or

failures? The West supported these movements at first thinking them to be in favour of democracy. But in these countries like Egypt where there is no democratic foundation like in India, just a vote is not enough. A vote is, in fact, dangerous," Miller said.

He said that Islamic political groups saw an opportunity in the crumbling of regimes and grabbed it.

"Morsi in Egypt was elected democratically. But it did not last as the party he came from itself did not have a democratic functioning. That is leading to conflict. In Germany, before World War II, the Nazi party too was elected democratically at first, but could not uphold the same democratic principles," Miller said drawing a comparison. He said that the Middle east is only faced with uncertainty at present with no immediate solutions in sight.

Miller's talk drew critical comments from students from the Middle-east at GU over the Palestinian issue. "If one side does not accept the right of the state of Israel to exist, there is a fundamental problem in resolving the conflict. It is difficult to live under threat every day," the diplomat said, responding to the stinging questions.

Acknow. The Times of India

I S R A E L


IN THE TYPHOON RAVAGED PHILIPPINES, ISRAEL BRINGS ITS EXPERIENCE IN DISASTER RELIEF

Marcy Oster

Obviously wanting to get back to work as the medical manager of the field hospital set up by the Israel Defense Forces in the Philippines, Lt.-Col. Dr. Ofer

Merin speaks hurriedly about the three days his team has been seeing patients in the typhoon-ravaged nation.

He tells of at least 12 babies the hospital has delivered -- most of them premature -- and the stabbing victim who may have died if not for the IDF hospital in Bogo City on Cebu Island, one of the areas hardest hit by last week’s Typhoon Haiyan.

By 5 a.m. Sunday, Merin says at least 50 people had lined up in front of the field hospital to receive treatment.

"If we stayed here two months or even two years we would have patient work," he said during a phone call with the media from the Philippines early Sunday morning.

The field hospital began operating on Friday morning, about seven hours after the team arrived on the island. The parents of the first baby delivered by the Israeli team that first morning named him Israel in gratitude to the volunteers.

Established adjacent to the local hospital in Bogo City, the Israeli field hospital is the only one located in a region of about 250,000 residents, Merin says. Representatives of other countries have visited to view its operation.

The 125-member Israeli team has been seeing about 300 patients a day who were either injured in the typhoon or unable to care for chronic conditions such as heart disease or diabetes due to lack of running water or electricity. Others with untreated diseases, including those with advanced cancer, also have made their way to the facility.

Some 22 members of the team are medical doctors, 15 are nurses and the rest are technicians, lab workers and members of the Homefront Command who are coordinating logistics. The delegation brought 100 tons of equipment and supplies.

Merin says the local officials and residents, as well as the medical staff of the local hospital, "greeted us warmly."

"We are working hand in hand with the Filipino people," he said.

Merin, a cardiac surgeon and deputy director of Shaare Tzedek Hospital in Jerusalem, says the Israelis also have performed surgeries in the local hospital in concert with local doctors "to give them some of our knowledge."

Despite the death toll of more than 3,000, which is expected to climb thousands higher, and the nearly 2 million displaced, Merin says the wounded are not wandering the streets like he saw in Haiti following the 2010 earthquake. He also was part of the Israeli team that traveled to Japan in the aftermath of its 2011 tsunami; the Japanese infrastructure was better able to withstand a disaster, Merin said.

At about 4 a.m. Sunday, a man who had been stabbed in the chest was brought to the Bogo City field hospital by friends. Doctors put in a chest drain, which Merin says was beyond the capabilities of the local hospital.

"I am not sure what would have happened if we had not been around," he said.

Mobilizing and operating the field hospital has cost Israel millions of dollars, Merin says, as well as lost manpower. The medicines and much of the equipment brought in will remain when they leave in about two weeks, he adds.

Merin, who is volunteering, believes the IDF is able to mobilize so quickly in the wake of natural disasters because it operates as an army unit, sending an advance team that allows the unit to deploy quickly upon arrival.

One of the logistics officers left with the team for the Philippines two days after his wedding, despite being on leave from the army for the occasion.

Israelis, Merin says, are "ready to drop everything and come and assist anywhere in the world that we need to be."

His team in the Philippines, he adds, is "really treating [the patients] with all their heart."

Acknow. JTA

I S R A E L


CENTER FIELD: YES, MINISTER LAPID, ISRAEL CAN BE BOTH JEWISH AND DEMOCRATIC

Gil Troy

Judaism can welcome democracy today more than it did 3,000 years ago. In fact, many theorists root democracy in Judaism and the Bible.

Something about Israel prompts even sophisticated people to make simplistic statements. Last week’s most sophisticated simpleton was Finance Minister Yair Lapid.

While pleading eloquently for Arab equality at the “Prime Minister’s Conference on Arabs in the economy” at Tel Aviv University last Tuesday, Lapid claimed a Jewish democratic state posed an impossible contradiction.

As a columnist, Lapid’s job was to provoke controversy, occasionally. As a statesman, Lapid should be less inflammatory and more accurate, especially regarding his country’s character and democracy’s meaning. Most of Lapid’s speech was courageous and constructive. True, Israelis frequently rely on tokenism, pretending “that if there’s a successful Arab soccer player, then we don’t have a problem.” Lapid’s admirable solutions include implementing local policing – which would protect all citizens better – integrating women into the labor force, national service for all, and “education, education, education.”

He spoke movingly about Jews’ “moral obligation” given our unhappy past as the oft-oppressed people “to always remember what it is to be a minority... to feel alien in the land you were born in.”

Nevertheless, Lapid stumbled when claiming Israel cannot be democratic and Jewish because “significant parts” of the democratic idea “stand in contradiction to Judaism.”

Addressing the Arab participants, he reasoned: “The meaning of democracy is equality before the law. How can Israel say that everyone is equal before that law – that you’re equal before the law – when the law defined Judaism as the cultural, national and legislative basis for the state?” Lapid made three fundamental mistakes. First, he offered a reductionist, one-dimensional definition of a complicated phenomenon. Democracy involves majority rule not just equality and minority rights. Even American democracy is rife with contradictions.

In any democracy, a minority can call any majority expression anti-democratic while a majority can override any minority claim. Healthy democracies try to balance majority rule with minority rights, popular rule with equal protection for all. Second, Lapid has been listening to too many reactionary rabbis. “Judaism” is not the unchanging monolith countering democracy he described. Traditionally, rabbis described Judaism as an “etz chaim,” a Tree of Life but also a living tree, growing imperceptibility yet steadily.

Thus, Judaism can welcome democracy today more than it did 3,000 years ago. In fact, many theorists root democracy in Judaism and the Bible.

So, again, we are talking creative tension, not contradiction.

Say a finance minister, using his legitimate democratic power, imposed a harsh Value Added Tax on basic staples like vegetables. In a healthy Jewish democracy, critics could invoke Jewish values promoting sensitivity to the poor to challenge said minister to seek less Grinchlike approaches in balancing the budget.

Finally, Zionist history, including Israel’s Declaration of Independence, proves that “Judaism” is not the basis for the state – “Jewishness” is. In Israel’s governing DNA the peoplehood aspect of Jewish identity trumps the religious aspect.

If Judaism were just a religion, then a Jewish state could not be democratic; it would be a theocracy. Because the Jews are a people with a particular religion, Jews can establish a Jewish democratic state, just like the British, the French and others have established states expressing their particular national identity which includes a religious heritage, while following democratic processes.

Examine the cross-laden Crown Jewels in the Tower of London. Salute the flags of Greece, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom – with their crosses. Even visit the United States and Canada on Christmas Day. All these democracies have different degrees of Christian influence woven into their governing and social fabric.

So, yes, Minister Lapid, Israel should treat its Arabs equitably. But that can happen in a Jewish democratic state, which, like all pluralistic democracies, must navigate in a complex world and calibrate different dimensions of that miraculous messy mechanism called democracy.

Absolutist statements misreading democracy, Judaism, and implicitly Zionism, from a government minister, make this noble work of bridge-building harder. Lapid’s caricature is particularly problematic because he launched it into an atmosphere already polluted by the delegitimization of Israel. His rhetoric reflects that noxious nexus wherein Zionist perfectionism, Jewish self-criticism and Israeli bluntness meet global antagonism, creating a destructive multiplier effect.

The “Israel’s-an-oppressive-apartheid-state” folks will quote his inflammatory remarks to “prove” Israel’s perfidy. Their contempt makes most Israelis defensive. Tragically, precisely where they need to be expansive, in dealing with Israeli Arabs – and the Palestinians – Israeli Jews are pilloried. Especially given the Jewish history Lapid knows so well, the attacks send most Israelis into a rigid clinch. That is why Lapid also erred in disputing Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s demand that Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state. The Palestinians have spearheaded this delegitimization campaign for decades, inflaming tensions. There will not be peace until both peoples respect each other’s legitimate national rights.

Next time, rather than making sweeping simplifications that spur stalemates, Lapid should toast Israel’s kooky contradictions that reflect the kind of creative tension which could help Israel’s Arabs. In Israel, supposedly “anti-democratic” ultra-Orthodox Jerusalemites vote in greater numbers than the supposedly democratic “Zionist sector.” In Israel, the head of the supposedly democratic Labor Party, Shelly Yacimovich, dodges her rival Isaac Herzog’s debate challenge – and resists his demand that she open enough polling places in development towns, kibbutzim, moshavim and Arab villages, even if they oppose her. And, in Israel, both the non-populist Supreme Court and popularly elected Israeli governments have advanced Arab rights; not enough yet, but much more than there was half a century ago.

In short, Israel, like all democracies, is a constructive hypocrite – at least articulating ideals it should fulfill.

Israel, like all democracies, is in formation. Israel, like all democracies, is awash in tumultuous tensions, which may look like impossible contradictions to simpletons or enemies, but often trigger creative and inspiring leaps forward.

Acknow. jpost.com

I S R A E L


Lauren Shapiro

RUN WITH IT

He did it. My husband ran a marathon – all 42.2km of it.

This month is a kind of continuation of last month’s theme of how we can do almost anything if we only try. But this

month, I’m going to prove that we can learn to enjoy it, too.

A bit of background: my beloved decided to make the most of the marathon experience and really give himself a big reward to work towards, so he signed up for the New York City Marathon. Very exciting, but it also meant leaving yours truly holding the (not even proverbial) baby. To be precise, it meant leaving me with three kids under five and a deadline to boot (praise the Lord I have a very compassionate editor. Thank you…)

I’m blessed to have a very involved husband, who’s in charge of the boys’ morning routine while I look after the baby, and who assists every evening by bathing the children and giving bottles.

So when he up and went to the other end of the globe, I was a little intimidated at having to deal with everything on my own for a whole week. He left me detailed lists about what the boys like for breakfast (including instructions on how to make a “house with a swimming pool” out of toast and ketchup), what to pack in their school bags, when to return their library books, etc.

The first day was carnage. Picture mismatched clothes, misplaced notebooks, ketchup on the floor (at least he ate most of the “house”), and lots of screaming. That evening didn’t fare much better. I tried to bath all three of them together. On my own. Let’s say there was a lot of water on the floor and soap bubbles on the ceiling, and leave it at that. By the time all three were tucked up in their little beds, I was a trembling wreck reaching for the whiskey bottle.

The second day wasn’t much of an improvement. On the third day, there was slightly less sweating and swearing. By the fourth day, I was starting to get the hang of this new routine, and I found I was actually enjoying the extra time I was spending with the boys. By the end of the week, they were ready for school with enough time to spare to do some puzzles, and ready for bed early enough for an extra story (even whilst bouncing the baby on my lap).

It dawned on me that we weren’t that different, my hubby and I. While Warren was focused on going the distance in kilometres (42.2 of them – apparently the .2 is very important in the retelling), I was measuring my challenge in hours (169.5 of them), surviving the long haul of a week flying solo with the kids. Like my husband’s journey, each step was hard graft. And I didn’t even get nights off, thanks to a teething baby who chose this very week to develop separation anxiety and refused to go to anyone else, even Savta or Saba!

Warren returned with blood blisters and broken toenails. I had bags under my eyes and several new grey hairs. An aesthetically pleasing pair we may not have been, but we ran into each other’s arms like a crippled Romeo and Juliet, happy to have our lives back to normal again.

But the strange thing is, our lives weren’t back to normal. They were better than normal. We were stronger than normal. The whole experience had brought us closer to each other, to the kids, and – funnily enough – to Hashem. Perhaps it was all

the hours begging Him to help us get through our respective challenges, or the gratitude that He did just that. It reminded us that He is there for us, and that He really doesn’t give us more than we can handle.

Sometimes what seems like an insurmountable challenge is not only achievable, but enjoyable too, if we really give it a chance. This whole ordeal made me think of another experience which recently challenged our faith and our limits: The Shabbos Project back on 11-12 October.

As you will probably recall, SA’s Chief Rabbi called upon the entire community to keep Shabbat in its entirety, from sun down to stars out. Thousands of Jews across the country decided to participate – some for the very first time – and we decided to jump on board.

It was an amazing experience. That’s not to say it was all easy – there was a lot of preparation involved and the actual act of keeping Shabbat presented both logistical and spiritual challenges (more on this in a future column!). But by the end of the 25 hours we felt exhilarated, like we’d accomplished something truly great.

They say it takes three weeks to form a habit. I’ve disproved that theory this month. It took me less than seven

days to develop the rituals that allowed me to enjoy a better relationship with

my kids.

So imagine the potential this has for our spiritual growth. If that one Shabbat was a huge challenge, the next one might be easier. A few more and we may be over the

superficial difficulties and reaping the spiritual rewards.

Maybe Shabbat is not your challenge right now. Perhaps it’s kashrut. Or tzedakkah. Or shmirat halashon. Whatever it is, know from my experience that – no matter how impossible it seems – you can do this. And that the more you do it, the easier and more rewarding it becomes.

It strikes me that – instead of running away from our challenges – we should be running towards them. And that doesn’t only apply to marathons. Because if life is a metaphorical marathon, each step brings us closer to our true strength, and to Hashem. We just have to keep running. Until next time.

“ “Sometimes what seems like an insurmountable challenge is not only

achievable, but enjoyable too

B U B K E S

www.djc.co.za

Troy Schonken



PAST TENSEPundit

75 YEARS AGO : HASH0LOM December 1938

THEY SPEAK OF JEWRY

“Had the Christian conscience the power to speak in terms of the absolute earlier in the course of the oppression of the Jews it might have been that the hand of the persecutor would have been stayed” - Sir Wyndham Deedes.

“All I ask is that the individual, prepared to enjoy the benefits and the advantages of South African citizenship, shall be as ready to assume the loyalties and the obligations which citizenship entails. I have never known the Jewish section to be unready in this regard…..” Gen. J.J. Pienaar, Administrator of the Transvaal

“When I attended the recent Nationalist congress as a delegate and listened to the leaders attacking the Jews I felt that I, for one, had been bluffed. The horrible happenings to Jews in Germany warns me further against this form of madness” - “Free State Catholic” writing in “The Friend”.

NEWS OF THE WORLD – JEWISH NOTES FROM HERE, THERE AND EVERYWHERE

Italian Attack on PopeRoberto Farinacci, the Jew-baiting Minister of State, attacked the Pope and the Vatican for their friendliness towards Jews and hostility to racists in a pamphlet in which he described the Vatican as “a nest of Semites and an ally of Jews, Freemasons and Moscow”.

U.S. Statesman’s advice to JewsMr. Harold L. Ickes, Secretary of the Interior, told a memorial meeting in St. Louis that the late Benjamin N.Cardozo’s years on the Supreme Court Bench refuted the contention that the presence of Jews in public life fosters anti-Semitism.

A Christian GestureWhen unknown hooligans in Sopron, West Hungary, tarred the walls of the Synagogue recently, the local Society of Catholic Working Girls wrote to the Rabbi offering to wash away and scrape off the tar. Their fine-spirited offer was accepted.

Peril of Czech JewsFor the Jews of Czechoslovakia, the dismemberment of the country has been calamitous. Thousands of Jewish families have suddenly been uprooted from their homes and those whose homes are situated in “rump-Czechoslovakia” are faced with a growing threat of racial hostility.

The Jews in the Sudeten area had some warning of the dangers facing them, but hundreds of Jewish families who never expected to be transferred to Germany, suddenly found that if they did not want to fall into the hands of the Gestapo they had to evacuate their homes within a matter of hours.

Instead of 30 000 Jewish refugees who were expected as a result of the Munich Agreement, Czechoslovakia now has more than twice that number. All this has worked to the detriment of the general Jewish position in Czechoslovakia.

THE SOUTH AFRICAN STAGE

Discipline to save Democracy

Are Dictatorial methods permissible to save Democracy? It is understood that the Union will shortly take steps to ban Nazi and Communist organisations in South Africa. The Government feels that it has allowed subversive foreign political movements, which operate primarily with the object of ultimately overthrowing the State, to go on long enough unchecked.

Parsons and teachers too

General Herzog “literally took his life in his hands” when he denounced political predikants and teachers in the heart of the Orange Free State..

The Riots

Moderate opinion has been unanimous in condemning the Johannesburg riots and the desecration of the Benoni Synagogue. The Nationalist Press has suggested that if someone intended to harm the Jews, he would have chosen a newer and more valuable building. It was accordingly asked whether the damage was not perhaps caused by people as part of a propaganda campaign conducted by the English language Press for the aim of rousing sympathy for the Jews and placing the blame on Christians and perhaps even on Afrikaners.

In Defence of Germany

“Die Burger” expressed doubt whether recent reports of persecution of Jews in Germany were “not very one-sided and exaggerated” and went on to say:

“For the Jewish nation, regarded as an undesirable element in more and more countries and with nowhere a home of its own, one can – irrespective of whether it brought all this on itself or not – feel pity. This, however, cannot alter the fact that South Africa has no room for more Jews”.

IN TOWN AND OUT

Congratulated

• Master Abel Torf on his barmitzvah;

• Mr Harry Friedland and Miss Beattie Sandler, respectively Chairman and Secretary of the 1938 Entertainment committee , and Miss Mena Lipinski and Mr Eddie Leonard, on their respective forthcoming marriages;

• Miss Anna Levy and Dr Sidney Shapiro and Miss Cissy Rothstein and Dr Isidore Green, on their respective engagements

• Mr & Mrs G Amoils (nee Joyce Droyman) on the birth of a daughter;

Britain and Palestine

It was reported that the Woodhead Commission had found that the partition of Palestine was impractible It had been rejected by the Arabs and accepted with grave misgivings by the official Jewish sources. The British Government was now to hold separate conferences with both parties. It reported that so far from Palestine costing the British taxpayer money, it was a handsomely paying proposition for Britain.

50 YEARS AGO : HASHALOM December 1963

MEMBERS IN THE NEWS

Congratulated

• Mrs Rose Levy on the occasion of her 90th birthday


• Evelyn Abel and John Kosviner and Wendy Friede and Jackie Schaffer on their marriages

• John Moshal and Anna-Maxine Abelsohn, Steve Barnat and June Fridjohn, and Myra Hirshovitz and Dennis Monk, on their respective engagements;

• Alf and Rose Stiller and Louis and Edie Ditz on their thirtieth wedding anniversaries;

• Harry and Beattie Friedland, Pam and Victor Jacobs, and Morrie and Vera Levitan on their Silver Wedding anniversaries;

• Mr & Mrs Aaron Cohen on their fifty-third wedding anniversary;

• Brian Abrahams on obtaining his B.Comm Honours degree with distinction;

• Ethne Miller on qualifying as a physiotherapist at Wits University;

• Barry and Doryce Isaacs on the birth of a son and Leon and Sandra Pevsner on the birth of a daughter;

• Jeffrey Roberts, son of Mr & Mrs Ken Roberts, on his barmitzvah.

Book Review – “Stars of David”

This entertaining review was accompanied by photographs of Okey Geffen (Rugby Springbok), Ted “Kid” Lewis (World Boxing champion), Pinky Danilowitz (Springbok men’s bowls) and Sylvia Dyne (women’s bowls – won SA singles championship four consecutive years).

Durban United Hebrew Schools

In the course of the AGM, the Regional Director of Jewish Education, Mr Sam Ernst reported the attendance at the Schools as follows:

Nursery Schools 135

Afternoon Schools 130

Day School (Primary and High School) 335

How times have changed!

I offer the following services:

Please contact: SAM ON 082 823 6751

Shuttle to and from airport, lifts, doctors, shopping etc.

I will stand in queues at the licensing department etc.

Car repairs, panel beating, auto trimming.

Collect and deliver documents and parcels within the greater Durban area.

Any service which you do not have time for I will be able to help you with.

Very affordable prices

Reliable and punctual

SAM'S SERVICES

C O M M U N I T Y N E W S

October has been a fun and exciting month at the Young Israel Centre!

Following the WIZO Oneg Shabbat at the DUHC for the Shabbat Project on Friday 11 October, we had a beautiful Tish, sponsored by WIZO. The singing was led by Jaron Kalmonowitz and it was attended by over 20 people. We look forward to many more of these amazing evenings!

The next day we had our first Youth lunch for under bar and bat mitzvah. It was sponsored by the Dogans to celebrate Netanya’s birthday. Fun was had by all and we encourage anyone who would like to sponsor a youth lunch to call us and book at date!

Bnei Akiva madrichot for Johannesburg once again spent a weekend at the Young Israel Centre and took part in our Youth lunch. As always we had a full house, with the youth staying here until it was time to go back to Shul.

On Sunday the 27th Habonim held a function here for everyone wanting to go to machaneh at the end of the year. This was followed by a parents information evening for Bnei Akiva machaneh. We encourage everyone to attend an end of year camp.

We are looking forward to getting the Lending Library up and running soon. If you would like to come and take a book out, please give us a call on 083 557 6595.

We wish everyone a fantastic holiday break and look forward to another fantastic year at the Young Israel Centre.

Jess Stout



Cheryl Unterslak

I want to share some stories of some of our very special donations….and there are many more.

Every few months a very special and generous family in Johannesburg, send an enormous donation to DIVOTE for the children in Israel. Their donation always includes a large amount of baby clothing and accessories which are packed into our DIVOTE baby bags and then distributed to new parents who have previously been affected by acts of terrorism. These baby bags are filled with gifts to help the new parents and they also give them a great comfort and happiness knowing that people care about them. In their last donation last month the family also packed in packets clothing for small children including shoes and toys. These have already been sent to Israel to be distributed to children who need them and were also added to the Chanukah gift packs. They have also donated brand new prams which have been a huge blessing to some of our families who desperately needed prams.

This wonderful couple also always send a lot of soft cuddly toys which are the most perfect gift for the children as they give them happiness and comfort. Some of the children that we give them to have never owned a fluffy toy before and it is so wonderful and heartwarming to see their excitement and joy with their cuddly new toy.

Sandton Sinai School in Johannesburg had a chesed day one Sunday where the children decorated the clothing of a few hundred” Build a Bears” that were kindly donated by their store. What a wonderful way of teaching young children to do acts of kindness for other children in Israel and to have fun at the same time. This collection and distribution in Israel was a huge success and I watched as so many children who received these bears were laughing with happiness, and hugging them.

Someone pointed out to me that soft cuddly toys absorb tears and I agree.

There are two woman in Durban; Ruth and Maureen who knit baby jerseys, sew pajamas, buy toys and pack them all together in sizes in such a magnificent loving way, and these are distributed to children in Israel. Many of these packages were sent to Israel now in the children’s Chanukah gift packets.

The “Gates of Zion Church” in Hillcrest have been incredibly special and supportive, and show a great love of Israel and her people by constantly sending donations of knitted baby gifts, blankets, clothing, toys etc., and financial support. These donations are given to new parents in DIVOTE baby bags. Many other items are also sent to the organization EFRAT in Jerusalem who try to prevent mothers from aborting their babies by offering them financial support and baby accessories to help them with the financial burden of a new baby. It is an excellent organization run by Rabbi Sussenstein, who has saved the lives of many babies in Israel that would have been aborted because the families just couldn’t afford another child.

In the last few months DIVOTE has been receiving gifts for the children in Israel from the community in Port Elizabeth, from Oudhtshorn run by Mrs. Ida Lipschitz, Pretoria, Johannesburg and Cape Town. It is wonderful to see how people in the whole of South Africa have embraced the DIVOTE project and how they want to bring joy, happiness and comfort to children in Israel….and they do!

I want to thank the many other people who support DIVOTE and all of these special children, and who make a difference in their lives. May Hashem bless you all in abundance!!!!!!!



Sylvia Collins

Beth Shalom has had a very busy time – lots of activities and fun outings for our residents and staff.

Trained nursing staff and Bongi, our receptionist, attended a workshop to support Cancer prevention. This proved to be a wonderful programme run by Dr Thandeka Mazibuko, an Oncologist, who is passionate and driven to help the needy.

On 30 October some of our residents participated in a walk for Stroke Prevention on the Durban beachfront, together with residents from other homes and many of them won prizes.

Matron held an Alzheimer’s talk in the shul when the guest speaker Mrs Elaina Hattingh from the Society explained about the illness. This assisted nursing staff and family members of our residents, as well as the UJW, to understand how to care for people affected by this condition. Matron has been busy with our Beth Shalom Health Awareness Campaign, which is targeting the community and the Issy Geshen Home. This is all about sharing knowledge and building good relations.

Thank you to Arthur Zimmerman for the music appreciation afternoons he presents for the residents. A big thank you to the community for assisting with clothing for the Thrift shop and to the wonderful helpers who give up their time to help. We require donations of old greetings cards for recycling by our arts and crafts group to sell in our shop.

The Beth Shalom fundraiser was able to raise enough money to purchase a bed for our frail car section. Thank you to all who bought tickets. Congratulations to the winners who were Aubrey Nathan – Samsung 40”LED TV; Jam Clothing - iPad Mini; Johnny Walker Blue Label – Kathy Sher; Mountain Bike – Stan Liansky; Bed and Base set – Rael Greenspan.

Finally a big thank you to the committee who gave a wonderful tea party for staff who received Long Service Awards as well as those who were retiring. President Stan Liansky presented awards to the staff for 10 years of service as well as 25 and 30 years. This was a great achievement and well deserved. Hearty congratulations to all who made it a wonderful afternoon of singing and dancing which the residents loved.

Ready, steady, go. Our residents beginning their walk.

Joan Truscott with her prize from the Stroke Prevention Walk.

The nine staff who received awards

Ruby and the ladies

www.macsteel.co.za

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Norma Bloch

On the 17th of October we hosted our Judaica Prize giving. This year we decided to give a totally new spin on the format of the event and opted for an Israeli Breakfast. What a resounding success it was – starting with the morning Shacharit service led very competently by Doron Werner, through to the prize giving and delicious breakfast catered by Sharon Levitan.

The attractively decorated tables in the Centre accommodated parents and invited guests, who listened to and viewed a colourful presentation given by myself and the pupils, outlining the various festivals and functions the department had organized and participated in this year.

There were many individuals and organizations to thank for their assistance, generous support, and unwavering backing. Without their continued contributions, the department would cease to exist. As each one was thanked they were called up to place their photo on our Gratitude Board, displayed in the shape of a Magen David.

Last but not least, we paid tribute to each pupil, equating their virtues and talents to those of biblical characters with whom they shared their Hebrew names. Some of the special prizes awarded included:

· The Herman and Geraldine Davidson Award for Zionism was presented to Oren Cohen.

· The DHSA award went to Doron Werner, who is also our new head of Judaica.

· The UJW Gemullat Chassidim Award in memory of Jean Kluk z’l was presented to Joshua Aronoff.

The success of this function would not have been possible without the assistance and help of Sue Jacobson and Jodi Aronoff.

At the time of writing we are heading towards our end of the year exams, and are madly preparing and equipping our pupils to handle these challenging papers. We wish them all good luck.

Mr Marcellin places his picture on the Judaica department appreciation board

Joshua Aronoff and Oren Cohen receive their prizes from Kathy Sher

l to r Les Sol, Joel Kaplan, Jade Friedman, Josh Serjeant, Doron Werner, Josh Aronoff, Oren Cohen

Kathy Sher thanks the DHSA for her gift



“The Shabbos Project” at the DUHCWith great anticipation and excitement, the Durban Jewish community and the DUHC eagerly participated in “The Shabbos Project-Keeping it Together”, an initiative by Chief Rabbi Dr. Warren Goldstein to encourage the South African Jewish community to fully observe the laws and practices of one Shabbat. While there was much apparent interest in the project before the designated Shabbat, the support of congregations, families and individuals, and the huge numbers attending Shuls and observing this special Shabbat throughout South Africa, exceeded all expectations.

The Durban community was no exception and everyone spoke of how they would be observing Shabbat completely for the first time or, at least, improving their Shabbat observance. Throughout South Africa, the project began on the Thursday evening prior to the Shabbat with countrywide challah-making. In Durban, the Succah at the Great Synagogue was crowded with over 60 enthusiastic ladies who learnt the art of challah-making from Charlotte Thurgood. A scheduled electricity outage threatened to disrupt the challah baking event but when it happened, the whole area was blacked out except for the Shul where the power amazingly stayed on for the women to fulfil the mitzvah of making challah for Shabbat.

Shabbat events began on Friday night with the Shabbat evening service attended by over 250 people. For the children, Orli-Shein Essers and Shani Cohen organized a programme for the young ones for the duration of Shabbat. After the Maariv service, WIZO sponsored an Oneg Shabbat Dinner. At the dinner, Rabbi Zekry explained the traditional Shabbat evening customs including the Kiddush and the blessing of the children. It was an emotional moment to see at some tables three generations of parents blessing their children. The dinner was followed by an enthralling talk by Dr. Cyril Karabus who told of his traumatic ordeal when he was wrongfully detained in Dubai on criminal charges. After the dinner, an “Eat Drink and be Merry” Tisch was held at the Young Israel Centre from where the sound of

Michael Greenbaum

Shabbat singing filled the normally quiet neighbourhood!

On Shabbat day, the well-attended morning service was followed by a Brocha-Brunch of delicious food including the traditional Shabbat cholent. During the brunch, Rabbi Zekry and Rabbi Friedman each gave a Dvar Torah on Shabbat related topics while Bradley Meltz spoke on what observing Shabbat personally means to him and his family. Before the afternoon Mincha service in the packed-to-capacity Minor Shul, Rabbi Friedman gave a shiur on “The Basics and FUNdamentals of Shabbat.” This was followed by a lively festive Seudah Shlishit in the Perling Hall with wonderful food and Shabbat songs. After Maariv, Shabbat concluded with a beautiful “campfire” style Havdallah ceremony led by Chazzan Jaron Kalmonowitz to mark the end of a wonderful Shabbat filled with community warmth and chaverschaft.

After this special Shabbat, Chief Rabbi Goldstein expressed his amazement at the support for the project based on hundreds of reports from South African Jews at all levels of religious observance. He said that the energy of “The Shabbos Project” has been felt not just on a communal scale across the country, but on a global scale including postings on Facebook, YouTube and emails from Australia, Canada, England and Israel while international journalists and Jewish media wanted information about what happened in South Africa. In Israel, Ha'aretz, Israel's oldest daily newspaper, reported that “all indications are that Jewish ethnicity and religiosity are alive, well and strengthening among South African Jews. In a nation of 50 million with strong ethnic consciousness, the Shabbos Project was a demonstration of Jewish cohesion. Virtually the entire Jewish mainstream – secular and religious – was set abuzz by the prospect of observing that Shabbat, collectively and individually. When an entire community gets excited about Shabbat observance, its cohesion looks likely to remain strong in coming years.”

The DUHC thanks the congregation for their remarkable support and to everyone who organized and participated in this wonderful initiative.

dynaMix Shabbat FarbrengenThe dynaMix social club once again recently hosted an enjoyable farbrengen (a social and spiritual get-together) on Shabbat, entitled “Absolut Farbrengen”. Attended by over 100 people after the morning brocha in the Perling Hall, the farbrengen was an intimate heimische occasion with singing, Israeli food and snacks, and of course, Absolut vodka. There was much ruach in the spirit of enjoying the day with Shabbat songs and words of Torah from Rabbi Friedman who gave the Shabbat shiur.

We thank Aubrey and Michelle Nathan, Bradley and Carryn Meltz, and all dynaMix members for organizing and promoting social communal occasions such as this farbrengen and look forward to many more in the future.



Our second "Man" of the momentOn 27 October Aaron Berchowitz, a Grade 7 student at Umhlanga Jewish

Day School, celebrated his 13th birthday. Unfortunately for us, we were unable to share in this special milestone with him as he had the great privilege of celebrating his Bar Mitzvah in the holy city of Jerusalem.

On behalf of the staff of the Umhlanga Jewish Day School we would like to wish a hearty Mazeltov to Aaron, his parents and the entire Berchowitz and Raiz Families.

Mark Friedman

UMHLANGA JEWISH DAY SCHOOL

Shelli Strous

It is hard to believe we have reached the end of another very special year at Moriah, and our tiny little babies who arrived in their nappies and carrying dummies, are confident and articulate little learners, ready to face the challenges of pre-school.

We will certainly miss them and can honestly say that their tiny footprints have left huge and indelible imprints on out hearts. We wish Mikaela, Raphael and Erryn all the best and look forward to a happy year ahead with Slade, David, Joshua, Emma and Michal. We recently welcomed Madison Stein- Frankel to our Moriah family and we certainly can't wait to meet the other new little joiners who will join us in the next year.

Umhlanga Jewish Day School has a Winner!Levi Katzer, a Grade one pupil at Umhlanga Jewish Day School, qualified to participate in the Semas (Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Association) National Competition 2013 by winning a trophy at the Semas Regionals.

Four hundred and fourteen pupils between the ages of five and eleven took part in the Nationals and Levi won gold in his division. He received a medal and certificate for his efforts. In addition to this amazing achievement he has been invited to take part in the Worlds Semas Competition.

Well done Levi, we're so proud of you!

We recently held our Chanukah party and year end ring. This was a fantastic occasion with magnificent catering by Judy Druck and the Circle Cafe. We were very honoured to have Rabbi Zekry and all the Moriah parents and grandparents attend. The children sang their favourite songs and we were treated to a Ball Fun demo by our Coach, Mondli Nyawose.

We look forward to another fun filled year in our beautifully equipped playschool. Kindly contact Shelli Strous 031 201 7439 for further information about Moriah.

Moriah party

Shelli Strous, Principal, with Joshua McFarlane and Raphael Moshal



Kendyll Jacobson

Netzer Durban SleepoverNetzer Durban, after a far too long break, finally had a sleepover again! On Saturday the 2nd of November all the kids’ sitting cheder in suddenly had it dawn upon them that the sleepover was today! After the shul service and brocha, 10 of us met in the shul hall and played some name games and started off our 24 hours of kef!

By the time the late afternoon had rolled around, there were eight of us, all very ready to learn and bond. This was done through an activity about Havdallah and the meaning of each aspect. This then resulted in the kids decorating Kiddush cups and making their own spice containers. We kept to tradition by playing a round of Gangashlach, in which the kids answer general knowledge questions about Israel, South Africa, Netzer and Hebrew – for points – all which they had learned earlier on in the day.

After a meaningful and moving Havdallah (in the rain) we sat down as a ‘family’ and painted a Netzer Durban banner! After dinner there was a fun game, a movie and then bed. Breakfast on Sunday started off with videos by the Maccabeats and ended off with a powerful birkat hamazon.

Nobody really wanted to go home, not after having spent a wonderful weekend with their newly found Netzer family. More of these events are SURE to happen!

CHAVERIM PROJECTShelli Strous, Co-ordinator

The Grannies and Grandpa Reading project at the Berea Primary School is an ongoing project that continues to pour love and warmth into the lives of the children at this school.

The volunteers from our community in their own quiet but determined manner, offer their support and assistance to the various teachers and this is greatly appreciated.

We were recently invited to the end of year tea where the grannies and grandpa were honoured and thanked by Bridget MacWilliams, the newly appointed principal who has coordinated this project for over 10 years.

Sadly we have said goodbye to our stalwart grandpa Cecil Norton, whose many years of input were well noted. I take this opportunity to thank Rabbi Zekry for his support of this project and to thank the dedicated volunteers for their immense contribution.

Chaverim Tea

Mazal Tov Jordan Shapira

The DPJC would like to congratulate Jordan Shapira on his recent achievements. Jordan was recently elected a Leader (Prefect) at Westville Boys High School and has earned KZN colours for U19 Waterpolo. He also received the Sportsmanship Award and Most Improved Player Award (Waterpolo) at his school. Jordan is a dedicated member of our congregation. We say Kol Hakavod and we wish him all the best for the future.



Jessica Stout

Talmud Torah

We are delighted that Talmud Torah has been introduced at Umhlanga College this year. We have a big class of children ranging from grade 00 to grade 7 who attend regularly. Last term we learnt about Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. This term we are learning about the significance and beauty of Shabbat. The children have been enjoying singing Shabbat songs, they have made their own Kiddush cups and baked challot. We will end the term with an exciting Chanukah party. We are so grateful to Jane Letschert and Ruth Duke who were responsible for motivating Umhlanga College to introduce Talmud Torah at the school and we hope that it will grow from strength to strength.

The children making Kiddush cups, baking challot and setting the Shabbat table

Talmud Torah Generations

Jessica Stout

On Sunday 3 November, the Talmud Torah: Generations draw for 2013 took place in our beautiful Talmud Torah classroom at Moriah.

Anna Moshal, the mother of our amazing programme, drew out the name in front of many excited children and parents...and the winner is....Rebecca Moshal! Mazal tov to her and her dedicated family! We wish you an amazing trip to Israel!

Everyone who attended received a fun key ring and a stunning Hebrew ruler that came all the way from Israel!

Thank you to everyone involved in this fantastic programme, and well done on another amazing year! A big thank you must always go to Rabbi Vegoda for producing our incredible booklets, to John Moshal and his family for making it all possible, to Cheryl Unterslak and the Talmud Torah team, and especially to our dedicated parents and children.

We wish everyone a good holiday!

Cheryl Unterslak and Anna Moshal drawing out the winner.

John and Anna Moshal with their grandchildren, Rebecca and Joshua Moshal.



JNF OPEN GARDENS

Everyone a WinnerTHIS PAST SUNDAY I HAD THE BEST DAY I HAD HAD IN MONTHS WHEN MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNITY OPENED THEIR GARDENS TO KEREN KAYEMENT L’ISRAEL (JNF – JEWISH NATIONAL FUND)

Our local JNF committee decided that given that JNF is the one of the oldest “Global Green” organizations we would like to share this thought with the community. The way we did this was by asking the community to open their gardens to our viewing.

Five Gardens were visited. Each one unique but with two common themes. Each family just love their garden and showed me around with passion. All were so pleased that they were showing them for KKL/JNF.

The first one was the lovely town house garden of Jenny and Cecil Kahn lovingly tended over the years.

Right next door is another corner of paradise,where birds are encouraged to visit the Garden of Linda and Marcel Nathan.

From there I visited the so very interesting garden of Nicole and Allan Gershanov.Nicole has established a totally Indigenous experience, with butterflies, birds goggas and snakes!

Then on to the very new and exotic garden of Dave and Cheryl Unterslak, also a town house garden.

And finally to the amazing children’s garden of Lauren and Warren Shapiro.

Thank you all.

I do know that there were other gardens, but the homeowners were not available this past week. I will visit them in time for the next edition of HASHALOM.

Sue Edmunds



Grant Maserow

Bridges for Peace: Israel Foundational SeminarFor the past few years, Bridges for Peace has run an Israel Foundational Seminar in Cape Town. This is a religious seminar for this Church. The seminar is run for people that are leaders or are involved in the running of their churches or organisations. For the first time this year, they held their 5-day seminar in KZN. One of the days is dedicated to learning about the local Jewish Community and the Jewish Community of South Africa. Bridges for Peace is a strong supporter of Israel and the Jews and have been vocal and active.

A group of 14 delegates were co-hosted by the CKNJ and KNZC. They learnt about the work of the CKNJ and the KNZC and were addressed by Linda Nathan and Grant Maserow respectively. They were also introduced to Mary Kluk, were given a tour of the Holocaust Centre, by Maureen Caminsky and a tour of the Great Synagogue, by Allan Cohen.

The whole day was very successful and the Jewish community is very appreciative of the support and advocacy given by the Christian Zionists. The more people speaking out on behalf of Israel, the easier it makes it to combat anti-Semitism and to have the world recognise all the good that Israel does, especially Chris Eden and Theuno Swart who made this day possible.

“The combination of activities and speakers presented the delegates with a balanced input on the life of the Jewish community, the role that they have and continue to play in South Africa and the centrality of Israel. All the speakers did an excellent job and we need again to reiterate our gratitude for the arrangements and the hospitality that we received.” – Chris Eden.

“Every single one in the group expressed their appreciation for the day and gratitude for the interaction with each of you.” – Theuno Swart.

The President, Antony Arkin, on behalf

of Rabbi and Mrs Avidan, the executive

and staff wish you all a healthy, happy

and peaceful year ahead.

Bridges for Peace delegates with Linda Nathan and Grant Maserow

Maureen Caminsky taking the delegates through Holocaust Centre

The Delegates with Mary Kluk and Chris Eden (National Director, Bridges for Peace)

The Delegates with Allan Cohen at the Great Synagogue



BARMITZVAH YEAR FOR THE GEMILUT CHASSADIM AWARD IN MEMORY OF JEAN KLUK Z’LOnce again the recipient of the Gemilut Chassadim Award in memory of Jean Kluk z’l, went to a very worthy recipient. The Union of Jewish Women was delighted that the Eden staff nominated Joshua Aronoff as the 2013 recipient. The award is in recognition of his “acts of lovingkindness” a standard set by Jean z’l and upheld by Joshua. The Union is always proud to be associated with the Judaica prizegiving but as Joshua is the grandson of Gayle Lewenstein, a member of the Union’s Executive committee, it made this function all the more special and we all “kleibed nuchas” on her behalf. Kol haKavod Joshua.

THE UJW SCENE 2013!The Union arranged functions and was involved with projects for the Jewish and general communities during the past year. This is a “pictorial tour” of the UJW scene for 2013.



Alana Baranov

Mitzvah Day 2013Sunday November 17th was International Mitzvah Day and in honour of this wonderful initiative the Council of KwaZulu-Natal Jewry held a highly successful food collection drive.

Mitzvah Day is the Jewish community's global annual day of social action and giving where many thousands of participants give their time and not money, making a huge difference to a range of people, causes and charities throughout the year. Born out of the belief that we can all make a positive difference to our world by taking action, Mitzvah Day is a concerted effort to bring the entire community together on a single day to participate in the holy task of tikkun olam, repairing the world.

The CKNJ was determined to bring a taste of Mitzvah Day to Durban and sent out a community-wide call for Durban Jewry to participate in a food collection drive, held between 10am and 12.30pm at the Durban Jewish Centre. We had a fantastic response with very generous donations and all proceeds will go to a truly worthy cause, Jewel House.

Part of Durban Jewish Social Services, an organization which has been looking after the needs of the community since its establishment in 1898, Jewel House is a comfortable home for up to 18 members of our community. As in any other society, Jews need help and support and it is the mission of Social Services to see that no Jewish family is left without a roof over their heads, food on the table and a warm environment for their children.

This year, the CKNJ partnered with the Union of Jewish Women for Mitzvah Day. UWJ volunteers visited Beth Shalom with an array of delicious cakes and spent quality time there interacting with the residents. They also put together a party, with wonderful gifts, and entertained the children at the Durban Children's Home as well as holding a dog/cat food collection on the day for the SPCA.

Our successful Mitzvah Day strengthened not only our community’s commitment to social action but also our identity as a caring community. Our President Linda Nathan and the rest of the CKNJ Executive and Team would like to thank each member of the community who participated in our Mitzvah Day food collection drive. We hope to have an even greater response to Mitzvah Day 2014!



Alana Baranov

Screening of the film ‘Lidice’The DHC was honoured to partner with the Embassy of the Czech Republic to screen the powerful film 'Lidice'. The Czech drama describes the retaliatory Nazi massacre at - and destruction of - the Czech village of Lidice in June 1942 following the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, Deputy Reich Protector of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.DHC Director Mary Kluk with Nicol Adamcova, Deputy Head of Mission; Sandra Platts, Personal Assistant to the Ambassador; and Tomas Dvorak from the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Pretoria.

A small exhibition of the South African art work submitted as part of the International Children's Exhibition of Fine Arts Lidice was also on display at the DHC.

The Independent Projects Trust seminar for refugees with Childline South AfricaThe Independent Projects Trust held a seminar for refugees and asylum seekers in Durban at the DHC with Joan van Niekerk from Child Line South Africa who presented on the topic 'Children of Migrants and Refugees in South Africa'.

(left to right) Joan van Niekerk, National coordinator of Childline; Glen-da Caine, Director of the Independent Projects Trust; Nomusa Shembe from Safer Cities Durban and Alana Baranov from the Durban Holo-caust Centre.

Tal Bruttman and the history of the Holocaust in FranceRenowned French Historian Tal Bruttman recently delivered a riveting lecture at the DHC entitled ‘How a Country Remembers its Past: the Holocaust in France’. The lecture, which was very well attended, was held in conjunction with Alliance Francaise de Durban and the Victor Daitz Foundation. The following day, Bruttman held a workshop at the DHC for our volunteers guides which provided new insights into well-known topics within the study of the Holocaust.

Social Media‘Like’ the Circle Café Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/circlecafedurban and check out our new website for more information www.circlecafe.co.za



EXOTIC FRUIT SALAD

Easy and refreshing desserts for summer!

OVEN ROASTED FRUIT6 peaches or nectarines, pitted and cut into eight pieces6 large plums, pitted and halved or quartered½ cup sugar2 cups raspberries¼ cup orange juice

Preheat the oven to 230degC. Place the peaches and plums in a single layer, cut side up in a large roasting pan. Sprinkle with the sugar and then add the raspberries. Bake for 25 minutes until tender. Remove from oven. Heat the grill and place under grill for about 5 minutes until the berries release their juices. Remove from grill and add the orange juice. Serve warm at room temperature or chilled either with some lovely ice cream, greek yoghurt or crème fraische.

Above BoardMary Kluk, National Chairman

A column of the SA Jewish Board of Deputies

MELON, POMEGRANATE AND GINGER SALAD2 Tablespoons runny honey 1 tablespoon preserved ginger, finely chopped1 container pomegranate seeds 1 tablespoon preserved ginger syrupJuice of 1 lemon fresh mint leaves2 ripe melons, cut into cubes (nice to use two different types - orange melon and honeydew melon)

Place the melon cubes in a lovely bowl. Mix together all other ingredients except the mint. Add to melon and refrigerate until ready to serve. Just before serving add the mint leaves.

CITRUS AND FIG SALAD100g castor sugar juice and zest of 2 lemons or 3 limes2 – 3 pieces of star anise 2 Tablespoons fresh ginger, grated6 oranges, segmented 3 red grapefruit, segmented6 clementines (mandarins), peeled and sliced 4 figs, quartered1 punnet pomegranate seeds

To make the syrup, place the lemon zest and juice, sugar, star anise, ginger and 200ml of water into a saucepan and heat gently until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat and cool. Place all the fruit into a lovely glass bowl. Pour the cooled syrup over the fruit and chill for about 2 hours

The importance of partnerships

At the time of writing, the secular year is drawing to a close with a flurry of communal events, whether relating to civil society activities, Holocaust commemoration, the forthcoming Chanukah festivities and inter-faith initiatives. The Board has been, and continues to be involved with these, in partnership with other Jewish organisations as well as with organisations outside the Jewish communal fold. Last month, we were involved in organising two very powerful and moving events related to Holocaust remembrance. In the first, we partnered with the Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre and the Hungarian Embassy to commemorate the start of the Holocaust in Hungary. This is the first of several envisaged events that will be taking place in 2014. Shortly thereafter, we organised a Friday evening event at the Mizrachi shul in Johannesburg to mark the 75th anniversary of Kristallnacht. A delegation from the German Embassy, headed by Ambassador Horst Freitig were also present. What is noteworthy is that the original approach to attend a synagogue service on the anniversary came from their side.

The Cape Board, in tandem with leaders of other faith groups, was again much involved in putting together the annual interfaith Reconciliation Day Walk in Cape Town. Participants gathered outside the St George’s Cathedral and from there proceeded to the Gardens shul and finally to the Auwal Mosque. At each stop they are addressed on topics relevant to the theme of reconciliation and understanding between different groupings by religious and civic leaders.

All of these and many other events in which the Board was involved last year were organised in collaboration with a variety of other organisations. The latter represent a range of different interests, from the religious through to those with a human rights, youth, civil society or political focus. This underlines how the Board sees itself, namely as a broad tent that facilitates and involves itself in the complete spectrum of Jewish life in partnership with its constituent bodies.

Good Citizenship

A continual challenge for Board is to combine addressing the internal needs of the Jewish community with helping its members to also identify with and contribute to the greater national debate in South Africa. To this end, we encourage and facilitate the community’s participation in a range of initiatives addressing issues of wider public concern, such as combating hate crimes, voter education, social outreach and governance and constitutional questions.

One of the recent Board projects geared towards this was its national election awareness campaign. The first step was to conduct a vigorous drive in the Jewish and social media to encourage community members, in particular our young first-time voters, to ensure that they are registered to vote in next April’s elections. In addition, we have encouraged people to volunteer as election monitors, an area in which we have seen an encouragingly high level of participation by our community in the past. Voter apathy needs to be countered very strenuously; our hard-won democracy is not something to be taken for granted, but on the contrary must be constantly invigorated through the active participation of all South African citizens.



Social & Personal

Hashalom is not responsible for errors and omissions. Please submit your information in writing to

The Editor, PO Box 10797, Marine Parade 4056 or fax to (031) 3379600 or email [email protected].

BIRTHSMazaltov to Maurice and Rhoda Sacher on the birth of a grandson, a son for Tarryn and Dani in Melbourne; to Shirley Foreman on the birth of a granddaughter, a daughter for Adam and Lisa in London; to Marcia and Kenneth Gitlin on the birth a grandson, a son for Jennifer and Anthony; to Neville and Melanie Bernstein on the birth of a grandson, a son for Taryn and David; to Eddie and Laraine Cohen on the birth of a grandson, a son for Avron and Claire in USA; to Yaki and Yaffa Genislav on the birth of a grandson, a son for Guy and Jodie; to David and Cheryl Unterslak on the birth of a grandson, a son for Gila and Aharon.

BARMITZVAH/BATMITZVAHMazaltov to Edith and Leon Tuback on the barmitzvah of their grandson Jordan Tuback; to Anna and John Moshal on the batmitzvah of their granddaughter Rachel Moshal in London.

MARRIAGESMazaltov to David and Cheryl Unterslak on the marriage of their daughter Chana Leah to Michael Glass.

BIRTHDAYSMazaltov to Sylvia Miller on her 90th birthday; to Esther Gershanov on her 85th birthday.

CONDOLENCESDeepest sympathy to Laurence Levy on the passing of his mother Jean; to Bubbles Blumberg and Jeff Blumberg on the passing of her husband and his father Cecil (Doogie).

All times and venues correct at time of going to press

December 2013

Diary of Events

January 2014

1 4p.m. DUHC Chanukkah Party DUHC4 9.30a.m. UJW Friendship Club Beth Shalom9 7.30p.m HOD Lodge Jaffa DJ Centre

15 9.30a.m. Sisterhood Friendship Club Beth Shalom19 11a.m. Tu’bShvat at Victor Daitz/JNF of S.A. Ecological Centre Hammarsdale

20 7.30p.m. HOD Lodge Jaffa DJCentre

THANK YOU - IVAN SHAPIRO

The Shapiro and Findlay Families take this opportunity to express our thanks and appreciation for the many messages of condolence and acts of loving kindness received by us following the passing of our adored father, grandfather and great-grandfather, Ivan.

You are cordially invited to join the JNF for -

Tu b'Shvat - Jewish New Year for Trees at the Victor Daitz/Jewish National fund of South

Africa Ecological Centre in Hammarsdale. The celebration will take place on Sunday 19th January 2014 at 11am. We will have tree planting, fireside

fun, singing and games for both children and adults. Refreshments will be served.

Cost to be announced.

WORLD ZIONIST CONFERENCE RECENTLY HELD IN JERUSALEM

left to right: Reeva Forman (vice-Chairman, SAZF), Efi Stenzler (World Chairman JNF), Antony Arkin (Treasurer SAZF; Chairman KNZC; Chairman Arzenu South Africa), Nilly Baruch Chairman,

P2G, Cape Town.

chanukah lamp - hashalom

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