Cape Jewish Chronicle

The planning and execution of this Kosher le Pesach issue – specially prepared for reading as you do of the Haggadah at your seder – was by no means easy, and should be something of a surprise. In a nutshell, the normal monthly order has been reversed!
By now the print version will have reached readers, whose reaction we await with much interest – in fact eagerness.

How it will present to you in the web version is uncertain, but we are hopeful. Hopeful that it will do the ‘right’ thing – that is, with the pages numbered right to left. Indeed, all those contributors, organisations and advertisers, who insist – or plead – for ‘right hand and as near to the front as possible’, will have handle the disappointment of being ‘left hand and towards the back’.
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Mention the name ‘Helen’ in South Africa today, and, irrespective of your particular field of reference, three personages spring immediately to mind — Suzman, Zille and Lieberman.

And while all three of them are well worthy of the headlines, one is definitely non-political, somewhat more laid back and fully focused on the job at hand, without generally being in the public eye — Helen Lieberman, the woman who some of us wryly and proudly refer to as our own Jewish ‘Mother Teresa’.

Every now and then, however, Helen Lieberman’s name does hit the media, as in a recent major initiative by Cape Talk Radio through which over R4 million was pledged for the organisation that she founded some 27 years ago, Ikamva Labantu — this appeal specifically for vulnerable children and orphans affected by HIV AIDs.
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Last month saw the end of a friendship that spanned some 60 years, when two exceptional men, brilliant sons of our community, passed away here in Cape Town.

Hyme Rabinowitz and Percy Sieff were men of outstanding talent and character, each a shining light in his own specific field.

Much has been written of them and their careers, with tributes pouring in from every quarter, and heartfelt messages of sympathy to their families. But it is in the words spoken when they were laid to rest that we truly comprehend the lives and the nature of the two.
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Tamar Lazarus, Li Boiskin, Moonyeen Castle, Barbara Flax, Lorraine Rosmarin, Eta Flax, Scher, Zee Bergman, Annette Price and Barbara Sandler.

Bnoth Zion association WIZO held another well attended and successful AGM on Tuesday 17 February.

Chairman Ida Broll delivered her annual report meticulously and reported on yet another dynamic year of BZA activity.

Loyal and committed members contributed to many fundraising events, she noted. The Aviv Golf Day at King David Golf Club, the Health and Beauty function at the Vineyard Hotel and the annual Yomtov Market at the Sea Point School Hall were among those she mentioned. Another significant programme she highlighted was the Hasbarah that is available to the membership, raising the levels of information and knowledge — which is so important in combating the general ignorance in relation to Israel.
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Daniel Mackintosh

The longevity of our community is only as secure as its future leaders. Without young Jews who are seeking to take up the challenge of communal involvement, we may enter a period of terminal decline: youth may seek either to step out of the community entirely or emigrate to a country in which Jewish and career opportunities appear more diverse and easier to access.

In my own life, I’ve found that one significant portion of my friends (in their mid-20s) are not involved in the community because they have not found a Jewish space that interests them, whilst another group have just completed years of gruelling service in youth movements and have expressed the desire for some ‘time off’.

Throughout the Jewish world, this phenomenon has been termed the ‘disappearing Jewish middle’. According to the 2006 Kaplan Centre survey of the South African Jewish community, of those aged between 18-24, only 12% said that they were members of, and participated in, Jewish communal or religious organisations while 20% said that they were neither members of nor participants in Jewish activity.
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