Planning for the Future by Leon Feldberg

Editorial:

PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE By LEON FELDBERG

THE first volume of "South African Jewry" appeared in 1965 and met with a wide welcome, both locally and overseas. An authoritative reference work reviewing the rise of the Jewish community and its contributions to various branches of South African life, as well as listing Jewish institutions and communal workers throughout the country. it was the first comprehensive Guide, Directory and Who's Who of this important Jewish community to appear in the past 38 years, and as such it met a long-felt need. Orders came from libraries and public institutions throughout Southern Africa, as well as from Israel, Britain, U.S.A., Canada. Australia and other countries. Press reviews commended the undertaking as providing the only comprehensive and authoritative contemporary reference work on the Jewish community of South Africa.

We now have pleasure in placing before the public the second volume of "South African Jewry." which continues the programme set forth in the first. The new volume surveys further aspects of the present position of the Jewish community and its historic past, and revises and extends the Communal Directory and Who's Who. The special articles in this volume are contributions to South African Jewish historiography. Dr. Louis Herrman has written the first comprehensive survey of the role which Jews have played in Medicine in South Africa. Mr. Gustav Saron studies some of the forces which went into the moulding of South African Jewry at the turn of the century. Mr. Edgar Bernstein presents a broad panorama of our Jewish community as it is today, Rabbi Newman extends the picture with a survey of Jewish religious life, and Rabbi Duschinsky with a survey of Jewish life in the small towns of the Platteland. Mr. Eric Rosenthal calls to notice some interesting Jewish associations with the field of Science in South Africa. Mrs. Muriel Rathouse depicts one of Johannesburg's notable Jewish pioneers.

To present the collective picture which this new volume affords has not been an easy task. Little has yet been done in South African Jewry to sift the mass of historical material that is buried in the minute books of Hebrew Congregations and other institutions. Outside of census returns, there are no comprehensive statistics of South African Jewry, and we have had to devise machinery for assembling our own: the results are contained in our Directory of the community, which for the first time presents an up-to-date record.

RESEARCH REQUIRED

We intend to continue the process in future volumes, researching into current as well as past events which have their bearing on the development of the community, and we shall welcome enquiries from scholars who would be interested to contribute to this field of study. There are many sectors of South African Jewry on which we have insufficient information - what proportion of the children receive no Hebrew education: how many of our youth take no interest in Jewish communal life and why some of them drift away; how many young people lose their Jewish identity through inter-marriage: what is being done to help the aged continue to live a rewarding life; how Judaism is adapting itself religiously to the particular circumstances of South Africa. the same way as it does in other lands.

There are departments of South African Jewish life where new policies are required, and others where a change in direction is necessary. It is not good enough for old-established institutions to continue functioning as they did a generation ago. Leadership must change and younger men with new ideas must be brought in to replace those who have been holding executive office for too many years. Communal resources should be devoted to causes that most require them and especially to Jewish education. Hebrew congregations should ask themselves whether the trend to replace modest edifices with larger and more imposing houses of worship is justified. No good purpose is served by having grand synagogues which are full only three times a year, but have little more than a handful of worshippers on Sabbath and cannot get a Minyan on a weekday. Money could more usefully be spent on building communal centres, with ample accommodation for women's and youth work, which would meet a vital need the whole year through.

NEEDS OF YOUTH

In the youth field in particular, a great deal of re-thinking needs to be done. Our communal leaders are far too prone to work on stereotyped lines, or to imitate American patterns. The fact that such patterns function well in the U.S.A. does not mean that they are going to work out here. But all too often a lot of communal money is needlessly wasted before that truism is appreciated. What we ought to be doing is to find out what youth wants not what we think it ought to want. For this we require the sociological surveys that are talked about but not implemented. We need such surveys not only in respect of youth, but also in many other departments of communal activity. It is our hope that "South African Jewry" will increasingly contribute to this field.

When we look at the Jewish community in the national connotation of South Africa, the picture which "South African Jewry" is unfolding is one that Gentile no less than Jew can view with gratification. Jews make a contribution to the national well-being beyond their proportion in the population. There is not a sector of national endeavour to which they have not brought considerable resource and creative talent - finance, commerce, industry, and the cultural pursuits. And this contribution has become more appreciable with the growth of the country, and the complexities to which it has given rise. "South African Jewry" is charting the changes that have taken place, both inside the Jewish community, and more generally on the national landscape, as South Africa becomes more intricately involved in the international scene.

As for the character of South African Jewish life, there has been much talk about the forces of assimilation and inter-marriage eroding it. While none can ignore the existence of such negative influences, our research leads us to believe that they have been exaggerated. Where in the past there might have been considerable indifference to religious values on the part of youth, today the signs are more hopeful all round. Judaism has struck indigenous roots in South Africa and the younger generation is showing enthusiasm for it and a genuine dedication.

PART OF WORLD JEWRY

At the same time as this vigorous community lives its own Jewish life and makes its contribution to South Africa, it is also part of world Jewry and makes a contribution to universal Jewish causes especially to Israel, which today holds pride of place as the most creative element in modern Jewish life. Jews throughout the world rose to the challenge of the Middle East War in June [1967], and a substantial contribution came from the South African Jewish community which has always been strongly influenced and inspired by Zionist endeavour. Jews also appreciate the many spontaneous contributions that came from non-Jews in South Africa to the funds which were raised by the community to help Israel repair the damage sustain sustained in war; as well as the South African Government's permission, despite present economic restrictions, to allow these funds to be remitted to Israel on humanitarian grounds. Perhaps most inspiring of all was the number of young people in South African Jewry who went as non-combatant volunteers to help Israel through its emergency.

If these events have been inspiring to the Jewish community as a whole, they are an especially vitalising influence on youth and the young married section of the community. This calls for new vitality and stature in Jewish communal leadership, which we hope will rise to the challenge in the years that lie ahead.