South African Jews in the Universities by Arthur Lourie

 South African Jews in the Universities

By ARTHUR LOURIE, B.A. (U.C.T.), B.A. LL.B. (Cantab).

IN a country in which for the most part it is but yesterday that the pioneer and the prospector were the sole representatives of civilisation, the universities are of necessity a recent product. Nevertheless, despite this late development, university education here has in the short period of its existence made rapid strides, and to-day plays an important part in the life of the sub-continent. The thirst for higher education is as intense in this country as anywhere else in the world, and facilities for such education are provided by no less than four university institutions, of which one, the University of South Africa, has constituent colleges scattered all over the Union. This is all the more remarkable when it is remembered that these institutions serve the needs of but little more than one and a half million whites. It is unnecessary here to elaborate on the causes of this exceptional activity; suffice it to say that the university system, though somewhat diffuse and mushroomlike in its growth, is one of ambitious proportions.

The two most important centres are naturally enough to be found in the Union's two largest towns. The University of Cape Town is the successor to the old South African College, and thus, as befits its association with the Mother City of South Africa, is the proud heir to a long tradition of learning. The University of the Witwatersrand, like Johannesburg itself, arrived on the scene very late, but immediately assumed an importance out of all proportion to its age. These two flourishing institutions, by reason of their size and of the quality of the training that they provide, fully merit the name university, and it is at these two centres that the bulk of the Jewish students in the country are to be found. This concentration is accounted for in part by the very considerable settlement of Jews in Johannesburg and in Cape Town, and also by the fact that in general Jews are attracted by the big cities. There is the further consideration that these universities, it is generally admitted, are the best equipped teaching institutions in the country, and in particular is this true of the faculties of medicine and law, branches of study much favoured by the younger generation of our people.

In the majority of the other colleges for example, those at Bloemfontein, Grahamstown or Stellenbosch—Jews are poorly represented, though even here there is as a rule some attempt at a corporate life among the small Jewish contingent. Thus the twenty Jewish students at Rhodes support a thriving little Jewish circle, while another circle has been formed at Stellenbosch by a body of Jews whose numbers do not attain the dignity of double figures. At the two larger universities, however, the Jews constitute an active and important group in the student body, a group which, while entering fully into the ordinary life, sport and work of the university, to some extent retains its social identity, and through a society of its own undertakes activities specifically Jewish in character.

By far the larger number of Jews in South Africa originate from Eastern Europe, and nowhere is the adaptability of this class of immigrant more strikingly exemplified than in the record of their children at the universities. In spite of the initial handicap of an alien background these children of the first generation have distinguished and are distinguishing themselves in every field of university endeavour. Without attempting anything in the nature of a list of these achievements, a passing reference to some of them may not be out of place.

As regards scholarship, in such of the colleges as have more than a mere sprinkling of Jews, these have always been well represented in the list of successful candidates. The figures at the University of the Witwatersrand are sufficiently striking to deserve quotation. Out of a total number of 160 degrees, honours and diplomas awarded last year, 61 were gained by Jews. Furthermore, of the two leading overseas scholarships awarded by the university, the H. B. Webb Research and the Union Government postgraduate scholarships, in the one case three out of the past six awards have been to Jews, and in the other, five out of a total of twelve. At this university, too, the Jew has always had very full representation on the various student organisations, and the president of the chief of these bodies, the Students' Representative Council, has in many cases been a Jew. It should be recorded, too, that Jews have, ever since its inception, taken an important part in the activities of the National Union of South African Students, and have on several occasions been in charge of the overseas student tours organised by this body.

The number of Jewish lecturers and professors at the South African universities is small, and was indeed until a short time ago almost negligible. It must, however, be remembered that the great increase of Jewish population here has occurred since 1900, and that, as has been remarked in another connection, granting even the intellectual precocity of the Jew, it should take at least a generation to produce a professor. It promises well, therefore, that there have of recent years been a few outstanding Jewish young men who have been appointed to full-time university lectureships, and we may hope that in the fullness of time the professorships will follow.

Coming next to the world of sport, we find the Jewish student taking an ever-increasing part. At one time the majority of Jewish students went overseas, and this may account in part for the fact that years ago Jewish student athletes were few and far between. More recently, however, a considerable change has become apparent. At the first inter-university sports meeting, for example, two of the competing teams were captained by Jews, while Mr. S. Suzman, the first president of the South African Universities' Athletic Federation, has been the life and soul of that very successful body. A number of leading university tennis and rugby players, and also boxing champions, of the last few years have been Jews. And finally the only university girls to tour with the South African ladies' hockey team in England were both Jewesses.

In the past, as has already been indicated, a large proportion of South African Jewish students received their training overseas, though in view of the growth of university facilities in South Africa this proportion is now decreasing. The great bulk of these students took up the study of law and of medicine in particular the latter, and one is safe in saying that the colleges and hospitals of Edinburgh and London have been the training ground of the great majority of South African Jewish doctors. South Africa has sent three Jewish Rhodes Scholars to Oxford, namely, L. Platnauer, D. Lurie and A. Shacksnovis. Of these the last-named, an old S.A.C.S. boy, achieved the rare distinction of a double-blue. In general, however, there have never been more than a handful of Jewish South Africans in residence at any one time at the two ancient English universities, though not a few of these have taken a high place in the honours lists, whilst others of their number have represented their university in tennis, rugby or swimming. Before leaving the topic of overseas activities, mention should be made of the fact that there are a number of South African Jewish girls at the Royal College of Music and also at some of the other London musical and dramatic colleges.

Returning to the South African universities, a few remarks may be permitted as regards the social problem. Years ago such a problem could not really have been said to exist. But with the increase in the Jewish population the separateness of the Jew has made itself felt, and to some extent finds its counterpart in the universities. We are fortunate here in that the American fraternity system, with its cleavage between Jew and non-Jew, has found no root in a country which in some respects not a little resembles the great trans-Atlantic republic. In the American university these Greek-letter fraternities are an integral feature of the social life of the student, and with their petty exclusions and strict racial barriers they frequently become the means of a cruel discrimination. In South Africa there is nothing of this. The typical university societies are open to all, and though here and there anti-Semitic feeling on occasion. shows its ugly head, on the whole the Jewish student lives, works and plays in harmony with his gentile colleague.

This is not to say, though, that the Jews are entirely merged in the student mass, for, as we have remarked, they conduct group activities of their own. Thus they maintain student societies at which lectures and debates are held for the discussion of subjects of Jewish interest, which entertain distinguished Jewish visitors, and which attempt in general to keep alive in their members the spark of a Jewish consciousness. There are no Zionist societies as such at the university, but as a rule the more comprehensive bodies referred to above include Zionist work among their aims. The oldest, and perhaps the most active of these societies is that at the University of Cape Town. This was founded some fifteen years ago, with the late J. M. Winnitzky as its first president, with Miss Irene A. Newmark and Mr. P. Machanik as vice-presidents, and Cyril H. Lazarus (subsequently killed in action in France) as honorary secretary. This society, which is believed to be one of the first of its kind in the British Empire, was formed by Rev. A. P. Bender largely as a result of the efforts of the late Cyril Lazarus and Mr. M. Geffen.

It must be admitted that the virility of these bodies varies greatly at the different universities and even in the same university at different times. In some instances, indeed, and not always excluding under this heading the larger universities, the attempt at a social and cultural development of a specifically Jewish character is of the most meagre. On the whole, however, these societies perform a valuable function in the life of the Jewish student.

So much for the universities themselves. It is well to consider for a moment, in conclusion, the part played by these students in the life of the Jewish community once they have left behind them the walls of their alma mater. Provided as they are with an education the like of which their parents never enjoyed, one might well have hoped to see them in due course filling with distinction the places left vacant by those elder and well-tried leaders who have at last relinquished their duties. One might well have expected to find this more fortunate generation inspiring and revitalising the Jewish body politic with the vigour of their youth and the power of a trained intelligence. It is with regret that one must admit that these hopes and expectations do not appear to be destined to realisation. The service of their community as such seems to have little attraction for these men and women. When one remembers the enthusiasm with which in so many cases the fathers of these self-same young men regarded the prizes of communal office, and when one notes the apathy with which they themselves look upon anything of that nature, it is not surprising to find a feeling of pessimism abroad as regards the future. Perhaps it is yet too early to pass a judgment, and it must indeed be admitted that not a few exceptions can be produced to disprove the rule. Nevertheless, the plaints on this score of our leaders and Rabbis are too insistent and too heartfelt to be lightly brushed aside, and their strictures would appear on the whole to be amply confirmed. It is not suggested that there is any far-reaching estrangement between the section with which we have been dealing and the main body of their fellow Jews. What is to be feared, however, assuming that the position has been correctly analysed, is that, if this tendency continues, it must in time result in such a drying up of the main sources of leadership as will in the end react harmfully on the whole condition and status of the Jewish community.