Category: News (Page 2 of 2)
In time for the High Holy Days the newest issue of the SAAPR Journal has been published. The journal collects contributions from Monica Solomon, Rabbi Schell, Prof Bilchitz, Merle Williams, Rabbi Alexander, James Lomberg and Rabbi Shaked. A copy of the journal can be downloaded here: south-african-progressive-jewish-veiws-issue-2-with-cover
Wow! What a week it has been!
SACRED and our co-applicants reached an out of court settlement in the Equality Court case, against the Board of Deputies. The Board of Deputies gave assurance that it would end its ban on “women’s voices” and as such restructure future ceremonies so as not to exclude a woman signing solo. They will no longer silence women’s voices on the grounds that; a woman’s voice is sexually provocative and akin to nakedness.
I feel as a Progressive thinking community (being a minority in so called Orthodox environment) we should be glad to know that all future Board of Deputies ceremonies and events will be infused with human rights, where all are equal and none of our participants are treated as second class Jews. Our agreement has eradicated the atrocious and embarrassing situation of there being discrimination at official Holocaust memorials.
It is our hope that due to this revival of the traditional, pre-2005 Yom HaShoah format; our youth, women and others who were alienated from the Memorial between 2005-2016, will once again feel able to participate in a Memorial which reflects their values and the lessons of the Shoah.
As a negotiated agreement SACRED has had to compromise. We are aware that this will mean there are supporters of ours who will not be entirely satisfied with the agreement. These reservations also weighed on our minds. We find comfort in the fact that SACRED has consistently advocated for a negotiated settlement and sincerely believe that our excellent negotiators have achieved the best possible negotiated outcome. The only way in which it could possibly be bettered, was by going to court, an option almost universally opposed.
On behalf of SACRED I would like to extend our sincere gratitude to fellow applicants, and to all of those who have so generously given their time and support to us in this struggle. There were some difficult times on the way to achieving this settlement but your rock solid support and encouragement ensured that we were never alone.
Wishing you all a peaceful and warm weekend.
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Julia Margolis
http://www.iol.co.za/capetimes/sa-jewish-womens-voices-freed-2050438
SAAPR Press Statement
The South African Association of Progressive Rabbis (SAAPR) welcomes the resolution of the Board to restore women singing to the Yom Hashoa ceremony. We are gratified that our proposal of separating the ceremony into two parts has been accepted by the broader community. This puts behind us the past decade of exclusion and we look forward to hearing that the same compromise will be accepted at the Johannesburg ceremony. We commend our colleague, Rabbi Julia Margolis for leading SACRED’s battle to have women reinstated on to the program, and will continue to support all efforts to recognize the equivalent role of men and women in leading the South African Jewish community.
“Mitzvah”, a wonderfully expressive Hebrew word, has two distinct meanings. The first is a commandment of the Jewish law; the second is a meritorious or charitable act.
For the “Mitzvah Day 2015” on 22 November 2015, various religious groups have committed themselves to working together on a theme of “Bringing light to the people of South Africa.” Our campaign is aimed at making a difference to many who live in abject squalor and poverty in the dreadful squatter camps that are such a blight on our society. These families have no access to electricity, no lights, no heating, and are forced to rely upon paraffin lamps which, while being fairly ineffective, are at the same time frighteningly dangerous and have resulted in tragedies too numerous to mention.
But we have an answer: specialized solar lights, that can provide up to 60 hours of cost free light, are charged by exposure to sunlight, and which simultaneously protect the environment from the damaging effect of pollution.
For a mere R100 per unit, the lives of these families will be irrevocably changed, but for the better. And this is where you can help – your much appreciated donations will bring light into their lives. Can we count on your support? I hope so – because that is the essence of Mitzvah day: doing meritorious or charitable acts for those who have so much less. Please join BET DAVID in this important event.
Details available at the office: admin1@betdavid.org.za
Comfort. Comfort and There is No Comfort
In the course of the last few hours two hate crimes have taken place in Israel, our Jewish Homeland. In the first, a man previously convicted of stabbing participants in a Gay Pride event has done it again, with the result of six injuries, some of them grave. In the second case, two men entered a home in a Palestinian village near Nablus, set fire to the inhabitants (one baby lies dead, and three family members are fighting for their lives) and sprayed the Hebrew word nekamah – revenge. It is reasonable to assume that the perpetrators were responding to the decision of the Supreme Court that property occupied by Jewish settlers had to be destroyed because it was built on private Palestinian land. The South African Association of Progressive Rabbis condemns these acts of unjustified violence and hatred.
This is meant to be the Sabbath of nechamah, comfort, which comes after the Ninth of Av in our liturgical calendar. It is meant to offer hope that even after gazing into the pit of destruction, some glimmer of hope may be found. And yet this Sabbath has been turned from a celebration of nechamah, a reflection on the healing powers of recovery, to one in which the dreadful price of nekamah, the dynamics of vengeance, are playing out in front of our eyes.
Destruction and then comfort – that is meant to be the narrative. Instead, we are faced with the chilling prospect of a cycle which leads from destruction to self-destruction; from mourning to arson; from inconsolable loss to uncontrollable hatred.
What are people of conscience to do in the face of unconscionable acts? How are we meant to respond to acts of depravity aimed to deflect us from the arc of redemption towards the spiral of vendetta? We don’t know if anything we do can hold back the momentum of murder. Extremists always trump moderates. But we do know that if there is any meaning to being part of the Jewish people, it is expressed by facing up and taking responsibility.
There is a symbolic aspect to this – we will have to express solidarity with victims in ways we may have shied away from in the past. The current situation may test our sense of who is on “our side”.
Along with expressions of solidarity, we believe we also have to delve into the ideology and identity which gives the stabbers and the burners a sense of legitimacy, a license to kill. Can we express and exemplify a Judaism of love and of life, one rooted in humanity and moderation?
The prospects for Israeli society are bleeding and charred this Shabbat. If we are to turn the perversity of nekamah into the possibility of nechamah, we will need to forge new alliances, find new resources, and refuse to abandon the arc of redemption. Can a Torah of reasonableness overcome an ideology of insanity? We should stake our lives on that proposition.
Rabbi Adrian Michael Schell
on behalf of the rabbis of the South African Association of Progressive Rabbis
(This statement is based on a response by Rabbi Michael Marmur, PHD,
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Jerusalem, Israel)