By Brad Gottschalk
There is a lovely quote from Jonathan Safran Foer’s Everything is Illuminated – “Jews have six senses: Touch, taste, sight, smell, hearing… memory. While Gentiles experience and process the world through the traditional senses and use memory only as a second-order means of interpreting events, for Jews memory is no less primary than the prick of a pin, or its silver glimmer, or the taste of the blood it pulls from the finger. The Jew is pricked by a pin and remembers other pins… When a Jew encounters a pin, he asks: ‘What does it remember like?’”
Upon first reading, I fell in love with Foer’s novel, which he wrote in Prague. So, visiting the city with the 2024 Habonim Grade 10 Shorashim group felt like a bit of a literary pilgrimage. There we were: a group of South African Jews sitting in the Altneuschul, famed for the legend of its stones brought by angels from the Second Temple’s ruin. Translated to ‘Old-New’ Synagogue, this ancient Shul has nothing to do with Herzl’s Altneuland, nor any Old Shul in Prague. Rather, the Hebrew name עַל תְּנַאי (al tnay), which means ‘on condition’, was confused with the Yiddish ‘alt-nay,’ or old-new. The Shul was built with Temple stone ‘on condition’ that they be returned with the coming of Moshiach.
Every Jewish site in Europe seems to share idiosyncratic legend met with the empty reality of Jewish decimation. These sites, like this Altneuschul (also fabled to hold the remains of the Golem), really are ‘Old’ meeting ‘New’. There are no locals who pray at this oldest operating Shul in the world. Rather, different tunes to the same prayers fumble throughout the Gothic structure. A new generation comes to pray in this old site, all on their way backpacking or business-ing through Prague.
The most striking detail in the Altneuschul was not the twin-nave design but the eyes of hostages depicted in its history, a reality far removed from the Shtetl dwellers of the past. This is the Jewish experience: a prick of memory and the erratic colours of our tapestried history. Our story is in constant conversation with itself, from Maimonides to Marx. What better place to face our new history than an eclectic Shul built with Temple stone?
Being a young Jew in 2024 is not easy. We face increased isolation from social media, existential dread from global warming, and our peoplehood is weaponised in culture wars. Nothing in 2024 is certain, and the rules of stability and progress we have known all our lives have been upended.
The leadership crisis makes navigating these difficult times harder. It is time for Jewish leaders like Netanyahu to set aside personal interests and take responsibility for forging a positive path forward. Although we seem far from it, I am hopeful for a bright future. We are fortunate to have strong communal structures in South Africa. Habonim offers an escape from the anti-social outside world into one of life-changing education and genuine connections. Our little bubble of paradise in Onrus is a testament to this. Building our future leaders is essential, lest we forget the lesson of ‘What does it remember like?’
Brad moved to Cape Town after living in Israel on the Habonim Shnat programme. He serves on the Habonim Machaneh VP (the Steering Committee) and is an active community participant, volunteering for SAUJS and Limmud. Majoring in Psychology, English and History at UCT, his interests include Israeli culture, politics, history, and cultural Jewish practice.
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