By DANIEL BLOCH, Executive Director, Cape SAJBD
It is human nature to judge people. I am not saying it is correct, but that is what we tend to do. We judge people by the clothes they wear, the cars they drive, who their friends are, what they eat, and what school they attended. The list is endless. It’s complicated, it’s unfair, and it can be quite discriminatory in many cases. We do the same thing when it comes to our religion. Are you kosher? How often do you go to Shul? Orthodox or Progressive? Can you speak Hebrew? Who do you have a faribbel with?
Since joining the Cape SAJBD, I have learned to view everything through a different lens. Whilst I go to shul on Friday evening and most Yom Tovim, I am not Shomrei Shabbos; neither am I kosher. I am heavily involved in the community being part of the Board, as well as serving on my shul committee, and I attend many communal Jewish events to support local organisations and local causes. I have friends who express their Judaism in a number of ways important to them.
I don’t believe I am any less of a Jew for not observing all the laws and traditions – and the same applies to my friends and family as well as anyone in our community. I have come to learn from engaging with community members and our amazing Jewish organisations that we have 13 000 unique Jewish people living in the Western Cape – most of whom are proudly Jewish in their own way.
Unfortunately, since October 7th, many of us have become far more judgmental of some of our fellow Jews. For many in our community, the topic of Israel and Zionism has become extremely challenging to discuss around the Shabbos table, in our places of work, at university, in school – pretty much everywhere. And each and every Jewish person has the right to their own opinion and views on the matter. We cannot simply judge anyone for criticising the government of Israel – the leadership structure is flawed and has imperfections just like our
own government, which we regularly criticise.
Israel and Zionism are intrinsically part of Judaism and we learn of this in the Torah and in various other religious scriptures including the Bible and the Quran. As Jewish people, we all have some connection to the Holy Land, be it spiritual or personal. My connection is both, having celebrated my bar mitzvah at the Kotel.
There are Jews out there who do not share this connection with the land which was promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They do not have the same connection and love as most Jewish people worldwide do and they should not be judged for that. However, when a Jewish person stands alongside supporters of terrorism proudly chanting, “We are Hamas!”, and calling for the death of all Zionists, whilst standing outside our shuls and schools, that will most certainly cause our blood to boil. There is no other way to put it: it is wrong for Jews to support organisations that want to kill Jews. Jewish people who incite violence against their fellow Jews and use hate speech to target other Jews is something that does not sit well with me, and those are people whom I would not want to call, “My fellow Jews”.
There are differing opinions amongst our community; however one thing is clear, no one is forcing anyone to be part of Judaism and no one is forcing anyone to be part of our community. While I will embrace all Jews, how can I embrace someone who calls for my death?
Cape SA Jewish Board of Deputies website: www.capesajbd.org, Instagram, and Facebook page.
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