Popular leader of the Cape Town Progressive Jewish Congregation, Rabbi Greg Alexander, will soon be leaving Cape Town to take up a position at the Alyth Synagogue in London. The Cape Jewish Chronicle spoke to Rabbi Greg about his career in Cape Town over the past
20 years.
Please tell the readers of the Chronicle about yourself: where you grew up and went to school, what you studied, your working career, family, etc.
I grew up in Joburg, a typical Northern Suburbs Jewish boykie. My primary school, HA Jack, was a government school but 50% Jewish and my high school, KES, was the opposite. We had very few Jews in the school, so I was fortunate to have become deeply involved in Netzer, and that became my Jewish lifeline. I moved from being a channie to a maddie to taking over the Cape Town branch when I moved down for varsity at UCT.
Netzer was a place where I felt I could be my authentic self. It challenged me to think religiously, philosophically, politically and spiritually about who I was and what I believed. My maddies were only a few years older than me, and that peer-led system meant that my mentors were going through the same things that I was, only that they just had that little bit more life-wisdom to share.
My first career was in advertising and, even though I am now no longer in that industry, I still use the same skills to inspire people to see their Judaism as something vital and relevant to where they are. I am doing the same job – now I can fully trust the ‘product’.
My life partner, my wife Rabbi Andi, and I met in London, lived there, Israel and in the USA in our first years, and we are now blessed with our children: Immanuel, Yonatan and Yasmin. The first two were born in London, so we are completing a few circles now by moving back there.
How long have you been with the Cape Town Progressive Congregation?
When I first moved to Cape Town, I was 18 years old, and Netzer and Temple Israel became my home away from home. As the mazkir of Netzer Cape Town, I was invited to people’s homes for Shabbos, was involved in planning not just Netzer events but communal events for SJA, SAUJS on campus, Youth Council, for the Board of Deputies and Zionist Federation. I was sitting in the offices of many of the business leaders of our community asking for funding and support for our programmes and was on the shul council as the youth representative. At the age of 18, I was running a movement while my peers at UCT were having a very different experience.
It was beshert that when I received my smicha (rabbinic ordination) and Rabbi Andi and I were looking at where to work, my old friend from Netzer, Greg Flash, was the President of Temple Israel and reached out to us to consider Cape Town.
We began that job exactly 20 years ago and have many highlights to look back on now.
What do you regard as the most significant achievements of your tenure with the Progressive Congregation?
When we arrived, Temple Israel was 60 years old and needed an injection of new energy. It’s funny to think that now, but we were the ‘young family’ then with our first kids just 1 and 3 years old. We launched ourselves into creating a community that was based on care, spirituality and passion, rooted in Jewish tradition and, at the same time, unafraid to boldly try new things.
Perhaps the greatest achievement is moving the style of congregation from authority- to relationship-based leadership. We have seen that shift in all areas, with a bigger base of involved volunteers and a shul service that has moved from bimah-led to communal participation. Just a simple act like shifting the arrangement of chairs from cinema-style to a letter chet meant that people could see each other and daven in community. I have seen this picked up around other congregations and rabbis in Cape Town too, where instead of “Rabbi Alexander”, we are now “Rabbi Greg” – approachable, human and ready to meet people where they are.
Temple Israel is now a 1000-family congregation with a diverse membership that covers the whole of Cape Town, and our services and lifecycle events are ones that members and non-members are always moved by.
Has your experience of Jewish life in Cape Town changed in any significant ways over the years?
Cape Town Jewry has changed a lot in the two decades that we have lived here, and we have too. Our children are now young adults and we have been privileged to see the world through their and their friends’ eyes and that has opened ours to new vistas. We have seen how the impact of emigration and semigration has challenged the community to build stronger structures of support, and the incredible communal bodies have stepped up tremendously. We really are a remarkable community at the foot of Africa.
Going to the UK in today’s world could be seen as a brave step. Are there particular issues that concern you about the status of Jews in England today?
This is a question I am asked often now – “London, now, are you a meshuggene?” I am excited for the challenge of discovering the community there and finding how I can contribute to its growth. G*d places us in the world for a purpose with skills to bring good into the lives of those we meet, and I am hoping that I will have the chance there to do the same work that I have been doing here.
In conclusion, do you have any other thoughts or comments you would like to share with our readers?
People often think rabbis live in the shul – that’s where they most often encounter them. But I have been privileged in this time to be invited into the lives of people all over this city at their moments of greatest joy and greatest sadness. The Talmud teaches us that every person is a world in itself, and I feel like I have been on a journey of discovery meeting each of them. That voyage that has taught me much and helped me to become a better rabbi and a better person.
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