For over 30 years, as CEO and Spiritual Leader of the Small Jewish Communities Association of South Africa – and formerly as the country communities Rabbi of the SAJBD – and of the African Jewish Congress, Rabbi Moshe Silberhaft has travelled thousands of kilometres to serve some of southern Africa’s smallest and most isolated Jewish communities. Now, those remarkable experiences have been brought together in a new book, The Travelling Rabbi: Journeys Continued.
Written by Rabbi Silberhaft, as told to David Saks, the book continues the story first shared in The Travelling Rabbi – My African Tribe. While the earlier volume chronicled his first 18 years on the road, the new publication picks up where that story ended, following his travels and encounters through to the present day.
Rabbi Silberhaft’s journeys have taken him to almost every corner of South Africa – from Musina in the far north to Mossel Bay on the southern Cape coast, from Springbok in the west to Mbombela on the country’s eastern border. Along the way, he has ministered to Jewish communities that, although often small and widely dispersed, have maintained a lasting connection to Jewish life and tradition.
For many Jews living far from the major urban centres, Rabbi Silberhaft has become far more than a visiting rabbi. He has served as a spiritual guide, mentor and friend, providing a vital link between isolated communities and the broader Jewish world.
The book offers a rich collection of stories gathered over decades of travel, documenting the people he has met, the places he has visited and the enduring legacy of communities that once flourished and, in many cases, continue to maintain a Jewish presence today. It is both a personal memoir and a valuable record of an often-overlooked chapter in southern African Jewish life.
The Travelling Rabbi: Journeys Continued is both a celebration of those communities and a testament to one rabbi’s unwavering commitment to ensuring that no Jew, however remote, feels forgotten.
The book was launched to a large crowd at an event organised by the SA Jewish Museum and the Jacob Gitlin Library during July at which Rabbi Silberhaft was in conversation with Emeritus Associate Professor Richard Mendelsohn, sharing stories and reflections from his continued journeys serving Jewish communities across Southern Africa. It is available for purchase from the SA Jewish Museum shop and for lending from the Jacob Gitlin Library.
