Have you ever written the beginnings of a new Torah?
“No,” said Rabbi Maizels, “this is a first in my career as a scribe.”

On Sunday, 31 August an almost Yom Tov like atmosphere descended on Chabad Centre as a group of Cape Town families came forward to write the first letters of a new Torah.

Each family chose to purchase the dedication of a specific parsha to be written on their behalf by the designated scribe in Israel.

“The Sofer will have you in mind when he writes that particular parsha,” said Rabbi Popack at the ceremony, “and when the Torah is completed, you will receive the quill used to write ‘your’ parsha.”

Aunique aroma of Israel’s ethnic flavour wafted through Cape Town during two glorious weeks in August. Eight talented, warm and wonderful ethnic cooks; ambassadors of the Women’s Empowerment Programmes from the Beit Shemesh/Mateh Yehuda region, together with two highly- rated professional chefs arrived to treat Cape Town’s generous spirited community to a feast of functions!

We opened our hearts and our homes and we treated our taste buds to a festival of ‘Ethnic Aromas’ in a string of events that emphasised the close connections of the three joint sponsors; Partnership 2000, Bnoth Zion Association WIZO and the Western Province Zionist Council in support of the P2K partnership with Israel concept.

The cooks and chefs were ‘homehosted’ and enjoyed the hospitality and beauty that the Cape offers, while the ‘host committee’ organised a wonderfully successful Gala Dinner in the ‘ethnically — decorated’ Adele Searll Hall at the Wynberg Claremont Synagogue and a popular Community Tea at the Green and Sea Point Synagogue Hall.

Za’atar, saffron, oreganum and fennel flavoured the diverse and varied courses served at the dinner, and cinnamon and honey dominated the flavour of the exquisitely prepared delicacies served for dessert and tea. The meticulously and lovingly prepared mouthfuls were a tantalising treat for all who crowded into the venues for the events.

Anyone who craved the ‘flavour’ of Israel’s diverse and fascinating culinary cuisines was able to experience just that without the effort of air travel.

The cooks, whose backgrounds are rooted in Tunisian, Moroccan and Kurdistani culture, used their expertise to prepare dishes redolent of faraway countries, while the chefs employed their professional skills to ensure that all the best ingredients were sourced and the final results were ‘plated’ as expertly as possible.

Mickey Blumberg, liaison to South Africa for the Keren Hayesod, IUA and Partnership 2000, was the driving force and the mastermind behind this Ethnic Aroma Festival — a very ambitious but hugely successful example of Partnership 2000’s ‘People to People’ project.

Shabbat dinners, prepared by the ethnic cooks and served in the homes of host families, provided a special and meaningful opportunity for Cape Town’s community to enjoy yet another occasion with these talented and conscientious ‘ambassadors of cuisine’, who arrived in Cape Town with enthusiasm and motivation — and left with the love of all those who worked with them and shared their warmth and passion.

The ‘behind the scenes’ activity, preparation sessions and support given by the P2K Beit Shemesh Mateh Yehuda staff and committee contributed to the success of this Ethnic Aroma Festival, which took place in Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town.

The farewells were not only filled with emotion, but also with a deep sense of gratification at a job well done!

Barbara Flax

The UJW of Cape Town built two houses simultaneously in Mfuleni as part of the Habitat for Humanity project, which is designed to expedite the building and provision of houses in township communities. Various partners were approached in a bid to make it an interfaith, cross-cultural, bridge building experience.

The build took place in collaboration with Power Construction, Associated Magazines, Habonim, SAWID (South African Women in Dialogue) and the Rotary Club of Sea Point as well as four UJW groups — namely Kesher, Constantia, Milnerton and Naarot. Both homes were built over 5 days, mainly by women and five men. On the final day the keys to the homes were handed over to the delighted new owners in a simple but moving ceremony.

Participants in the build were involved in mixing concrete in the road with spades, shovelling it onto wheelbarrows, which were then wheeled up a ramp to the building teams. Others stood in lines passing cement bricks and necessary equipment.

Jewish Agency representative Moshe Lederman arrived in South Africa at the end of 2005 with his wife, Booky and daughter Yuval, to fill the role of the Cape Town Community, Aliyah and Habonim shaliach.

Over the past three years Moshe has been very much involved in this community, as well as working in Christian Zionist groups, giving lectures on all aspects of Israel from politics and history to the Israeli society. He has also spoken and delighted Cape Town audiences with his lectures on Israeli humour.

As head of the Aliyah Department, Moshe was responsible for sending close to 100 Capetonians on aliyah, seeing the biggest increase in numbers from Cape Town for the past 5 years. As Habonim shaliach he was very much involved in the machanot and the weekly peulot, sharing his insights and passion for the movement.

From Constantia and Muizenberg, from Tableview and Milnerton, from Claremont and Sea Point, the community flocked to bid farewell to the bachurim of the Chief Rabbi Cyril and Ann Harris Yeshiva of Cape Town last month.

Those present in the home of the Yeshiva, Beit Midrash Morasha loudly endorsed the well deserved tribute paid by the current chairman, Lance Katz.

He noted that the Yeshiva was the only Torah based learning facility which was community-based, and its success over the past 14 years was due in large measure to the ability of the bachurim to interact with all sections of the community, promoting their core values of Israel centred Torah Judaism.

He paid tribute to Selma Glass who had retired earlier in the year, after being involved with the Yeshiva since its inception.

MaAfrika Tikkun’s COO Mark Gamble, chairman Moonyeen Castle and Amanda Blankfield (MaAfrika Tikkun Gauteng) with Colin Brown of sponsor Deutsche Bank.

There is a clear need for the youth of South Africa to become practically involved in the problem-solving process surrounding issues facing students, so as to develop South Africa’s next generation of leaders. With this in mind, MaAfrika Tikkun and Deutsche Bank hosted the second annual Big Talk Youth Conference on Thursday, 23 July.

The themes for this year’s conference — the Department of Education’s school pledge, drugs and racism — were energetically discussed amongst the students. Key solutions were presented for these problems facing high school learners, with the school pledge heatedly debated.

MEC Cameron Dugmore who facilitated the session on The School Pledge with the Events MC, member of Parliament Regina Mhlomi.

“I am very excited about the participation of all the learners involved,” says the Western Cape MEC of Education, Cameron Dugmore. “I was impressed with the content of the discussions and am pleased that the youth of South Africa were enthusiastically involved.”

The conference, held at Sea Point’s Civic Centre, created a secure and sustainable platform for high school students in the Western Cape to debate significant challenges facing them in a constructive and safe manner. 42 diverse schools were dynamically involved in a mutual problem solving process to bridge the communication gaps between decision-makers and our youth.

Following years of growing concerns over Irans nuclear intentions, the crisis has now moved to a new and more dangerous level. After months of stalemate on the diplomatic front, and as the public statements, pronouncements and mind games have been ratcheted up, we have now seen dramatic statements on the military front by both Israel and Iran.

On July 9 Iran grabbed the headlines by claiming to have test-launched a set of Shahab-3 missiles, which they claim have a range of some 2,000km (1,240 miles) that would put all of Israel in its reach in addition to state-of-the-art shore-to-sea, surface-to-surface and sea-to-air missiles.