Most of the 75 thousand Jews living today in South Africa are
ready to pack up and leave at a moment's notice. This is in
contrast to the 120 thousand Jews who lived there before the
current democratic-black government came into power. A
survey, whose findings were published a number of weeks ago
by London's Institute for the Research of Jewish Countries,
notes that more than 60% of the Jews of South Africa do not
believe that the local Jewish community has a future.
However, 54% of those questioned still think that despite all
that has occurred, they are indebted to the new government,
which gained power at the official end of apartheid.
Today, most South African Jews live in Capetown and
Johannesburg. But they are steadily leaving the integrated
neighborhoods and moving into isolated "fortresses." The
black African government is doing its utmost to safeguard
their welfare and freedom. Increasing crime rates as well as
economic problems, however, are causing many Jews to flee.
The preferred destinations are the Anglo-Saxon countries.
Twenty-five percent of South African Jewry would prefer to
live in Israel, although a full 90% claim an affinity toward
the Jewish state. 33% prefer Australia, 20% the United States
and 13% England. 79% of South African Jews have visited
Israel at least once. 35% of those questioned think that the
situation in South Africa has improved due to the abolition
of apartheid. However, only 16% said that they personally
have benefited, and only 13% believe that the improvements
have benefited the entire community.
It is possible that such sentiments are behind the fact that
in 1994 only 11 % of the country's Jews voted for the
National African Congress, as opposed to the more than 56%
who chose the Democratic party, headed by a Jewish leader.
South Africa's Jews do not see their country's future in rosy
colors. Only 22% of those questioned believe that the Jewish
community will still exist twenty years from now. 61% believe
that it will disappear, while 17% preferred to remain close-
lipped on that issue.
An especially interesting aspect of the survey is the
attitude of South Africans Jews toward religion. 77% pray in
an Orthodox synagogue. Only a few have joined the Reform
movement. Most do not work on Rosh Hashanah; 91% fast on Yom
Kippur and 71% keep Shabbos to a certain extent. Only 7% are
intermarried.
Writing in Ha'aretz, Emanuel Setner describes two
types of Jewish families, who reside side by side in South
Africa. The members of one type of family ardently support
the black revisionists. The members of the other type of
family are baalei teshuva, who feel that Eretz
Yisroel will be their final destination.
Setner writes: "Today's chareidim are the lifeblood of the
community. Their ideological influence far surpasses their
actual numbers." Large synagogues in which Jews once gathered
to see and be seen are being vacated in favor of the
shtieblach, small shuls which function in
private homes, whose numbers are increasing throughout
Johannesburg at a dizzying rate. Yarmulkes, tzitzis
and payos, a rare sight 15 years ago, are now seen
everywhere. Small orthodox schools are burgeoning, and the
large Jewish schools which are affiliated with the central
stream are including more and more Jewish studies in their
curricula. Israel and Zionism, which in the past were the
primary components of the country's are being relegated to
second place. Yiddishkeit is first!
