(Author: David Saks, Vol. 66, #2, Rosh Hashanah 2011) Beginnings are always difficult, but once rooted in the right soil and if properly nurtured, the smallest seed has the potential to grow into a forest. So it happened that a part-time Torah-learning programme in
(Author: Arnold Tannenbaum, Vol. 66, #2, Rosh Hashanah 2011) When Charles and Tilly Tannenbaum settled in the small town of Roodepoort in the late 1800s, their name was anything but synonymous with pharmacy. They ran a general store. It was their four sons1 who
(Author: Peter de Jong, Vol. 66, #2, Rosh Hashanah 2011) Klerksdorp, it was once believed, would “grow to rival Johannesburg in size and importance”. Gold had been discovered in 1886 and the following year public diggings were proclaimed and a mining commissioner appointed. Within
(Author: Shelley Glaser, Vol. 69, No. 3, Chanukah 2014) The State of Israel is a country under ideological siege. Critics of the Jewish state advance their agenda by employing a number of dubious political comparisons. They accuse Israel of being an apartheid, racist, colonial
(Author: David Saks, Vol. 69, No. 3, Chanukah 2014) On 21 June 1942, the British in North Africa suffered a heavy defeat with the fall of Tobruk to German and Italian forces. Amongst the 33 000 soldiers captured were 10 722 South Africans, all
(Author: Kenneth D Penkin, Vol. 69, No. 3, Chanukah 2014) Winston Churchill once quipped that, “a lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on”. One of the worst and oft-told calumnies against the State of
(Author: Hazel Frankel, Vol. 68, No. 1, Pesach 2013) The Yiddish poems of Lithuanian immigrant David Fram offer significant insights into Lithuanian-South African literature of a particular Jewish immigrant’s diasporic experience. Joseph Sherman, well-known South African critic and Yiddishist, affirmed Fram’s importance, recognising him
(Author: Cedric Ginsberg, Vol. 68, No. 1, Pesach 2013) 1959 saw the posthumous publication of Nehemiah Levinsky’s book of stories. Called Der Regn hot farshpetikt – Dertseylungen fun Dorem Afrike1 (The rains came late – stories of South Africa), it was a remarkable collection
(Author: Gloria Sandak-Lewin, Vol. 68, No. 1, Pesach 2013) This is the third of a four-part essay on Isaac Bashevis Singer’s great epic work, The Manor (1967), its sequel, The Estate (1969) and The Family Moskat (1950). The first two parts appeared in Jewish
(Author: Matthew Liebenberg, Vol. 68, No. 2, Rosh Hashanah 2013) The following is a short treatment of a sensitive and painful issue, that of domestic abuse and violence. It is an issue that, unfortunately, the Jewish community has had to confront more and more