Greetings from South Africa

Stephen Shaiken

Stephen Shaiken is an attorney and author. He has written extensively on Constitutional issues. He has litigated scores of Constitutional questions in federal appellate courts and is a member of the United States Supreme Court Bar

I am writing from Cape Town, South Africa, where I am visiting friends, attending a wedding, and touring. We spent time in Johannesburg and will be off for the Bush in a few days. I’ve been to this beautiful country several times before. Most of the people I know here are Jewish.

A Jewish population of several hundred thousand has dropped to a disputed figure of between 50,000 and 75,000 in a nation of 65 million. The remaining Jews are those with little intention or ability to immigrate. (Living on the rand affords a rather pleasant existence, but converted into hard currency, not even close.) It’s almost impossible for a Jewish South African to be hired by the national government or most private businesses, so most Jews are either professionals or businesspeople, and live on a scale far above the average South African. (Or most of us, as well!).

The remaining Jewish community is quite closeknit, and for the most part have been here for a very long time. It seems that whether in Johannesburg or Cape Town, every Jew knows all the others, though I know that can’t be true. I do keep running into the same people wherever I go.

Most Jews in South Africa, like most Jews in Israel, will tell you they are affiliated with the Orthodox branch of our religion. (The wedding I attended was Reform, it was well attended, and no one seemed to care.) Like our Israeli co-religionists, South African Jews concede they really don’t practice any form of Judaism all that diligently, but the branch they choose to not follow is Orthodox. There is a much higher degree of some adherence to kashrut than among most American Jews, and when it comes to rituals, it is Orthodox all the way. (Don’t plan on being cremated around here, and most Jews celebrate Shabbat in some degree.)

Despite the vehement government screeds against “Zionists” (read that “Jews”) most South Africans are not antisemites and millions of Black Africans are “Christian Zionists” who regularly demonstrate in support of Israel. The ANC has worked hard to stir up hatred between the local Muslims populations in Joburg, Durban and Cape Twon, but it has not been as long standing and as disruptive as the campus riots and street protests, we saw here in the US. Jews and Muslims interact on a daily basis, and with the government out of the way, it’s not problematic.

Synagogues, Jewish Community Centers, Day Schools, Yeshivas, kosher restaurants and entire Jewish neighborhoods are flourishing in Cape Town and Joburg. Seeing Orthodox Jews heading off to shul for morning or evening services or Shabbat is a common site in both cities. The ANC are officially communists and atheists who generally ignore all religions.

I’ve observed differences between Jewish life in Johannesburg (Joburg) versus Cape Town, and it has to do with more than the physical beauty of Cape Town versus the urban decay of Joburg. Crime and violence in Johannesburg are beyond anything we American can imagine, on top of pot holes big enough to swallow a car, no public transit, and a police force that spends more time committing crimes than solving them. No matter how successful or affluent one might be, that danger rules just about every action of every day in Johannesburg.

Cape Town, on the other hand, is really not much different than any major world class city, there is a functioning and excellent public transit system, a functioning and generally honest police force, and the infrastructure is well-maintained. One can walk around Cape Town all week without fear. (As with any big city, one quickly learns which areas to avoid or be watchful in, and they are exceptionally easy to avoid entirely.)

The Cape region is unique in that it has never been governed by the communist-leaning, terrorist-supporting African National Congress. Even though Jews were the most outspoken opponents of apartheid, it has not helped them one iota a with the ANC, which has ruled and ruined South Africa since the end of apartheid in 1994. Fortunately, the Cape has always rejected those fools and elected the Democratic Alliance (DA), a multi-racial coalition that has been in power for over thirty years, and the difference between their governance and the corrupt and incompetent ANC is there for all to see. (South Africans may be wising up, as in last year’s election, for the first time the ANC failed to gain a majority, and formed a Government of National Unity with the DA. Thus far, it’s been a struggle between DA members trying to actually run the country, and ANC members trying to steal as much as they can and punish all enemies, real and perceived.)

It has been disappointing to hear almost all south African Jews express support for Donald Trump, and general disdain for Presidents Obama and Biden, as well as Vice President Harris. Smart and as generally well-informed as these South African Jews are, they express astonishment when I call up the past on my I-Phone and prove to them it was Barack Obama who first gave Israel Iron Dome, and it was Joe Biden who beefed it up. They truly believe it was given and improved by Trump in his last term, and it is quite a shock to their systems to learn the truth. While the right-wing Jewish Press here trumpets the 19 Democratic Senators who voted to cut off aid to Israel, and regularly denounces miscreants like Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, few South African Jews have an appreciation of the impact of White Christian Nationalism on the GOP. They’d never heard that Trump threatened Jews who voted for Harris with a “talking to.”

Most pointedly, I’ve often asked these Jews if they would support for President a person who a judge found had been convicted of rape (as occurred with former President Jacob Zuma, whom they despise) or a person who had dinner with Kanye West (they all know of his Jew hatred.) The answer is always “no,” and I ask “So why would you expect me to vote for such a person in my country?” They do understand, but I’m not sure it moves any minds. When I ask how they feel about Trump pardoning thugs who wore Nazi themes shirts and waved swastikas, they sheepishly look down and mutter how terrible it is. “And he thinks Europe needs Nazis in government,” I add, as many squirm.

I have observed that the younger the South African Jew, the more likely they are to feel as we do. They read more than the right wing local Jewish press and its US counterparts and have traveled to America and gotten to know American Jews. They understand that Trump did not get nearly half the votes of American Jews as falsely reported here, or fully grasp that most of us loathe him, and the GOP has as many antisemites, if not more, than our party. I explain that the difference is that we Dems fight antisemitism wherever we see it, whereas the Republicans see it simply as a tool to get votes by saying things they don’t mean. and sometimes appealing to Jew haters.

It is understandable why Jews living in a country where the national government supports Hamas, hates Israel, will not allow a Jew to captain a national sports team or hold any sort of important government position, would look towards a person who on the surface opposes all of this. I tell them I can understand this, but Donald Trump is not that person.

Nevertheless, these political differences have no impact on the warmth, kindness and openness of South African Jews. I’ve found that despite their lip service to Orthodoxy there is virtually no anti-LBGTQ+ sentiment (this nation, despite its many problems, is advanced in that area.) No one cares that Josie, my wife, is a Filipino Jew by choice, converted by a non-Orthodox beit din, and no one seems at all bothered by the fact that one friend’s family member will be married in a Hindu ceremony on Bali. (Though surely followed by a rabbinic marriage upon return.) I never hear racial epithets or disparagement, and no one holds every Black person responsible for the failed ANC rule and are encouraged by the increasing support the DA is gaining from all races.

When all is said and done, it’s not easy being a Jew in south Africa, and those that have survived and even flourished make us proud.

So, my friends, on those days when we think we have it tough, give a thought to how lucky we are to be living in this nation, and how hard we must work to keep it that way!

Stephen Shaiken