Out to make the world a better an fairer place | Cape Argus

Memories of mindless violence undoubtedly feature within the narratives of Jewish communities. The desire for peace and the need to end violence must therefore form part of a natural impulse for people of Jewish descent. Peace, reconciliation and human solidarity with others who suffer oppression is integrated within Jewishness and Judaic teaching.

I spoke at the Holocaust and Genocide Centre, in Cape Town on Sunday, and together with refugees from other parts of Africa we shared our thoughts. Michael Bagraim, a member of Parliament and prominent Jewish leader and labour law expert, explained that he comes from a family of refugees.

World Refugee Day on Thursday, gave us an opportunity to once again revisit the concept of the “refugee”. Refugees, due to their vulnerability, require special protective support. I visited refugees in South Sudan who were internally displaced and forced to stay in a UN Protection of Civilians “PoC” camp in Juba. They escaped the killings of the 2013 civil war. In northern Uganda, I trained refugees who fled wars in neighbouring countries at the Kiryandongo refugee camp.

I was in Russia last month May, when Philip Krawitz and I were chatting; he said his family tree has its roots in Russia. But as a result of the anti-Jewish pogroms his family were forced to flee to safety. They ended up in South Africa as refugees. I met the philanthropist, Helen Lieberman, a few years ago and in my discussions with her the same story of persecution in Lithuania emerged. Her family also arrived as refugees in South Africa.

Given these traumatic events experienced by those of Jewish origin, how can one describe the resilience and status of Jewish people post-apartheid?

One key indicator emerges from a March 2016 talk by Philip Krawitz: “The Role of Jewish Business in South Africa: A Light unto Nations.”

Krawitz said: “Without a doubt, Jewish business leaders have made an incredible contribution to the South African economy. They have created hundreds of thousands of jobs Their philanthropic endeavours set new standards of generosity, and they remain committed to the future success of South Africa. Indeed, they have fulfilled the biblical injunction of being a light unto nations and an example for all others to follow.”

About 2500 years ago, Jews were freed from slavery by Cyrus the Great, the king of Persia, and allowed to return home. The impact on the Jews was to reinvigorate their faith and stimulate them to reconstruct the Temple in Jerusalem. The Second Temple was completed on the very site of the first Temple in 516 BC.

John Pawlikowski, a professor of Social Ethics at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, stated that “anti-Semitism has many parents. Scholars of ancient civilisations have revealed the presence of a cultural antipathy towards Jews and their religion in Greco-Roman societyWhen the Nazis came on the scene in Germany they were able to draw upon the legacy of Christian anti- Judaism, even though biologically-based anti-Semitism went well beyond classical Christian anti- Judaism by arguing for the annihilation of the Jews rather than only for their misery and marginality”.

Christian anti-Semitism provided a seedbed for the success of Nazism on the popular level. It led some Christians to embrace the Nazi ideology and many to stand on the sidelines, as Jews were exterminated, he said.

That hatred resulted in a holocaust where 6 million Jews were murdered and millions became refugees, prior to and after World War II. Jewish scholars say the State of Israel was established so Jews could be safe from persecution.

Given the painful Jewish history of being refugees, how does one address the complex and emotionally charged issue of Palestinians who became refugees when the state of Israel was formed in 1948?

For Palestinians this was a catastrophe, the Nakba. Dr M Craayenstein, a social scientist, said: “The killing of one innocent person is the killing of the whole of humankind”, and is at the centre of peace and Jewish morality and lies at the heart of our political imagination to make the world a better and fairer place.