Kesher Talk

The [South African] Jewish community ... has gone through huge changes. One has been the accelerated emigration of Jews for English-speaking countries such as Australia, Canada, the United States and England.

Emigration has reduced the size of the community from roughly 125,000 in the 1980s to some 80,000 today. The reasons range from the violent crime rate — among the highest in the world — to whites’ difficulties in getting jobs and general anxiety about the country’s political stability.

After some years of demoralization, the Jewish community recently has begun to rebound. It has placed in key leadership positions young, dynamic people who are less burdened by the baggage of apartheid and who are vigorously engaging with symbols of the new South Africa.

Examples of this young blood are Yehuda Kay, 28, national director of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies; Zev Krengel, 31, chairman of the board’s Johannesburg area council; Avrom Krengel, 35, chair of the South African Zionist Federation; Rabbi Craig Kacev, 32, acting director of the South African Board of Jewish Education; and Warren Goldstein, 32, recently chosen as the country’s chief rabbi.

posted by William @ 5/06/2004 08:11:48 AM