The decision of the majority of Orthodox rabbis in Cape
Town, South Africa's second-largest Jewish center after
Johannesburg, to boycott the recent Holocaust Day function
has sparked off a furious controversy in the local community.
Ten out of thirteen rabbis chose to absent themselves from
that event after Reform rabbi David Hoffman was chosen as
guest speaker. The Yom Hashoah commemorations take place in
Cape Town's Jewish cemetery and are regarded as a quasi-
religious event.
Many people have accused the South African Beth Din,
which is based in Johannesburg, of bad faith, saying that the
decision to have Hoffman speak was conveyed to the Orthodox
community at least six months in advance. For its part, the
Beth Din insisted that it had not called on the rabbis to
officially boycott, claiming that they had made the decision
to stay away in their personal capacities. It called for all
future Yom Hashoah ceremonies to be entirely secular
community events run under the auspices of the Jewish Board
of Deputies.
An estimated 25% of Cape Town Jewry is affiliated with
the Reform movement, as compared with less than 10% in
Johannesburg. The Orthodox grouping in Cape Town has also
been traditionally less hard-line than its Johannesburg
counterpart with regard to the non-Orthodox movements. Some
Cape Town Jews have expressed resentment at the way their
community is allegedly being dictated to by Johannesburg and
there are fears that long-standing rivalries between the two
cities may lead to Cape Town striking off on its own,
religiously more liberal path.
