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20 Ellul 5763 - September 17, 2003 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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NEWS
SA Jewish Board of Deputies Centenary
by D. Saks, South Africa

The centenary of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies, the leading civil rights and political body of the South African Jewish community, was celebrated in style last week, with a four-day series of events involving a host of prominent local and international leaders. The Board was founded in April 1903, mainly to assist Jewish immigrants in settling in South Africa. Subsequently, it branched out into combating antisemitism and a wide array of academic and cultural programs.

South African President Thabo Mbeki was the keynote speaker on the opening night, which took place in Sandton and was attended by about a thousand people including a large press contingent. Other prominent speakers were Rabbi Israel Singer, chairman of the World Jewish Congress, and Malcolm Hoenlein, Executive Chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. Mr. Hoenlein, a strictly observant Orthodox Jew, is widely regarded as one of the most influential Jewish leaders outside Israel, with close ties with the American government.

Author Rabbi Berel Wein was the guest rabbi at the opening event, a Shabbaton which attracted an attendance of nearly 400. Immediately following the main Board conference on Sunday, an international meeting of the World Jewish Congress took place, the first time this body held a meeting in South Africa. US civil rights leader Martin Luther King III was guest speaker at the opening dinner, and also took part in the main WJC conference.

President Mbeki paid tribute to the role Jews played in building up South Africa and contributing to the struggle for democracy. He expressed regret that, according to surveys, a majority of Jews felt pessimistic about the future of the country and did not see a place for them in it in the long term. He encouraged the community to view their role as South Africans positively.

Special awards for outstanding service in the field of human rights were presented at the opening to Sir Sydney Kentridge and the late Israel Aaron Maisels, both of whom had been in the forefront of lawyers who had fought against institutionalized racial injustice and the erosion of the rule of law.

One of the highlights of the evening was the presentation of a "Gift to the Nation" from the Board of Deputies to the president. The gift was a specially commissioned bronze bust of Moses holding the Ten Commandments, which will be placed in the new Constitutional Court Museum.

The main conference on Sunday included focuses on anti-Israel bias in the media and the security of world Jewry as well as more locally-focused sessions on the role and work of the Board of Deputies over the previous century.

 

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