Hearty welcome to all of you, really nice to have such a good turnout for our biennial conference. Cape Town is always very special, food and services have been outstanding, very warm welcome being here, nice to have so many rabbis and for all of us to have the opportunity to be here. I want to especially thank our guests for coming out from Israel to be with us, we appreciate that you see South Africa important enough and we are getting recognition and are featuring on the world map.
I would like to ask you all to stand for a minutes silence in honour of all those who have passed on since our last conference particularly the late Rabbi Emeritus Isaac Richards.
We are proud of the fact that the SAUPJ is represented on all national bodies in South Africa, where we always get a fair hearing and are able to voice our concerns. As the umbrella body of the Progressive Movement, we play an important role within the wider Jewish community, as well as in the interfaith communities in South Africa. I attend all local meetings that are possible at both the SAJBOD and SAZF, as well as many other official visits.
We play an active role in making sure that news-breaking events of international and local importance, as well as other newsworthy items are reported in the South African Jewish media and the wider press. We ensure that Progressive Jews are heard throughout South Africa and are perceived in a positive light.
A milestone for us this year is our new website. We are very excited to be live on the web at last, and we hope this will encourage potential members and international visitors, and give us more international exposure. Please visit our website - www.saupj.org.za - to find out about the Progressive Movement in South Africa and current happenings related to our movement as well as links to all our affiliated shuls and organisations. I would like to thank Irwin Manoim and Darryl Egnal for their work in this regard.
We extended a hearty welcome to the three new rabbis in Gauteng. Rabbi Robert Jacobs who arrived in August from the States and has already made an impact on the wider community. Rabbi Dr Robert Ash from the UK and Rabbi Ann Folb from the States they have only been here a short while and we look forward to working with them in the future and have all played a major role in the short time that they have been here. The SAAPR has had two kallahs/meetings this year with all six full time rabbis, with one kallah being at Temple Emanuel and another being at Temple Israel Cape Town, this also included a meeting on Wednesday prior to conference.
Rabbi Jacobs has been attending meetings with the Independent Religious Forum for Broadcasting and Gauteng Provincial Housing for Urban Renewal for poorer income households. He will also be broadcasting on Radio Today on Tuesday mornings. Our rabbis will also be attending the National Religious Leaders Forum meetings. Rabbi Avidan attended the Australian conference of the Progressive movement which was held in Tasmania to which he took greetings on our behalf. We had Student Rabbi Eli Freedman visiting Temple Israel Hillbrow over the High Holy Days and Rabbi Paul Feinberg at Temple Emanuel Parktown. Rahle and I hosted a lunch for all our Gauteng rabbis and as well as committee members.
Rabbi Avidan who was sponsored by the South African Jewish Board of Deputies attended the South African Faith Communities Environmental Institute (SAFCEI) conference in Johannesburg on the 31st of March 2007, last year where at an inaugural General Meeting in March last year, Rabbi Avidan was elected as national Chairman with Bishop Davies as Executive Director. The prime purpose is to raise levels of environmental awareness and action through the synagogues, churches, mosques and temples of South Africa. Rabbi Avidan has since stepped down but Prof Stephen Finn has taken over as the Jewish Representative and is also sponsored by the South African Jewish Board of Deputies to attend meetings. Professor Finn urges all our synagogues to join SAFCEI (at a modest annual fee of R100) and would suggest that all who are interested look at the work being done at www.safcei.org.za.
Rabbi Robert Jacobs from Bet David, Morningside Sandton was a studio guest on the television show "SPIRIT SUNDAE" on Sunday, 27 January 2008. This was broadcast on Sunday the 17th of February from 11h00 to 12h00. The topic for this were 'Making Religion Attractive (Ways to bring the youth back to religion)'. We have had various other rabbis appearing on TV and involved in radio broadcasts, we do our best to let you know of these programs so that you may inform your congregations to what is on. Please let us know well in advance if you or your rabbis are involved in anyway.
SAUPJ issued a press release on the same sex marriages. We also issued a question and answer flyer which is on our website.
Department of Home Affairs have woken up from there slumber and Leonard Singer, our SAUPJ Legal Advisor has been sent an application form to apply for a marriage officer licence under the Civil Union Act and is currently studying for this undertaking.
We welcomed two new shlichim who joined Netzer S.A. and where part of the end of year summer camp which went off exceptionally well and we have received glowing reports back from the South African Israel Centre which concluded - Keep on doing what you are doing so well! I attended the Mancom meeting at the Zionist Federation where all the camps got good reports but Netzer was outstanding.
Towards the end of last year I returned from a visit to Temple Israel in Port Elizabeth and Temple Hillel in East London along with Rabbi Avidan and Monica Solomon. I was privileged to participate in the consecration of Temple Hillel's new sanctuary, which is now on the same premises as the Orthodox it was a great day and their shul is stunning and we wish them many years of happiness there. This marks a mile stone achievement in working relationships between Orthodox and Progressive communities with both of the congregations working closely together, let's hope this leads the way to a better working relationship amongst our communities in South Africa. They are also keen to speak with Antony Arkin our new chairman of Arzenu and get more involved with Arzenu material.
The SAUPJ thanks the SAUTS and its President Monica Solomon for all her hard work and the various Sisterhoods for all their wonderful projects and work that they do for the greater community.
Special mention and congratulations goes to the Durban Sisterhood who won the Or Ami Award for Excellence in Sisterhood Programming for its work with the Mavela Creche in Ndwedwe, which it has supported for the past four years.
I attended the United Sisterhood's Women's day World of Prayer Shabbat Dinner on the 7th of March. I would like to thank the women of the United Sisterhood for the invitation to their service and a lovely dinner and an opportunity to deliver a short message.
I attended the opening launch of Johannesburg Jewish community 120th anniversary. The SA Jewish Board of Deputies, in association with the City of Johannesburg and the Union of Jewish Women, commemorated this memorable occasion with an exhibition on the early years of Jewish life in our city.
I was invited to attend a report back session by Zev Krengel the Chairman of the SA Jewish Board of Deputies on Polokwane. He was impressed to see democracy at work, never mind the out come. I also attended the meeting called by Zev Krengel on the 27th March regarding low morale and the threat of large scale emigration. All forms of the community were represented and a public statement was issued. The number of Jews wanting to immigrate to Israel from South Africa is reaching rather large proportions. Last year there were a total of 240. This year in January alone there have been 60 applications and they are processing between 6 and 8 a day.
I attended Rabbi Goldstein's meeting with Mr Jacob Zuma on Tuesday the 4th of March as part of his initiative to talk to South African leadership. The previous meeting he had was with Premier Ibraham Rassol which was very interesting. The meeting held with Mr Zuma achieved a record attendance with a video link to Cape Town. Mr Zuma made all the right noises, spoke about criminals having too many rights protected under the constitution which should be changed. He also spoke about a referendum regarding the death penalty, beefing up the police etc but as we know he speaks to his audience so we do not know how much faith we can have in these comments. Rabbi Goldstein spoke about having a government of compassion.
We had a very successful luncheon at Beyachad with our three rabbis in Gauteng and the four chairmen of the various congregations as well as the leadership of the Zionist Federation. I feel this was a productive meeting and a good opportunity for all.
Netzer were banned from participating in the MASA program being held at the King David Schools. This was a total disgrace and is being tackled at the highest levels. The Zionist Federation and Board of Deputies have backed us fully in a fight with the Jewish Board of Education. The World Union puts tremendous pressure on the World Zionist Organisation as well as the Israel Centre for allowing this decision to be upheld. Meghan Finn, Michael Szczupak and I met with Rabbi Kacev and Ofer Dehan to discuss this matter and agreed to go back to our boards to work out a way forward.
We had a follow up meeting with the vice-chair of the Jewish Board of Education and Avrom Kringel Chairman of the SA Zionist Federation as well as Meghan and Michael to see if we could find an amicable solution. Both the ZF and SAJBOD requested that we not make this a public fight at this stage as they felt we could achieve more by negotiating behind the scenes. Subsequent to this the King David School had a careers evening where Netzer was given full access and allowed to wear their T-Shirts. We have still not had an official response to our meeting from the South African Jewish Board of Education. We appreciate all the hard work that Netzer under the very capable leadership of Meghan Finn.
I have recently returned from World Union Executive Board and International Assembly meeting as well as the European Union Conference which was held in Vienna, both Monica Solomon and Simon Jocum where with me and it was a great meeting. All the meetings were productive and the conference was a great success. South Africa got more than its fair share of mention, particularly our Sisterhoods who were mentioned in the closing ceremony by Rabbi Uri Regev, to point out to European Sisterhoods what can be done and achieved.
At funerals conducted under the auspices of the Orthodox at the Ohel at West Park cemetery, men are being separated from women. This is obviously problematic for us and this matter has been taken up with the Chevra Kadisha. Steve Lurie, Simon Hochschild and Rabbi Jacobs met with Dennis Levy from the Chevra Kadisha which was a productive meeting. Mr Levy said that the megitsa will be removed by staff for Progressive funerals. It is optional and up to the various rabbis to decide if they want to make use of it or not. The megitsa does not apply to mourners. Subsequent to not only our outcry but also from the Modern Orthodox communities, it is now working the other way around and only if a rabbi requests a megitsa is it used, otherwise under normal circumstances it will not be used. Regarding the fence issue that separates Orthodox/Reform - this is there purely for Cohenim and not for the Reform section. He has given an undertaking to tar the road up to the 'Wall of Remembrance' but cannot give us a time frame as this depends on availability of funds. He also gave us the assurance that the Chev does not discriminate in anyway against Reform Jews or against our Converts.
I attended the SA Jewish Board of Deputies 2007 conference and where David Harris was the main speaker which I went to on the Saturday night. A delegation of ours met with a delegation of the American Jewish Committee including Stan and Marion Bergman, and we brought them up to date on Jewish Affairs from a Progressive perspective before they met with Jewish Orthodox Leadership and Rabbi Goldstein. We also meet with a large delegation from Hazon thanks to our Sisterhood.
We would like thank the SAJBOD, who came out with a souvenir booklet towards the end of last year that mentioned Netzer and the Sisterhoods for the charity work that they do, a good representation.
I received a phone call from the Zionist Federation to recommend a rabbi to light a candle for Yom Hazikaron and referred them to Rabbi Jacobs who also assisted in conducting the service.
I was invited to sit on the Yom Ha' Shoah committee which planned this year's commemoration at West Park. Rabbi Ash was invited to sit on the podium. He had people confused in his black hat and jacket as people did not know where he came from. Rabbi Jacobs and myself were seated in the VIP section. I made use of this opportunity to introduce our rabbis to Rabbi Goldstein.
Yom Ha'Atzmaut festivities went as planned at The Wanderers with a large crowd turnout. We proudly walked our SAUPJ banner around the field.
I went to a reception at the Israeli Embassy where the Progressive movement was well represented. The minister Thoko Dediza brought a message on behalf of the South African Government, the first time that a full fledged minister has delivered such a message.
We have two potential candidates from Bet David for Beutel. They are Warren Bank and Brett Caminsky. At this stage, if anyone else is interested please let the SAUPJ know. Beutel training takes place in January 2009 and a commitment is needed to serve the community once trained.
We will be submitting an order for Plaut Torahs shortly and they will be available for purchase. Please would you let Hayley know if you require one? We can't guarantee the price because of the rand fluctuations.
The SA Jewish Board of Deputies is producing a publication in honour of former president, Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday. The proceeds from the publication will be donated to various charities. The SAUPJ will be taking a full page in the tribute in this brochure honour Nelson Mandela.
We would like to thank all concerned at Temple Emanuel for putting on a security gate, window bars and cleaning carpets for a down stairs classroom where the SAUPJ office has moved to, just sorry it had to be two weeks before conference.
I attended the induction service of Rabbi Ann Folb at Bet Menorah in Pretoria. This was a very nice function where it was lovely to see such a good rabbinic attendance.
I would like to thank Prof. Antony Arkin for taking over the chairmanship of Arzenu and we have asked Reeva Forman to run with this in Gauteng. It is a great pleasure to have Dayla Levy Executive Director of Arzenu at our conference we appreciate her taking the time to be here.
I would like to give a special welcome to Rabbi Joel Oseran as this is his second Cape Town conference. We appreciate him being able to fit us into his extremely busy schedule and spend the time with us. After the conference he will be meeting with the chairs of Gauteng on Tuesday evening.
The SAUPJ will have to undertake some serious fund raising projects. We have more and more calls on us to assist with things like the Netzer Shnat program, Beutel seminar, funding for Netzer camp and Mini Mach, running our website etc, just to name a few.
The SAJBOD organised a collection for the refugees which has been extremely well supported. One of the drop off points has been at Bet David Sandton. They were inundated with food, clothing & supplies. I think we sent six truck loads to the Red Cross and some to the Jewish Board. They did an extremely good job in Johannesburg particularly supporting two refugee camps.
I would like to give a special thank you to the executive for all their hard work and support during the year especially my stressed out secretary Hayley for all the work you have done during the year and putting the conference together. Rabbi Avidan I appreciate our close working relationship over the past four years, really welcomed the advice and support that I received from you. I would like to extend a hearty mazel tov to Rabbi Matitiani for being elected into the position of SAAPR chairman and look forward to working with you in this position. We would like to thank Greg Lyons, Rabbi Alexander, Rabbi Matitiani, Phina Hoberman and all those involved in organising the Cape Town conference we appreciate all the hard work that was involved in putting this together.
We appreciate all the work our outgoing Treasurer Jeff Carel has put in to our organisation and would like to welcome our new Treasurer Eric Mayer for offering to take up this position. The Treasurer's job is made that much easier by Helene Deverneuil and we would like to thank her for all the hard work that she puts in. Last but not least I would like to thank my wife Rahle and son Dean for all their support and understanding over this rather busy year.
Thank you all for being here and thank you to our special guests we appreciate you taking the time to be with us.
