The universal message of passover
JVL Introduction
As passover approaches this year, it seems more appropriate than ever to draw out the universal lesson of freedom from the passover story.
In South Africa, Jews in the anti-apartheid movement were heavily over-represented in proportion to their numbers in the white community as a whole.
Howard Sackstein tells how Jews for Social Justice (JSJ), the South African Jewish anti-apartheid movement to inspire hope and share the message of freedom with others, embarked on a series of Freedom Seders from 1985 onwards, sharing the radicalism of the Jewish tradition with leaders of the liberation movement of the time.
Needless to say the representatives of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies, which only finally condemned apartheid that year, after going along with it for four decades, were cautious in their response…
This article was first published in the South African Jewish Report.
We will follow it with others showing the radical Jewish tradition at work – against apartheid, in the civil right movement, against the Argentinian junta, against fascism and more. Do send us any thoughts and suggestions for areas you would like to see covered.
This article was originally published by South African Jewish Report on Wed 18 Apr 2018. Read the original here.
Freedom Seders – from revolution to revelation
It was the heady days of South Africa’s revolution. The townships were in flames, and tens of thousands of people were in detention without trial. South Africa was burning in the 1980s, and democracy seemed like an impossible dream.
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I think it is important to note at time of divisive competing identities and nationalism that most of the Jews who were involved in the Anti Apartheid movement, identified themselves as secular, atheist, socialists communists and as internationalist.