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South Africa has served as a paradigm for reconciliation and healing in the post-Apartheid period. Despite the horrors of Apartheid, the Mandela years have seen the creation of a multi-racial democratic country. And yet, there are many signs of trouble.
Dana has written extensively on the South African Jewish community and has met many of the country’s leaders, including President Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki, former President Nelson Mandela, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. South African Jews have built one of the most cohesive and dynamic communities anywhere in the world.
The Johannesburg Jewish community – by far the largest in the country – has seen a strong turn towards strict Orthodoxy. The Reform movement was hard hit by a divisive synagogue split a few months ago, and has never fully recovered. A number of Baal Teshuva groups have established branches in the City of Gold. Religious activities are popular, and attendances are large. The majority, however, remain nonobservant.
South African Jews are among the most Zionist of any Diaspora community. Some have immigrated to the Jewish State, while much larger numbers have left for Great Britain, Canada, Australia, and almost everywhere else. Some believe that the Jewish population has stabilized at about 80,000, while others believe that immigration is continuing. Much will depend upon the future government, after President Mbeki retires..
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- “The Origins of Reform Judaism in South Africa: Rabbi Moses Cyrus Weiler’s Mission Work with the Jewish Religious Union in Johannesburg, 1929-1933”, Shofar, University of Nebraska Press, in press.
- “The Jewish Exodus From the New South Africa: Realities and Implications”, with Shale Horowitz, International Migration, Wiley-Blackwell Publishers, Vol. 39 (3) 2001, pp. 3-32. The publication includes two graphs and two tables.
- “South Africa,” The Reader’s Guide to Judaism: A Bibliographic Guide to English-Language Books and Essays on Judaism, Michael Terry (Ed.), Chicago and London: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 2000, pp. 54-55, 571. This book was nominated for a Jewish Book Award, 2001.
- “The Jewish Community in South Africa,” Emunah Magazine, Spring/Summer 2000, pp. 33-35.
- “South Africa, Practice of Judaism in,” Encyclopaedia of Judaism, Volume III, Jacob Neusner, Alan J. Avery-Peck, and William Scott Green, (General Eds.) Leiden, Holland: E. J. Brill Publishers, 2000, pp. 1347-1357, 10,000-word entry.
- “Is there a Future for the Jews in South Africa?” Congress Monthly, November/December 1999, pp. 15-17.
- “Reconciliation and Healing—A South African Jewish Perspective,” The Reconstructionist, Spring 1999, Vol. 63, No. 2, pp. 76-92.
- “La Question de l’émigration des Juifs dans la Nouvelle Afrique de Sud,” Yod: Revue Des Études Hébraïques et Juives 6 (1999), 81-106.
- “Jewish Educational Trends in South Africa Today,” Journal of Jewish Education, Fall/Winter 1998, Vol. 64, No. 3, pp. 26–36.
- “Rabbi Ady Assabi and the Development of Conservative Judaism in South Africa,” Conservative Judaism, Fall 1998, pp. 60–76.
- “South African Orthodoxy Today: Tradition and Change in a Post-Apartheid, Multiracial Society,” Tradition, Fall 1998, Vol. 33, No. 1, pp. 71–89.
- “Jewish Religious Conversion in South Africa Today,” CCAR Journal, Fall 1997, pp. 58-68.
- “Progressive Judaism in the Beloved Country: Religious Thought and Institutional Trends in South Africa Today,” The Journal of Progressive Judaism, Sheffield Academic Press, England, Vol. 8, 1997, pp. 28-58.(Listed on site but unavailable)
- “Controlled Panic in the New South Africa—The Impact of Social Changes in the South African Jewish Community,” Jewish Spectator, Fall 1997, Vol. 62, No. 2, pp. 33-39.
- “Why Do Jews Focus on Crime and Car-Jackings?” Manna—Journal of the Sternberg Centre for Judaism at the Manor House, London, England: Summer 1997, No. 56, pp. 4-5.
- “Judaism and the Jewish Community in the New South Africa,” Judaism, American Jewish Congress, Summer 1996, Vol. 45, No. 3, pp. 350-360.
- “Your People, My People—Conversion to Judaism and Jews by Choice Programming in the New South Africa,” Jewish Affairs, South African Jewish Board of Deputies, Spring 1995, Vol. 50, No. 3, pp. 87-89. (Listed on site, but under Conversion, not South Africa – this is fine but we’re cross-listing it here.)
- Imagine if the World could live as One - Johannesburg Star
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