The Dilemma of South African Jewry

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Periodical article

Title:	The Dilemma of South African Jewry
Author:	Weisbord, Robert G.
Year:	1967
Periodical:	Journal of Modern African Studies
Volume:	5
Issue:	2
Period:	September
Pages:	233-241
Language:	English
Geographic term:	South Africa
Subjects:	Jews Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) Religion and Witchcraft Ethnic and Race Relations
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/159227
Abstract:	After his assassination on September 6, 1966, Verwoerd was eulogised by a religions leader of the Jewish community in South Africa as 'one of the greatest Prime Ministers, if not the greatest' that South Africa had ever had; in Cape Town, the chief rabbi stated that Verwoerd had been the first man to give apartheid a 'moral basis'. Coming from religious leaders of the Jewish community, such praise for a man with an undeniable history of anti-Jewish and pro-Nazi activities is indeed astonishing. It is in the chequered history of the Jewish community in South Africa, surveyed in this article, that the explanation for that strange behaviour can be found. The author describes the social and political position of the Jews in South Africa since 1806 when after the advent of British rule Jews began to arrive in Cape Town. Notes.