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Grant Arthur Gochin

Feb 14, 2019, 2:36 PM

Dissembling the Holocaust

“Dissembling” is a relatively new political term. It means obscuring the truth or falsification of appearances. In earlier times, it was often described as “putting lipstick on a pig”. When governments want to distort facts and represent a false...

Shira Pasternak Be'eri

Jan 6, 2019, 7:31 PM

The night the shul burned down

Fire fighters try to quell flames at Beit Midrash Morasha in Cape Town (Lance Katz)

Two synagogues were destroyed by fire; neither was arson, but that didn't change how much I felt the need to help

Dec 4, 2018, 8:07 PM

Searching in the Dark

One of my favorite stories is attributed to Sigmund Freud. He tells of a man who had lost his pocket watch while walking in the street. It was night time, and so, under the light of a street lamp he...

Jonathan Zausmer

Nov 18, 2018, 5:56 AM

A flurry of reactions has followed the uproar over two students from Herzlia Middle School in Cape Town, South Africa, who decided to “take a knee” as an act of protest during the singing of Hatikva, the Israel national...

Nov 16, 2018, 7:44 AM

Jews don’t bend their knees

Illustrative. Oakland Raiders players 'take a knee' during the National Anthem, in protest of statements by US President Donald Trump, during week 3 of the 2017 NFL season, on September 24, 2017. (Wikipedia)

Nobody says you have to agree with everything your school stands for, but don't publicly disrespect the very ethos of the place

Grant Arthur Gochin

Oct 25, 2018, 5:32 AM

The gift that keeps on giving?

In 2015, Holocaust denier David Irving arranged a tour of Lithuania for his supporters. There are many places of pilgrimage in Lithuania for those of his ilk. From medieval times to the present, Jews have brought their skills, work...

Grant Arthur Gochin

Oct 21, 2018, 7:58 AM

Blacks and Jews

Growing up in Apartheid South Africa, “Blood River Day” (or Dingaan's Day) was a primary national holiday. The day celebrated the victory of white Colonialists over the indigenous black population. The name recalled that a visible consequence of the...

Sep 13, 2018, 3:45 PM

SA President Calms an Anxious Community

I had never met the guy who stood next to me in Synagogue on Rosh Hashana, but I could tell that he was not local. His style was distinctively un South African. He was young and cool, sported a...

Sep 7, 2018, 6:10 PM

South Africa: Jewish Conference Audience told “Give Up Your Whiteness”

Limmud, the Hebrew word for learning, is a British-Jewish educational charity. Limmud was formed in 1976 and the model has spread all over the world, to countries including the United States, South Africa, Australia, countries in South America, Europe...

Sep 2, 2018, 9:34 AM

Hope and disappointment, what happened to our dreams?

I’m a South African Jew of mixed Palestinian, British and Polish stock. The descendant of Jews who lived in Polish Eastern European shtetls, Leeds in Yorkshire, the early settlement of Tel Aviv and the small port city of East...

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