A co-recipient of the 2021 Wolf Prize, Israeli scientist – a former South African – solves a 140-year-old complex riddle
By David E. Kaplan
Israel’s prestigious Wolf Prize – an annual international award given to outstanding scientists and artists from around the world – have been handed out for the past 43 years to 354 leading scientists and artists including Israel’s Prof. Ada Yonath, who won the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 2009. To this illustrious list, we can now add the 2021 recipients, that includes a former South African, Prof. Leslie Leiserowitz who with his longstanding collegial partner Prof. Meir Lahav, both of the Weitzman Institute’s Molecular Chemistry and Materials Science Department for their collaborative establishment of the ”fundamental reciprocal influences of three-dimensional molecular structure upon structures of organic crystals.”
Awarded for “achievements in the interest of mankind and friendly relations among people … irrespective of nationality, race, colour, religion, sex or political views,” there is no doubt that Leslie and Meirs’ scientific discoveries have truly contributed towards “the interest of mankind and friendly relations among people”.
They have at the same time solved a riddle!
The Wolf Prize ceremony at the Knesset, Jerusalem
Resolving a Riddle
Crystal formation is one of the most fundamental phenomena in chemistry and the structure of organic crystals is of particular importance because the crystal shape (morphology) reflects the three-dimensional structure (stereochemistry) of the molecules assembled in that crystal. In 1848, the famed French chemist microbiologist. Louis Pasteur conducted his famous experiment, physically separating the two crystalline forms of a tartaric acid salt, which mirror one another. Pasteur’s experiment became the basis for modern stereochemistry, and it was followed by the study of the first Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, Jacobus H. van’t Hoff from Holland. However, neither Pasteur nor van’t Hoff, nor many of the other famous chemists that followed would come to understand the relationship between crystal morphology and molecular stereochemistry until 140 years had passed and two Israelis, Professors Lahav and Leiserowitz conducted their milestone experiments in the Mid-1980s. These experiments demonstrated for the first time that the absolute configuration of molecules can be derived from their crystal morphologies. They not only solved the long-standing puzzle; but according to the Wolf Foundation press release:
“they also pioneered the science of organic crystals’ stereochemistry. They directly related the stereochemistry of the individual molecule to the shape of the macroscopic crystal. They founded the links between molecular structure, crystal morphology, crystal growth’ dynamics, and molecular chirality (the structural property of an object, which makes it different from its mirror image, like the human hands). Their findings laid the foundation for our current knowledge of the selective self-assembly of organic molecules. In this way, their rules powerfully complement our understanding of organic chemistry for covalent assembly and macromolecules’ self-assembly.”
When Prof. Leslie Leiserowitz was awarded the 2016 Israel Prize for ‘Chemistry and Physics’ with Prof. Meir Lahav, he was only the third South African Israeli to receive Israel’s highest civilian award. The other two recipients had been Dr. Ian Froman in 1989 for his contribution to society through sport, and the late Hillel Deleski in 2000 for the study of English literature.
Interviewing Leiserowitz at the time, he explained to me by posing these questions:
“How and why do artery-blocking chunks of cholesterol form?”
“What happens at the very first stage of the transition from water to ice?”
“What can be done to prevent the formation of gallstones or the crystals in the joints that cause pain in gout?”
These are all questions about one of the more important processes in nature: crystallization, and Leslie and Professor Lahav have worked separately and together over their careers to investigate this process.
Collaborating on Crystals. Recipients of the 2021 Wolf Prize in Chemistry, Prof. Leslie Leiserowitz (Left) and Prof. Meir Lahav of the Molecular Chemistry and Materials Science Department at the Weizmann Institute.
Indebted to Mom!
Born in Johannesburg in 1934, Leslie obtained a BSc. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Cape Town (UCT) and during an ensuing 18-month period “of work, unemployment and travel,” he became fascinated in a field of chemistry that drew him to an illuminating work – “The Crystalline State” by Brag & Bragg. “The symmetry of the crystal structures therein,” intrigued Leslie, reminding him “of the patterns my mother worked with as a dressmaker in Johannesburg.”
This curiosity, coupled with a knowledge of “microwave interference”, led him to his next marker on his academic path – “The Optical Principles of the Distraction of X-rays” by R.W. James, who was Professor of Physic at UCT. With now a clear direction, the young budding scientist studied for an MSc in X-ray crystallography in the Physics Dept. at UCT.
Following his travels to London and then on to Israel “with my good friend”, the future South African Jewish leader Mervyn Smith, who he knew “from our Bellville days,” he joined in 1959, the research group of Gerhard Schmidt at the Weizmann Institute of Science as a PhD student in solid-state chemistry.
Leslie’s journey of research, took him to academic posts abroad, and in more recent years, focused on a childhood fascination with the study of malaria – a project, which he says, “in some ways is a continuation of my original research with Prof. Lahav on crystal growth. It was not generally appreciated that this infectious disease is intimately connected with crystallization.” Leslie reveals that growing up in Johannesburg, “I learnt from my father, who had spent long stretches of time in Central Africa, the full ravages of the disease.”
It was an area of study that Leslie felt compelled to study and most assuredly gels with the spirit of the wording of the Wolf Prize of contributing towards “the interest of mankind and friendly relations among people”.
If Leslie’s mother, who died young – “only in her forties” – was today looking down from her celestial perch, she would be amazed and proud that from the simple patterns of her daily dressmaking, lay the complex mysteries that would inspire her brilliant son to pursue a journey of scientific exploration culminating in the 2016 Israel Prize and the 2021 Wolf Prize.
Maybe, she had a “crystal ball”, and foresaw it all coming!
The 2021 Wolf Prize in chemistry that was awarded to Prof. Leslie Leiserowitz and Prof. Meir Lahav.
While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves. LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).
The South African Muslim Judicial Council and South African Jewry
By Adv. Craig Snoyman
MEA CULPA!
I spent the last couple of weeks trying to hawk this article to South Africa’s main-stream media but to no avail – maybe too hot to handle.
I sent the article first to the newspapers that had first published the raging issue distressing the Jewish community, then to the larger media houses and eventually to the South African Jewish press. Maybe the language was too strong or too emotive, but then religious issues generally are.
I confess my sin in advance – hence Mea Culpa!
While there was no media interest – and one can question the reasons why – I believe it’s an important issue that needs to be aired. So I took the article, dusted it off, spruced it up at little and here it is. Forgive me but this non-South African website, with a large South African readership, was at the back of the line.
While the issue is about the South African Muslim Judicial Council (MJC) and South Africa Jewry, I believe it may well be of global interest. Anti-Israel voices have a habit of morphing into anti-Jewish voices. Ignoring incitement and hate-speech doesn’t solve problems. Incendiary cyber-messaging and vicious online-abuse isn’t going to stop on its own. Disinviting an Israeli-owned food truck from a Philadelphia food fair is not going to cause a stir unless the issue is aired. Inflammatory rabble-rousing demanding that a particular school, which has mixed Jewish-Muslim learner ratio have to debate the Israel-Palestine issue, while insisting that only a pro-Palestinian radical speaker participate, does not contribute to a climate of calm. The flood of antisemitic tropes – only some of them masquerading as anti-Zionism – can be anticipated to lead to violence against Jews in the streets; or BDS activists deciding that they won’t tolerate Israeli products in shops. Once antisemitic violence has happened, it can’t be undone. Unfortunately, this behaviour is not only expected, but is clearly foreseeable.
It was for this reason that South Africa’s Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Warren Goldstein extended an olive branch of peace to the Muslim Judicial Council (MJC) and Jamiatul Ulama South Africa. He called on them, by all accounts privately and discretely, to sign a Joint Statement, in which they would publicly call on their respective constituents to respect each other as citizens of South Africa; and not threaten each other because of their differing views on the Middle East. What he was really asking for, was a public statement by the MJC calling on its constituents to stop harassing his flock and make the clear distinction between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism.
It was a call stop the hate!
Call it out so that it will stop.
The Muslim Judicial Council took the proffered olive branch, broke it in two and then poked the Chief Rabbi’s eye with it!
It was not the MJC‘s constituents that were being harassed or intimidated. They could speak from a position of strength, and they did. The MJC unequivocally and publicly rejected the Chief’s overture and their rejection published in the national papers. They also went running to the Anglican Archbishop seeking him to agree that the offending eye should be plucked out.
Really?
Why does the rejection of a request make by a Jew to a Muslim require the sanction of a Christian?
Reacting to Rabbi. South Africa’s Muslim Judicial Council publicly and scornfully rejected the Chief Rabbi’s overture for tolerance and understanding between their religious communities.
The MJC – in further justifying their decision not to issue a joint statement – stated that:
“The stance by members of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies, headed by Chief Rabbi Goldstein, is diametrically opposed to our moral position that most of the freedom-loving people have adopted in so far as it refers to condemning the violence and apartheid policies meted out against Muslim and Christian Palestinians on a daily basis by the apartheid regime in Israel.”
Factually, the justification is incorrect. The Chief Rabbi has no official position in the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD). The SAJBD is a separate independent body. The Chief Rabbi acted in his position as head of the Union of Orthodox Synagogues and as titular leader of the Jewish community. On several interfaith functions, where the MJC has participated as well, the Rabbi has acted in this capacity. It is therefore surprising, at the very least, that the MJC could make such a clearly fallacious allegation. But the statement goes further. There is an inferential blaming of the South African Jews for the actions of the regime in Israel. This skates very close to, if not on, a long-existing, well-worn antisemitic canard, that Jews can be denigrated simply because they hold the “wrong” position on Israel.
While the MJC added that it did not support or condone intimidation, threats or violence at any level and called on all peace-loving pro-Palestinian protesters to maintain the necessary discipline at all times, this was hardly the case and the Chief Rabbi was, and is, well aware of the turbulence that has racked and continues to rack his community. Apart from two reported physical assaults – one a Jew, allegedly by Muslims returning from a pro-Hamas rally and one in a shopping centre largely frequented by Jews – the threats of death (“Khaybar, Khaybar, the army of Mohamed will return”, “We’ll finish off Hitler’s work”) the other vocal abuse ( e.g. “Nazi’s” “Zio-Nazi’s”) are in a completely different class to the very vocal chant of “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free”. Virtually every Jewish personality in South Africa with a public profile was overwhelmed with vitriolic antisemitic (as opposed to Anti-Zionist ) comments on their social media sites. The spate of the vicious antisemitism that flooded social media may have died down, but it has not disappeared. There are still calls NOT to serve Jews, from certain shop-owners. Most, if not all of this, seems to have originated from the MJC‘s constituency. The ongoing call to boycott Jewish citizens because they are stereo-typed as supporters of Israel and the call for consumers to stop shopping at stores because they stock Israeli product, is also unabated. That the Chief Rabbi felt that the need to reach out to the Muslim leaders is understandable. One can be reasonably sure that these issues and perceived consequences, were raised by him in discussion. However, the MJC‘s bland response calling on “all peace-loving pro-Palestinian protesters to maintain the necessary discipline” does not adequately address the issue; and allows for simmering intolerance.
Sowing the Seeds of Discord. Inviting the conflicts of the Middle East into South Africa.
When one looks at the MJC‘s declaration, stating that they do not condone violence and intimidation, it does not address cyber-hate or ongoing threats to Jewish South Africans or even the relationship between Muslim and Jewish South Africans. Only the MJC‘s “peace-loving pro-Palestinian protesters” (does one hear of any other type of protesters?) are called on to maintain discipline. The issue of private individual conduct is not dealt with, nor is the aspect of on-line hate and other forms of specific ethnic harassment or ethnic interaction. The MJC could not have been oblivious to them. It issued a “catch-all” boiler plate statement to be wheeled out for all occasions.
Stocking Hatred of Jews. Demonstrators marching through the city centre in Cape Town on May 12, 2021 holding banners falsely accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza while ignoring the over 4000 rockets fired from Gaza into civilian areas in Israel.(RODGER BOSCH/AFP via Getty Images.)
The casual attitude taken by the MJC is confusing and a matter for concern. On the one hand its position seems to be: “Yes we acknowledge that there should be respect and tolerance between the different religions in South Africa” while on the other hand it states that “we cannot be seen to agree with you publicly on the issue of peace and tolerance, because then we would be betraying the Palestinian cause”.
These positions are a non-sequitur!
Can one not support peace and tolerance in South Africa and still support the Palestinian cause?
Can one say that one is obliged to refuse to sign a document supporting peace and tolerance because to sign it constitutes a betrayal of the “Palestinian cause”?
Can one say that the MJC‘s position is that the “Palestinian cause” is more important to the MJC than peace and tolerance between Jew and Muslim in South Africa?
Can one say that the MJC‘s position is that it is not necessary for the incidents of abuse of Jews by Muslims in South Africa does not need to be called out in an effective manner?
All of these propositions would seem to be justified.
The MJC then takes the matter a step beyond a domestic national issue of ethnic tolerance. Rather than address the issue directly, the MJC deflects and introduces foreign politics and “the Palestinian cause into the equation or can one say the Palestinian cause is made the totality of the equation?
How should one understand “the Palestinian cause” and “support for the besieged people of Gaza”? Does support for the besieged people of Gaza also include support for Hamas, an internationally recognised terrorist organisation, which rules the territory?
Quo Vadis? Chief Rabbi calls on Muslim religious leaders in SA to issue joint call for tolerance over Gaza conflict was totally rejected.
Do they support the firing of over 4 300 rockets toward civilian targets in Israel from the Gaza strip? The MJC is silent on the issue of the conduct of Hamas but embraces the noble Palestinian cause as “a dignified struggle that requires demonstrating the highest integrity and discipline”. Is Hamas viewed as being included within this dignified struggle? Is Hamas – whose charter declares it seeking the destruction of Israel – also part of the dignified struggle of the noble Palestinian cause which it embraces?
Where does one draw the line?
And why should this political opinion affect its conduct and attitude toward the safety of South African Jewry?
The MJC is aware of the opinion of its constituents in South Africa. Numerous rally posters called for “Free Palestine” nd “From the river to the sea, Palestine shall be free”. The MJC has not disassociated itself from these sentiments. So what is this noble Palestinian cause which requires a dignified struggle of the highest integrity and discipline?
Is it supporting one Palestinian state from the river to the sea, necessitating the elimination of the State of Israel?
Or is it supporting the existence of an independent Palestinian state, co-existing with an independent Jewish state of Israel?
Or should one then accept that the MJC support of the “noble cause” includes the violent overthrow of the Jewish state and condones the launching of rockets against Israel’s civilians?
Does the noble cause include Hamas’ fundamental position that Jews are to be killed wherever in the world they are to be found? By rejecting the offer of peace between South African Jews and South African Muslims in favour of the “noble Palestinian cause”, is the MJC stating that the noble cause includes the elimination of Jews in South Africa?
Is the MJC conflating antisemitism and anti-Zionism?.
The seemly-obligatory defamatory attack on the State of Israel by the MJC is revealing. The public and political posturing of the MJC could only be for public consumption for a simple and polite rejection to Rabbi Goldstein would have been adequate. It is clear that the MJC‘s battle is one to win hearts and minds of third parties. Why the need to falsely declare Israel an Apartheid state, which is a distortion of the facts as well as a distortion of the definition of Apartheid?
Clearly there is a battle to win over the Christian communities. It sought support from the Anglican Archbishop in order to solicit an unconditional Christian endorsement of the Muslim rejection. So the MJC went public; they rejected the Jews and sought the endorsement of the Christians.
The South African Jews, save for Chief Rabbi Goldstein, almost – unforgivably – kept quiet!
So again to spell it out. Israel is not an Apartheid state, even if it is a catchy jingle. Every Arab citizen of Israel has the same political rights as any other citizen of Israel. There was never an African party allowed to represent its constituents in parliament during the period of Apartheid. Robert Sobukwe was never offered a position in B. J. Vorster’s Nationalist cabinet. However, Arab parties have been in Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, since the inception of the State of Israel. Mansour Abbas and his Ra’am Arab Islamist political party are part of a new Israeli government, with Abbas an equal amongst equals. Any specific allegation of Apartheid can be easily refuted.
Distortion and Deception
Following the MJC emotively and publicly seeking the support of the Christian community with its inflammatory false allegations against Israel, it was left to the Chief Rabbi to warn South African Christians to be on guard and at least question what was being fed to them by the MJC.
Those well versed in what is happening in the Middle East know the true situation of Christians living under Muslim rule. While there are more Christians living under Israeli rule than there have ever been, the same cannot be said for Christians under Palestinian rule. In Palestinian Gaza, the Christian population had dropped from 5,000 to under 1,000 in 2018. From 5% of the population under the control of the Palestinian Authority, the Christians now constitute less than 2% and the Christian population in the disputed territories continues to decrease. In the “little town of Bethlehem” the beleaguered Christians once constituted over 80% of the population. Today, under the Palestinian Authority they now count at less than 10,000 or less than 10% of the city’s population and continues to decrease. This is the real “Christ at the Crossroads” and has nothing to do with Israel as the MJC would like South African Christians believe.
The Chief Rabbi sought to protect his flock from foreseeable harm and alleviate a climate of increasing hostility. He extended a gesture of peace. The MJC scorned it.
The Chief Rabbi sought to avoid the issue of religious sectarian hate, violence and intimidation arising in South Africa. The MJC chose instead to play politics, importing issues of the Middle East into South Africa.
The Chief Rabbi called for a statement of peace. The MJC chose the Palestinian cause over peace.
The Chief Rabbi opened his hand in peace. The MJC redefined the concept of peace and figuratively spat on his hand.
Resolute Rabbi. Chief Rabbi Dr Warren Goldstein who had earlier stood up to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s anti-Israel statement in the media, when asked for Muslim leadership to join him in calling for tolerance and non-violence was met with angered rejection.
It is time that the Muslim Judicial Council come forward and set out its position publicly, in the same way it did when it summarily dismissed Chief Rabbi Goldstein’s approach. Where does it stand and what lines are crossed if one calls for ethnic tolerance in South Africa? Similarly, having announced that it supports the “noble Palestinian Cause”, one should be able to understand if this a policy rather than a slogan. If support for a distant Palestinian cause is preferable over peace and tolerance toward fellow South African citizens who happen to be Jewish what then is the MJC‘s attitude toward Christians who are also supporters of Israel? Will they too be attacked or are they too large a group to be bullied as was the case with South Africa’s Chief Justice, who also called for peace in Jerusalem? Are they also to be sacrificed on the high altar of the Palestinian cause? The Muslim Judicial Council’s strategy of public rejection has a concurrent obligation – a reasonable explanation not simple slogans of “noble Palestinian causes”.
Talk policy, don’t mouth slogans!
About the writer:
Craig Snoymanis a practising advocate in South Africa.
While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves. LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).
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Articles
(1)
Monumental Man
A tribute to the passing of Israel’s internationally renowned sculptor – Dani Karavan (1930-2021)
By David E. Kaplan
‘Writing’ on the Wall. Inspirational is the sculptor’s huge stone mural in the Knesset, named –‘Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem’.
Imbedded in city and country locations across the world, Dani Karavan’s giant monumental works blends sculpture, architecture and the landscape into unique and monumental works of art. His sculpture invites the viewer more than to observe but to respond!
The Beatty and the Beast. Picturesque UCT campus is home to a “Hitler committed no crime” Political Science lecturer.
While the words of University of Cape Town lecturer Dr Lwazi Lushaba to his first year students that “Hitler committed no crime” were shocking, infinitively more shocking for the writer is the conduct of his alma mater of remaining SILENT – thus complicit in the academic dissemination of lies and hatred towards Jews.
Could the Americans have learned from the Jewish heritage?
By Craig Snoyman
How was Juneteenth, a day that commemorates the abolition of slavery signed into Law? Adv. Craig Snoyman examines how laws are signed into legislation and gives his personal opinion of what influences these decisions and also looks at how some of Judaism’s holidays and observances have been decided.
Arab writers from the Middle East and beyond, opine on issues ranging from making the case that Jewish sovereignty is rooted in Russia not the Middle East, to whether Iraqis will boycott their upcoming election in October and the fate of Syrian refuges in Denmark.
Online Screening of a Documentary History of South African Jewry
‘Legends and Legacies: A Story of a Community’,
In Eight Unforgettable Episodes
Though small in number the impact of the South African Jewish community has been monumental. “Congratulations on producing such an informative and interesting series” –History Channel. The Union of Jewish Women South Africa (UJW) invites you to its Charity Benefit Premiere Screening. Episodes 1 to 8 will launch on consecutive Sundays, at 18:00 CAT, from 11 July to 29 August.
While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves. LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).
The Israel Brief – 21 June 2021 – Israel’s new government gets to work. Why has the PA rejected vaccines from Israel? Iranian President – elect Raisi a threat to the world?
The Israel Brief – 22 June 2021 –Israel successfully tests anti-drone laser. UK pulls out of UN Conference on Racism anniversary. Don’t panic over new Corona cases says Health Ministry.
The Israel Brief – 23 June 2021 –Surge in Corona cases. Israel votes against China at UN. Lawmakers seek to ban Lehava.
The Israel Brief – 24 June 2021 – Biden to crack down on Pay-for-slay? Abbas critic dies in custody. Honduras open Embassy in Jerusalem. First International Holocaust Survivors Day. Mazel Tov Gilad Shalit on marriage.
While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves. LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).
A tribute to the passing of Israel’s internationally renowned sculptor – Dani Karavan
By David E. Kaplan
Internationally famed for making his monuments blend into their environment, Israeli sculptor Dani Karavan – who died this past May 2021 at the age of 90 – blended into the public, hardly recognized when walking about his native Tel Aviv.
Monumental Man. Israeli sculptor Dani Karavan became recognized for making his monuments blend into their environment.
I put this question to the artist in a co-interview with Moshe Alon in 2013 when we asked:
“While you are an internationally acclaimed artist, admirers of your work might not recognize you standing alongside one of your masterpieces? Does this bother you?”
“Not at all. I think you hear about the noisy ones more than the quiet ones but this is true of any group. People hear about the extroverts and less about the introverts. Some artists prefer to create their work in peace and quiet, and you don’t hear much about their personal lives.”
Karavan’s work can be found across Europe, Asia and Israel. It’s hard to escape his distinctive style that blends sculpture, architecture and the landscape into unique and monumental pieces. Through molding and meshing of the environment, Karavan’s works showcase the urban or natural elements of their respective surroundings. As such, his materials range from concrete – in the construction of large geometrical structures – to the lands natural offerings – trees, water, grass and crusty surface.
We noted that “Your works are not ‘sculptures’ in the traditional sense – pieces that are exhibited in a museum or placed in the middle of a public square,” and asked. “You integrate the natural environment using the land – as if sculpting the landscape?”
“That’s correct. This is what characterizes my work which is rooted to a physical environment and not to an atelier [artist workshop]. I was once privileged to meet the distinguished sculptor Henry Moore and observe him work in his environment – how he molded a model the size of a suitcase handle and enlarge it ninny-nine times its size.
For me it’s the opposite, because the large environment where I work emerges as part of my composition.
One example is the wall at the Knesset, rooted to the environment – physically and conceptually. Another is the Negev Brigade Memorial – my first big piece as a sculptor – and which was a groundbreaking project. Up until then, “site-specific” environmental sculpture did not exist. To some degree, it is similar to architecture, where the architect designs specifically for a particular environment.
Monumental Impact. The Monument to the Negev Brigade is in memory of the members of the Palmach Negev Brigade who fell fighting on Israel’s side during the 1948 Arab Israeli War. The perforated tower alludes to a watchtower shelled with gunfire and the pipeline tunnel is reminiscent of the channel of water in the Negev defended by the soldiers. Engraved in the concrete are the names of the 324 soldiers who died in the war, the badge of the Palmach, diary passages from the soldiers, the battle registry and verses from the Bible and songs. In addition to its strengths as a memorial, it was a precursor to the land art movement.
In effect, I am a sculptor that does not search for a place, but rather the place seeks me. Michelangelo said that the statue already exists within the stone; I say that the sculpture already exists within the environment. I just unearth it. This is essentially my contribution to the evolution of sculpture. I wanted that sculpture be something people can climb and children play on – that it will be full of life and not pieces where people visit once a year to lay flowers.”
How true when I think of Karavan’s massively monumental work at the Edith Wolfson Park on the eastern edge of the city of Tel Aviv. If its Tuesday, “we, the grandparents”, are usually there with our grandson. Perched high, the park offers a magnificent view of the city from its most iconic Karavan “The White Square”, the monumental work overlooking “The White City” as Tel Aviv is famously known because of its white Bauhaus architecture. Karavan’s sculpture is a complex geometric work that is an ode to the city itself.
Fun in the Sun. An activity all to familiar to the writer, a father and son slide down the sundial of Dani Karavan’s ‘White Square’ sculpture at Edith Wolfson park, overlooking Tel Aviv. (Miriam Alster/FLASH90)
If Tel Aviv is a city not so much to see but to experience, then so too is Karavan’s sculpture where it is less viewed than it is walked, climbed, roller-skated and rollerbladed upon. I invariably join the “kids” in sliding down the sculpture’s colossal “sundial” on carboard as well as scampering up the large “pyramid”. The sculpture exudes physicality – it is a metaphor for Tel Aviv of open-ended action befitting its reputation as “the city that never sleeps.” If you are generally “into art”, then visiting The White Square you literally, “get into” this art as you climb in, over, upon and through it!
Feeling his Way
On several occasions, he was commissioned to create memorials for victims of Nazi Germany.
The horrific atrocities suffered by Jews, and others during World War II, was a key theme in Karavan’s work, not least because his parents’ families lost many members during the Holocaust.
On Track to Death. Dani Karavan poses on part of his installation “Homage to the Prisoners of Gurs” during the presentation of his exhibition “Dani Karavan Retrospective” at the Martin-Gropius-Bau Museum in Berlin. After the Vichy government signed an armistice with the Nazis in 1940, Gurs became an internment camp for mainly German Jews. (Courtesy of Michael Kappeler/AFP/Getty Images).
Another notable example is the “Way of Human Rights” at the Germanic National Museum in the Bavarian city of Nuremberg.
Karavan’s “Passages” memorial in Portbou, Spain, also became well-known since its unveiling in 1994. It commemorates the German philosopher Walter Benjamin, who died in the small Spanish border town in 1940 while fleeing from the Nazis.
It was named “Passages” in remembrance of Benjamin’s final passage from France to Spain, as well as his enormous unfinished work Passagenwerk (Arcades Project) on 19th-century Paris. The name also refers to the several passages visitors make during their time at the memorial, from the journey down the steps to the glass view of the ocean whirlpool and back up to the rectangle of sunlight in the dark.
War and Remembrance. Inaugurated on 15 May 1994, marking the 50th anniversary of his death, “Passages” in Portbou, Spain pays homage to the philosopher Walter Benjamin in his failed flight from the Nazis.
Taken from Walter Benjamin’s On the Concept of History, etched in German are the words:
“It is more arduous to honour the memory of anonymous beings than that of the renowned. The construction of history is consecrated to the memory of the nameless.”
That “nameless” Dani also ‘rectified’ in his memorial created in 2005, depicting the foundation of the Regensburg Synagogue in Bavaria, Germany that was destroyed during a pogrom in 1519. On February 21, 1519, the Jewish community of Regensburg – that had lived in the city for 500 years – was ordered to leave but only after its members had demolished the interior of their 13th-century synagogue.
Demolishing more than a synagogue, they were forced to demolish their past.
Despite his international fame, when asked which award among all those he has received touched him the most, he answered unwaveringly:
“The Israel Prize which I received at the age of 46. It stands today as my greatest honour. I received it during a very special year and the person who shook my hand at the ceremony was Yitzhak Rabin… an added honour. While I hardly mention the international awards I have won, I am never reticent about my Israel Prize.”
Remembering Roma. The Berlin memorial for the Sinti and Roma murdered by the Nazis during World War II Many relatives of Dani Karavan were killed during the Holocaust and the atrocities and those affected by them became an important theme for the Jewish artist.
‘Portrait of an Artist’
The recurring flower motif in Karavan’s work is reminiscent of his memories of his childhood and of his father’s garden. The ‘sights and smells’ of nature from his home in Tel Aviv – before it was the bustling city it is today – continued to influence the artist’s’ work.
Dani probably drew his inspiration from his father who had been a landscape architect. He studied art in Israel (at Bezalel), Florence, and Paris. During his youth, he was also involved in the establishment of kibbutz Harel, located in the Jerusalem Corridor. A week following our interview in 2013, he travelled to Berlin to dine with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. A man of the world, he relished in recalling “raising mice and lizards” as a child and “weeding my father’s garden in order to earn a small allowance to buy falafel and soda.”
Forgotten People Remembered. Dani Karavan and Chacellor Angela Merkel at the opening ceremony on October 24, 2012 of the Memorial for the Murdered Sinti and Roma. (Photo Stephanie Drescher)
Known for creating poignant monuments in Israel and around the world, Karavan’s most recognized local work is the huge wall carving in the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, named “Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem”.
While Karavan could mold material to articulate his dreams and visions, he lamented “an inability to influence better relations with our Arab neighbours. My father arrived in Israel in the 1920s. He came as an idealist, and I inherited that idealism and what better vision to work for, than the pursuit of regional peace and happiness. If you ask what I still want to do, yes, I need to finish my autobiography but also, to collaborate with a Palestinian artist on a project toward peace.”
Writing on the Wall. To inspire all before it at work on guiding Israel’s destiny, Israeli artist Dani Karavan’s ‘Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem’ on the wall of the plenum hall at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem, May 13, 2015. – REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
Not all endeavors “towards peace” are invariably fulfilled. However, that task, even though Dani Karavin has passed on, still maybe possible. If Dani Karavan is no more, his most notable work in Israel, the huge wall carving decorating the plenum of the Knesset – is.
Appropriately named, the stone mural of an abstract Jerusalem landscape depicting surrounding hills and the Judean desert, faces the elected members of ALL the people of Israel – and under the shadow of Dani Karavan’s creative mind and hands, they can continue his ‘unfinished work’ – to pursue peace.
Some of Karavan’s important works:
The “Path of Peace” sculpture by artist Dani Caravan. An environmental sculpture which is one of the attractions of Nitzana
UNESCO Square of Tolerance – Homage to Yitzhak Rabin, Paris, France
The Axe Majeur, Cergy-Pontoise, France
While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves. LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).
Arab writers from the Middle East and beyond, opine on issues ranging from making the case that Jewish sovereignty was never in the Middle East but in Russia, to whether Iraqis will boycott their upcoming election in October and the frightening fate of Syrian refuges in Denmark.
The First State of the Jews: Why is it a hidden fact?
By Fakhri Hashem Sayed Rajab
Al-Qabas, Kuwait, June 12
Have you heard of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast in Russia? Probably not. That’s because the State of Israel has a vested interest in hiding the fact that this republic exists.
The Jewish Autonomous Oblast, located in southeastern Russia, is the motherland of the Jews. Until this very day, a large portion of the local population is Jewish. Unfortunately, this fact has been obscured, in cooperation with the State of Israel, so that the Zionist dream of establishing a Jewish homeland in Palestine would continue to exist.
An artist impression of the visit of the Queen of Sheba to the court of King Solomon in Jerusalem in about 950 BC, long before there was ever a Russia.
Unlike what Zionists like to claim, Palestine was never the homeland of the Jewish people. The Jews could have easily established their homeland in their allocated autonomous region, where they wouldn’t harm anyone or rely on the continuous support of Uncle Sam.
For the record, this independent republic has an area of over 40,000 square kilometers. That is, it is close to the size of Switzerland. It also has an extremely low population density. Therefore, it could have served as an ideal homeland for the Jews. Instead of usurping Palestinian lands, Zionists could have built their nation at a place already allocated to them.
But this fact has been obscured so that the world would stand by Israel’s side as it steals Palestinian lands.
Another important question: Why did Zionists prevent the secession of this republic from Russia? How come the Jewish Autonomous Oblast didn’t seek independence, just like other territories such as Chechnya?
I think the answer is clear: No one wanted attention diverted away from Palestine. The Zionists wanted to keep their options hidden so that the territorial occupation of Palestine could continue to take place to this very day.
– Fakhri HashemSayed Rajab
Will Iraqis Boycott the next Election?
By Ali Hussein
Al-Mada, Iraq, June 11
The 2021 Iraqi parliamentary elections are scheduled to take place in October. Will the scenario we witnessed in the previous elections of 2018 be repeated? Will Iraqis boycott the election en masse?
Some might ask: Why not encourage the practice of democracy that takes place in most countries of the developed world? Why not vote?
An Iraqi student, holding a flag, flashes the victory sign during anti-government protests in the Shiite city of Najaf, in central Iraq, Jan. 28, 2020. – HAIDAR HAMDANI/AFP via Getty Images
Gentlemen, I, like all Iraqis, dream of real change, but what our politicians are practicing cannot be described as “democracy.” Our political system is not much different from a tragicomedy that is playing over and over in front of our eyes, on repeat. As soon as the elections are over, the exact same people will appear on our television screens, delivering the exact same speeches, ripe with the exact same buzzwords. “We came to save you” will be the gist of their remarks.
But what the people of Iraq are desperate for are political leaders who possess the qualities of integrity, honesty and magnanimity; not people who seek to enhance their own power, protect their own interests, and abuse their political immunity to evade corruption.
The foul odor of cronyism fills the hallways of our state institutions. From there, it spreads into the streets of our provinces, towns and cities, where local leaders fight over political titles, social prestige and power.
An Iraqi man updates his voter ID registration at an Independent High Electoral Commission center in Baghdad, Iraq January 20, 2021. Reuters
During the previous elections, about half of eligible voters in Iraq chose not to vote. They were tired of begging for their most basic rights.
I don’t know what the election results will look like. I also don’t know what turnout rates will actually be. But I do know that the people of Iraq are fed up. They cannot bear to suffer the same corrupt and inept leadership they’ve been dealing with for the past three years.
– Ali Hussein
Fear and Anxiety Among Denmark’s Syrian Refugees
By Dominic Sujil
Al-Ittihad, UAE, June 12
Getting through an entire night of sleep has always been a difficult task for Syrianrefugee Sabriya, but now sleep has become almost impossible. The possibility that the Danish government will send her back to Syria is extremely unsettling.
If her attempt to appeal the revocation of her residency permit fails, Sabriya will have to choose between “voluntarily” returning to the country from which she fled or moving into a deportation center until further notice.
It doesn’t matter that the Syrian regime killed Sabriya’s husband and bombed her family’s home. It also doesn’t matter that she has no one to return to in Syria, and that all of her family members have been separated from each other. The Danish authorities have determined that it is currently “safe” for Syrian asylum-seekers to be repatriated.
Demonstrators in Copenhagen at a protest to stop the expulsion of Syrian refugees, on 21 April, 2021. The sign on the right reads, “Syrians are not your political game”. (B-Joe Johansen/TNH)
Indeed, Danish authorities have revoked more and more residency permits granted to refugees in recent years. Policy experts said the government’s decision reflects a long-standing effort to make Denmark less attractive to asylum-seekers. There are fears that foreigners could become a burden on the Danish social welfare system and harm social cohesion.
Experts on Syria, including a large majority of those consulted by the Danish authorities, rejected the notion that Damascus and its surrounding areas are considered safe in any way. More than a decade into the Syrian civil war, over a million Syrian lives have been lost. Lisa Blankenberg, senior adviser at Amnesty International, noted that if Syrians returned to government-controlled areas, they would be subject to interrogations, torture and potentially death.
So far, 400 cases of Syrians, including minors, have been rejected by the Danish immigration authorities. Rejecting cases does not result in immediate expulsion, for the simple legal reason that Syrians cannot be forcibly returned as long as diplomatic relations between Copenhagen and Damascus are severed.
– Dominic Sujil
*Translated by Asaf Zilberfarb
While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves. LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).
“We can’t replace what was lost in the fire, and the pandemic is with us for some time to come, but if we help one another, and continue to show care and kindness towards each other, we will emerge stronger.”
Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng Vice-Chancellor
“There is a Setswana proverb that goes Motho ke Motho ka batho. In isiZulu, it goes umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu. As we commemorated Africa Month in May, we at the University of Cape Town (UCT) felt this spirit of ubuntu that is not limited to Batswana or AmaZulu or South Africans alone but Africans in general as a people who naturally prioritise the well-being of others and understand that we are, because of others and that in lifting others up, entire nations rise.”
Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng Vice-Chancellor
An Open Letter to Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng
Vice-Chancellor
The University of Cape Town
22th June 2021
Dear Professor Phakeng,
On the eve of International Holocaust Day, Lwazi Lushaba a lecturer in the political science department of UCT issued the following statement:
“Hitler committed no crime. All Hitler did was to do to white people what white people had normally reserved for black people.”
It should be noted his views were not a private expression aired on the electronic media but stated in his official capacity as a university faculty member giving a prerecorded lecture to first year political science students.
Given the status of Lushaba, his influence, together with the enormity of his statement and its ramifications on university policy and campus culture, it is essential to analyze his words and their significance:
“Hitler committed no crime.“
Simply put, in his eyes, the Holocaust, the industrialized genocide of six million Jews of Europe was perfectly acceptable. The brutalization and untold suffering of the citizens of the countries invaded and occupied by the Nazi regime meets with his approval and the myriad heinous crimes against humanity perpetrated by Hitler and his henchmen in no way deviate from his societal norms. It is common knowledge that as a result of Nazi ideology and policies; tens of millions of innocent men, women and children perished. However this to Dr. Lushaba, is insignificant and inconsequential.
The New Abnormal. UCT academic Dr Lwazi Lushaba’s claimed in an online lecture – shortly before Holocaust Memorial Day – that “Hitler committed no crime”. “All Hitler did,” the senior political studies lecturer continued, “was to do to white people what white people had normally reserved for black people.”
Lushaba’s words place him in the front ranks of infamousHolocaust deniers, linking arms, amongst others, with the Mullahs of the despotic Iranian regime noted for its suppression of human rights, spreading of international terrorism and the avowed aim of destroying Israel, the notorious anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan and his followers and – strangely enough for a black African – the members of extreme right wing and neo-Nazi movements.
“All Hitler did was to do to white people what white people had normally reserved for black people.”
Here, the esteemed Dr. Lushaba justifies his blatant antisemitism and historical distortions with a qualifying sentence. The introductory words: “All Hitler did was…” are most instructive since this phrase is commonly used to downplay the importance or the consequences of an action such as: “All I did was to grab him by the ear” or “All they did was to break one window!” He then arrives at the crux of his argument: “…to do to white people what white people had normally reserved for black people.” The message is quite clear: the millions of innocent people – men, women and children – that Hitler systematically murdered got their just desserts and deserved their cruel deaths because of their white skin. He decides that on account of their pigmentation each and every one of the victims was an innate racist, a white supremacist and potential mass murderer of black people who like the Nazis would have had no compunction in setting up death camps and organizing murder squads to execute the genocide of all black people. By clear inference, Lushaba’s crackpot, defamatory and sick ideology of ‘predeterminism’ would also apply to all the white people today!
Here, dear Vice Chancellor Phakeng, clearly spelt out for all to see, are the ravings of an out and out anti-Semite and racist. An individual with a mind so corroded by hatred, so devoid of all vestiges of reason and so warped by venom that he has lost all moral and ethical compass. He is so deeply mired in his poisonous bigotry that he willfully distorts history even choosing to ignore the fact that Roma, Sinti and darker skinned Jews of the Middle East were among Hitler’s victims too. His beliefs fly in the face of all the values that a liberal university stands for. Such a sick minded person has no place on a campus.
In the wake of consequent protests and condemnations and in the light of your above statements in the official alumni newsletter, as a concerned alumnus of UCT, I expected an appropriate and official reaction. A reaction did come but only from Declan Dyer the mealy mouthed head of the Student’s Representative Council (SRC) who supported Lushaba by pathetically explaining away that his words:
“should be seen in context!”
Seen in context!!! Should the Holocaust be explained away by seeing it in context? Should the slave trade both past and present be thus rationalized? Should Apartheid and genocide “be seen in context?” The words of the head of the student body expose him both as a simpleton and ignoramus!
The words of Lushaba are shocking and outrageous. Infinitively more shocking and outrageous is the behaviour of the University of Cape Town that has chosen the policy of remaining silent. Over two months have passed since his vile utterances and silence still prevails. Lushaba’s behaviour has impugned the bedrock tenets of UCT and yet the Senate, University Council and academic community have made the decision to ignore his words. You all had a choice: to speak out and in so doing, confirm the values on which the university was founded; or acquiesce in intolerance and racism. You chose the latter. There has never been any censure, nor has an apology ever been demanded. Not a word of protest has been uttered. Not a weak whinny, not a plaintive bleat, not even a perfunctory peep has been heard! Your silence is the silence of assent. By electing to remain silent, you have deliberately chosen to condone his words, give your stamp of approval and stand behind him and his dissemination of hatred and lies.
In an alumni newsletter you wrote:
“…..if we help one another, and continue to show care and kindness towards each other, we will emerge stronger.”
In the following one you quote a Setswana proverb:
“…. Africans in general as a people who naturally prioritise the well-being of others.”
These are admirable sentiments, but in the light of your university’s actions, ring hollow and are completely meaningless. You have consented to his desecration of the memory of all victims of Nazi persecution and of those that fought against it, South Africans included – both black and white. You have permitted him to deeply offend the Jewish community, grossly insult fellow South Africans and tread roughshod over their sensibilities. Is this your message for Nelson Mandela’s Rainbow Nation? Where is your professed compassion? Where is the tolerance and inclusiveness?
Racism is racism no matter who says it. It cannot be justified for whatever reason and those that preach it must be condemned. When a white person attributes pejorative and demeaning characteristics and traits to all black people, that is racism. When a black person declares that all white people are inherently evil, that is racism. The virulent hatred that Lushaba harbours and nurtures within him is no different from that which many white nationalist racists in the Apartheid era felt towards black people and other groups. He is no better than them and he has simply become their mirror image!
The half century of official Apartheid thankfully ended in 1994. Since then, almost three decades have passed. Rhodes has fallen and is no more. His faeces smeared statue has departed the campus. UCT is now an African university with much to do to help the country and the continent with its expertise and involvement. It has many challenges to face: Presently, South Africa is well on the way to becoming a failed state and many of its neighbours are beset with problems. It is natural and understandable that a large residue of resentment from the injustices of Apartheid era still exists and much healing remains to be done. Nevertheless, if the university does not extricate itself from past hatreds and divest itself from Lushaba and his ilk, then it cannot move into the future. Your silence as vice chancellor and figurehead of the University of Cape Town bodes ill for this once august and liberal institution.
Yours sincerely,
Stephen Schulman,
Ramat Hasharon,
Israel
While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves. LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).
Could the Americans have learned from the Jewish heritage?
(Author’s personal observation)
By Craig Snoyman
While South Africans were celebrating the heart-warming hoax of decuplets, the so-called “Tembisa 10”, the United States of America was midwifing its own birth. With little advance notice, and starting labour on Tuesday 15 June, pushing through the birthing canals of the House and the Senate at great speed, the new-born was announced to the world on 17 June 2021. President Biden, who confirmed the signs of life, signed it into law and held the birth-certificate up high for everybody to see. Although officially, its date of birth was declared as 19 June it was officially named “Juneteenth National Independence Day” and proudly touted to the nation. Joining a group of ten other siblings, it became America’s eleventh annual federal holiday. Named in honour of an event which happened on June 19, 1865 – or “Juneteenth” – it recalls an incident where General Gordon Granger entered Galveston, Texas and announced that President Lincoln had freed the slaves almost three years earlier.
Usually, the creation of a national holiday is no easy task. Only four federal holidays had been added to the American calendar in the last one hundred years before this one. There had previously been several attempts to introduce a “Native American Day”, all of them unsuccessful. As a kind of substitute, a cultural “Native American Week” was introduced. Proposals for the introduction of new holidays is all about politics – the politics of identity, the politics of voting, the politics of affiliation, the politics of ethnicity, the politics of patriotism, even the politics of sport. Yet somewhere amongst all of this congested political melee, Juneteenth National Independence Day – the fastest tracked Federal holiday ever- became law. If you were outside the USA, you might have missed it. While it was happening, it didn’t gather too much attention in the States either.
Juneteenth was initially only a specifically Texan celebration. There were other Emancipation Day celebrations commemorating the freedom from slavery. African Americans in South Carolina and Georgia had also been holding their own Emancipation Day programs but chose the date of January 1. Both groups memorialised the struggles of their people and sought to inspire upliftment in honouring those emancipated slaves. Why did the Carolinians and Georgians celebrate on 1 January? Simple, they followed historical fact. It was on 1 January 1863, that President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared that all persons held as slaves were immediately free. The Texans were only apparently officially informed of the Emancipation when Granger finally reached Texas on 19 June 1865. Ironically, notwithstanding the announcement, most of the slaves were only freed after the cotton harvest was completed, some months later. The event of the announcement was thereafter commemorated annually mostly by the former slave, who combined the words “June 19th” into “Juneteenth”. As the Civil War became more distant, Juneteenth and Emancipation Day celebrations became less prominent, almost fading into obscurity until there was a cultural revival of Juneteenth, starting in Texas, in the 1970’s.
Jews also have also created their own holidays or “chags”. When looking at the origins of these festivals, one can see the historic events which gave rise to the festivals. Each one of these Jewish holidays has a unified meaning for its followers. The aim of each holiday is to commemorate and remember the national, religious and world view identity of the Jews. The ideological connection between the Jewish holidays and with their national and cultural values is apparent. Jewish holidays, while established thousands of years ago, and grounded in the Torah, have not lost their relevance today. While the holidays may have been modified, they still continue to be celebrated with the same joy, unity, and cohesion as in ancient times.
It is not difficult to see how these Jewish holidays were created. It is, however, difficult to imagine that the crossing of the Red Sea could have been celebrated on the day when Jethro announced to Moses that he and his kinsmen has heard about the event and not on the date that the Children of Israel actually walked through the water on dry land. Similarly, that the “international day of independence” could fall on the day that Moses brought down the second set of tablets, rather than when Mount Sinai smoked and thundered and a Divine covenant was created, would seem absurd. Equally preposterous would have been for all the Children of Israel to be ordered to observe a second Pesach simply because some of them were impure for the first celebration and they could not participate.
Exodus from Egypt
But this is what has happened with Juneteenth!
It celebrates an announcement made to the slaves of Texas, telling them that they should have been freed about three years before they heard the announcement. However, the real problem is not the timing or to whom it was said, it’s that the nature of Juneteenth doesn’t support the ideals expected of a holiday. It doesn’t support unity or nationalism or patriotism. There is also an existing division amongst the ethnic groups celebrating the liberation of the slaves about the date as to when emancipation should be commemorated. It is a very sectarian holiday. On the face of it, it should be a cultural event celebrated by Texans and enjoyed by anyone who wants to participate, much like Native American Week. Both the name and its significance had lost their relevance until its re-introduction about one hundred years after it had faded into virtual insignificance. Even then, it was re-introduced as a cultural event and not a political event! Historically, American slaves were emancipated when Lincoln’s Proclamation was issued, not when the slaves heard about it, or even when they were physically liberated. Emancipation took place on 1 January 1863, in the midst of a civil war. It was Winston Churchill who said that a nation that forgets its history has no future. Can the rewriting of a nation’s past lead to different future?
President Joe Biden signs the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, June 17, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)AP
Maybe this is all hair-splitting. After all, 48 states recognised Juneteenth as a state holiday before it became a federal holiday. But they recognised “Juneteenth”; they did not recognise “Juneteenth National Independence Day”. This federal holiday embodies neither Nation nor Independence. A re-announcement of emancipation that has already been throughout the rest of the country to a territorial group of people who believed that they are slaves when they are not really slaves, is not a national event. By legislating that Juneteenth is an Independence Day when it was not and when there is already a nationally celebrated Independence Day on 4 July is divisive and confusing. When an event commemorates an occasion affecting a small ethnic group is made a national occasion it is can only serve to encourage fragmentation and factionalism instead of nationalism and patriotism. This application of a mixed ideological agenda at this time in America’s history does not advance its national aims. In the politically dismembering climate that exists today one must ask whether this was not just a short-term advancement of the non-inclusive political agenda of “Black Lives Matter”.
Another Federal holiday, Christopher Columbus Day, may be the harbinger of the trouble that Juneteenth National Independence Day may bring. Christopher Columbus Day was recognised by 45 states before it became a federal holiday in 1968. Congress said that the nation was honouring the courage and determination which enabled generations of immigrants from many nations to find freedom and opportunity in America. South Dakota then objected to this view. It has called that holiday “Native American Day” since 1990. In 2014 , the Seattle City Council followed South Dakota’s lead and unanimously voted to rename Columbus Day “Indigenous People’s Day”.
Will the issues about Juneteenth National Independence Day be more pervasive and more damaging? There are already certain groups which have stated that they will not recognise it. Other militant groups will no doubt ensure the holiday receives its due recognition (or notoriety). Recognising the holiday as a National Independence Day brings with it the underlying inference of the currently trending “existing systemic racism” and all the baggage attached to it. Is it unrealistic to expect the “colonial Independence” of 4 July comes under further attack, bearing in mind the inroads into education of the 1619 project? Will one see the Juneteenth flag waving, contests pride of place with the Stars and Stripes? It also becomes quite feasible that other existing federal holidays will now be subjected to attack due to their historical, but colonial origins. There is already a struggle to claim the foundations of American democracy, this holiday is only going to add to that struggle. And by calling it a National Independence Day, it opens the door for claims of for reparations for slavery. With the stoke of a pen, has the nation unwittingly placed itself back into a civil-war, even if this is not yet visible?
Perhaps, in the same way that there is precedent as to how the Sanhedrin interpreted Zechariah’s word to eliminate certain fast days, the US government will not feel constricted to re-examine certain Federal holidays and their names. While one must always remember and celebrate the abolition of slavery (were we not once slaves as well?), one wonders if a holiday called Juneteenth National Independence Day is the appropriate step in advancing an agenda of national patriotism and common identity.
So while some South Africans celebrated hoax-babies on Saturday 19 June 2021, and some Americans celebrated Saturday 19 June 2021 as Juneteenth National Independence Day, some of us also celebrated Saturday 19 June 2021 as ….. Shabbat.
About the writer:
Craig Snoymanis a practising advocate in South Africa.
While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves. LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).
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Facing the Future. Isaac Herzog says that he’ll work to ‘build bridges’ within Israeli society and with the Diaspora.
Following Isaac Herzog’s election as Israel’s 11th President, the writer looks back on his interview in 2007 with the then ‘Minister of Diaspora, Society and the Fight Against Antisemitism’, and reflects how he can now use the weight of his new high office to tackle many of the issues then discussed that remain no less monumental challenges today.
Revealing Insights! Singer Halsey weighs in on Twitter about “colonialist” Israelis murdering “brown children”.
In every generation they rise up to try and destroy us. Jews know too well the dangers of antisemitism as it changes from generation to generation. What makes this latest iteration of antisemitism different and what are the contributing factors?
Spoiler alert: we will overcome this one as well! Read more here:
A Rabbi and a Self-Hating Jew walk into court with a Newspaper
By Adv. Craig Snoyman
The Rabbi vs The Rogue. Libelous words that began in the press may end up in court.
ANC stalwart, Ronnie Kasrils, who has publicly renounced his Jewishness happily traffics on his abandoned identity to attack South Africa’s Chief Rabbi. The writer, a practicing advocate, exposes the former Cabinet Minister’s hypocrisy and welcomes the rabbi having a go at the rogue in court!
While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves. LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).
The Israel Brief – 14 June 2021 – Special Report on swearing in of new government.
The Israel Brief – 15 June 2021 –IDF braces for possible violence ahead of Flag march. Indoor mask mandate ends. Gantz proposal for Meron disaster investigation.
The Israel Brief – 16 June 2021 – IDF strike targets in Gaza strip in response to arson terror. New US Ambassador chosen for Israel. Netanyahu warned to vacate Prime Ministerial residence. First deaf MK sworn in.
The Israel Brief – 17 June 2021 – ICC changes Chief Prosecutors. Ministers to vote on Meron inquiry. Incendiary balloons continue to set fire to land.
While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves. LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).
The “Path of Peace” sculpture by artist Dani Caravan. An environmental sculpture which is one of the attractions of Nitzana
