Jewish Life Digital Edition September 2015 | Page 52

The SA Jewish Board of Deputies

Hope floats

A Heritage Day carnival throughout the
streets of Pretoria
by Wendy Kahn

Amid all the doom and gloom that dominates our Shabbat tables, school parking
lots and water coolers, every now and again
a ray of light emerges that makes us remember why we love living in this special place.
I got a call from Dali Tambo which reminded me about the spirit and soul of South Africa. He invited our community to participate
in a unique event, a Heritage Day carnival
and parade through the streets of Pretoria.
All our different nationalities and groups
that make up our South African rainbow
nation will come together in a spirit of unity, each displaying their unique culture,
traditions and flavours, as we celebrate
Heritage Day on 24 September.
Deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa encouraged all South Africans to participate
in this extraordinary event “bringing together South Africans of all races, commu-

nities and cultures”, and allowing “our nation’s diverse people to proudly display
their own cultural heritage, bolstering national unity and social cohesion”. It will be
shown live on SABC TV.
I immediately accepted Tambo’s invitation to participate, alongside other communities such as the Hellenic, Italian, Portuguese, Scottish, Chinese, Harley Davidson,
to mention just a few.
The next step was for us to apply our
minds as to what a South African Jewish
float would look like. How would we represent our diverse, vibrant, multifaceted
constituency on a single float? South African Jewry is such a rich tapestry of people
– so many different cultures encapsulated
in one group.
And then we selected one central value
that unites us – the principle of Kol Yisrael

We are a community that is not just concerned
for our own welfare; we are deeply committed
also to improving the lives of those around us.
48 JEWISH LIFE n ISSUE 88

Areivim Ze La Ze – we are all responsible for
one another. We are a community that is
not just concerned for our own welfare, we
are deeply committed also to improving the
lives of those around us. Some of my highlights during my time at the SA Jewish
Board of Deputies include working with the
many outreach organisations within our
community and seeing the impact they are
making in our country. But what really inspires me about South African Jewry is that
whenever a need arises, be it a fire in an informal settlement, an outbreak of xenophobia or a strike in the hospitals, members of
our community enthusiastically get involved. I will always remember looking
around the Cleveland Police Station shelter
during the 2008 xenophobia crisis, and seeing the Union of Jewish Women volunteers
cooking in the kitchen, the youth movement
members entertaining the traumatised children, and countless other volunteers bringing in the desperately needed supplies.
Our community understands and lives
the principles of ‘acts of random kindness’.
So off we went to see Rabbi Dovid Masinter, with a view to making his ARK initiative our float concept for the carnival.
ARK is an acronym for Acts of Random
Kindness. The goal of the campaign is simply to get people to fill up the yellow ARK
with spare change, and when full, donate it
to someone less fortunate. Basically, it is to
get people to increase in acts of goodness
and kindness. It’s important to note that
the ARK ‘charity boxes’ are not returned to
the organiser, but to whichever charity the
collector supports. Yellow ARKS will be
handed out throughout the parade.
So our float, which will be built with the
help of Chabad, will consist of an ARK. But,
in keeping with the ethos of the message,
our ARK will not just be a decoration; rather, it will be yet another act of random
kindness. Inside it will be a children’s library that will be donated to the City of
Tshwane after the carnival, for use by children from an underprivileged school.
We encourage our community to join us
at the Heritage Day Carnival, on 24 September, from the Tshwane (Pretoria)
Showgrounds to the Union Building
Lawns, in celebrating our heritage alongside the many different people in our
country. To quote Rabbi Masinter, “Let’s
get hope floating again.” JL

photograph: SUPPLIED

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