South African controversy: South Africa's Chief Rabbi, Dr. Zeev (Warren) Goldstein, on Thursday ordered worshippers in some 100 synagogues across the country to change the wording of the prayer for the government's peace because of their support for Hamas' actions.
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The original prayer was composed by the country's previous Chief Rabbi, Cyril Harris, after the fall of the apartheid regime in 1994, and was dedicated to the well-being of "the president and his deputy and members of the government."
After the murderous attack carried out by Hamas on October 7 in the communities near the Gaza Strip, President Cyril Ramaphosa, who also serves as head of the ANC party, did not make up for it. "The massacres, looting and rapes, and the kidnapping of masses of civilians, did not interest him," Chief Rabbi Goldtschein accused the president, who was once a close friend.
Cyril Ramaphossa, President of South Africa. Standing with BDS, photo: AFP
If that were not enough, a few days ago the president and members of his government stood in front of the media cameras and chose to back Hamas. Ramaphosa donned a keffiyeh next to a backdrop of Palestinian flags and said: "We sympathize with the residents of Gaza who are under Israeli siege." Ramaphosa and his associates accused Israel of committing war crimes in Gaza, blatantly ignoring Hamas' crimes.
The unilateral alignment of President Ramaphosa and his government with the terrorist organization caused great anger in the country's Jewish community, which numbers more than 50,000 members, and the Chief Rabbi announced the cessation of prayers for the president, for the first time in 30 years: "How can you pray for a president and government that supports a terrorist organization that carried out the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust, whose official policy is the murder of Jews and who poses an ongoing threat to the security of the Jewish people?" The Chief Rabbi, Dr. Zeev (Warren) Goldstein, wondered in a letter to dozens of community rabbis in South Africa.
In response, as noted, the wording of the prayer was changed so that it would no longer include the president and his government. "Prayer expresses our purest aspirations, and we really don't aspire to the success of such a president," he said. It should be noted that in the past, President Ramaphosa and Rabbi Dr. Goldstein maintained a close relationship and were even photographed together at a number of public events.
As part of South African Jewry's solidarity with the State of Israel, Rabbi Goldstein is initiating a project called "World Shabbat," which calls for Jewish unity next Shabbat. "Thousands of Diaspora Jews are expected to join the initiative for joint observance of one Shabbat, a sign of solidarity with the State of Israel and IDF soldiers, in prayer for the safety of the abducted and wounded and in communion with the memory of the murdered," said Rabbi Goldstein, calling on the residents of the State of Israel to take part in the solidarity project.
Shabbat will begin from Friday, November 3 to Saturday night, November 4, and members of dozens of Jewish communities around the world are expected to attend in light of the situation.
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