South Africa's Jewish
community is the most Zionist
in all of the Diaspora, but
emigrating South African Jews
are choosing the United States,
Australia, England and Canada
over Israel.

A Failure
Of Zionism

C

APE TOWN — There
is a troubling game of
musical chairs being
played among Israeli Jews,
South African Jews and the
rest of the Diaspora.
While thousands of Israelis
leave their country, seeking
security and the "better life"
in places like South Africa,
thousands of South African
Jews are leaving their coun-
try for similar reasons. Tired
of South Africa's racist policy
of apartheid, worried about
the economic havoc caused by
sanctions from countries like

the United States, South
Africa's Jews have joined the
white exodus.
But despite the fact that
South Africa's Jewish com-
munity is the most Zionist in
the Diaspora, few South
African Jews are moving to
Israel, probably no more than
15 percent.
The reasons behind that
fact speak to a failure of
Zionism — a Zionism that is
taught diligently to Jewish
youngsters in schools and
youth groups and worked on
actively in the adult com-
munity by the Zionist Federa-
tion, the most powerful
Jewish organization in the
country

.

Ideologically, emotionally
and philanthropically, South
African Jews stand behind
Israel. They send their
children to Jewish day
schools and have them join
Zionist youth movements.
They are extremely proud of
their Jewish heritage. The
community is well organized,
highly educated and affluent.
Its per capita contributions
to Israel are the highest in the
world.
But when it comes to
choosing a place to emigrate
— and they are emigrating by
the thousands — they favor
America, Austrgia, Canada
and Britain over the Jewish
state.

Thousands Have
Left The Country

Solly Kaplinski, headmaster of a
Jewish day school in Cape Town,
says emigration and zero popula-
tion growth has taken its toll on
enrollment.

Prof. Rudolf, a former mayor,
believes emigrating South African
Jews opt for a society where they
can be most comfortable.

No one has exact demo-
graphic figures on how many
South African Jews have left
and where they are going —
or, for that matter, how many
Israelis have moved to South
Africa. But there are
estimates.
Sally Frankenthal, director
of Jewish studies at the
University of Cape ibwn, said
the 1980 census showed there
were 118,000 Jews in South
Africa. "We don't know how
many have left in actual
figures," she said. "We guess
that something in the order of
10,000 to 15,000 souls have
left in the last five years."

Frankenthal, a native of Cape
lbwn, noted that while apar-
theid and its repercussions
have spurred emigration,
apartheid is also a factor in
the strong sense of closeness
in the tight-knit Jewish
community.
"This government divides
populations on ethnic cri-
teria. That's what apartheid
is all about," she said, adding
that the racial divisions have
strengthened Jewish bonds.
Emigration is clearly on
many people's minds, she
said. "Certainly in shul this is
apparent. People would say,
`Gosh, the shul is empty.
Where is everybody?' "
Frankenthal noted that a
major factor pushing Jews to
emigrate is the mandatory
military service for young
men. "They don't want to do
it in South Africa," she said.
Gerald Kleinman, who

serves as the Western Pro-
vince executive director of the
combined Israel United Ap-
peal and United Communal
Fund for South African
Jewry, offered more recent
statistics.
Kleinman said there were
25,000 Jews living in Cape
lbwn five years ago. Now, he
noted, there are only about
20,000 left. There are still
about 60,000 in Johannes-
burg, 5,000 or so in Durban
and another few thousand
scattered in smaller cities
around the country. The best
estimates, he said, suggest
that there are today less than
100,000 Jews left in South
Africa. A few years ago, there
were more than 120,000.
There would be even fewer
Jews in South Africa today,
Kleinman said, if it were not
for the relatively large
number of Israelis who have

