Andrew: Religion and Apartheid Reflection

During the first month of our stay I’ve been to church on Sundays three times as part of our program and I’ve also seen how there are prayers in daily life (not even in church settings).  I think this was interesting because it showed me how important religion is in South Africa.  So last week I accidentally went to services at a synagogue because I ran into Erica and Melissa on their way to services.

When we got to the service, I found it very comforting because most of the prayers were done in the same manner as my synagogue.  What I found interesting was Rabbi’s sermon.  Coincidentally it was about North American Reformed Jews’ loss of interest in Jewish life and support for Israel.  As the rabbi said, Jewish Americans need to leave their liberal views behind when they support Israel because of the somewhat questionable tactics the Israeli government and IDF use.  This spoke directly to me because this is the way I feel about Israel—I’m not sure if I support what Israel does and its justification for it but I somewhat support Israel just because I’m Jewish.  What is also interesting is the way that I describe myself versus a South African Jew would describe themselves.  I describe myself as a Jewish American whereas someone here would refer to themselves as South African Jew.  This not only pointed out the importance of religion here, but also the Jewish Americans’ allegiance to our country first.

What makes this experience in South Africa so unique is that Jews have had a long history of “apartheid”.  We were the oppressed and separated during the Holocaust, but today, Israel is criticized for separating the Palestinians from the Jews and supposedly treating them as second-class citizens.  But we are here in South Africa, only a few decades after Apartheid is over, and these religious, political, and historical thoughts are giving me a lot to think about.