By Michael Belling
Hundreds of people South African expatriates and Australians - attended book launches and talks by The Travelling Rabbi Moshe Silberhaft recently to promote the story of the South African country communities and the Jewish communities of sub-Saharan Africa.
Silberhaft is the country communities rabbi of he SA Jewish Board of Deputies and spiritual leader and CEO of the African Jewish Congress.
I found everyone extremely interested in what is happening in South Africa and the former South Africans really wanting to know about the various communities they came from, Silberhaft said.
I encouraged them to relate to the children, grandchildren and friends the wonderful life they had in South Africa and the challenge they had in maintaining their Judaism in the country communities, as well as how their Judaism enabled them to land in Australia and maintain their Yiddishkeit there.
He added that it was heartwarming to see many former South Africans playing vital roles in the establishment and growth of Jewish life in Australia. They took their passion for Judaism there from South Africa.
The two main shuls on Sydney and Melbourne both ran South African-style services and the new Central Shul in Melbourne is known as the South African shul.
Silberhaft addressed 2 500 people in his visits to three cities, Perth, Melbourne and Sydney and included seven launches of the book, The Travelling Rabbi: My African Tribe - the Rabbis story as told to Suzanne Belling. Proceeds from the book launch will go to the Support Group for Families of the Terminally Ill (SGOFOTI), a project supported by the African Jewish Congress in Bulawayo.
Attendances exceeded expectations. In Perth, where Rhoda Berman, former president of the South African Union of Jewish Women, co-ordinated the visit, the book launch had to be moved from the shul hall into the main shul when 225 people attended the launch, double the expected number.
In Perth Silberhaft met Malcolm McCusker, the governor of Western Australia.
Barrister Norman Rosenbaum hosted Silberhaft in Melbourne. He addressed three classes at the Mount Scopus Jewish day school and in the evening attended the Shabbat service at the Central Shul in Caulfield. The service included Lecha Dodi to the tune of Sarie Marais and Yigdal to the melody of Jan Pierewiet.
On his 50-minute walk to the Rosenbaums after shul, Silberhaft was caught in the worst rainstorm in Melbourne for over a century that led to several flood warnings. This is the second time in his recent travels that he has endured hardships of nature he was stung 87 times by a swarm of bees last year in Harare as he was walking to shul on Shabbat morning.
The Melbourne leg was arranged by ex-Capetonian Barry Barron, a founder member of the shul.
On Shabbat morning he spoke at the Chabad shul in Caulfield.
Two book launches took place in Melbourne, the one at the Central Shul and the other in Doncaster, attended by nearly 500 people.
The last stop of the visit was in Sydney. The first book launch was at the Central Shul. Judge Ralph Zulman, chairman of the country communities department of SA Jewish Board of Deputies was visiting Sydney and introduced the rabbi. Silberhaft also spoke at the Central Shul in Bondi and a book launch at Kehillat Masada on the North Shore.
In Sydney, he spent two hours with John Howard, former Australian Prime Minister, accompanied by another South African expatriate, Rob Schneider, who arranged the Sydney itinerary.
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MATTHEW E.K. NEUHAUSS
AUSTRALIAN AMBASSADOR TO ZIMBABWE HIGH COMMISSIONER TO ZAMBIA AND MALAWI
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ADDRESSING RABBINIC ASSOCIATION
OF PERTH
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CAPACITY CROWN AT LAUNCH
PERTH HEBREW CONGREGATION
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VOTE OF THANKS BY ALAN
SHEAR PERTH HEBREW CONGREGATION LAUNCH
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ADDRESSING STUDENTS AT
CARMEL SCHOOL PERTH
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LAUNCH HOSTED BY RABBI WHITE AND LEADERSHIP OF NORANDA SHUL PERTH
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ADDRESSING GRADE 7 8 & 9 MOUNT SCOPUS SCHOOL MELBOURNE
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ADDRESSING GRADE 7 8 & 9 MOUNT SCOPUS SCHOOL MELBOURNE
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ADDRESSING GRADE 7 8 & 9 MOUNT SCOPUS SCHOOL MELBOURNE
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DAVID SOUTHWICK MP AND ELIZABETH MILLER MP - STATE MEMBERS - PARLIAMENT OF VICTORIA
AUSTRALIA, AT LAUNCH IN CAULFIELD
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ORGANISERS AND DIGNITARIES OF THE LAUNCH IN CENTRAL SHULE CHABAD CAULFIELD SOUTH MELBOURNE
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BEING HOSTED BY RABBI DANIEL AND SARAH RABIN FOR A LAUNCH AT NORTH EASTERN JEWISH CENTRE
DONCASTER MELBOURNE
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LAUNCH AT MELBOURNE HEBREW CONGREGATION HOSTED BY RABBI AVRAHAM JACKS
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ACCOMPANIED BY ROB SCHNEIDER, MEETING FORMER PRIME MINISTER JOHN HOWARD SYDNEY
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BOOK LAUNCH -KEHILLAT MASADA - SYDNEY
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LAUNCH AT CENTRAL SHULE CHABAD CAULFIELD SOUTH MELBOURNE
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LAUNCH AT CENTRAL SHULE CHABAD CAULFIELD SOUTH MELBOURNE
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BARRY BARON AND THE TRAVELLING RABBI MELBOURNE
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ABCA - AUSTRALIAN BOOKS FOR CHILDREN OF AFRICA FUNCTION MELBOURNE
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ABCA - AUSTRALIAN BOOKS FOR CHILDREN OF AFRICA FUNCTION MELBOURNE
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MEETING BARRISTER NORMAN ROSENBAUM - MELBOURNE
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