Jewish cultures, identities and contingencies: reflections from the South African experience

Abstract

The article traces the major streams of Jewish immigration to South Africa, the cultural baggage brought by the newcomers, and the evolution of a South African Jewish cultural identity contingently shaped within the specifics of South African society but influenced by global trends. Even though South African Jews faced the assimilatory impulses of a frontier society, the divided nature of the country's white Afrikaans- and English-speaking population encouraged Jewish distinctiveness and provided a comfortable place for ethnic expression and an abiding support for the Zionist idea. Despite changes in the new South Africa, Jewish identity remains strong, with an ongoing religious revival that dates back to the 1970s. Buttressed by a dispensation that celebrates cultural and religious diversity, the Jewish community is grappling with its past in apartheid South Africa while finding its place within a new multicultural framework. Nation building remains in its infancy.