Author: Jewish Life

Aaron Lipschitz’s supernatural survival By: Sarahbelle Selig When doctors diagnosed three-year-old Aaron Lipschitz with a rare genetic disorder, a bone marrow transplant became his only chance at survival. The transplant saved his life – but almost took his life in the process. Thanks to a pioneering medical team, a dedicated community, and more than a few miracles, Aaron and his parents have withstood every family’s nightmare – and Aaron continues to defy the odds, every day of his life. The first thing you notice about Aaron Lipschitz is his energy.…

And how religion fits in. By: Ilan Preskovsky As of this writing, COVID-19 has been an unwanted daily presence in our lives for something like twenty months, but if there is one positive side effect to come from all this, it must surely be a renewed emphasis on the importance of mental health. With the pandemic serving as a hotbed for serious mental health crises – affecting everyone from those with existing diagnoses to those who previously would never even have dreamed of stepping foot in a therapist’s office –…

Our spiritual flashlight By: Rabbi Dovid Samuels You took tears of sorrow and turned them into tears of gratitude Finally, our homes will be filled with dancing flames and the veil of darkness will have been completely peeled back A story is told that the great Tzaddik Rabbi Meir of Premishlan was once being hosted for a Shabbos meal at the house of one of his followers. During the meal, Rabbi Meir said to his host, “This challah has the taste of the Garden of Eden! Please, tell me who…

Why my darkest Chanukah ever shines the brightest Paula Levin Erev Chanukah, December 25th 2005, I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. As the Parklane’s first Xmas baby, he was somewhat of a celebrity, and several newspapers came to take pictures of baby Levin for their annual feel-good story. I too was feeling good, ecstatic with my perfect, tiny, 2,8kg baby boy and thrilled with the fact that we got to publicise the miracle of Chanukah as my husband told Die Beeld and the Star’s reporters that we were…

Practical steps to transform your life during these difficult times By Richard Sutton This year started much the same way as previous years. I had established goals, aspirations, defined projects, and I believed that anything and everything was possible in the coming year. I was excited. But, then, in a moment, everything changed. If you think about it, it sounds very much like a science fiction series that you would find on Netflix: A deadly virus crosses the species barrier. Within months, more than three billion people are forced into…

Using EMDR to process traumatic experiences and make them more manageable By: Dr Aliza Bilman Pesach 2016 was a chag I will not soon forget. I was in the third trimester of my first pregnancy. I had heard that first time mums are often overdue, so I expected that I would be too. I had packed a bag just in case, but I had no intention of using it. On the last day of Pesach, my husband and I joined a family for a lovely lunch and then went home…

The blessing of being tongue-tied By Chandrea Serebro Being tongue-tied is generally a sure way to lose an argument, but sometimes it can prove to be a matter of Divine intervention. Which is not to say that Hashem isn’t on your side, G-d forbid, but rather that it is a chance for Hashem to bring you to the place where you were always meant to be. And it is a win-win scenario. It starts in an ordinary doctor’s room. And while the place may be mundane when considering fate and…

But you don’t have to By: Aron Ziegler “They tried to destroy us, we survived, let’s eat” – has become a commonly heard joke to sum up Jewish celebrations. Lavan, the Egyptians, Bil’am, Haman… ‘In every generation they rise up against us to destroy us, but Hashem, The Holy One Blessed Be He, saves us from their hand’[1]. It is not at all difficult to see why this one liner came about, as we eat festive meals on all of the yomim tovim – each with its own special foods,…

Builder, developer, and nurturer of the South African Jewish community for over 50 years By Ilan Preskovsky With the spiritual cleansing of Yom Kippur just behind us and with Sukkot mere days in our future, most of us in the South African Jewish community probably barely even registered the date of 29 September 2020 (11 to 12 Tishrei 5781), so busy were we with the usual hustle and bustle of the festive period that begins every Jewish new year. In an instant, though, the ground disappeared beneath us and we…

Chanukah’s message of thanking Hashem for our soul Rabbi Dovid Samuels One of the most obvious difficulties with the festival of Chanukah is the emphasis placed on the miracle of the oil lasting for eight days, whereas the supernatural defeat of the Greeks at the hands of the Chashmonaim seems to be largely ignored. When we think about it, surely we would see our victory over an evil army to be more of a cause for celebration than a jug of oil lasting longer than expected. Why, then, when Chazal…

Touch history and history touches you By Ilan Preskovsky Whether reading through the weekly Torah portion or intensely studying a page of Talmud, it’s hard not to sometimes feel like you’re reading about alien worlds that bare only a passing resemblance to our own. It’s hard enough to get one’s head around the world in which the Talmud was compiled some fifteen hundred years ago – slavery was the basis of the world’s economy, Christianity was still in its infancy, and Jews were always, at very best, second-rate citizens in…

Measuring our fortune and Chanukah’s lesson of appreciating our very own miracles By: Rabbi Dovid Samuels The symbol of the Menorah – or the Chanukiah – has become synonymous, not only with the festival of Chanukah, but Judaism in general. Not believing in coincidence, this festival must therefore have some fundamental connection with our religion, and us as Jews. So, if we ask what the main aspect of Chanukah is, surely we would say the lighting of the Ner Chanukah. After all, it is referred to by some as the…

Why doesn’t Hashem do more miracles? By: Aron Ziegler The gemara asks[1], “What is Chanukah?” and it answers, “Our Sages taught…when the Greeks entered the sanctuary (of the Temple), they defiled all the oils, and when the kingdom of the House of the Chashmonaim overpowered and defeated them, they checked and only found one jar of oil that was left with the seal of the Kohen Gadol. There was only enough oil in (the jar) to light (the Menorah) for one day, but a miracle was done with it and…

Don’t be so certain By: Robert Sussman One of the greatest mistakes that a person can make is having too much confidence that, despite how bad or threatening things may look at the moment, everything will be okay in the end – that his prayers will surely be answered and everything will work out just fine. Our Sages teach[1] that it was pronounced upon Moshe Rabbeinu (Moses) ten times that he would not enter the land of Israel, and, yet, this harsh decree was not actually finalised and sealed until…

Enriching the lives of residents of Selwyn Segal By Chandrea Serebro Described by the Chevrah Kadisha a “the man who moved mountains”, Lionel Stein is a self-imposed patriarch of the residents of Selwyn Segal, a role which began out of an inability to say no and not a small amount of fear and trepidation over 45 years ago. “My personal involvement with the Selwyn Segal started by evolution. The late Jack Shapiro, who ran the Selwyn Segal, invited me to come and make Kiddush on a Friday night for the…

Welcome to summertime in South Africa By: Orit Taback of Orit’s Bakery When I think of Chanukah suppers, I think summer! The children are all home, relaxed; there are no Afrikaans orals to prepare or natural science tests to learn for! No one needs a lift to soccer or an extra maths class after dinner. The buzz that accompanies us for most of the year at the dinner table has lifted. We like to have friends and family joining us for a braai on the patio or a traditional Chanukah…

Trying to make Israel the same as all the other nations By: Robert Sussman In 3448, Alexander the Great, who had previously conquered Persia, conquered the Middle East with the assistance of the Kutim. The Kutim then asked for permission from Alexander to destroy the Beis HaMikdash (the Temple) – less than 40 years after it was finished being rebuilt following the well-known events of Purim! – and, in gratitude for their help, Alexander granted their request. As the Kuti army advanced on Yerushalayim, Shimon HaTzadik, the Kohen Gadol and…

After their car flipped over in the Kruger, they had no choice but to walk, injured and bleeding, for almost four hours through dangerous lion territory at night, surviving thanks to a chain of miracles By Chandrea Serebro The Kruger National Park is renowned worldwide for its excitement and adventure and the chance for a real bush encounter, up-close-and-personal. Millions visit the Park every year, but I am sure that few have experienced this promise so literally as Rabbi and Rachel Ehrman and their children. Very few people can say…