The weekly joint diplomatic mission of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress (EAJC) and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations to the Republic of South Africa has ended. The united delegation of the two major Jewish structures was led bu the EAJC leader Alexander Mashkevich and the President of the Conference Alan Solow. Representatives of the World Jewish Congress, NCSJ, and B'nai Brith also participated in the mission. Among the EAJC participants were the Secretary General, Dr. Michael Chlenov, the Chairman of the General Council Josef Zisels, the Executive Vice-President Yuri Raskin, the member of the Council of Directors victor Gaft, and the President of the Russian Jewish Congress Yuri Kanner.

 

The mission took place during the sweeping celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the leader of the freedom movement, the first black President of the Republic of South Africa, Nelson Mandela. The idea to organize the mission at this time belonged to Alexander Mashkevich, who knows the Republic of South Africa well, as it is a country in which he has many business interests. The program of the South African diplomatic mission was extremely intense. Its participants visited the Apartheid museum, where they learned about the history of the battle with racial segregation and discrimination, participated in a discussion about the national specifics of democracy that took place in the Constitutional court, met with the leaders of the governing South African party, the African National Congress, and conducted consultations with the Aide of the President on questions of Near-East Regulations, Mac Maharaj.

 

On the 10th of February, in Capetown, the EAJC leader Alexander Mashkevich was received by the President of the Republic of South Africa Jacob Zuma. Various questions touching upon the general state of events in the country, the life of the Jewish community, the development of tolerance, international and interfaith dialogue were discussed during the meeting. At the end of the meeting, President Zuma said, “Genuine attention towards my country by the Western and Eastern Jewry, as well as the serious business interests of the members of the delegation who are also business leaders, convince me of the fact that the Republic of South Africa has chosen the correct course for its development and has a stable and assured future.”

 

During the same day, a session of the African Jewish Congress, timed to coincide to the visit of the joint mission, took place. To meet the Eurasian and American guests, representatives of Jewish communities gathered from all over the South of the African continent – from Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Swaziland, and the Republic of South Africa. After a detailed report on the state of Jewish communities in African countries and a discussion of perspectives for cooperation, the hosts gave a reception at which a number of guests of honor spoke. The former First Lady of the Republic of South Africa, Mashela Mandela, noted the important role the Jewish community of South Africa in the battle against apartheid, and told the gathering about the personal friendship of Nelson Mandela with a number of Jewish leaders. Alexander Mashkevich gave his thanks to the African Jewish Congress for the reception, and the Conference of Presidents for their partnership. He underscored that joint Jewish diplomatic missions, which have demonstrated their effectiveness during the last several years, will continue in the future, to consolidate the communities of the world Jewish Diaspora, to strengthen solidarity with the State of Israel, and to widen the geography of dialogue between peoples and faiths. In turn, the EAJC Secretary General Dr. Michael Chlenov underscored the similarities between the South African and Post-Soviet Jewish communities, which, having faced a sharp drop in numbers, became faced with the necessity to be absorbed in the new political, economical, social and cultural conditions.

 

On the 11th of February, the ceremony of introduction of a new Torah Scroll in the name of the EAJC to the Capetown synagogue. Mendel Kaplan, a leading world Jewish philanthropist who recently passed away, attended this very synagogue. The ancient scroll, newly restored and with a memorial dedication to the memory of Mendel Kaplan embroidered on its cover, was brought into the synagogue by the EAJC President Alexander Mashkevich. When speaking to the attendants of the synagogue, he said, “Let this Scroll, to which we have returned life, aid in the continuation of the task which Mendel served, and which all of you are a part of, for the strengthning of the Jewish way of life, the sanctity of our faith, and the preservation of the Jewish people.”