Khadija Magardie A controversial column by leading political scientist Steven Friedman has been axed from South Africa’s only Jewish newspaper with the approval of the country’s chief rabbi.
The column, The Other View, appeared fortnightly in the South African Jewish Report until Friedman’s unorthodox views became too much of a “kvetsh” (bothersome or needling, in Yiddish) for certain readers – in particular, the head of the country’s orthodox Jewish community, Rabbi Cyril Harris. Under apparent pressure from Harris, the paper’s editorial board last week voted unanimously to stop running the Friedman column.
Friedman’s liberal views on Judaism and Zionist politics have raised the hackles of the paper’s readership since the column’s inception. Among other things, Friedman has questioned the “inclusiveness” of the Jewish faith, and the rabbinic “hold” over the community. In one piece, in which he refers to local Jews as “a tribal club”, he writes that certain Jews are obsessed with “racial purity”, and wish to keep others, especially black Jews, out of the religious fold. He said that there was “a misguided notion that there is someone called a ‘normal Jew’ to which anyone who wants to be Jewish must conform”. The paper has printed numerous angry letters concerning Friedman’s writings, accusing him of “corrupting innocent minds”. One reader proposed that Friedman’s column be suspended pending investigations into Friedman’s “Jewishness”, and whether or not he “is employed by all or any of Hamas, Hizbollah or the PA [Palestine Liberation Organisation]”. According to one insider, who did not wish to be named, the board’s decision to discontinue the column are “understandable” – primarily because the country’s Jewish community was overwhelmingly religiously conservative, and found Friedman’s views “offensive”.
Friedman is a director of the Centre for Policy Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand and contributes a regular column to the Mail & Guardian. “Being in the position he is and wielding enormous influence, he [Rabbi Harris] was probably under immense pressure to act against the column, to defend the people he represents,” the insider said, adding that it was plausible that the paper may have received threats to boycott the paper from certain influential members of the community.
Friedman this week expressed regret at what he calls “an increasingly autocratic tendency” by certain members of the community, particularly Harris. He said this was even more worrying given the public image of Harris as “a liberal, and a democrat”. “We all have different perspectives on what the issues are, and debate is crucial,” he said, adding that he had been specifically recruited by the paper to present the “alternative view”. He also said that healthy debate around issues was crucial and the stifling of his column could be perceived as intolerance of any form of criticism. Harris lauded Friedman as an “exceptionally good” commentator on social, political and economic matters – but said the fact of the matter was that Friedman had little expertise when it came to Judaism. “Put simply, he doesn’t know the facts,” said Harris. Describing the writers of the opinion columns (which now carry bold disclaimers) as individuals who “fly their own kites”, he said that the local Jewish community, which was overwhelmingly orthodox in its religious views, was “deeply resentful” of the ideas espoused in Friedman’s columns. Harris said about 80% of the South Africa’s Jewish community were orthodox – as opposed to “reform”. “I know personally that hundreds of readers of The Jewish Report have stopped reading the paper because of him [Friedman],” said Harris.
He also said that the primary aim of the non-profit paper was to “reflect the community” – something the likes of Friedman and his ilk have failed to do. The paper’s opinion editor, Geoff Sifrin, who was responsible for Friedman’s column, declined to comment, saying it was “an internal matter”.