So. African Board of Jewish Deputies Clarifies Stand on Racial Crisis

There is much misunderstanding abroad about the attitude of South African Jewry in the present South African racial crisis with some Jewish organizations asking why South African Jewry has not spoken out on the issues, Gustav Saron, general secretary of the South African Board of Deputies told a meeting of the Board here.

The fact was that there were as many differences of viewpoint among South African Jews as there were in the general population on how peaceful co-existence between whites and Negroes could be achieved in South Africa, therefore there could not be an individual spokesman for the Jewish community as such on political problems, Mr. Saron said.

There was also much misunderstanding about the role of the Board of Deputies, he said. The Board, he reported, finds itself unable to offer any stand on South African racial problems not because of indifference but because "the expression of such views does not fall within its province." He stressed that as the representative organ of South African Jewry, the activities of the Board were limited to matters of direct concern to the Jewish community. The Board was therefore not competent to act or to express views on general questions of national policy.

At the same time, Mr. Saron said, the Board has always held the view that Jews as citizens have the right and duty to react on public issues as individuals. He stated that the Board has consistently stressed the responsibility of the Jewish citizen to play his part in mitigating racial prejudice and in promoting cooperation and just dealings between all sections of the population.

Deputies attending the meeting endorsed Saron’s statement, which also was affirmed at the Board’s recent inter-provincial conference. Namie Phillips, chairman of the conference, said that the state of emergency in South Africa made it incumbent on all persons, whether clerical or lay, "to bear in mind" this responsibility.

(Police in Dirban, South Africa, reported that anti-Jewish leaflets were found this week pasted on the doors and windows of Durban shops. This was the first such incident since the worldwide spate of anti-Semitic daubings and smearings last January.)