David K. Mann, chairman of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies, said at the Board’s monthly meeting here that the Jewish community has no reason to be ashamed of Its attitude toward social ills In South Africa. Mann was replying to a group of Jewish students at Witwatersrand University who wrote In an open letter to Jewish community leaders that Chief Rabbi Bernard Casper and other communal leaders were closing their eyes to racial injustice. Since the letter was published several of the signatories have repudiated It.
Mann said that while it was gratifying to find Jewish students showing concern for the application of Jewish ethics to social conditions, they should have discussed their complaints with the parties concerned before rushing Into print with open letters that were capable of unfair interpretations. “The Jewish community in this country does as much–if not more–than any other section to help uplift the depressed, whether white or non-white, and whether it be through public work or through charity.” he said. “Certainly we have no reason to be ashamed of our record.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
