South Africa doesn’t spring to mind as a high-priority Jewish destination — especially at this moment, as its government pursues its case against Israel in the International Court of Justice, but also because of South Africa’s largest political party’s long-standing criticism of Israel and targeting of the South African Jewish community’s deep ties to the Jewish State.

And yet South Africa was my destination this summer, where I participated in not one but two major Jewish convenings in August.

My journey began in Johannesburg, where I participated in Limmud South Africa. Around 800 people joined us for part or all of a weekend of study, prayer and community-building. I was honored to be able to offer three sessions: one on antisemitism, one on the upcoming U.S. presidential election and one on 21st-century American Judaism, each sharing a piece of the American Jewish story. 

I was also privileged to address the Cape Town leadership of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies, which represents the country’s more than 50,000 Jews. We collectively grappled with the challenges that they and we in North America face at this critical moment, and we candidly explored subjects including generational divisions, the impact of assimilation and the unfolding political concerns of the Jewish communities in our respective countries — a broad platform for dialogue and connection.

Next I joined American, Israeli, South African and Mexican Jewish scholars and a group of more than 30 young leaders from across the globe at the 34th annual Nahum Goldmann Fellowship, held outside Cape Town, for a week of exploring all that has and continues to unfold since Oct. 7 of last year. In accordance with the NGF’s unique leadership model, this encounter included a diverse array of Jewish voices and opinions — about Zionism, Israel, Jewish identity and more.

The gathering’s theme of “Courage, Authenticity and Belonging” framed our week of learning. We engaged with one another in a series of in-depth discussions, lectures and activities designed to generate robust conversations about the state of the Jewish world and how and where we each seem to find our voice and space. Beyond these intense sessions, we also had the unique opportunity to meet and learn from an inspiring and courageous group of South African leaders and visit some of the key institutions and historic sites of the Jewish community of Cape Town. We also shared moments of extraordinary joy over the course of a distinctive Shabbat where our respective religious practices melded into a collective Jewish voice.

At the end of my visit, I was invited to address the members of Temple Israel in Cape Town over Shabbat. This large and impressive progressive congregation welcomed me as we collectively discussed the Diaspora-Israel connection following the events of the past eleven months.

With everything that is unfolding in this difficult and uncertain chapter in Jewish history, at a point in time when each of us can feel so isolated, even alone, gatherings and connections like the ones I experienced on this trip become particularly essential. We need one another. 

Additionally, in welcoming the NGF, not only did the South African Jewish community invite our and other countries’ scholars to share their insights and knowledge but they also shared their national Jewish story with their visitors, giving voice to and raising awareness of this community’s noble, critical fight. Visiting the Cape Town Jewish Museum and the Cape Town Holocaust and Genocide Centre, one gained an appreciation the long and significant history of South African Jewry, including an understanding of the role some of its communal and rabbinic leaders played in the battle against Apartheid and in building vital Jewish institutions. Jews in South Africa also take great pride in their historic and longstanding support for Israel. 

During my visit I was also struck by the tenacity of the country’s current Jewish leadership, their proactive agenda and their unwillingness to allow the South African government’s actions against Israel to go unchallenged. Let us remember that this regime and its allies have threatened Jewish leaders who demonstrate support for Israel. (There is historical context that we should acknowledge for the likely role it plays in this dynamic: specifically, the ties between South Africa’s Apartheid regime and the government of the State of Israel, when the latter provided military assistance in support of the white-controlled power structure. With the transition of power in 1994, Nelson Mandela’s regime and the ruling African National Congress party took specific note of Israel’s record of assistance to the Apartheid regime, and it appears that the basis of the government’s overt actions against Israel is rooted in part in this earlier context.)

We often forget that small, isolated communities are representing global Jewish interests as they wage these battles in defense of Israel and on behalf of Jewish security and unity. Individual leaders and institutions representing the Jewish community in South Africa must be seen as exemplary defenders of Jewish interests. Jewish communities such as that in South Africa deserve and need the visible and active support of our larger Diaspora constituencies.

It is also worth noting that many South African Christians hold a deep and resounding love for the Holy Land. Even as the government moves to align with Iran and others against Israel, the country’s Christians seek to embrace the Jewish State. This is an untold, underrepresented facet of South Africa. Against the backdrop of the government’s pro-Hamas policies, there may have been no better moment of expression of this support than when the Jewish community’s leaders publicly displayed the pictures of the hostages and there was dramatic embrace and connection forged between the citizens of this nation and the plight of those taken captive.

There was both a strangeness and familiarity in coming to this African land. The external cultural and social trappings of the country, with its British, Dutch, tribal African heritage, are distinctive and specific to the place and people. And yet on Shabbat, sitting amidst the Jewish community in Johannesburg and Cape Town, there was a profound feeling of being “at home.” Even as we struggle and debate the concept of Jewish peoplehood, there is something almost mystical about this notion: a sense of our collective being, regardless of where we sit in the world. This feeling of community undeniably takes on a special meaning when one travels 10,000 miles from home only to be embraced as family in a new setting. Whether one encounters fellow Jews here in Los Angeles, in Israel, or in South Africa, this sense of a shared tradition and common connection remains evident.

Steven Windmueller is a professor emeritus of Jewish communal studies at the Jack H. Skirball Campus of Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles.