Within the framework of Partnership 2000 Beit Shemesh - Mateh Yehuda - Washington - South Africa of the Jewish Agency, a community leadership course including a group of local residents visited the Jewish Communities of Cape Town and Johannesburg. Participants on the mission were Yishai Bashan from Kibbutz Tsora, Shirit Aronson from Mesilat Zion, Noga Schusterman from Tarom, Beit Shemesh participants included Meira Arev, Chaim Danino, Hillel Hirsch and Harley Stark. The group was led by Shimkue El Ami of the Gandel Institute.

The community leadership course follows the syllabus of the Melton - Gandel School for Adult Education at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem. In the course Jewish texts from the entire spectrum and tradition of Jewish thought are read, analyzed, and discussed. Using these texts as a guide, we follow the cycle of Jewish year, and attempt to understand relationships between individuals, families and groups in the community, discuss the role and relationship of institutions within the community, to understand the relationship between Israel and relations with the Diaspora throughout history.

During the visit to Cape Town we were welcomed by P2K Chairs Li Boiskin and Moonyeen Castle. Highlights of the Mission included studying Jewish texts with members of the community, Kabbalat Shabbat with community members and the Ambassador of Israel to South Africa, site visits and meetings to the Holocaust Centre, Jewish Museum, Garden Synagogue, Astra sheltered workshop for intellectually disabled adults. We were able to learn about the challenges this warm and welcoming community faces in the coming years and through the Melton - Gandel experience we were able to begin a dialogue with ordinary community members like ourselves.

From Cape Town we continued to Johannesburg where we were welcomed by P2K Chairs Madeleine Fane and Renee Swil.

In Johannesburg we visited the King David School in Linksfield and met with young Jewish students and discussed their goals and ambitions in life. We visited the Our Parents Home where older community members live in comfortable, safe accommodation in a Jewish environment. Due to the recent changes in South Africa many families are spread through the world and the community is aging. The group also visited sites connected with the new South Africa - the Apartheid Museum and the Central Prison.

The South African community is a proud, established community and in both cities has set its goals to provide a Jewish education to every family who desires one and to provide weaker members of the community a safe and secure environment.

Harley Stark