South African President Cyril Ramaphosa met with Donald Trump last week to discuss Trump’s cutting of all U.S. aid to South Africa. At the meeting Trump confronted Ramaphosa with false claims and videos accusing the South African government of white genocide.

South Africa currently has a Jewish population of approximately 50,000, the majority of whom live in Johannesburg and Capetown. Most of the population is Orthodox, and there are many kosher restaurants in the country, as well as three kashrut-certifying organizations. There are more than 50 synagogues in the country as well as a number of Jewish Day Schools.

The first Jews to arrive in South Africa likely came with Portuguese explorers in the 16th or 17th century. The first record of a religious service was Yom Kippur in 1841. As the population grew, Jews became active in shipbuilding, the mohair industry, whaling, and the diamond trade.

There was both Jewish support for, and Jewish opposition to, the apartheid policy of the Afrikaner-dominated National Party which came to power in 1948. When Nelson Mandela was arrested and sent to jail for life, there were a number of Jews among his codefendants.

Israel and South Africa developed a close relationship, including arms sales and collaboration on nuclear weapons research. Relations between the two countries worsened after the fall of apartheid and the election of Nelson Mandela as president. More recently, South Africa has been very critical of Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians, though the two countries still maintain diplomatic relations.

One group of Jews in South Africa were distinguished by their housing arrangements, known as “ostrich palaces.” What does that refer to?

South Africa; two men and an ostrich beside a railway carria  by Miss Stower, 1905 is licensed under CC by 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

A. Many Jews who lived in Oudtshoorn, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa, were leaders in the ostrich industry, at first trading in ostrich feathers, and eventually in ostrich meat, eggs, leather, and ostrich rides for tourists. These wealthy merchants built private villas on large estates, reflecting the financial success of their work.

B. Ostriches have been important to South African culture for centuries, for clothing, meat, and religious ceremonies. They are considered to be symbols of strength and courage. In an effort to be accepted by the majority Afrikaans population, many Jewish immigrants placed a stuffed ostrich at their front door as a sign of their respect and support of the Afrikaans traditions.

C. There was a large immigration to South Africa of Austrian Jews prior to the start of World War II. Many members of this community settled together in a neighborhood in Capetown. They built houses in the style of their homeland, with steeply sloped roofs, though this feature was not necessary in South Africa, which rarely had snowfalls. The Jews called these structures Austria houses, in German known as Österreich houses. The local population derisively referred to these houses as ostrich palaces.

D. In the early 1900’s, the majority of Jews in South Africa were poor immigrants who settled in Hillbrow, an inner city area of Johannesburg. The simple huts which these Jews built typically had roofs covered in ostrich feathers, which were plentiful and much cheaper than clay tiles, shingles, or other products used by those with more money.

E. Eastern European Jewish immigrants in the early 20th century were very afraid in their new surroundings, where they didn’t speak the language or know the local customs. Many of these immigrants built small underground rooms at their homes where they could hide in fear, leading these homes to be called ostrich palaces, reflecting the idea that the Jews were burying their heads in the ground like an ostrich.

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Donald Trump announced that he is directing the Bureau of Prisons to rebuild and enlarge Alcatraz Prison “to house America’s most ruthless and violent Offenders,” though even Trump admits that reopening the prison would be a major undertaking, calling it “a big hulk that’s sitting there rusting and rotting.” The prison, officially known as United States Penitentiary, Alcatraz Island, and often referred to as The Rock, is located on an island in San Francisco Bay. Opened in 1934 and closed in 1963, the site is now a public museum under the auspices of the National Park Service, with more than 1.4 million visitors annually. Among the most famous prisoners housed at Alcatraz were Al Capone, Machine Gun Kelly, and Robert Stroud, the Birdman of Alcatraz. When the prison first opened in 1934, there were already 7 Jewish inmates, whose religious needs, including a Passover seder, were served by prison chaplain Rabbi Rudolph Coffee. Among the better known Jewish inmates who served time at Alcatraz was Irving Wexler, better known as Waxey Gordon (based on the excellent pickpocketing skills he developed as a child on New York’s Lower East Side). Another Jewish prisoner was George Brooks, who was serving time at Leavenworth in Kansas for drug trafficking until he was transferred to Alcatraz. This was done as punishment when Brooks led an inmate strike of white, Indigenous, Jewish, and Catholic prisoners. In particular, however, Brooks helped lead the “Colored Committee” of Black inmates, an unusual activity for a white man. Another prominent Jewish prisoner at Alcatraz was Meyer Harris “Mickey” Cohen, whose parents had immigrated to Los Angeles from Kiev. Before he was 10 years old, Cohen was sent to Reform School for petty theft and shoplifting. He continued his criminal activities, working with Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel among others. Among his criminal activities were bookmaking, tax evasion, and a number of violent crimes. He went to Alcatraz in 1961 for tax evasion, where he was the only prisoner there who was ever released on bail, with his bond signed by U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren. What else is true of Mickey Cohen?

Alcatraz Guard Tower by Mark D. Zimmerman is in the public domain

A. The best man at his wedding was William “Stumpy” Zevon, father of the American rock singer-songwriter Warren Zevon.

B. He was an ardent supporter of Menachem Begin’s paramilitary organization the Irgun.

C. Cohen’s bodyguard Johnny Stompanato was killed in self-defense by Cheryl Crane, the daughter of actress Lana Turner.

D. Cohen helped establish the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas, the oldest continuously operating resort on the Strip.

E. While in prison, Cohen earned the nickname, the Loxman of Alcatraz, as he caught salmon in San Francisco Bay and cared for them in the prison bathtub.

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Shortly before his inauguration, Donald Trump announced the creation of his own cryptocurrency, $TRUMP, a venture which many consider to be a conflict of interest given his role as president in setting governmental cryptocurrency policies. Cryptocurrency is a digital currency that operates independently of any governments, unlike traditional money. The first cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, was released in 2009. As of now, it is believed that the market value of all cryptocurrency is almost 3 trillion dollars. There are a number of controversial issues surrounding cryptocurrency, particularly because it is generally unregulated. It has become a preferred currency for many illegal operations, including money laundering, terrorism, and the illegal drug trade. In 2017, a Russian Jewish entrepreneur, Vyacheslav Semenchuk, launched a cryptocurrency specifically marketed to Jews. Billed as the  “first kosher crypto currency in the world,” 10% of all profits are designated to go to interest-free loans for Jews. The currency is available for purchase on Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath, because the system is entirely automated, according to Semenchuk. What is this “Jewish” cryptocurrency called?

Cryptocurrency Regulation & Laws.jpg is licensed under CC by 2.0  via Wikimedia Commons

A. Crypto-Jew$.

B. Binyamins.

C. Shalomoleons.

D. BitCoen.

E. Gelty-As-Charged.

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Donald Trump is having an impact on the politics of countries around the world, affecting their own trade and tariff policies, and elections. In Canada, the Liberal Party trailed the Conservative Party by as much as 20% in the polls until Trump imposed huge tariffs and threatened to take over the country as our 51st state. As a result, the Liberals won the election. Germany’s far-right party did well in their election, but not nearly as well as expected, in backlash to the support they received from Trump and in particular Elon Musk.

And in Australia, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was elected to a second term, though his party had been trailing significantly in the polls leading up to the election. Charles Edel, the Australia chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, suggested that the impact of Trump on the results was significant, noting that “There were enough similarities to the Canadian election to suggest that the conservatives’ fortunes fell as Trump’s tariffs and attacks on America’s allies ramped up.”

Australia’s Jewish population currently numbers around 150,000. Mount Scopus Memorial College in Melbourne and Moriah College in Sydney are both co-educational primary and secondary Jewish Day Schools. The University of Sydney and Monash University in Melbourne both have Jewish Studies departments, and there are active chapters of B’nei B’rith, National Council of Jewish Women, and Kadimah (which focuses on Yiddish culture). The Jewish Museum of Australia in Melbourne was established in 1982, and in 1992 the Sydney Jewish Museum opened, dedicated to the Holocaust and Australian Jewish history. There are approximately 80 synagogues in the country. Who were the first Jews to arrive in Australia?

Australia satellite orthographic.jpg is in the public domain via Wikimedia Commons

A. In 1493, the first Jewish immigrants arrived in Perth, having fled the Inquisition in Spain. They quickly established a cemetery, and the first synagogue, Comunidad de los Judíos, was built in 1495.

B. At the same time as massive Jewish emigration from Russia and Eastern Europe in the late 19th century to Western Europe, America, and Palestine, smaller groups emigrated to the East, including a significant number of Jews who settled in Shanghai. In the early 1900’s, a small group of those immigrants sailed to Australia and established the first Jewish community in Canberra.

C. Among the early European settlers in Australia were sailors from Great Britain, who established a penal colony at Botany Bay. Eight Jewish prisoners were among those who were transported to Botany Bay in 1788.

D. The first Australian Jewish community were emigrants from Germany who fled prior to the Holocaust. As the United States and other Western nations refused to take in many fleeing Jews, some managed to find passage to Australia, leading to the founding of the first synagogue in the port city of Brisbane in 1939.

E. On Noah’s Ark, two of Noah’s grandchildren, Lud and Aram, were playing hide and seek by climbing into the pouches of the two kangaroos who were aboard the ark. They did not realize that the kangaroos left the ship after it settled on Mt. Ararat after the flood, and before they knew it, the kangaroos arrived in Australia with their stowaways still on board.

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