Community and conscience

"Gideon Shimoni's Community and Conscience begins with a brief description of Jewish immigration to South Africa from Great Britain and eastern Europe and the consolidation of a South African Jewish community in the early twentieth century. Shimoni then turns his attention to that community under the Afrikaner nationalist regime that came to power in May 1948, which established apartheid as a governmentally sanctioned system of discrimination based on race. The Jewish community's political relationship to the Afrikaner government and its policies is explored in depth. Shimoni looks at the behavior of Jewish political, religious, and education institutions; South African Zionism and ties to Israel; and Israel-South Africa relations in the global arena. He seeks to explain both the apparent apathy of the Jewish community and the major roles Jews assumed in all forms of resistance to apartheid. The book concludes with a discussion of new directions for the Jewish community in post-apartheid South Africa."--BOOK JACKET.