Bucking the Trend: South African Jewry and Their Turn Toward Religion

Abstract

Across the Jewish world religious polarization is gaining momentum. At the secular end of the spectrum people are switching away from religion while at the religious pole fertility levels are high. This trend is evident among South African Jewry; data from the 2019 Jewish Community Survey of South Africa (N = 4193) show that the community is becoming polarized, and the traditional center ground is collapsing. However, unlike many other Jewish communities today, switching toward more religious subgroups than the one in which one was raised is more common in South Africa than switching away from them. This tendency is most pronounced among people born in the 1960s and 1970s. A similar trend characterizes South African non-Jews. We argue that coming of age in a period of profound political and social instability explains the increased likelihood of switching toward religion. The effect is more marked among Jews due to distinct communal characteristics and history that provided the optimal conditions for switching towards a more religious lifestyle. This paper highlights the necessity of examining internal processes that are unique to the Jewish community alongside broader developments to improve our understanding of religious polarization among Jews.

African Jewish Communities in the Diaspora and the Homeland: The Case of South Africa

“…In contrast to their moderate colleagues, these rabbis were more concerned with increased religious devotion, leading to a "shift from an identity based on ethnicity to one based on religion with a fundamentalist undertone" (Herman 2007, p. 35). Another change that resulted from this shift in rabbinic leadership was the move away from secular Zionism toward religious Zionism (Beider and Fachler 2023;Herman 2007;Shimoni 2003, p. 209).…”