Synagogue president apologises for calling for genocide
South African Jews for a Free Palestine call for his resignation
Palestinians inspect the ruins of Aklouk Tower destroyed in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City on 8 October 2023. Photo via Wikimedia: WAFA (CC BY-SA 3)
The President of the Marais Road Shul in Sea Point has apologised for a view he expressed in his monthly email to congregants.
In his March email, Reuben Wagenheim described a series of mundane communal events: face-painting for children, visiting rabbis, marriages, and the impressive synagogue choirs.
“What a pleasure to hear these refreshing soprano voices singing beautiful Jewish tunes,” he wrote about the youth choir.
And then, after nearly 1,500 words, Wagenheim concluded his email with this:
“Day 537 since 7th October and still fifty-nine hostages remain in captivity. On Shabbat Tetzaveh, the Shabbat before Purim, we read a special Maftir in which we are commanded to remember what Amalek did to our people, how they attacked and killed the weak and infirm as we came out of Egypt, to never forget. We then read Haftorah זכור, Zachor, Remember. All credit and honour, הכבוד כל and ישׁאר כּוח, to the heroic soldiers of the IDF and the authorities of Israel, who are following the Biblical injunction (1 Samuel 15:1 – 34) to ‘לך והכיתה את עמלק עתה ……….. ועד חמור’. G-d says ‘now go and strike down Amalek (read Hamas) and utterly destroy all that they have, have no pity on them but kill every man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and ass’.”
He is not the first to use the Amalek quote to justify Israeli actions in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also cited Amalek. In the Hebrew Bible, Amalek are the enemies of the Israelites.
Following concern from some congregants, Wagenheim distributed an apology on Thursday morning.
“Upon reflection, I recognise that my words could be construed as a call to genocide. I deeply regret this and the offense and hurt it may have caused. I am a layman, not a bible scholar and I regret the way I chose to express myself. I unequivocally condemn all forms of genocide and want to be clear that I do not condone or encourage any form of violence or hate speech.
“Anyone who knows me will confirm that I am not a man given to hatred, bitterness, or violence. I fully embrace our traditions and core principle of shalom / peace among all humankind. I dream of and pray for an end to the war in the Middle East and for the advent of a thousand years of peaceful coexistence between Israel, Palestinians, and all the neighbouring countries.”
Asked for comment about Wagenheim’s monthly email, Jared Sacks and Megan Choritz of South African Jews for a Free Palestine said:
“In the midst of an ongoing genocide in the Gaza strip, where two million Gazans are held in an open air prison, subject to bombing, summary executions and mass starvation, Wagenheim takes it upon himself to quote one of the most controversial passages in the Bible. This passage calls for and seeks to justify the genocide of a people called the Amalekites. This is unacceptable hate speech and is unbecoming of any representative of the Jewish community and we call for him to be removed from his position and subject to a complaint to the South African Human Rights Commission. Once again, Zionists say the unthinkable, the genocidal, the evil, when they think nobody is looking.
“Calling for a genocide is not Judaism. Our Judaism is one of Tikun Olam, healing the world, and where every human life is a world. Our Judaism is about peace, mercy, justice and love.”
Choritz and Sacks did not wish to comment on Wagenheim’s apology.
A request for comment was also sent to Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein on Thursday morning. No response had been received at time of publication.
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Letters
Dear Editor
It is with disgust but without surprise or shock that South African Jews for a Free Palestine (SAJFP) has learned of the comments by Reuben Wagenheim, the President of the Marais Road Synagogue, relating to the genocide currently being perpetrated in Gaza and the West Bank. We note also that he has proffered an apology for any offence that his words may have caused.
Mr. Wagenheim concluded his newsletter, covering a reasonable parochial account of current events in the Synagogue, with a sanctimonious religious invocation to commit genocide:
“... All credit and honour … to the heroic soldiers of the IDF and the authorities of Israel, who are following the Biblical injunction (1 Samuel 15:1 – 34) … G-d says ‘now go and strike down Amalek (read Hamas) and utterly destroy all that they have, have no pity on them but kill every man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and ass’.”
We are unsurprised by his words, for Zionism has characterised itself by the use of language which is best described as obscene in its violence. That he should choose to quote the most controversial line in the bible for the most despicable of purposes is less of a shock than it ought to be.
In February 2025, South Africa deposited with the Security Council a dossier consisting of publicly available material and which is evidence of genocidal conduct by Israel against Palestinians in Gaza. We advise Mr. Wagenheim to study it. Would he be shocked that Jews could use such language? Or, given his own words, would he find the obvious mens rea, the intention to commit genocide, quite appropriate?
The President of the Marais Road Synagogue has in fact decided to align himself exactly with that material. Even worse, he instructs his fellow congregants to participate in the sentiment – as if this is how all Jews are expected to regard Palestinians. Ironically it is also as though Mr. Wagenheim had set his mind to providing a justification for genuine antisemitism; if this is an expression of how Jews are expected by their religious leaders to view others, what better reason can there be for hating Jews?
Mr. Wagenheim afterwards “apologised” but his apology is quite obviously an exercise in public diplomacy: “Upon reflection, I recognize that my words could be construed as a call to genocide. I deeply regret this and the offense and hurt it may have caused. I am a layman, not a bible scholar and I regret the way I chose to express myself.”
His claim, in other words, is that as a layman he did not know he was calling for genocide – that such was not his intention. One wonders what else he could have meant by “...utterly destroy all that they have, have no pity on them but kill every man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and ass”. His apology does not indicate any remorse with respect to the violence inherent in his ideology. Instead he resorts to various bromides: “I fully embrace our traditions and core principle of shalom / peace among all humankind.” Such sentiments are obviously quite incompatible with Zionism but are trotted out, regardless.
It is a characteristic of Zionist rhetoric to accuse anti-Zionists of using violent language. The SAJFP states its anti-Zionism in its core values (https://sajfp.org.za/sajfps-core-values/) and because we regard ourselves as a part of the broad peace movement, we make a point of using the language of human rights and dignity. Both by his original statement and by his “apology”, Mr. Wagenheim reveals where the true violence resides – at the heart of Zionism.
For this reason another part of his “apology” is questionable. He writes, “The content of that newsletter reflected my personal views and was not representative of the Shul committee or our broader community.” The tone of the letter suggests otherwise; a long list of communal events followed in the most routine way with a renewed commitment to genocide. Given the horror of what is unfolding in Gaza, the support for it which he expresses in his newsletter and the obvious duplicity of his “apology”, it falls on the community itself to distance itself from such leaders and to call for his resignation.
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