Cape Town...

We lived in Cape Town for a full year in 2025. We became settled, connected with old friends and made new friends. Connected with family. Traversed the beautiful sites, nature, cultures, people, food...

I was taking yoga with Deborah Bagg, had Amzolele Twani as my personal trainer, was teaching music to talented young artists such as Danica Dohne and Ash Klaff, performing at wonderful venues like Cafe Roux with Jennifer Eaves and Laurie Levine. I am mentioning these wonderful people because they are my dear friends and I miss them, and if you get a chance to learn with them or listen to them perform, please seize the opportunity.

The children were happy in their three different schools: Gaia Waldorf, Maara House and Herzlia Highlands, each of which I would highly recommend.

Every child is so different. Schools are not a one-size-fits-all.

We met three different school communities.

I had the blessing of being invited to a birthday party of one of my son's friends and found ourselves celebrating with a large extended Muslim family. They were gracious, generous and kind to us.

I reconnected with school friends and teachers, became friends with my Zimbabwean housekeeper, the Muslim owner of my favorite coffee shop Millstone Cafe, the parents at my children's schools from such a variety of cultures and backgrounds.

I had a housekeeper clean my house two full days a week!

We visited the Kruger National Park, Cape Point, Kirstenbosch and so many natural wonders.

I enjoyed hosting musical Shabbat dinners at my home, attending the wonderful Shabbat meals and services of Chabad, Temple Israel, Marais Road, Gardens Shul and more.

I am post denominational - I feel comfortable where the warmth of the essence of Yiddishkite resides.

There is so much progress in terms of equality; the two specialist doctors we saw on our trip were women of colour (SA spelling). That is such a positive shift in the right direction since Apartheid ended.

However, I witnessed my former domestic worker helplessly not able to raise her own son for the past 15 years, as her employer would not let him live at her home. Now he is almost twenty, and has received a sub-par education because of this fateful decision. The entire trajectory of his life was altered, and his potential may not be fulfilled in the same way it could have.

His talented musician father died of Malaria - how is it that people are still being killed by this disease? We have the medication. Why doesn't every human being have access?

I witnessed a huge discrepancy in income between the housekeepers and their employers. The employers had all the power to make decisions about salary, sick leave, paying for transport.

To put it bluntly: Sometimes there were wealthy white people living in posh suburbs who paid their cleaners slave wages.

Not everyone - many people consciously paid fair wages and went out of their way to help their domestic workers.

But the extreme class discrepancy and poverty was a shock to the system after twenty years.

We gave as much tzedaka as we could.

I also had to adjust again to locking everything meticulously, putting on my house alarm, connecting an electric fence...

I tried not to be paranoid and live joyfully, but there were a few moments of paranoia that crept in on occasion.

And I did not feel comfortable letting my 11-year old daughter walk the 6 minutes to the local Kwikspar from our house alone.

Every country has its "stuff". No country is perfect.

We lived a beautiful, luxurious life for the year, in a bubble.

It was heart-breaking to leave and I shed many tears, listening to Mango Groove's "Special Star" while driving along the now renamed De Waal Drive.

To anyone who can: go for a long visit... Cape Town is a magical place. South Africa is a diamond and I want her to succeed and thrive.

We decided to go back to Israel - to reconnect with family, friends and our culture and language.

We love you Cape Town. We will be back God willing in the not-too-distant future.