Chief Rabbi Calls for Unity Based on Shared Moral Foundations Amid Roedean Antisemitism Scandal

The antisemitism scandal involving Roedean School has reverberated far beyond a single cancelled tennis match. Now, South Africa’s most senior rabbi, Dr Warren Goldstein, is calling for national reflection, reconciliation, and a return to the country’s shared moral foundations. His message, delivered on YouTube, appears to be resonating far beyond the Jewish community.

The scandal erupted after Roedean, an elite Anglican girls’ school in Johannesburg, refused to play a scheduled tennis fixture against King David School, a prominent Jewish institution. Roedean initially obfuscated the reasons for the refusal, but under sustained community and media pressure later apologised unreservedly to the Jewish community.

The incident, according to Rabbi Goldstein, revealed deeper origins.

In a lengthy address on his popular YouTube channel, which regularly draws hundreds of thousands of views, the rabbi argued that international political tensions, particularly surrounding Israel and Gaza, have filtered into South African schools. He warned that, as a consequence, routine interactions between children are being poisoned by political activists who would turn classrooms and sports fields into ideological battlegrounds.

The risks here, the rabbi argued, extend far beyond South Africa and some of its schools and now extend to institutions across the Western world.

He pointed to broader shifts within the Anglican tradition – one of the Western world’s most influential institutions. The Church of England, founded in 1534 under Henry VIII, had for centuries upheld what he described as traditional Biblical values. Over recent decades, however, it sought to modernise in response to declining attendance and cultural change, embracing ideological and political positions on sexuality, race, inequality, and climate activism.

Those often controversial positions, which mirrored the “culture wars” that have deeply divided the Western world, did not reverse decline. Instead, they created controversy and division. In his assessment, similar pressures reached institutions such as Roedean, which, founded in 1903, was built around the values of truth, honour, freedom, and courtesy, all of which were rooted in its historical Anglican identity.

Rabbi Goldstein contends that, in responding to contemporary cultural pressures, many Western institutions have drifted from their moral foundations. He cited reporting by author Richard Wilkinson that after the October 7 attacks on Israel, Roedean engaged with an external radical Islamist institution that branded itself with the symbol of a paraglider in reference to the paragliders that ferried terrorists to slaughter Jews on that date. For the rabbi, such decisions reflected not modernisation but moral confusion.

In his analysis, the rabbi drew a sharp contrast between what he described as “shared moral values” on the one hand and what he termed “woke ideology” on the other. Biblical ethics, he said, emphasise individual moral agency, forgiveness, humility, and universal dignity. By contrast, he argued that modern identity politics assigns collective guilt, entrenches grievance, and subordinates truth to ideology.

The rabbi stressed that the former values represent shared moral foundations offering common ground for all South Africans, regardless of faith. A return to humility, forgiveness, truthfulness, and respect for individual dignity, he said, is central to securing a peaceful and prosperous future for all South Africans.

Reaching out to the Anglican community and to the Roedean school community, which he called a “great school,” he urged South Africans to seek reconciliation rather than division.

Quoting from a letter sent to the Jewish community by the chairman of the King David board, Rabbi Ricky Seeff, he repeated the commitment that “we have been resolute in ensuring that our children understand that we will not tolerate or allow antisemitism or discrimination in any form and we believe this has been achieved”. At the same time, he stressed that the goal was not confrontation.

“As your Rabbi, I will fight for our community wherever it is threatened,” he said. “But fighting is not what we want to do.” He called for a reset in relations, including with the South African government and the African National Congress (ANC).

Relations with both institutions have been tense given their ties to Iran and some of its terror proxies. However, last week The Common Sense reported on an ANC leadership group that has become concerned at their party’s ties to Islamist radicals.

“There is a time for all things – a time for fighting and a time for making peace,” Goldstein said, expressing hope that the episode could lead to renewed friendship grounded in shared values.

Reaction to the address suggests that his message has struck a chord across a broad cross-section of South African society. Comments beneath the video and across social media platforms reflect support not only from Jewish viewers but from Christians and others who echoed his call for unity and moral clarity.

Read our story today about how an economist, Johan Fourie, says South Africa needs to build shared institutions to be successful.