Encompassing AI predictions, art and literature appreciation workshops, poetry and political powwows, this year’s Franschhoek Literary Festival programme features an array of nonfiction voices and discussions.

One of the early sessions is titled “What is Jewishness in 2025?” The discussion venue, the NG Church, is appropriately symbolic of the complexities of being Jewish in a multi-ethnic, multicultural society. Today this is heightened by polarising global political tension, specifically the war in Gaza. Manifestations include a disturbing trend of rising anti-Semitism. Arguably, the SA Jewish diaspora has no influence on Israel, though being Jewish requires engaging with troubling new questions. Law professor and retired judge Dennis Davis will look for answers with fellow academics Steven Friedman, author of Good Jew, Bad Jew, and Milton Shain, the historian of anti-Semitism and SA Jewry...

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