Jewish Life Digital Edition November 2013 | Page 16

THE THING ABOUT BEING HUMAN IS THERE IS ALWAYS THE
TEMPTATION TO SACRIFICE WHAT YOU BELIEVE IN ORDER TO BE
POPULAR OR SUCCESSFUL, AND I WANTED VERY MUCH TO BE A
SUCCESSFUL CRICKETER AND REPRESENT MY COUNTRY.

cause you used to share rooms. I didn’t exactly blend in with my red hair, freckles,
and a name like Mandy. It took guts to practise Judaism in that environment. I am sure
people did talk behind my back, so it was
difficult at times.”
Team sports in SA attract mostly nonJews, so he also knew he would most likely
be the odd man out in most sports he
played. However, whether the team travelled or not, he always tried to keep kosher.
“I took food with me and if I was somewhere like Cape Town for a match, I would
arrange to go to Shabbat at someone’s
home, but team dinners were always an issue. I did manage eventually to organise a
fridge in the hotel rooms, so I could bring
my food with me.”

Yachad also says he knew it was wrong to
obey some laws and not others. He played
on Shabbos but not when there were games
on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. He felt
that people in the Jewish community
looked up to him as a role model because he
was a successful sportsman, but didn’t consider giving up until his inner turmoil drove
him to it. The problem for Yachad was that
if he wanted to play hockey or cricket
matches at a high level, it meant playing on
Saturdays. “The thing about being human is
there is always the temptation to sacrifice
what you believe in order to be popular or
successful, and I wanted very much to be a
successful cricketer and represent my country,” says Yachad.
He adds that it’s not only in sport that
Jews have to fight for their identity, their
values. Work too, he says, is also most times
an environment in which an observant Jew

has to stand up for his rights. “I worked as a
partner in a well-known law firm in Joburg
for 14 years, and it was also challenging.
When I left and joined Peregrine Holdings
(where he is an executive director), I stated
in my employment contract that I won’t
work on Shabbos or Jewish holidays.
Yachad also played hockey for South Africa, and gave up playing provincial and
league hockey. However, he continued to
play league hockey matches which were held
on a Sunday.
“Sport was a huge part of my life for the
better part of 15 years. When I was thinking
about giving up,