From The Editor (Issue 4)

Leon Fine

With this, the fourth Issue of Kaleidoscope, our quarterly magazine will celebrate its first birthday in December 2025. In the image of a rotating a kaleidoscope held up to one eye, with shapes and colors changing at each twirl, the magazine was conceived to embrace a Jewish readership with ever-changing, diverse and colorful ideas of wide, current, historical and artistic interests. During the unfortunate years of the COVID pandemic, through the medium of the online gatherings of “Habonim-Engaged-In-Dialog” (HED), a surprising reality emerged. It became apparent that past and present members of Habonim South Africa continued to share common values including the need to express concerns about populism, polarization, and authoritarianism.  A real “community” had coalesced. The magazine was conceived as an instrument to cement the values, ties, friendships, and common interests that had been displayed during those years.

Much has emerged over the past year. In an example of “accelerated evolution”, Kaleidoscope has rapidly embraced content which has included (in no particular order): political philosophy, Middle Eastern and Israeli politics, Zionist history, short stories, artworks, science and medicine, personal reflections, letters to the editor and a single obituary. Even an original musical composition graced our pages.

Importantly, our exposure and readership have changed substantially during the past year. Starting with 7000 South African ex-Habonim members (internationally) when issue 1 was launched, our distribution of potential readers in the first year of Kaleidoscope’s existence has grown to an estimated 50,000 people around the world. This editor deserves no claim whatever for achieving this. It has all been thanks to the good graces of Stephen Pincus, a resident of Toronto and Chair of the magazine, who has tirelessly advocated for its success and has effectively attracted a number of creative contributors to its pages.

As a consequence of these expanding numbers, changes in content and style have already occurred. Importantly, the style of each issue has adapted to the fact that the original target audience, the members of which spoke with a distinct South African accent and who understood the Hebraicisms of the youth movement, has been altered to be more accommodating to the broader audience.

One thing is clear. Kaleidoscope has adhered to no political or religious ideology. All points of view will continue to be accepted for exposure, provided that they are clearly stated and understandable. The future is now dependent on the voluntary offerings of its expanded readership and Kaleidoscope’s entry into the world of social media seems to be inevitable.