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29, 2015 | The Jewish Home TheOCTOBER Week In News Feature
DECEMBER 20, 2018 | The Jewish Home
RABBI NATAN GAMEDZE
In Search of Truth from Swaziland to the Holy Land By Rafi Sackville
F
rom the restaurant in the middle of the pedestrian mall in Tzfat, the view of the rolling hills surrounding the city provides a comforting backdrop to the bustle of tourists and shoppers only steps away. Reverberating with the weight of thousands of years of Jewish presence, it is difficult not to feel a part of the history and the generations of Jews who have reaped spiritual benefit from the giants of Torah who have lived, learnt, and taught here. In Swaziland, some 9,300 kilometers away (5,800 miles) and directly south of Israel, the open, rolling hills look similar, if somewhat greener than those in the Galil. The country is smaller than Israel by some 3,000 square kilometers and has a quarter of the population. Landlocked, it is caught pincer-like between Mozambique and South Africa. Before the British carved up Swaziland in the 1880s, it was run by a monarchy whose king surrounded himself with a coterie of advisors. This small, but powerful group wielded absolute power over the remainder of the population.
The restructuring of the borders was a cumbersome affair that ended the homogeneity of the country. Different ethnic groups were massed together without consideration. In effect, this is what happened to the Gamedze (Gah-med-Zeh) family, who, at the time of partition, ruled Swaziland. In their place another family was appointed to reign. Their monarchical aspirations cut short, the British won the Gamedzes over by making concessions, which led to them becoming indispensable advisors to the new king. It is a position they hold until today.
T
he grandson of the last Gamedze king, Rabbi Natan Gamedze, sits opposite me thoughtfully cupping a cup of coffee. This unassuming, humble gentleman is, for all intents and purposes, a prince of Swaziland. Yet here he sits, dressed in a black suit and white shirt and sporting a large black kippah. He looks, sounds, and exudes all the qualities of what a good Jew should be. A man of many talents (he speaks 13 languages), Rabbi Natan might have followed the path of his ancestors had
he not taken an unlikely journey that led him to Israel and to the study halls of Ohr Sameach and Brisk. My wife and I had come to Tzfat to speak with Rabbi Gamedze and, despite our curiosity about his transformation, we were interested to learn about his upbringing and his fondest childhood memories. There is a hypnotizing effect about Rabbi Gamedze, who speaks in a deliberate and liquid delivery. He weighs each word with care as if they are fragile vessels in search of a safe resting place. “Swazis have traditional dances for different seasons,” Rabbi Natan explains, “and my father would take me with him to visit the king, King Mswati III. Traditional warriors still dress up in their conventional garb, a vestment, just like a cloth with a skin underneath. They also don an animal skin around their loins, wear sandals or go barefoot, and carry a stick with a knob on top. They dance with shields and knives, while jumping up and down and singing. “I was once at a ceremony in Jerusalem. They invited the ambassador to Swaziland. He was one of the princes.
When he came to Israel, he was wearing a suit. Before he met then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak, he traveled back to his hotel to change into his traditional clothes to make himself presentable. Swazis don’t have any inferiority complex about wearing it. I can definitely say that it is to their honor that they are very proud of who they are. “At those ceremonies, when I was young, I was afraid because of the knives. I was just a little boy and would hide behind my dad who would laugh and say, ‘Don’t you see? They are singing your song.’ “Those are probably the fondest memories of my youth.” Rabbi Gamedze was educated in the best schools. This includes the period he studied in South Africa during apartheid. Was he affected by it in any negative way? “I would call it self-respect, and to just be happy with who you are. Don’t try to be something or someone that you are not,” he says. “This is much of what I have carried throughout my life. I do not feel any special need just because I am a black person. I don’t