Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein made a short but most imposing appearance at the appeal hearing for Baal Shem tov this morning, telling Townships Board chairman Rudi Erasmus that he had had to “squeeze out of one meeting” and rush off to another for which he would be late.

“You may be wondering why I am here,” asked Rabbi Goldstein rhetorically.

He said he had made the time to address the Board “as there is a broader principle here – a principal that affects South Africa as a whole.” Rabbi Goldstein made the point that SA is a very religious country. He had just returned from the opening of the COP-17 conference in Durban (which he had addressed) and had been part of an interfaith rally in Durban. “There isn’t a small town in South Africa that doesn’t have a church in it,” said the Chief Rabbi. What was at stake in the Baal Shem Tov case was the continuation of the highly religious nature of SA.

In Europe, where there is a so-called “sophistication” of society, religion is on the decline, said Rabbi Goldstein. “In Africa it is different.”

The Chief Rabbi said that G-d had to have a place in our country. Of course, he added, that by living in a democracy there are social responsibilities: “you can’t just do what you want where you want to.” But, he said poignantly, “there is a value in having a lot of congregations.” Joburg will be more vibrant, the more places of worship it has – he said, this included Mosques and Churches.

“I love Joburg, it has a certain energy and it brings together the diversity of what our society is about,” said the Chief Rabbi passionately.

But, he said, he speaks on behalf of the South African Jewish community in its entirety.

And it was on behalf of SA Jewry that the Chief Rabbi said that while Baal Shem Tov Shul was one of the smaller Synagogues in the country, “it is very precious to us. We want it to succeed, of course with due regard to its neighbours.”

Rabbi Goldstein ended by saying that for us as a South African Jewish community, he prays for the successful outcome of the hearing. And to the chairman and his colleagues, the Chief Rabbi offered the last words: “And I pray for you in your deliberations.”

Throughout the Chief Rabbi’s short address, you could have heard a pin drop in the Rosebank boardroom of Nochumsohn and Teper attorneys where the hearing was taking place. Sixteen people hung on the Rabbi’s every word.

None more so that Gauteng Townships Board chairman Rudi Erasmus, who now broke the silence by telling Rabbi Goldstein: “we are meeting here today to find solutions to problems, and we will bear in mind what you have said.” And he said it with the same sincerity that he had listened to Rabbi Warren Goldstein.

The words of the Chief Rabbi and the mere fact that he was there to support Rabbi Michal and the Baal Shem Tov Shul would never have swayed the deliberations of chairman Rudi Erasmus – who is clearly a consummate professional who will always make his decisions on town planning principles alone, and encourage his fellow committee-members to as well.

But one thing is certain, nobody in the room will ever forget this brief encounter with Rabbi Warren Goldstein this Wednesday morning in November 2011.

Maybe none more so, than those of us who are used to encountering Rabbi Goldstein as he shares his wisdom with a Jewish audience. Today, we saw him address a Gentile audience on behalf of his Jewish community – and doing so with the same air of authority and passion as he does when talking Torah.