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Mendel Kaplan, z’’llargest contributor. Thiscame as little surprise.Championing causes closeto his heart never deflectedthis universal man’s attentionto the personal needsof others.Mendel’s trajectory from businessmanto philanthropist and to world Jewishleader was impressive. As a philanthropisthe was guided by an anecdote, related at thefuneral by his son David, concerning one ofthe European Rothschilds who was askedhow much he was worth. “Seventeen milliondollars,” was the reply. “Surely more,”the fellow persisted.“You asked my worth and this is the sum Ihave donated to charities. I am worth whatI give away, not what I retain.”This anecdote was Mendel’s Magna Cartaas he set about revolutionizing fundraisingstrategies first in his native South Africa andthen globally. The impact was enormous.From holding most of the key leadershippositions in the South African Jewish community,Mendel’s rapid trajectory took himall the way to top positions in the globalJewish world. The Commonwealth’s ChiefRabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks said of Mendel,“I saw him steer organizations and resolvetensions with wit and humour, subtle diplomacyand an overreaching sense of direction.I valued his advice more than that ofany other lay leader I know. He was a livingtextbook on how to manage an otherwiseunmanageable people.”Over the years Mendel enjoyed a close relationshipwith Telfed. When in the early1990’s he could be seen cutting the ribboninaugurating a project between JAFI, KibbutzTzora and Telfed - offering the final twoyears of schooling to students from SouthAfrica who came without parents - it encapsulatedhis passion for education.Recognising that Jewish education wascritical to Jewish survival, one of his manyinvestments in this regard was his establishmentof the Isaac and Jessie Kaplan Centrefor Jewish Studies and Research at UCT.Each year he sponsored scholarships in SouthAfrica to the children of his employees andin Israel, to Drusim and Ethiopians. He studiedthe Mishna and financed its translationinto English.Despite the demands of running a crosscontinentsteel enterprise, he read widely,studied deeply and wrote nine books.Recording the journey of his family fromLithuania to South Africa in his book ‘FromShtetl to Steelmaking’, Mendel never forgoesthe values of his roots and so writes a secondbook, ‘From Steelmaking to Shtetl’, wherehe revisits the past and explores the beautyof our collective Litvak heritage. Imbuedwith his discoveries, he establishes the Isaac& Jessie Kaplan Jewish Museum in CapeTown. Replicating shtetl life with life-sizestructures of homes, cobbled streets, classroomsand synagogues, Mendel reproducedto the last detail, the well that stands todayoutside a once-owned family farmstead nearRiteva. The museum, its façade appearingas Jerusalem stone, is an inter-active learningcentre recording the enriching legacyof the South African Jews who came fromEastern Europe and their contributions toSouth Africa in business, art and culture,academia, community life, sport, Zionismand the struggle against apartheid.In Israel, his family foundation sponsoredthe Old Yishuv Court Museum in the OldCity, recording Jewish life there in the 19thcentury and the spectacular City of Daviddig opposite the Dung gate. “The remnantshere embody the unique and eternal tie betweenJerusalem and the Jewish people, a tiewhich has no parallel in the history of nations,”he expressed on a family tour thereon his 70th birthday, three years ago.The Jewish world was shocked at Mendel’ssudden passing. Why so soon?, people questioned.Rabbi Tanzer gave the answer atMendel’s funeral. “Mendel was taken tooyoung, but look what he packed into his 73years. Few could have done or achieved whathe did if they had lived to be 200.”Mendel like a revered biblical character livedto an age measured by his deeds rather thanthe number of years he dwelled among theliving. Telfed expresses heartfelt condolencesto his wife Jill, and his children Sharon,David, Oren, Romi and families.Leib FrankMendel addressing newSouth African olim at theWestern Wall.David KaplanTelfed’s second Director Leib Frankpassed away in January at age 91. Histenure (1962-1978) covered an eventfulperiod for Telfed.There was the increasedimmigration from South Africa following‘Sharpeville’; the Six Day War, whenTelfed representatives traveled the countryvisiting the many Southern Africansvolunteering on kibbutzim; and the YomKippur War, which tragically cost thelives of 17 young Southern Africans.It was also a farsighted era when fundsraised in South Africa were used to createscholarships enabling Telfed til thisday to award some 400 scholarships eachyear. Aliya peaked the year before Leibleft office at 1400 olim in 1977.continued on next page37