Mandella's Ties from page 29
gogue in Sea Point.
"Almost his first celebration was with
the Jewish community:' Smith told JTA.
In 1994, at the opening of an exhibi-
tion on Anne Frank, Mandela recounted
how a handwritten version of her diary
had inspired him and fellow prisoners on
Robben Island.
PLO Sympathies
On Israel, Mandela's relationship with the
Jewish community was not free of con-
troversy. His African National Congress
cultivated close ties with the Palestine
Liberation Organization and Mandela
warmly embraced its leader, Yasser Arafat.
Confronted with Jewish protests,
Mandela was dismissive, insisting that his
relations with other countries would be
determined by their attitudes toward the
liberation movement.
"If the truth alienates the powerful
Jewish community in South Africa, that's
too bad," Mandela was reported to have
said, according to Gideon Shimoni, author
of Community and Conscience: The Jews in
Apartheid South Africa.
Shimoni also recounts a 1990 encounter
at the University of the Witwatersrand
n Benjam in/Ark Images
former leper colony off the coast of Cape
Town. The legendary, feisty Jewish par-
liamentarian Helen Suzman visited him
there. Another prison visitor was the jour-
nalist Benjamin Pogrund, who worked
frequently with Mandela in the 1960s.
In a 1986 visit at Pollsmoor Prison,
Pogrund informed Mandela that his son
would shortly be celebrating his bar mitz-
vah. Afterward, the boy received a per-
sonal note from the future president.
"From a man serving a life sentence —
and at that stage with no idea when he might
be released — it was a kind and thoughtful
action for a youngster he had not even met,"
Pogrund said, according to David Saks,
author of Jewish Memories of Mandela.
Mandela was released after 27 years,
in February 1990. Four years later he was
elected president. Among his appoin-
tees was Arthur Chaskalson, a member
of his defense team during the Rivonia
Trial, as the first president of the new
Constitutional Court; he later became
chief justice.
Mandela's deep ties to the Jewish com-
munity continued during his political
career. On the first Shabbat after his
election, he visited the Marais Road syna-
The late South African philanthropist Mendel Kaplan shows South Africa President
Nelson Mandela around the South African Jewish Museum, which was opened by
Mandela in 2000.
with a Jewish student.
"Your enemies are not my enemies,"
Mandela said.
According to Saks, Mandela stressed
his respect for Israel's right to exist even
as he defended his relationships with
Palestinian leaders. It was perhaps illus-
trative of his policy of inclusivity that
Mandela accepted an honorary doctorate
from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
in 1997 when many in his party remained
opposed to any ties with Israel.
"He made us proud to be South
Africans," Smith said. "His presence at
any communal occasion was electrifying.
The Jewish community's pride in its rela-
tionship with President Mandela will be
forever enduring."
❑
Obituaries on page 66
Introducing video tributes. An homage to a life well-lived.
At Hebrew Memorial Chapel, we never stop trying to find new ways to add meaning
to the funeral service. Recently, we began offering video tributes -- a photographic
montage celebrating the life of your loved one. This keepsake plays on video monitors
located throughout the chapel before or after the service, and on our website.
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Obituaries
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December 12 • 201.
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