
In the early 1940s, at a
time when it was virtually impossible for a South African of color to secure a
professional apprenticeship, the Jewish law firm Witkin, Sidelsky and Eidelman
gave a young black man a job as a clerk.
It
was among the first encounters in what would become a lifelong relationship
between Nelson Mandela and South Africa’s bustling liberal Jewish
community, impacting the statesman’s life at several defining moments — from
his arrival in Johannesburg from the rural Transkei region as a young man to
his years of struggle, imprisonment and ascension to the presidency.
Mandela,
wrote of the early job in his
autobiography, “Long Walk to Freedom,” and acknowledged the disproportionate role
that Jews played in the struggle against apartheid. Lazer Sidelsky, one of the
firm’s partners, treated him with “enormous kindness” and was among the first
whites to treat him with respect.
“I have found Jews to be more broad-minded than most whites on issues of race and politics, perhaps because they themselves have historically been victims of prejudice,” Mandela wrote. When Nelson Mandela visited Israel in 1997 he specifically asked to meet , Lazer Sidelsky’s son, Rabbi Sodelsky. and Stephen Drus ( Stephen Darori after he hebrewaized his surname ) the nephew of Professor Ethel Drus. Both of whom had immigrated to Israel in the 80′s . Rabbi Sidelsky for ideological Zionist reasons and Stephen Drus , ” I was the last of my family in South Africa and after been detained without trial repeatedly and hassled by the South African Security Police , I simply folded , gave up and joined the Struggle to Release Mandela, in the South African Diaspora”.
“I have found Jews to be more broad-minded than most whites on issues of race and politics, perhaps because they themselves have historically been victims of prejudice,” Mandela wrote. When Nelson Mandela visited Israel in 1997 he specifically asked to meet , Lazer Sidelsky’s son, Rabbi Sodelsky. and Stephen Drus ( Stephen Darori after he hebrewaized his surname ) the nephew of Professor Ethel Drus. Both of whom had immigrated to Israel in the 80′s . Rabbi Sidelsky for ideological Zionist reasons and Stephen Drus , ” I was the last of my family in South Africa and after been detained without trial repeatedly and hassled by the South African Security Police , I simply folded , gave up and joined the Struggle to Release Mandela, in the South African Diaspora”.
Professor Ethel Drus,
was a renown UCT Educated Historian, who won three Alexander Prizes for History
awarded by the Royal Society of Historians ( the equivalent of the Fields Prize
in Mathematics) . Professor Drus Chaired the Committee of Twelve who
drafted the Freedom Charter , the he statement
of core principles of the South African Congress Alliance, which consisted of theAfrican National Congress and its allies - the South African Indian Congress, theSouth African Congress of Democrats and the Coloured People's Congress. It is characterized by
its opening demand; "The People Shall Govern The committee of
Twelve consisted of Three Blacks ( Mandela, Tambo and Mathews ) and Nine Jewish
Academics and Civil Rights Lawyers that included Ethel Drus, Ruth First,
Abie Sachs, Joe Slovo ( Ruth’s First’s Husband) , the Bernsteins, the Lipmans ,Helen
Joseph, …). They agreed to disagree on the question of Nationalization
and the Redistribution of Land that Oliver Tambo and Nelson Mandela felt
appropriate for inclusion then but agreed to reevaluate their position in the future
and after he became the first Black President, Nelson Mandela chose not to make
either central to the philosophy he followed. Mandela here top Sir Ernest Oppenheimer advice an rather than antagonize all the
Whites and Indians pursued an affirmative action program while he and other Jewish Business Leaders accelerated
the transition of Blacks into Big Business in south Africa by adding them
to the Board of directors of JSE companies and even giving them management
control of major JSE Groups like JCI – Johannesburg Consolidated Investment.
Stephen Drus was active
in the Progress Federal Party that became the Progressive Federal Party in
Parliament and the Official Opposition. It is the Democratic Alliance today .
Stephen Drus served as both Chairman of the Progressive and then Progressive
Federal Party Youth Organization in both the Western Cape and then Nationally.
He was a founder and treasurer of first the short lived Mass Democratic
Movement ( banned) and then the United Democratic Front and was the financial
connection between the UDF and major South African businessmen that
included Harry Oppenheimer, Mendel Kaplan, Donald Gordon, Sol Kerzner , Susman
of Woolworths, Ackerman of Ackermans , Yach and many other leading Jewish
businessman in Cape Town in particular. Professor Ethel Drus then
Emeritus Professor of History at Southampton University in the United Kingdom
who was an authority of South African banned organizations and the legislation
that did so ,advised her nephew Stephen
Drus to insist that no leadership was elected to the United Democratic
Front. And so it was .Without leadership, the Union of over 400 Anti
Apartheid Organizations ( both large and small) that all called for the Release
of Mandela , technically did not exists and could therefore not be banned. And
so it was. the UDF led the campaign thereafter for the Release of Mandela
and then evolved into the Grassroots Organization of the African National
Congress after Nelson Mandela was released from the Victor Vester Prison
on February 11th, 1990 at 2.30 pm.
The
Democratic Alliance, the liberal opposition in the new South African Democracy
Parliament was led by Tony Leon for thirteen years and currently by Helen
Zille who has Jewish Grandfathers.
South
Africa’s Jews remembered Mandela, the country’s first democratically elected
president, as a close friend, one with deep ties to prominent community figures
and a partner in the decades-long effort to end apartheid.
“I
was extremely privileged to lead the community during his presidency,” said
Mervyn Smith, who was chairman and later president of the South African Jewish
Board of Deputies, the community’s representative body. “We met with him on
many occasions and the talk was direct and open.”
For
Mandela, who rose to prominence as a leading opponent of the discriminatory
racial regime known as apartheid, Jews were vital allies. Jewish lawyers
represented him in multiple trials, and Jewish activists and political figures
played leading roles in the fight.
But
Mandela’s ties to prominent South African Jews were personal as well as
political. The former president’s second marriage, to Winnie Madikizela in
1958, took place at the home of Ray Harmel, a Jewish anti-apartheid activist.
Harmel made Winnie’s wedding dress at Mandela’s request, according to David
Saks’ history “Jewish Memories of Mandela.”
When
Mandela married again, in 1998, he invited Chief Rabbi Cyril Harris to offer a
private blessing on the nuptials that were scheduled to take place on Shabbat.
“After a warm exchange of greetings, Rabbi Cyril spoke quietly to them and blessed them,” Cyril’s wife, Ann, wrote later. “They stood through the blessing holding hands and with eyes closed. One could almost imagine the huppah.”
“After a warm exchange of greetings, Rabbi Cyril spoke quietly to them and blessed them,” Cyril’s wife, Ann, wrote later. “They stood through the blessing holding hands and with eyes closed. One could almost imagine the huppah.”
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