The Jewish world loses a giant: Remembering Mendel Kaplan

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Dec. 20, 2009
AVI PAZNER , THE JERUSALEM POST
Just a few weeks before we lit the first Hanukka candle this year, the Jewish world lost one of its greatest luminaries, Mendel Kaplan, honorary president of Keren Hayesod-UIA. The loss to Israel and the Jewish world is incalculable, both at a public level and on a deeply personal level. This is because Mendel was both a visionary leader and a true friend of Israel, the Jewish people and Keren Hayesod-UIA, just as he was a friend to many of us who knew him personally and enjoyed his wonderful friendship more intimately.  

 I am happy and proud to say that I was among them. Mendel once told me that he viewed the legendary Max Fisher as his mentor. Well, Mendel was mine. I found myself looking to his example, seeking his counsel and internalizing his values at many important crossroads over the past years.
A son of the South African Jewish community, Mendel Kaplan was a brilliant businessman who developed the family business, Cape Gate, into a major international company with offices throughout the world, including 10 factories in Israel. Yet, Mendel's deep-seated family values led him to keep the business a family concern. His success in the business sector allowed him to direct his energy and resources to the things he so passionately believed in, primarily Israel and the Jewish people. Mendel's diverse and far-reaching philanthropy made an extraordinary impact both in Israel and the Diaspora.
AS A great proponent of Jewish education in the Diaspora and education in Israel, Mendel was passionate about deepening our understanding of Jewish history through archeology. He was, in fact, one of the first to invest in the City of David excavations. He and his brother Robert Kaplan also founded the Jewish museum in Cape Town. Mendel believed deeply in the value of higher education and the importance of bringing tertiary education to disadvantaged Israelis. Hundreds benefitted from Mendel Kaplan's scholarships, including new olim from Ethiopia and many students from Israel's Druse community.
Mendel invested extensively in Jerusalem. He founded the Gilo Music Center in partnership with Keren Hayesod-UIA which continues to benefit young Jerusalemites, Jew and Arab alike. Among his other Jerusalem projects is the Jerusalem Botanical Gardens at the Hebrew University campus in Givat Ram and numerous joint projects with the Jerusalem Foundation.
Mendel's leadership did not stop at philanthropy but first and foremost he was a great leader in the Jewish world, holding many central positions in Jewish organizations, including the World Jewish Congress and the Jerusalem Foundation. He served as chairman of the Keren Hayesod-UIA World Board of Trustees between 1983 and 1987.
BUT HIS standing in the Jewish world is best measured by his being the only non-American Jewish leader ever to be appointed chairman of the Board of Governors of the Jewish Agency for Israel, a position he held between 1987 and 1995. During this term, Mendel became a key figure in facilitating the massive aliya waves from the former Soviet Union. Among the many distinguished leaders of the Jewish world of today, Mendel truly stood out as a giant.
A brilliant negotiator and incisive decision maker, Mendel Kaplan was often called upon to close gaps and negotiate agreements between Jewish organizations. He was known for his forthright personality and sharp thinking. Yet above all, he was known and loved for his outstanding friendship and generosity of spirit.
Throughout his life, he remained a dedicated family man and devoted husband to his wife Jill and father to their four children, Sharon, David, Oren and Romi, and his adored grandchildren. He has left behind a personal void in the hearts of all who knew him, but there is no void in terms of his achievements for Israel and the Jewish people. His accomplishments are visible all around us and stand as an enduring legacy to his life's work.
The writer is World Chairman of Keren Hayesod - United Israel Appeal.