with the Umoja Foundation in bringing out Jewish Memories of Mandela, a history telling the Mandela story from the perspective of the various Jewish individuals who were a part of it. For me, as the author of this book, it was an inspiring project, one that brought to light as never before the extent to which Jews were involved in the cause of black liberation while providing many fresh, and often deeply moving insights into the kind of man and leader that Mandela became.Jews have been a part of Mandela’s life from his arrival in Johannesburg in the early 1940s to the present.The law rather than politics was what he initially chose to go into, and it was Lazer Sidelsky that gave him his start as an articledclerk in his law firm at a time when it was unheard of for young blacks to be taken on in such a capacity. His fellow clerk, Nat Bregman, became his first white friend in Johannesburg and, as a member of the Communist Party at the time, also played a part in his early political education.Mandela went on to study law at the University of the Witwatersrand, where he established enduring friendships with fellow students Jules Browde and Harry Schwarz, both of whom were prominently involved in liberal politics thereafter.As he moved increasingly into political activism, Mandela came more and more to be associated with members of the Jewish community who were likewise confronting the apartheid system. Thirteen of his fellow defendants in the 1956-1961 Treason Trial, for