JONATHAN BRAND Retired adman/Teacher I had a mother who was Jewish and wished that she was not and a father who was Christian and wished that he was Jewish. My father said that Brand is a name that could be Jewish. There are many German names that go either way and he conscientiously looked into his background for some sign of Jewishness, but never found it. He thought the world of Jews. There wasn't an anti-anything in his body anyway. Most of his friends and the people that he admired were Jews and he identified with them and wished that he could be closer to them... I was pinned in college to this girl Mimi Dickey. Her parents invited me down to Fort Lauderdale at Easter. They wanted to meet me. I gave them my father's latest book as a gift when I arrived. I had not told Mimi that I was half Jewish when I got pinned to her. I had just won the state table tennis tournament in Burlington and we were riding down in a friend's car back to Middlebury and I said, "Oh Mimi, I forgot to tell you something, I am half Jewish. Does that mean anything to you?" She replied, "Of course not." Then I went down to Fort Lauderdale and gave Mr. Dickey the book and later when I was out of hearing she told them that I was half Jewish. Her father replied, "I knew he was Jewish from the picture of his father on the back of the book."
	back | contents | next Homepage || Exhibitions || The Museum || The Museum Shop || Fun Page || Calendar || Timeline || Sign our guestbook || Links Copyright 1998-2003 by the National Museum of American Jewish History