Wikipedia's first sentence called it “south african jewish industrialist”. Today it says “south african jewish industrialist and philanthropist”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2025 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2025
Mendel Kaplan (16 June 1936 – 19 November 2009) was a South African Jewish industrialist and philanthropist. He was an executive in Cape Gate manufacturing company. Mendel Kaplan was born in South Africa. After graduating from Wynberg Boys' High , he received a degree in law from the University of Cape Town in 1958 and an MBA from Columbia University in 1960. Kaplan was the honorary president of Keren Hayesod and a former chairman of the Jewish Agency 's Board of Governors. He financed numerous philanthropic projects in South Africa, Israel and Jewish communities around the world. In 1980, he founded the Isaac and Jessie Kaplan Centre for Jewish Studies at the University of Cape Town . In 2000, he established the South African Jewish Museum . Kaplan was an Israeli citizen and owned two homes in Israel. He was a keen rugby union fan, and helped set up the South African Jewish Museum. Kaplan died of a stroke on 19 November 2009.
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1230641060.
The opening as it stood in 2010
Mendel Kaplan (1936–2009) was a South African Jewish industrialist, philanthropist and community activist. Mendel Kaplan was born in South Africa. After graduating from Wynberg Boys' High, he received a degree in law from the University of Cape Town in 1958 and an MBA from Columbia University in 1960. Kaplan was the honorary president of Keren Hayesod and a former chairman of the Jewish Agency 's Board of Governors. He financed numerous philanthropic projects in South Africa, Israel and Jewish communities around the world. In 1980, he founded the Isaac and Jessie Kaplan Centre for Jewish Studies at the University of Cape Town. In 2000, he established the South African Jewish Museum. Kaplan was an Israeli citizen and owned two homes in Israel. He was a keen rugby union fan, and helped set up the South African Jewish Museum.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 371139679.
The opening as it stood in 2015
Mendel Kaplan (1936–2009) was a South African Jewish industrialist, philanthropist and community activist. Mendel Kaplan was born in South Africa. After graduating from Wynberg Boys' High, he received a degree in law from the University of Cape Town in 1958 and an MBA from Columbia University in 1960. Kaplan was the honorary president of Keren Hayesod and a former chairman of the Jewish Agency 's Board of Governors. He financed numerous philanthropic projects in South Africa, Israel and Jewish communities around the world. In 1980, he founded the Isaac and Jessie Kaplan Centre for Jewish Studies at the University of Cape Town. In 2000, he established the South African Jewish Museum. Kaplan was an Israeli citizen and owned two homes in Israel. He was a keen rugby union fan, and helped set up the South African Jewish Museum. Kaplan died of a stroke on 19 November 2009.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 659518105.
The opening as it stood in 2020
Mendel Kaplan (1936–2009) was a South African Jewish industrialist executive in the firm Cape Gate, philanthropist and community activist. Mendel Kaplan was born in South Africa. After graduating from Wynberg Boys' High , he received a degree in law from the University of Cape Town in 1958 and an MBA from Columbia University in 1960. Kaplan was the honorary president of Keren Hayesod and a former chairman of the Jewish Agency 's Board of Governors. He financed numerous philanthropic projects in South Africa, Israel and Jewish communities around the world. In 1980, he founded the Isaac and Jessie Kaplan Centre for Jewish Studies at the University of Cape Town. In 2000, he established the South African Jewish Museum. Kaplan was an Israeli citizen and owned two homes in Israel. He was a keen rugby union fan, and helped set up the South African Jewish Museum. Kaplan died of a stroke on 19 November 2009.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 962916412.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
Mendel Kaplan (1936–2009) was a South African Jewish industrialist executive in the firm Cape Gate, philanthropist and community activist. Mendel Kaplan was born in South Africa. After graduating from Wynberg Boys' High , he received a degree in law from the University of Cape Town in 1958 and an MBA from Columbia University in 1960. Kaplan was the honorary president of Keren Hayesod and a former chairman of the Jewish Agency 's Board of Governors. He financed numerous philanthropic projects in South Africa, Israel and Jewish communities around the world. In 1980, he founded the Isaac and Jessie Kaplan Centre for Jewish Studies at the University of Cape Town. In 2000, he established the South African Jewish Museum. Kaplan was an Israeli citizen and owned two homes in Israel. He was a keen rugby union fan, and helped set up the South African Jewish Museum. Kaplan died of a stroke on 19 November 2009.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1172795474.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “south african jewish industrialist”. Today it says “south african jewish industrialist and philanthropist”. Read the current article and compare.
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2010, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
south african jewish industrialist
Now
south african jewish industrialist and philanthropist
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
