By Mimi Pollack
LA MESA, California — Donald Harrison is a true mensch, and I am sure many would agree with me. He has been a voice for the Jewish community in San Diego County for many years with his highly regarded online newspaper, San Diego Jewish World. However, he is also aware of time moving on and the value of new and younger voices, so he has decided to hand down the reins and semi-retire. On January 1, Jacob Kamaras took over as editor and publisher of SDJW, with Harrison staying on as a contributing writer and editor emeritus.
Don Harrison has positively influenced many people, including myself. Thanks to him, I began a second career as a published writer in my 50s in 2010. His guidance inspired me to actively pursue freelance writing and submit articles to various publications, including L’Chaim Magazine and San Diego Jewish World. More importantly because of his mentorship, I entered a new world where I got to meet fellow journalists, interview a wide variety of interesting people, and make friends outside of my ESL teaching world. This has broadened my horizons in San Diego, and I am grateful to him for that.
One of things I admire about Don is his sense of adventure and not being afraid to try or learn new things. I am also appreciative of his graciousness with newcomers. He actively participated in a pen pal program I started with my ESL students and took several of my students on tours of San Diego.
Another thing I admire is his knowledge of Judaism and his ability to find a Jewish story in the most unlikely places! He has written several books about traveling and finding Jewish stories, including “Schlepping through American West,” “77 Miles of Jewish Stories,” and “Schlepping and Schmoozing through San Diego County,” Volumes One and Two.
His charisma and friendliness draw people to him. But don’t just take my word for it. Here are some direct quotes from fellow writers who also admire Don.
From Eva Trieger: “I don’t actually recall the year that I began writing for San Diego Jewish World, but I do know that it was such an ego-rush to see my name and words in print! Don Harrison is a great editor and taught me so much about writing and how to make a piece publishable. I am eternally grateful for the numerous opportunities Don gave me. I learned about so many aspects of San Diego that I would otherwise have been ignorant of. Thank you, Don, for being an amazing editor, teacher, and friend.”
Like Eva, Don also gave me numerous opportunities to review local plays and meet some very interesting people.
From writer Michael Mantell and his wife, Paula: “Don has been a dear friend for many years, a cousin of my wife Paula, and a source of positive inspiration for us all here in San Diego. His standards of excellence, passion for delivering the very best source of relevant news to our community and quest to bring together like-minded people, make him particularly special to us. Being a part of his journalism “family” for so long has been a genuine honor. We know his dedication to family above all, serves as his remarkable fuel. We wish Don and his family the very best in their next chapters of life.”
Thanks to Don, I was able to conduct a delightful interview with Michael and Paula, and write several articles on them. I also admire Don’s dedication to his family and they have become part of my own.
From Eileen Wingard: “Over the years, I have learned much about newspaper article writing, thanks to Don’s kindly critiques and wonderful modeling. He has not only been my editor since Heritage days, but we have been like family. My mother, Rose Schiff z’l, adored him and Nancy — which is why he was the only non-family pall bearer at my mother’s funeral. For many years, Don and Nancy were close friends to my sister, Zina Schiff and her husband, Ron Eisenberg, and Don wrote and published many articles about my family, my concert violinist sister, Zina Schiff, her radiologist/author husband, Ron Eisenberg, their children, conductor/law professor, Avlana Eisenberg, Rabbi Cherina Eisenberg, and my husband z’l, language educator/song writer, Hal Wingard and our children, violinist/ Jewish educator, Myla Wingard, actor, Dan Wingard, educational consultant, Tamara Wingard and humanities teacher, Harriet Wingard. The Harrisons attended many of our Pesach seders. Don and Nancy were my guests last Sukkoth and Don most recently interviewed me about the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, in which I played for 37 years, to write about the orchestra in his forthcoming book about Jewish stories from the off-ramps of Highway 5. Don, through his journalistic talent and big-hearted generosity continues to be a great treasure of our San Diego Jewish Community.”
From Eric George Tauber: “They say that in tough times, you find out who your real friends are. Well, last year, when my life fell apart, I learned that Don and Nancy Harrison are indeed true friends. Because of COVID, my school shut down. I was laid off and every other intensive English program in town was in the same boat, either shut down or barely hanging on. Nobody was hiring. About this same time, my greedy landlord decided to terminate my lease so that he could renovate my townhouse and jack up the rent. With no proof of a stable income, I couldn’t sign a new lease and the deal that I thought I had turned out to be a scam. When I called Don to thank him for everything and say goodbye, he and Nancy extended an invitation to stay at their guest house until I figured out my next move. I still wound up moving back to Cincinnati, but they softened my landing. That summer, I was able to process what had happened, lick my wounds, and make proper plans to move back East.”
Finally, from Lawrence Baron: “I met Don when I assumed my position as the director of the Lipinsky Institute for Jewish Studies at SDSU back in 1988. He repeatedly approached me to write publicity articles about Jewish Studies campus events and other subjects within the field of my expertise. I often turned him down because I was a rather slow deliberate scholarly writer. Although I don’t remember the year, Don decided to enroll in the Masters Program in History and asked me to be the advisor for the thesis he was writing on Louis Rose. I appreciated how much research he had conducted on Rose, but found that his flowing writing style wasn’t academically precise enough. He dropped out of the program to finish the Rose biography, teach journalism at Grossmont, and edit the San Diego Jewish World. As I neared retirement, Don asked me to write a column for the San Diego Jewish World. I began by writing The Wandering Review, a column devoted to reviewing films of Jewish interest, and then moved on to writing a political satire column, and subsequently a satire column written from my dog’s perspective. After undertaking these writing obligations, I came to appreciate Don’s crisp journalistic style which was far more compelling and comprehensible than the overly technical and pedantic prose that typified my scholarly articles and books. Although I continue to write for scholarly journals, I now emulate Don’s writing style because it is much clearer and more engaging.”
Although Don passed on the reins to Jacob, he is not really retiring as he will continue writing. His legacy at San Diego Jewish World will not be forgotten and that legacy will be carried on under Jacob’s capable leadership.
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Mimi Pollack is a retired ESL teacher. Born in the United States, she moved as a child with her family to Mexico City, where she learned Spanish. She is particularly interested in immigrant and refugee issues, animals, and reporting on different cultures and ethnicities. Pollack may be contacted via mimi.pollack@sdjewishworld.com
A different version of this article was originally published in L’Chaim Magazine
Here is another one from Michael Leo Samuel:
I want to extend a hearty thank you to Don. Harrison for his many years of managing and editing the San Diego Jewish World. Serving the Jewish community is never easy. Don is more than just an editor; he served as the voice of conscience to the general Jewish community. His gentle humor and kindly disposition make him very beloved by all the writers who wrote for him. I am very grateful for him allowing me to write for the SDJW paper.
Don is also a great Jewish historian for our San Diego region. He has written many books, such as his book on:
· Louis Rose, San Diego’s First Jewish Settler and Entrepreneur (2004)
· Editorial Board of the The Journal of San Diego History (Spring 2015)
· Schlepping Through The American West: There Is A Jewish Story Everywhere (2014)
We once spoke about our passion for writing. I mentioned to him that writing books serve as a written legacy to our children and the future generations that we may never directly know. His belief that Jewish stories abound in California is very true. He reminded me of a personal anecdote that occurred in 1977, shortly after the birth of my firstborn son, Moshe. We were supposed to be in Denver one Shabbat, but we got stuck in Battlemountain, Nevada. This city had a population of 400 people if that. My wife and I went to the local market and met an Orthodox physician who was temporarily working there.
That Shabbat proved to be one of my most memorable experiences.
Yes, as Don loves to say, “There’s a Jewish story everywhere!” Indeed there is; think of it as Jewish geography. On behalf of my congregation, of myself, and the SD Jewish community, we want to thank Don Harrison for a job superbly done.