House of Israel is rededicated with modernized interior

 By Donald H. Harrison

 

SAN DIEGO –  The House of Israel’s membership on Sunday celebrated the Balboa Park institution’s transformation from what some had called an “embarrassment” to what City Councilman Todd Gloria described as the “best” of the national cottages that comprise the 75-year-old House of Pacific Relations.

The House of Israel joined the multi-national House of Pacific Relations in 1948, the year of modern Israel’s birth and 12 years after the organization was founded to promote “pacific” meaning “peaceful” relations among the nations of the world.  Today, it is one of 33 national organizations housed in cottages surrounding a lawn and stage across the road from the Organ Pavilion.

Over the decades, volunteers from various local synagogues and Jewish organizations staffed the House of Israel, stocking it with Jewish religious objects as well as souvenir items from visits members made over the years to Israel.

The furnishings of the House of Israel seemed lost in a time warp—reflecting not  the modern, high-tech country of Israel today, but rather Israel as envisioned by the Jews of the Diaspora.   “It was highly embarrassing,” said Smadar Samson, an Israeli who recently immigrated to the United States after working as a designer of children’s exhibits and museums in the Unted Kingdom.  “For a long time the house was run not by Israelis, but by well-meant Jewish people whose perception of Israel is very different from that of Israelis.”

“It gave a 1960s American view of what Israel was,” declared Arnold Flick, a retired medical doctor who spearheaded the renovation effort. “The House did not tell the story of a modern country,” agreed Amnon Silberger, president of the House of Israel. “It presented the wrong image to the public,” said Lucy Goldman, a longtime San Diegan.

The idea, said Jennie Starr, who emceed a program preceding the formal re-dedication, was to “rejuvenate the House of Israel.”  It was decided that rather than presenting a bunch of curios, the House essentially should communicate two important messages, said Smadar.  First, that the Hebrew that can be found written on the Dead Sea Scrolls is the same language spoken in Israel today, and that the Land of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is the same land that today is known as modern Israel.

To this end, visitors who enter the building from the main lawn immediately see a counter (from which food is sold) that is covered with text from the Dead Sea Scrolls.   As they look to the left, they see a wall constructed of Jerusalem stone, donated by Father’s House Church in La Mesa which had ordered more stone than it needed for the construction of its altar.  Father’s House Church is active in the Christians United for Israel (CUFI) movement.

The wall is inset with a large video monitor on which a film about tourism to modern Israel currently plays.   There also is a timeline, using a blue stripe evocative of the flag of Israel, that stretches vertically from the times of the Patriarchs to the founding of modern Israel in 1948.  Another exhibit shows a newspaper headline about how Israel’s Declaration of Independence was followed almost immediately (11 minutes) by the country’s recognition by U.S. President Harry S Truman.

Down a few steps is a smaller room, and here are interactive video exhibits as well as examples of the kinds of high-tech inventions with which Israel has benefitted the world.   For example, did you know that Israelis invented a camera that can be swallowed like a pill, a pen that can foil a bomb, thumbdrives for computers, and a hand-held scanning device that can give you the definition of any word you find typed on a piece of paper?  Eventually, said Flick, the video monitors, which now provide loop video features, will be programmed to be interactive, so that people can sit at them and learn about Israel.

The refurbished House of Israel plans to extend the hours that it is open.  Now, like other houses of the House of Pacific Relations, it is open to the general public from noon to 4 p.m. on Sundays.  But Silberger, a Qualcomm engineer, says the space will be made available at different times throughout the week for various organizations that wish to have presentations made to them about Israel.

These presentations will be apolitical—the purpose of the House of Israel being to build understanding and knowledge about Israel, rather than to engage in sterile debate about Middle Eastern politics, according to Flick.

Ceremonies to rededicate the House of Israel included speeches by a variety of officials, and a ceremony affixing a mezuzah to the door of the cottage officiated by Rabbi Avram Bogopulsky of Beth Jacob Congregation and Jack Maisel, a House of Israel board member and donor.  Bogopulsky, an Orthodox rabbi who recently returned from a trip to Israel that brought together rabbis from the Orthodox, Reform and Conservative movements, said just as Israel can unify people in their diversity, so too does the House of Israel reflect and build upon San Diego’s diversity.

Among speakers extending greetings to the crowed were Silberger;  Judith Galilee Metzer, consul for media, culture and public affairs at the Consulate General of Israel in Los Angeles;  Victoria Joes, representing Mayor Jerry Sanders; Hannu Mikkonen, president of the House of Finland as well as of the overall House of Pacific Relations;  Susan Lowery Mendoza, district director for San Diego’s city parks and recreation department; and Steve Morris, president and chief executive officer of the Jewish Federation of San Diego County.

Singers Daniel and Becca Myers, known to theatre-goers for frequent roles in J*Company and other youth productions around San Diego, led the crowd in the singing of the Star Spangled Banner and Hatikvah, respectively the national anthems of the United States and of Israel.  They were accompanied on keyboard by Jonathan Sussman.  The Tarbuton Israel dancers, made up of elementary school students clad in white, delighted the crowd with an interpretive dance mixing the California and Israeli scenes, “Just Me and My Surfboard.”

San Diego City Councilman Todd Gloria, who represents the 3^rd Council District in which Balboa Park is located, came to the ceremony wearing a barong, a traditional Fillipino shirt – a reflection of the fact that immediately before the House of Israel event there had been a performance by a dance troupe from the House of Philippines.   Entertainment programs are rotated among the various Houses in the House of Pacific Relations, with the host organization typically arranging for traditional foods to be available for purchase.

“I want you all to mark your calendars for 2015 when we will be celebrating the centennial of the Panama-California Exposition, the event that put San Diego and Balboa Park on the map internationally,” said the councilman.  “We are hoping to have all kinds of new and wonderful improvements in the park in time for that Centennial and the House of Israel is leading the way. .. It is now the best cottage—I might get in trouble for saying that, but it has set a high bar for everyone to aspire to in time for 2015.”

The councilman added: “I simply want to thank the House for having since 1948 given San Diegans opportunities to understand the culture and traditions of both ancient and contemporary Israel.  As a strong supporter of the state of Israel, I am so glad that we have that presence in the people’s park, Balboa Park, for all 1.3 million of our citizens to experience.”

The number of visitors to the park is one of the reasons that the restoration of the House of Israel was considered such an important agenda item for the Jewish community.  Many of these visitors—whether they come from abroad or are San Diegans enjoying their weekends—get their first exposure to Israel by visiting the cottage.  The House of Israel, then, is an informal ambassador for a country that needs to make and keep friends, given the sometimes unfriendly world climate. Said Metzer, the Israeli consul, “Israel always faces challenge, it is nothing new.   This support that we are receiving from San Diego, the Jewish and Israeli community here is very important to us.”

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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World.  He may be contacted at