By Steve Kramer KFAR SABA, Israel — Michal and I had planned an overnight in Jerusalem with friends from New York. With the predictable hot weather (90 degrees and sunny everyday) of the metro Tel Aviv area, a sojourn in Jerusalem is always a summer treat. Jerusalem’s altitude is about 3,000 ft, so the […]
An Overnight in Jerusalem Read More »
Israel, Middle East, Steve Kramer, Travel and Food
SAN DIEGO (Press Release) — Opening doors in late-August in Torrey Pines, Tracy Borkum, principal of Urban Kitchen Group (UKG), has announced plans for Gold Finch, a modern delicatessen rooted in Jewish immigrant culture. Gold Finch is a deeply personal endeavor for Tracy—who draws on her childhood memories of growing up in London’s Jewish epicenters, Golders Green and Finchley
San Diego’s New Jewish Delicatessen Will Celebrate Immigrant Culture and Cuisine Read More »
San Diego County, Travel and Food
By Steve Kramer KFAR SABA, Israel — Colleges began offering “majors” and “minors” in sustainability in the first decade of the 21st century. Sustainability is taught as a multi-disciplinary program to approach complex problems, usually environmental. With that knowledge, it can offer various career possibilities. One of our son Saul’s best friends, Yonathan, majored in
Sustainability in Israel Read More »
Middle East, Opinion, Science, Medicine, & Education, Steve Kramer, Travel and Food
The three-book series offers 90 stories in all – a mosaic of Jewish life, personalities, and influences along the Interstate 5 corridor from the Mexican border to the Orange County line. It has been a pleasure authoring this trilogy, which has been augmented by the photography of Dr. Ben Dishman and Fred Kropveld, two fellow congregants of Tifereth Israel Synagogue. [Donald H. Harrison]
Where I-5 Jewish Stories Are Found Read More »
Ben Dishman, Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Fred Kropveld, San Diego County, Travel and Food
By Jerry Klinger Adolph Sutro was the 24th mayor of San Francisco, 1894-1896. He was a Jewish-American immigrant from Germany, a brilliant mining engineer, entrepreneur, real estate developer, art and literary collector. Sutro was a self-made millionaire who made his first fortune in Nevada’s Comstock silver boom, constructing the famed Sutro Tunnel outside Virginia City.
A member of the Jewish community, known for his self-deprecating sense of humor, Kolender grew up at the Reform Congregation Beth Israel. However, when it was time for his bar mitzvah, he honored his grandfather’s wishes and had it at Beth Jacob Congregation, which is Orthodox. “The rabbi there was Baruch Stern, and it was the first bar mitzvah for him after the war,” Kolender told me back in 1996 when I profiled him for the now defunct San Diego Jewish Press-Heritage. Rabbi Stern’s children “had been killed in front of him by the Nazis, and he started crying and I started crying, and I’m not sure if we ever did get through the whole thing. It was something I never will forget.” [Donald H. Harrison]
Kolender Was City’s First Jewish Police Chief, County’s First Jewish Sheriff Read More »
California, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, San Diego County, Travel and Food, USA
This chapter is a chance for me to step again from third-person history into first-person history because I was highly involved in the start-up in 1989 of Old Town Trolley Tours of San Diego. It came about because through The Harrison Enterprises, the public relations agency which I owned, I served as the executive director of the San Diego Cruise Industry Consortium. The consortium was created in 1983 under the aegis of Acting Mayor Bill Cleator to attract cruise ships to the Port of San Diego. Previously, I had served as communications director for Cleator during the period he served as a city councilman and acting mayor. [Donald H. Harrison]
How a Sightseeing Company Got its Start in San Diego Read More »
Business & Finance, California, Donald H. Harrison, San Diego County, Travel and Food, USA
Sidney’s life changed in the theater of New York. The specialist, Dr. Emil Loch, a renowned dermatologist, reported him to the authorities as a leper. The police swept up Sidney, almost overnight. With a small suitcase that contained his life, he was sent secretly, swiftly and with as little human contact as possible to vanish into the interior of America. He was shipped to the very isolated world of Carville, Louisiana on the banks of the Mississippi River. Carville was the continental United States’ concentration camp for victims of Leprosy. Standing naked before a board of medical examiners in Carville, Sidney Maurice Levyson was assigned a number that he was to be known forever more as, patient #746. [Jerry Klinger]
Searching for Stanley Stein Read More »
Jerry Klinger, Jewish History, Science, Medicine, & Education, Travel and Food, USA
Members of the Jewish community who have served on the Port Commission since its creation in 1962 were Harvey Furgatch (appointed 1969), Milton “Mickey” Fredman (1970), Ben Cohen (1977) and Louis Wolfsheimer (1979), all of whom had passed away prior to my undertaking this book, and Robert Penner (1988), Lynn Schenk (1990), Stephen Cushman (1998) and Laurie Black (2007), all of whom I had the opportunity to interview. All these Jewish Port Commissioners represented the City of San Diego, except for Penner and Cohen, who were appointed by Chula Vista and Coronado respectively. [Donald H. Harrison]
Four Jews Who Served as Port Commissioners Tell of Their Tenures Read More »
Business & Finance, California, Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Middle East, San Diego County, Travel and Food, USA
I almost chickened out doing a bucket list adventure which was right within reach. No, it wasn’t skydiving or bungee jumping (those will never ever be on my list). It was hiking up a river in sometimes waist-high cold water, on uneven rocks and boulders, in a magnificent gorge in Zion National Park (aka, The Narrows). It was on my must do list for years, long before two knee surgeries and the onset of my knee arthritis. This was not a knee friendly hike. Enter Fear 1: Would my knees handle the terrain? [Shayna Kaufmann, Ph.D]
Conquering Fears at Zion National Park Read More »
Lifestyles, Shayna Kaufmann, Travel and Food, USA
There was a time the San Diego International Airport was known by everyone as Lindbergh Field after the aviator Charles Lindbergh, who spent a lot of time in town overseeing the construction of his airplane, “The Spirit of St. Louis,” by Ryan Aircraft. After the job was completed, Lindbergh made several stops across country en route to New York, including in St. Louis. This was where donors lived who had financed his plane. Then, on May 21, 1927, Lindbergh, the 25-year-old pilot, completed the first solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean, in the process becoming an international celebrity. If he had simply retired on his laurels at that point in his life, the name “Lindbergh Field” today might still be emblazoned across the airport entrance. [Donald H. Harrison]
By Steve Kramer KFAR SABA, Israel — Michal and I recently enjoyed a day trip organized by ESRA, the English Speaking Residents Association. ESRA provides numerous social activities for Israelis who are comfortable speaking English while funding diverse charitable projects for all Israelis. While not my usual hike with ESRA, this tour, nicely coordinated by
Touring Israeli Historical Places With ESRA Read More »
Middle East, Steve Kramer, Travel and Food
If he were so inclined, Greg Smith could have a lot to brag about. Over a period of 25 years, he won seven elections to serve as the San Diego County Assessor as well as the county’s recorder and clerk. He headed a staff of between 400 and 500 county workers in the combined operations of assessor-recorder-clerk. [Donald H. Harrison]
Greg Smith: A Quarter Century as Assessor, Recorder, Clerk Read More »
Business & Finance, California, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, San Diego County, Travel and Food
It is therefore incumbent upon us to make the most of the opportunities we have now to tap into those remarkable people—and draw as much insight, wisdom, and perspective from them as we can, clear in the knowledge that it will fall to us, soon enough, to be the bearers of those stories and insights for the generations that follow. [Doron Krakow]
Appreciating Jewish Leaders and Holocaust Survivors Read More »
California, Doron Krakow, Jewish History, Middle East, Travel and Food, USA