Unusual collection at Del Mar Fair: Toilet paper

By Donald H. Harrison

DEL MAR, California – Whenever I go to the San Diego County Fair, I like to head for the area where they display hobbies.  My pleasure is to find bits of Judaica in the various collections on display.  Two years ago, for example, I found miniature books of tehillim in a collection of Bibles; autographs of such well known Jews as Jack Benny in a collection of autographs; and souvenirs from Zion National Park in Utah among other displays.

This year, matters started similarly.  Grandson Shor and I almost immediately spotted Kimberly Reckles’ collection of miniature boxes, two of which were decorated with Stars of David.  He photographed them for me.

While he examined another part of the exhibit, I saw a different collection, the likes of which I had never seen before: Toilet paper from around the world.

The explanation for the collection reads as follows:

“In the spring of 1983, my mom Deanne and sister Dena traveled through Europe. I remembered how my teacher (Janice Bennet-Roudebush) had told us how interesting the toilet paper was there.  I asked my mom to collect some from each place they traveled to document their trip.  From plush, to newspaper, to markings like those of Windsor Castle … the toilet paper was unlike ours.

In 2012, my daughter Rachel continued the tradition on her first trip through Europe.  In 30 years the European toilet paper has improved.

Please enjoy this collection in honor of my mom, Deanne Bloom, who passed away June 12, 2017.  She could find something special in even the simplest things.”

To my delight, the collection included not only toilet paper from Europe but from Israel and the Palestinian territories as well.

There was one piece of toilet paper from Jerusalem; another from Hebron.

In a case not too far away was a collection of historical figures from the United States, including miniature representations of the American Presidents.  Three standing together had an incredible impact on Jewish history.  Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed numerous Jews to important positions in the government, but he also did little to help the European Jews trapped in the Holocaust.  From refusing to admit to the United States the desperate German refugees aboard the St. Louis to declining to bomb the tracks to Auschwitz, FDR was passive about the wholesale murder of our people by the Nazis.  Next to him was Harry S. Truman, who nearly instantly recognized Israel as a new nation after David Ben-Gurion declared its independence.  And after him, was Dwight D. Eisenhower, who commanded the Allied Forces that defeated Adolf Hitler and his terrible regime.

Leaving the exhibit, I thought of Israel and the wonderful Middle Eastern foods that today are well loved by Jews from all over the world, even Ashkenazim like my family who once identified Jewish food as Eastern European fare.

Though not Israeli, there on the Midway of the Del Mar Fair was a  Mediterranean take out stand offering gyros, falafel, and other Middle Eastern specialties.

I think it can be said that no matter what you’re looking for, you’re likely to find it at the fair.

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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com