Donald H. Harrison

Donald H. Harrison

Donald H. Harrison is the publisher and editor of San Diego Jewish World. 

Harrison began his journalism career in 1962 on the UCLA Daily Bruin.  Following graduation he joined the staff of the Associated Press, and later became politics writer for The San Diego Union.  Afterwards he pursued a career in tourism, helping to establish San Diego’s Cruise Ship Program as well as Old Town Trolley Tours of San Diego.  He also wrote for such Jewish publications as the San Diego Jewish Press Heritage and San Diego Jewish Times before starting San Diego Jewish World in 2007.

Don’s  latest work is the three-volume Schlepping and Schmoozing Along the Interstate 5.  

He is the author of six previous books.  Those with links may be obtained on Amazon.

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Submerged Jewish Themes in ‘The Face of the Waters’

At 87, Robert Silverberg has won every science fiction award there is on offer, not to mention a tremendously large fan base.  You might think he has done it all, but now comes a new paperback version of his 1991 book, The Face of the Waters, in which the Jewish writer offers us an odyssey on a faraway water planet with creatures as fantastical as any that Homer ever conceptualized. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison

Israeli Athlete Survived the Holocaust and the Munich Olympics Massacre

ESPN and ESPN+ will premiere at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept 20, The Survivor, an hour-long documentary on the murder of 11 Israeli athletes during the 1972 Olympics. Reporter Jeremy Schaap interviews Shaul Ladany, a teammate of the slain athletes, who has been dubbed an “ultimate survivor.”  Along with his family, he had earlier in his life survived the Holocaust. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Holocaust, International, Israel, Jewish History, Sports & Competitions, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

How Those Children’s Toys and Games Come Into Being

While most of the book is a hoot – imagine creative adults on the floor happily expressing their inner children as they experimented with toy prototypes – there are some very serious, reflective chapters as well.  In 1976, a mentally unbalanced employee killed two executives at MGA and wounded three other workers before killing himself.  The man had a “hit list” and on it was Breslow, who, to take a phone call, had just stepped out of the meeting room where his two colleagues were slain.  Breslow discusses the impact of that horrific event on his life. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Curator Vows Holocaust Exhibit Will Find a Permanent Home

Project RUTH – “Remember Us: The Holocaust” – which was on exhibit for two years at the Chula Vista Public Library is in the process of closing, but even though it soon will be gone, creator and curator Sandy Scheller vowed Sunday, August 21, that its content won’t be forgotten. [Donald H. Harrison]

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California, Donald H. Harrison, Holocaust, Jewish History, San Diego County

Jerusalem-San Diego Zoo Exchange Event Highlights Political Leaders’ Interwoven Career Trajectories

By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — For more than half her 20-year tenure as a Democratic member of Congress from San Diego, Susan Davis encouraged the exchange of students from Jerusalem and San Diego, remembering that her own time spent as a young woman on an Israeli kibbutz was formative in her own life.

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Donald H. Harrison, Israel, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

San Diego Jewish World Honors Community Leaders From the ‘Outside’ and ‘Inside’

By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — This publication held its first annual event on Sunday, July 31, at an afternoon reception in a private home with a sweeping panoramic view of the La Jolla coastline. Jacob Kamaras, San Diego Jewish World’s editor and publisher, emceed the affair at which Roz Rothstein, a co-founder and CEO

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Donald H. Harrison, Opinion, San Diego County

Where I-5 Jewish Stories Are Found

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]

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Ben Dishman, Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Fred Kropveld, San Diego County, Travel and Food

A Scroll of Ancient Music that Leads to a Romance

This book is a fictionalized account of Jacqueline Semha Gmach’s life in Tunisia and Canada before settling in San Diego where her store of cultural knowledge for many years defined programming at the Lawrence Family JCC.  It is also a love story, travelogue, and collection of photos that are dear to Gmach. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, International, San Diego County

Three Stories for Young Children from PJ Library

Jennifer Wolf Kam wrote and Sally Walker illustrated Until the Blueberries Grow about a young boy named Ben who successfully delays his grandfather for a year from selling his home and moving to a retirement community (hopefully like our Seacrest Village in Encinitas).  During the year of delay, Ben and his zayde have many adventures such as picking and eating blueberries together; eating jelly sandwiches in the sukkah; drinking hot chocolate by the light of the chanukiah; and secreting and finding afikomen outside in the lilac bushes.  But after the year delay, zayde tells Ben he just doesn’t want to keep climbing the stairs to his second-floor bedroom.  So, he moves to a retirement community, and when Ben visits him there, he brings a gift.  Blueberries! [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Fiction

Single Mom Stokes Her Son’s and Her Own Jewish Faith

After her divorce from her cantor husband, author Zark wanted to make certain that the small son whose custody they shared would be brought up Jewishly in both homes.  She wanted to make Shabbats and the full range of Jewish holidays interesting and accessible to her son, and in the process, she reflected upon the meanings of the holidays, Torah passages, and various Jewish customs. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, Lifestyles

Kolender Was City’s First Jewish Police Chief, County’s First Jewish Sheriff

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]

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California, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, San Diego County, Travel and Food, USA

How a Sightseeing Company Got its Start in San Diego

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]

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Business & Finance, California, Donald H. Harrison, San Diego County, Travel and Food, USA

Four Jews Who Served as Port Commissioners Tell of Their Tenures

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]

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Business & Finance, California, Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Middle East, San Diego County, Travel and Food, USA