Jewish History

Whitechapel: ‘Centre of Jewish Immigrant Life’

By Jerry Klinger Recently, the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation’s U.K. branch placed a new historical, interpretive marker in Whitechapel, London. The marker was placed on a building that replaced the Adler House. The Adler House was named in honor of the Chief Rabbi of the British Empire, Hermann Adler, 1891-1911. The text of the

Whitechapel: ‘Centre of Jewish Immigrant Life’ Read More »

International, Jerry Klinger, Jewish History

Surveying the Full Range of Jewish Life

The Book of Jewish Knowledge, Rabbi Yanki Tauber, ed., The Rohr Jewish Learning Institute, Brooklyn, NY, ©2022, ISBN 978-1-63668-012-5 p. 432, plus Appendices, $69.75. By Fred Reiss, Ed.D. WINCHESTER, California – Is it feasible to adequately convey the skills, information, and wisdom acquired by the Jewish people who, after nearly 4,000 years of living in

Surveying the Full Range of Jewish Life Read More »

Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Fred Reiss, EdD, Jewish History, Jewish Religion

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]

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

Jewish Studies Scholar Richard Freund (1955-2022)

By Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO — Dr. Richard A. Freund passed away in Charlottesville, Virginia on July 14, 2022 from complications arising from the rejection of a bone marrow transplant he had received 18 years ago.  He held an MA, PhD, and rabbinic ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary and the Bertram and Gladys Aaron

Jewish Studies Scholar Richard Freund (1955-2022) Read More »

Jewish History, Lawrence Baron, San Diego County, USA

Genesis Prize Ceremony Relied on Work of Doctor/ Author Ron Eisenberg

A highlight of the proceedings was a ten-minute video, Jews in Medicine: A Legacy of Healing and Hope, much of it based on the book written by Dr. Ron Eisenberg, Jews inMedicine: Contributions to Health and Healing Through the Ages (Urim Publications, 2019). [Eileen Wingard]

Genesis Prize Ceremony Relied on Work of Doctor/ Author Ron Eisenberg Read More »

Eileen Wingard, Jewish History, Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education

King George VI Personally Pinned Medal on Jewish Air Raid Warden

September 23, 1940, German bombs smashed into a residential pub in Manor Park, Newham, a few blocks from where Lewis was stationed.  Beneath the pub was a bomb shelter with 60 people trapped inside. The building burning, collapsing. A water main burst. The basement shelter was flooding, threatening to drown any survivors. 
Lewis and a colleague ran to the site. [Jerry Klinger]

King George VI Personally Pinned Medal on Jewish Air Raid Warden Read More »

International, Jerry Klinger, Jewish History

Searching for Stanley Stein

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

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]

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

Originally Named for Charles Lindbergh, Airport Downplays Connection with the Nazi Sympathizer.

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]

Originally Named for Charles Lindbergh, Airport Downplays Connection with the Nazi Sympathizer. Read More »

Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Travel and Food, USA

H’nai Matov: Brothers Working and Surviving Together

Here is a Holocaust memoir that is so well told that you feel like you are sitting in the room with Harry Lenga, listening to him as he relates the meaningful episodes of his life.  His narrative, as transcribed and edited by his son Scott, is at times folksy, other times philosophical, and always interesting. [Donald H. Harrison]

H’nai Matov: Brothers Working and Surviving Together Read More »

Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Holocaust, International, Jewish History

A German Catholic Girl Learned of Life as a Persecuted Jew

Sabine Fröhlich grew up a Catholic in Breslau, Germany, but her ancestry was Jewish.  Along with her parents and her older brother Andreas, she was declared to be a Jew according to the Nazis’ bizarre racial classifications.  Like self-identified Jews in Germany, she was systematically excluded from normal life—even the Catholic school which she had attended.  Her parents wisely decided to send her to England, but after they made it across the border to the Netherlands, the family reunited. [Donald H. Harrison]

A German Catholic Girl Learned of Life as a Persecuted Jew Read More »

Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Holocaust, International, Jewish History

Greg Smith: A Quarter Century as Assessor, Recorder, Clerk

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