Life as a small businessman in San Diego

When we started we had $350 in the bank. (There was very little freelance art in town in 1962.) We took any job that came along at just about any price that would generate some income. The first job was copying, in calligraphy style, a poem a sweet old woman composed in memory of her deceased sister. I delivered the poem to her home and walked a few blocks to her bank to cash the fifteen dollar check she gave me in payment. The check bounced and I walked back to her home and collected cash. I wondered at the time if this was an omen. Another of our earliest commissions was for a Mexican Restaurant. It was a black and white ink illustration of a Mexican sombrero lying on a serape. Again We were paid 15 dollars. The restaurant repeatedly used that illustration in their advertising for 20 years. [Ira Spector]

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Business & Finance, San Diego County

With theaters dark, all the world must now be a stage

Growing up, Judaism always took center stage, but when I moved to Pittsburgh to study directing at the School of Drama at Carnegie Mellon University, suddenly theater was in the spotlight. For the first couple of years, it felt like I had to give up practicing Judaism in order to pursue theater full time. Choosing rehearsals over Shabbat or having to miss High Holiday services for class felt like I had opted to practice the religion of theater over Judaism. [Adira Rosen]

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Eileen Wingard, Jewish Religion, Lifestyles, Science, Medicine, & Education, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass in Civil War debate

A brilliant script by Richard Hellersen brought Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass back to life face-to-face on my computer careen.  I felt like a fly on the wall (better than a front row seat) watching  two brilliant portrayals by Hawthorne James as Douglass, and Ray Chambers as Lincoln in heated conversations actually documented by playwright Hellersen from meetings and correspondence between these two iconic and historic figures. [Cantor Sheldon Foster Merel]

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Cantor Sheldon Foster Merel, z"l, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Pray for the future of Israel

Those who regard The Jerusalem Post as Holy Writ – and I know such people – may have been startled by the concluding sentences in last week’s column by the paper’s editor: “Israel is in an unprecedented crisis, and this government is not functioning, It is time for it to go home.” [Rabbi Dow Marmur]

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Middle East

Some 70 years of love for tennis

The first time I ever saw or stepped on a tennis court was in 1949 when I was sixteen and got a job at Camp Watitoh near Tanglewood in the Berkshires as a maintenance worker. One of my first jobs was to brush and roll the tomato-colored clay tennis courts smooth early every morning. That was boring but tolerable in the cool early morning air. So now I was the tennis court maven, and was assigned to build two new courts in the lower unshaded unused part of the camp property. [Ira Spector]

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International, Lifestyles, San Diego County, Sports & Competitions, Travel and Food, USA

Jewish pirates took revenge on Inquisition’s nations

You might get the idea from the title of this book that it is about a BBYO Group enjoying a favorite ride at Disneyland. However, it is far more serious than that. It tells about the war Jewish refugees waged against Portugal and Spain and their Grand Inquisitors. It also offers a hint concerning the dispute between Spain and Portugal over the true nationality of 16th century explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo. [Donald H. Harrison]

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

Wishes for the New Year

In a short while, we will be wishing one another Shanah Tova (have a good year), the Hebrew equivalent of Happy New Year. But the beginning of the Hebrew year is not only a time of joy. First and foremost, it is a time of reflection. This year, it seems especially pertinent to reflect on where we are, where we are going, and what we can do to make this year, and the years to follow, safer, happier, and better for ourselves, for our loved ones, and for all of humanity. [Michael Laitman, Ph.D]

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Jewish History, Jewish Religion

A Yiddishfest to Kvell for

Already in progress and continuing through September 13, the YIddishkayt Initiative (YILoveJewish.org) is hosting a virtual festival that encompasses a taste of everything Yidden. More than 35 online events include geshmach cooking demonstrations, concerts, films, singing, staged readings, a Holocaust commemoration, klezmer by San Diego’s own Yale Strom, discussions, lectures, a world-premiere play, and so much more! Major American and International celebrities gather to entertain your Jewish soul and share simcha and provocative ideas. The froelich action-packed programming promises to have something for everyone and as long as you’ve got a device you’re invited to tune in for free! [Eva Trieger]

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Eva Trieger, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Just another day of flight training

From March through December 1956 I went through the Naval Flight School, Pensacola, Florida, as a student pilot. We were transferred to different airfields in the area for each phase of training. At any one time, day and night, there were a couple hundred SNJ, T-34 and T-28 training planes in the skies overhead, practicing different types of maneuvers. Saufley Field is where we were taught formation flying. This story is about an incident that happened when I was stationed there. [Ira Spector]

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Lifestyles

Israel-Bahrain peacemaking draws applause

On a day that the world mourns the 2001 terror attack that felled the World Trade Center in New York City, damaged the Pentagon in Washington D.C., and took the lives of passengers aboard four hijacked airliners, there was some hopeful news as well. Peace in the Middle East is becoming contagious. Encouraged by the United States government, Bahrain and Israel have announced that they — like Israel and the United Arab Emirates previously — will sign a peace pact. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Science, Medicine, & Education, Travel and Food