Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on January 2, 2022

Chapter One

Donald H. Harrison

SAN DIEGO This is a series about Jewish life along the Interstate 5, which begins at the Mexican border and continues all the way to the Canadian border. We will be concerned with just the San Diego County segment of this highway, a 72-mile stretch between Baja California, Mexico, and the Orange County line.

There is a Jewish story everywhere, as we aim to prove by exiting at each of the neighborhood offramps (as opposed to those which are junctions with other freeways) and seeing what history, institutions, and residents have to tell us about the Jews whose presence or influence have been felt there.

Before we embark on this American journey, let us not forget that there is Jewish life in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, that is well worth remembering. In brief, we can find it at the Centro Social Israelita, the Congregaion Hebraica de Baja California, and in the Jewish-owned department stores and shops along Avenida de la Revoluion.

If you were walking along the street and you passed the Centro Social Israelita, you would not be able to distinguish it as a Jewish gathering place not unless you came closer, and even closer still, and found a small mezuzah on the doorpost. Once you are admitted inside, however, it is a very different story. You are first confronted by a display featuring the sculpted heads of two liberators. One of those liberators is Benito Juarez, who resumed office as Mexicos president in 1867 after the French-installed government of Emperor Maximilian was vanquished. The other is Moshe Rabenuthe biblical Moses, our teacherwho led the Israelites from slavery in Egypt to freedom in the Promised Land.

Deeper inside the complex is a small synagogue with beautiful stained-glass window. Its spiritual leaders are members of the Lubavitcher Chasidic movement. In the past, a Conservative cantor led services. The community does not fuss over such distinctions: A Jew is a Jew.

When Chabad accepted the pulpit at the Centro Social Israelita, it was something of an anomaly within the Lubavitcher movement, which, like many Orthodox organizations, teaches modesty in dress, and no physical contact with members of the opposite gender who are not family members.

Yet, the Centro Social Israelita began in the 1950s as a Jewish Community Center. It continues to serve that function with a swimming pool and tennis courts outside, cardrooms and kosher dining facilities inside. Swimming requires swim suits and if a rabbi and rebbitzin wish to see only modestly dressed men and women, they must shield their eyes, look down at the ground, and walk quickly by. Similarly, they must discreetly avoid the tennis courts, where apparel seems to get shorter and shorter.

Although the Centro Social Israelita does not like to draw the attention of passers-by because antisemitism is a problem in Mexico as it is elsewhere it nevertheless is an active participant in various good causes. One longstanding effort has been a cross border effort in which doctors from Mercy Hospital in San Diego come down to the Centro to screen applicants for cleft palate surgeries. Those who are selected are transported across the border to Mercy Hospital, and following the surgery, recuperate at a Roman Catholic center in San Diego. Volunteers from many different religious communities serve food to the recuperating patients, and U.S. Marines provide security in what has become known as Operation Mercy.

*Congregaion Hebraica de Baja California offers a very different view of Jewish life in Mexico. Its founder, Carlos Salas Diaz, was brought up as a Roman Catholic, but as a restless young man, studied for Protestant ordination. Subsequently, he converted to Judaism at what was then the University of Judaism, but which is now known as American Jewish University, in Los Angeles. With an independent income from the jewelry business, Salas Diaz decided to finance his own congregation, throwing its doors wide open to anyone who wanted to learn about the Bible. With a shortage of priests in Tijuana, the idea of learning about religion directly from a spiritual leader was appealing to many Mexican residents. Some of them became enamored with the Jewish religion (which before they little understood) and asked to be converted.

After preparing his congregants to meet a beth din and to undergo ritual immersion in a mikvah, Salas Diaz arranged for them to undergo similar conversion ceremonies in Los Angeles as had marked his own transition to Judaism. Whereas the Centro Social Israelita is quite discreet about its Jewish identity, Salas Diaz very publicly advertises. He installed a giant menorah along the outer walls of the congregation.

Initially, Salas Diazs enthusiasm for teaching about Judaism, and the subsequent decision by his students to formally convert, created some uneasiness among the more traditional Jews at the Centro Social Israelita. One member of the more traditional congregation famously growled, Theyre turning out Jews like tortillas! However, as Salas-Diaz and his congregants explained their motivations, tensions eased. Almost all the families who came to Salas-Diaz felt some previous connection with Judaism. Our grandmother never told us why, but she would always light candles on Friday nights, some would tell Salas-Diaz. Or, Our house was always cleaned thoroughly on Friday mornings, and when the family gathered, mother would serve us on the best dishes. These apparent references to Shabbat preparations indicate that these families may be descended from Conversos, Jews who were forced to convert to Catholicism under the Spanish Inquisition (which spread to Spanish colonies like Mexico).

While the two Jewish congregations are geographically and culturally distinct, they have joined together on occasion in celebration of Israeli holidays.

*Major department stores like Dorians and Sara were started by Jews, and other Jewish business people have been active in civic affairs. There also has been a Jewish member of the Tijuana City Council, David Saul Guakil. Businessman Jose Pepe Galicot heads the civic improvement organization known as Tijuana Innovadora, which promotes arts and culture in the border city.

If you were walking across the International Bridge from Tijuana to San Diego, instead of driving, you would note that it is lined with international flags of many countries. As a sign of friendship, the flag of Israel is right smack in the middle of the bridge.

Crossing by car into the United States is an exercise in patience. Sometimes, cars move quickly through the many inspection stations. Other times, they can be backed up several or more hours.

While you inch up in your car to the inspection station, Mexican vendors will walk alongside your car showing their wares. These may include toys, paintings on velvet, papier mach sculptures, costume jewelry, clothing with the latest imprints upon them just about any souvenir item that you might otherwise buy in town. It is considered a rule never to accept the first price that is suggested by the vendorhe would be very surprised, and grateful indeed, if you did. Instead, you are expected to bargain with the vendor, in a nice way, of course, and ultimately come to agree on a price that was about 60 percent of the original asking price.

As your car gets closer to the border, youll sense a bit of desperation on the vendors part to conclude the dealhowever pleasant your negotiations may have been. He is forbidden to cross into the United States, so it is before that point that he must decide whether to take or leave your best offer. My suggestion is to be kind. What may be a relatively little difference in money for you may have far greater impact on his life, so much stronger is the American dollar than the Mexican peso.

Once you reach the inspection station, you will be asked by U.S. Border Enforcement Agents to show your passport and to reveal what kind of Mexican goods you might be bringing into the United States, and how much you paid for them. Currently U.S. citizens can bring in up to $800 worth of merchandise without having to pay a duty. There are limits, however, on the amount of liquor and tobacco products you may bring into the country.

Usually crossing the border is a routine affair, but it is possible you might be randomly selected for a secondary inspection, which involves pulling up to a stall inside the United States, popping open your trunk, and permitting the agents to look inside the trunk and the interior of your car. So long as you are not trying to smuggle drugs or other contraband, you have nothing to worry about.

Once you clear inspection, you will soon approach the beginnings of the Interstate 5 and Interstate 805 freeways. I-5 and I-805 both go north, but I-805 serves more inland areas of the City of San Diego, while the I-5 stays closer to the coast. The two freeways will merge at the northern extension of the City of San Diego, near its border with the City of Del Mar.

*NEXT SUNDAY, Jan. 9, 2022: Exit 1B (Via de San Ysidro): Jewish Brothers Became Shopping-Mall Magnates

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

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Schlepping and Schmoozing along the Interstate 5: Tijuana in the Rear View Mirror - San Diego Jewish World

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