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Inside one man’s quixotic quest to preserve 200,000 Israeli tchotchkes

JL;DR SUMMARY Boris Gorbis, a 74-year-old retired lawyer and passionate collector, has gathered the world's largest known assembly of 20th-century Zionist souvenirs, including menorahs and seder plates, that were once popular among American Jews but are now largely forgotten. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

Jewish IdentityCultural PreservationAmerican Jewish HistoryJewish Material CultureIsrael Diaspora RelationsBoris GorbisZionist SouvenirsIsraeli TchotchkesMid Century ArtifactsMuseum Acquisition Challenges

Places mentioned

Israel
"souvenirs from Israel that once filled American Jewish homes but have since been discarded or forgotten."
Holon, Tel Aviv District, Israel
"She has identified and cataloged more than 30 companies that once produced this material, names like Pal Bell, Dayagi-Hen Holon, Fantasia and Hakuli."
Los Angeles, California, United States
"It was a singular moment in the 1980s, when he was gathering old menorahs for a Hanukkah program in Los Angeles."
Hollywood Hills, California, United States
"What would follow: an accumulation of hundreds of thousands of items that have overtaken Gorbis Hollywood Hills mansion."
Beverly Hills, California, United States
"With fluent, American-accented English, a BMW and a law office in Beverly Hills, Gorbis was held up in several 1980s news articles."
West Hollywood, California, United States
"Later, he helped found the Chabad Russian Synagogue in West Hollywood, which he once described to a reporter as a rebuke to the Soviet belief that religion is poison."
Washington, Washington DC, United States
"Jenna Weissman Joselit, a historian of American Jewish life and material culture at George Washington University."
Odessa, Odeshchyna, Ukraine
"Born and raised in the Ukrainian city of Odessa, Gorbis belongs to a large wave of Jews who left the Soviet Union in the early 1970s after the country lifted the ban on Jewish emigration."
Vienna, Austria
"At a way station in Vienna, he was given a choice between Israel and the United States."
Tbilisi, Georgia
"He met his wife, Eda, an immigrant from Tbilisi, Georgia, then also part of the Soviet Union, in Los Angeles."
Gaza, Southern District, Israel
"political climate shaped by the war in Gaza."

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Cairo Item ID 58709
Cairo Source ID 42
Retrieved 2025-08-06 18:00:39 UTC
Curated 2025-08-06 19:00:57 UTC