Becoming Home: Out of the Box (Story 4)

Gelsher Calmensen moved to San Francisco in the late 1960s, while Charlie Varon arrived in the city a decade later. Both New Yorkers, each man was immediately struck by the freedom of the Bay Area. After establishing a successful printing business in North Beach, Calmansen turned his attention to the Esalen Institute, practicing Buddhism for 30 years, only then to reconnect with his Jewish roots in very personal and meaningful ways. Varon, on the other hand, wrote a play, Rabbi Sam, which reconnected him to a weekly practice of Torah study which led to greater participation in the Jewish life. Both men share how the Bay Area Jewish community has moved them in surprising ways. -- The decision to live in the Bay Area is personal and encompasses a wide range of experiences and motivations—some have moved here because of love, others to attend university, to seek a new job, to escape persecution, to establish new rituals, or just to dream a little. In this documentary commissioned for the exhibition "California Dreaming: Jewish Life in the Bay Area from the Gold Rush to the Present", filmmaker Pam Rorke Levy interviewed a wide range of individuals who call the Bay Area home and identify in some way with being Jewish. Learn more about "California Dreaming": http://thecjm.me/CAdreamExhibit

Added 12 Jul 2026