By Donald H. Harrison

SAN DIEGO, Calif.—Across the United States, perhaps around the world, Yiddish expressions, Hebrew words and occasional  biblical references find their way onto the license plates and bumper stickers of automobiles.  

Jewishsightseeing.com encourages our readers to help us display this phenomenon on our website.  If you see an intriguing license plate or bumper sticker that makes an obvious reference to Jewish culture, please send it to us at sdheritage@cox.net by .jpg attachment and we'll post it, giving you credit if you desire.  Let's see what kind of collection we can build together!

We'll start with three obviously Jewish-influenced license plates seen in San Diego County, California.

         
Yididish:  For you, only good  health                  Hebrew: In peace                                       Yiddish: Grandma 2


One of the curious things about this trio of license plates is that each one of them has the name "California" written in a different style.  If you look carefully, the AHBGZND plate features a sunset behind the "O" in California. The state's name on the BSHALOM plate is in very boring block type.  The "California" on the BUBBIE2 plate is presented somewhat more elegantly in script. 

Over the years, California has had many other variations of license plate, and perhaps as people send in their contributions, we'll get to see others.

In the event that some of you do not have access to a digital camera, but would like to share a picture of your "Jewish" license plate, or bumper sticker, please send us a regular photograph, which we will scan in order to post a digitalized image. You can mail such photos to: jewishsightseeing, PO Box 19363, San Diego, CA 92159.

If, in addition to the Jewish message, you feel that there are interesting things to note about the plate itself, please tell us the story.  Many states use their license plates as mini-advertising billboards for their sightseeing attractions, so if a story goes with them, please let us know.

Recently, I saw a bumper sticker that said something to the effect that the last time a people heeded a Bush, they spent 40 years wandering in the desert.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to photograph this morsel of religio-political philosophy, but if you come across such bumper stickers that utilize biblical references, please send them along too.

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