I think what started this was one of the UK members commenting that many of the Hetchins badges were produced for Harry Hetchins by a Jewish fellow who attended the same synagogue. This led to the discussion of Hetchins' background as a Russian Jewish emigrant to UK. I commented that this might be as important to understanding his work as Mario Confente's origins in Italy before coming to California. This led to the discussion of Jewish builders in general. The religion of a builder who is 5th or 6th generation in his country of residence probably isn't very relevant, but the Russians Jews who fled Russia in the late 19th and early 20th century exerted a powerful and mostly very positive cultural influence on the countries where they settled in many fields of endeavor including bicycle building. So I think a discussion of the notable Jewish builders of the pre-WWII period is as relevent as a discussion of the Italian or French builders of the same era. I think that part of what makes classic bikes interesting is that they were built by interesting people, and Harry Hetchins certainly qualifies on that score.
Regards,
Jerry Moos
Houston, TX
>
>
> e-RICHIE is a "Keeper of the Flame", and all the other Jewish
> builders being discussed are CR-era builders of lightweight
> frames.
>
> Steven L. Sheffield
> Having passed through Midvale, unincorporated Salt Lake County,
> West Jordan, and Taylorsville, I am now ensconced for the next
> 8-hours in West Valley, UT
>
> --
> Steven L. Sheffield
> stevens at veloworks dot com
> veloworks at worldnet dot ay tea tee dot net
> bellum pax est libertas servitus est ignoratio vis est
> ess ay ell tea ell ay kay ee sea aye tee why you ti ay aitch
> aitch tee tea pea colon [for word] slash [four ward] slash double-you
> double-yew double-ewe dot veloworks dot com [four word] slash
>
> ---------- Original Message -----------
> From: <raleighpro@dejazzd.com>
> To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
> Sent: Tue, 11 Nov 2003 9:00:43 -0500
> Subject: Re: [CR]Re: Jewish builders
>
> > This is relative to the CR list how?
> >
> > Pete Geurds
> > Douglassville, PA