From “aliyah” to “zaydie”: Insights into the making of early Jewish computer games

Josh Renaud is a journalist at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He publishes computer history research on his website, Break Into Chat. He is interested in recovering lost or obscure software, and telling the stories of the people who made and used it. He was a 2024 recipient of the Geffen and Lewyn Family Southern Jewish Research Fellowship.

Forty years ago, an innovative series of Jewish educational computer games were unveiled to the world at a major convention held in Atlanta in 1983.

But the games seem never to have been sold commercially, with perhaps just a few dozen copies circulated among Jewish education groups.

Decades later, the games were forgotten and unpreserved, until I recovered them from old Apple II floppy disks and published them on my website, Break Into Chat, in 2022 along with background summaries. [1]

I recently finished a rewarding fellowship at the Rose Library studying letters, drawings, photos, speeches and other material in the Louis and Anna Geffen family papers collection to get more context about some of the key figures who worked on these games in Israel in the early 1980s.

Gesher Educational Affiliates, an organization dedicated to strengthening Jewish identity among Israeli youths, opened a computer games division in late 1980 and began designing educational games intended for American and Israeli Jewish students.

Gesher’s information director, David Geffen, was born and raised in Atlanta. Like many of his Gesher colleagues, Geffen and his family “made aliyah” — they immigrated to Israel — in the late 1970s. But many of his relatives, including his parents, Louis and Anna Geffen, remained in Atlanta, so he maintained close ties to the Jewish community there. David Geffen’s correspondence with his parents was the primary material I studied at the Rose Library.

Geffen knew Atlanta’s hosting of the General Assembly of the Council of Jewish Federations — a major convention which would bring thousands of delegates to the city — would coincide with the semiquincentennial of the State of Georgia in 1983.

So, in early 1982, he proposed that the Atlanta Jewish Federation assemble a “mammoth exhibition” to celebrate 250 years of Jewish life in Georgia. He suggested the exhibit include computer games made by Gesher, customized with educational content about Georgian Jewish history. [3] The federation agreed.

Ten months later, with the deadline approaching, Gesher hired Yaakov Kirschen, the cartoonist known for drawing “Dry Bones” in the Jerusalem Post newspaper, to take over the games’ development. Kirschen would go on to develop other games and software independently. I have been studying his work for years.

I came to Emory hoping to add much greater context to my history of the making of the Gesher games, and my time in the Geffen family papers collection was rewarding. Though I didn’t find all the things I hoped, I came away with unexpected new connections and insights.

THE GEFFENS AND GESHER
I began by reading the correspondence between David and Rita Geffen in Israel and David’s parents, Louis and Anna Geffen in Atlanta, during the 1982-84 period when David was working for Gesher Educational Affiliates.

It’s clear from the letters that David felt a strong sense of mission working for Gesher. He sent home brochures, pamphlets, and even press releases to his parents. Here’s a spread from one glossy booklet, explaining how Gesher was using computer games, films, and TV programs to “connect today’s youth to their heritage by translating Jewish values into the language of modern media.”

The letters show that Louis and Anna took steps to support the group that employed their only son. They attended fundraising dinners, promoted Gesher’s work to friends, and donated money. When they visited Israel in April 1982, they were proud to see this work firsthand.

“Gesher has become one of the very important organizations in Israel and its aim to educate Israelis that they are also Jews is a prominent phase of their work,” Anna and Louis recounted in an eight-page travelogue written afterward. “Starting in the early grades of school, they are approaching the young people through games and programs, both on TV and in the classroom and they are becoming more and more successful.” [5]

Through the Geffen family’s letters, I established that Kirschen began working with Gesher in November 1982. David Geffen quickly befriended him, and occasionally recruited him to make illustrations for events that David was involved in, such as the 30th World Zionist Congress in Jerusalem, and his and Rita’s 20th wedding anniversary. These and other Kirschen illustrations, such as this one promoting Gesher’s computer games, are preserved in the Geffen family papers:

In the summer of 1983, David shared with his parents his excitement about Gesher’s media efforts, as the group raced to finish its computers games to show at the General Assembly in Atlanta in November.

“Gesher is quite busy right now, planning for its first major television show — a 1/2 hour Chanukah story in color animation. … At the same time — the first Jewish computer games we have perfected are ready and we will have to show in the fall. They are designed by the cartoonist who does Dry Bones — Yaakov Kirschen and they really are quite good,” David wrote. “This fall Gesher has a chance to make a splash in America — and it will be interesting to see what happens.” [7]

I was struck by how often they would write, and at what length. David was an only child, so his children were Louis and Anna’s only grandchildren. But they were half a world apart, and “Zaydie” and “Bubbie” wanted to know what was happening in their lives.

UNDERSTANDING ALIYAH
That distance reminded me how Jewish migration, and aliyah specifically, are prominent themes of several of the Gesher computer games, including “Borders,” “The Georgia Variations,” and the unfinished “Roots and Routes” and “Aliya Game.”

I had long known that many Gesher employees, including David Geffen and Kirschen, had made aliyah themselves, moving from the U.S. to Israel in the 1960s and 1970s.

But reading the Geffen family correspondence showed me that Israel was not an easy place to live in the early 1980s. The country was at war, and the economic situation was bad. I wondered: why had they wanted to move there? What motivates a family to make such a momentous decision?

I realized that I could explore these questions in the Geffen family papers. Learning more about David and Rita Geffen’s aliyah decision could help me better understand a pivotal experience shared by many at Gesher. The main obstacle was that I didn’t know when David and Rita had made aliyah. But then I found a family photograph with the answer: June 1977.

I asked the librarians at the Rose to pull the first folder of letters from 1977, which proved to be the right one.

I learned that after he served seven years as rabbi of Beth Shalom in Wilmington, Delaware, David had been granted a sabbatical, which he, Rita, and their children were spending in Israel.

This was apparently a transformative trip, and they made their choice in March, while still in Israel.

First, they sent a letter to the board of directors of Beth Shalom, asking that David be released from his contract early, so that the family could make aliyah and move permanently to Israel as soon as possible:

“Rita and I have seen our children experiencing Judaism in a way we had only dreamed about,” David wrote. “There is a certain naturalness to their Jewishness which we realize is only possible here in a Jewish state. Our own commitment as Jews has taken on new dimensions as our lives have been completely guided by the Jewish calendar, as we have been totally immersed in a Jewish culture, as we have witnessed the pioneering work which is developing this nation, and as Israel, this grand experiment in Jewish history, has captivated us.” [9]

A week later, they sent a similar announcement to both sets of their parents and tried to explain the depth of their feelings:

“Since we do live in this century in which a Jewish state is a reality, we feel a great desire to be a part of it. We do so because our lives revolve completely around Judaism, and this is the only place in the world where Judaism can also revolve around us. Israel needs us and we need her in a way which we cannot adequately describe since she has become so much a part of us.” [10]

Their parents and congregation members were shocked by this sudden decision, and hurt that it had been communicated from afar through the mail, rather than in person. The Beth Shalom board members were so angered that they fired him. Even one of David’s defenders in the congregation described his actions as “precipitous” and “imprudent.” [11]

I am still working through all the correspondence on this subject. But reading these letters has made clear that an aliyah decision came with great personal costs and difficulties. But they also show how rewarding it could be. This will be an area of continued research for me.

PARALLELS WITH DAVID’S “ZAYDIE”
Finally, I’d like to share an unexpected connection I made as I learned about the Rabbi Tobias Geffen, David’s “zaydie”, or grandfather, over several days in the reading room.

Before coming to Atlanta, I was aware that Tobias Geffen loomed large in Georgian Jewish history, and I was familiar with a few of his notable deeds, such as certifying Coca-Cola as kosher.

A mental light came on for me as I read one of David’s typescripts about his grandfather — I realized that Tobias Geffen’s early life probably had inspired several aspects of the Gesher game “The Georgia Variations.”

“The Georgia Variations” is a choice-based narrative, similar in format to the “Choose Your Own Adventure” books. In this game, players take on the role of a Jewish boy named Boris Goldberg and make decisions about his school, work, and marriage as he grows up in Eastern Europe. Ultimately, the Goldberg character flees persecution by immigrating to the U.S. and settling in Atlanta. [12]

David Geffen, a prolific researcher and writer, gathered the historical images and information which Kirschen used as he developed the game. In retrospect, it makes sense that David would have drawn from his own grandfather’s life story.

There are several parallels, starting with place and time. “The Georgia Variations” begins in the late 1800s “in a small village somewhere between Moscow and Warsaw” — later identified as Kovno. The player can also move to Vilna. Both Kovno and Vilna are located in present-day Lithuania, which was part of the Russian Empire at that time.

Tobias Geffen, I learned, was born in 1870 in the city of Kovno.

Another parallel is the motive for immigrating. Most story branches in “The Georgia Variations” involve the player facing a pogrom before deciding to flee to the U.S.

In David’s typescript, he notes that his grandfather’s decision to move to the U.S. in 1903 was made “against a background of rising anti-semitic attacks against the Jews in Lithuania and Russia.” [13] This included a pogrom in Kishinev in present-day Moldova.

After stints in New York and Canton, Ohio, Tobias Geffen settled in Atlanta in 1910, where he served as rabbi of Congregation Shearith Israel for 60 years. And this is the final destination of the player in “The Georgia Variations,” as well.

Examining these and other parallels also will be an area of continued research for me.

In conclusion, this blog post only scratches the surface of all that I learned from this rich collection, and I’m grateful to have been given an opportunity to come to Emory and study it. Following the Geffen family was an eye-opening and emotional experience.

FOOTNOTES
[1] Renaud, Josh. “Bringing Dry Bones Back to Life: The Kirschen Software Collection,” Nov. 26, 2022. Break Into Chat. https://breakintochat.com/blog/2022/11/26/bringing-dry-bones-back-to-life-the-kirschen-software-collection/

[2] Photo of Nissan Ziskin and David Geffen, 1981. Box 69, Folder 17, Louis and Anna Geffen family papers, Emory University.

[3] Geffen, David.
“Preliminary Proposal,” ca. 1982. Box 57, Folder 20, Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta Records, Breman Museum

[4] “Gesher: We’re helping to put Israel back together again” brochure. Undated. Box 69, Folder 17, Louis and Anna Geffen family papers, Emory University.

[5] Geffen, Anna and Louis. “The Geffen Trip to Israel,” April 1982. Box 23, Folder 1, Louis and Anna Geffen family papers, Emory University.

[6] Kirschen, Yaakov. “Gesher, Zap, Pow” illustration. Undated. Box 23, Folder 4, Louis and Anna Geffen family papers, Emory University.

[7] Letter from David Geffen to Anna and Louis Geffen, July 22, 1983, Box 23, Folder 4, Louis and Anna Geffen family papers, Emory University.

[8] “Leaving for Israel” photo, June 1977. Box 58, Folder 5, Louis and Anna Geffen family papers, Emory University.

[9] Letter from Frances A. Stein to Board of Directors of Congregation Beth Shalom, Mar. 15, 1977, Box 21, Folder 1, Louis and Anna Geffen family papers, Emory University.

[10] Letter from David and Rita Geffen to their parents, March 14, 1977, Box 21, Folder 1, Louis and Anna Geffen family papers, Emory University.

[11] Letter from H. Albert Young to Frances Stein, March 29, 1977, Box 21, Folder 1, Louis and Anna Geffen family papers, Emory University.

[12] Renaud, Josh. “Unearthed: Kirschen’s Apple II games for Gesher,” Nov. 26, 2022. Break Into Chat. https://breakintochat.com/blog/2022/11/26/unearthed-kirschens-apple-ii-games-for-gesher/

[13] Geffen, David. “Tobias Geffen – 1870 – 1970,” undated typescript, Box 38, Folder 3, Louis and Anna Geffen family papers, Emory University.