Sky pilot
Some searches result in a right-hand turn rather than a path down the straight and narrow. A look for possible descendants of Rabbi Gershon Epstein of Los Angeles took a detour along an interesting path, one that included a patriot of early Israeli history as well as the bright lights of Hollywood.
The original request involved determining who might be the heirs of the Rabbi. Heirs there must have been, but since all of them remained in Russia, according to available documentation, no direct descendants could be found in the Los Angeles area, where Rabbi Epstein settled in the early 1920s and submitted his petition for citizenship.
The rabbi's sister, Anna Rifkin, her husband Louis, and two sons Rubin and Samuel followed her brother to Los Angeles and decided to stay, having become enraptured by the mild, sunny weather. Louis was a furrier, as was his elder son Rubin. But it's Sam who had the much more colorful life, as this Jewish Journal article suggests.
Sam Rifkin had caught the flying bug in Southern California and became a pilot. But he encountered anti-Semitism while working with Western Airlines and TWA, where promotions and advancement were not forthcoming for Jewish pilots. Changing his surname to Lewis, he partnered with a group of intrepid aviators, joining a clandestine effort to send aircraft and trained pilots to Israel in 1947.
The photo, above left, shows Sam Lewis (left), Melville Shavelson in the middle (director of the film based on Sam's exploits, "Cast a Giant Shadow"), and star Kirk Douglas, star of the 1966 film.
You can read the report showing how documentation in Los Angeles repositories revealed the identify of Sam Lewis.