|
|
June 21, 2002/Tamuz 11 5762, Vol. 54, No. 40
Phoenix kollel expands
Outreach center brings new rabbis to Valley
BETH OLSON
Staff Writer
Two years after its founding, The Phoenix Community Kollel is expanding. In addition to hiring two new rabbis, the kollel will open an outreach center in Scottsdale this fall.
The Phoenix Community Kollel Scottsdale Center for Jewish Discovery will be affiliated with Aish HaTorah International, an educational outreach organization based in Jerusalem.
"Aish HaTorah has successfully created a model for an outreach center to revitalize and rejuvenate Jewish activities and community," said Rabbi Zvi Holland, kollel director.
Holland said plans are for the center to be located on Scottsdale Road between Shea Boulevard and Thunderbird Road, near the new Ina Levine Jewish Community Campus.
The outreach center will enable the kollel to reach out to the Jewish community "to advance the cause of being Jewish," said Holland.
A variety of offerings are planned, including lectures, classes, social events and beginners' services, "so people can learn about what it means to be Jewish and learn about our tremendous academic heritage and begin to function as a Jewish community in a more heightened way."
In particular, the kollel will reach out to young people - teens, young adults, young couples and young families.
"We have a 70-80 percent intermarriage rate in town. Aside from the religious notion of that, the bottom line is that translates into disassociation from the Jewish community," Holland said. "All the institutions feel it. We feel it with less participation in (the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix), with low rates of affiliation with synagogues and Jewish Community Centers."
The kollel's four rabbis - Holland, Raphi Landesman, Yakov Bronsteyn and Dovid Goldman - will welcome two additional rabbis in July.
Rabbi Arial Shoshan is coming to the Valley in early July from Baltimore, Md., where he taught foreign students at Ner Israel Rabbinical College. He will be director of programming and development at the kollel.
A native of Chicago, Shoshan and his wife, Ayala, have two daughters, Rachell, 2, and infant Leah.
"Both my wife and I are excited (that we will) be part of a diverse community of individuals from whom we can learn so much," said Shoshan.
Rabbi Shlomie Gelber and his wife, Sari, will arrive in late July from Jerusalem, where Rabbi Gelber is a post-graduate student in the Mir Rabbinical College. Gelber, who will serve as kollel fellow, is originally from Queens, N.Y., and Sari Gelber is a graduate of Stern College for Women in Fair Lawn, N.J. The couple has a 1-year-old son, Yechezkel.
The Gelbers will also teach at the Phoenix Hebrew Academy, Shlomie Gelber in the middle school and Sari Gelber in the kindergarten.
"We are excited to join the growing Jewish community in the Phoenix/Scottsdale area," said Shlomie Gelber.
The rabbis' arrival "is going to give the kollel an opportunity to have an even stronger reach into the community," Holland said, by offering "more opportunities for Torah study and for Jewish enrichment."
The kollel offers a variety of teen and adult education programs. For a listing of classes, visit www.aztorah.com or call 602-433-0300.
|
