Not a cultural desert

Editorial

In the past, people have described the Valley of the Sun as a Jewish cultural desert.

How unfair and inaccurate.

The Valley boasts of such organizations as the Arizona Jewish Theatre Company, the Phoenix Jewish Film Festival, the Sun Lakes Jewish Film Festival, the Sylvia Plotkin Judaica Museum at Temple Beth Israel and the Jewish Cultural Orchestra. This list is hardly exhaustive.

With the Ina Levine Jewish Community Campus, we have another location to showcase Jewish culture and the performing arts. A critique, however, is that the campus lacks a quality performance venue - such as an auditorium with a stage. Plans exist for The King David School, which is constructing a new facility on the campus, to include an 8,000 square foot multi-purpose room; additional funding is required for this room to have a permanent stage.

Arts in the Valley are worth every penny.

Jewish culture bridges religious, ethnic and socioeconomic divides. Through the arts, we learn about ourselves and educate others about our rich historical and cultural legacy.

Comparably-sized cities have Jewish patrons; the Valley's Jewish cultural organizations depend more upon corporations and foundations.

Many of us have already made financial contributions to strengthen the Jewish community's organizational infrastructure, but let us not forget the need for Jewish culture. Now is the time to contribute locally to enable the many seeds of Jewish culture to continue to flower in the desert.

Prepare for Feb. 3

In Arizona, Feb. 3 represents a crucial date: Our state will hold a democratic presidential primary, along with primaries in Delaware, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina and a caucus in North Dakota.

Political debates, talk-show interviews and sound bite after sound bite have failed to clarify which candidate best represents the Democratic Party. Choosing one from among the pack is no easy task.

In the weeks leading up to the Feb. 3 primary, Jewish News will attempt to make this choice easier. We will include Democratic presidential candidates' commentaries on Middle East foreign policy and church-state domestic policy. We will also include your responses, declaring which candidate - Republican or Democrat - you support and why.

Democracy calls for participation. We look forward to sharing information and receiving your feedback in the days leading up to Feb. 3 - and to the fall election.

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