Community builders

Historical society recognizes 11 rabbis for long-term service

LEISAH NAMM
Managing Editor

So far, 2004 seems to be the "Year of the Rabbi" in Phoenix.

In January, Temple Beth Israel honored Rabbi Albert Plotkin for 48 years of community service. In February, Har Zion Congregation celebrated the work of Rabbi Herbert Silberman and wife Temma. In March, Temple Chai honored Rabbi William Berk and wife Susan, and tomorrow evening, members of Temple Kol Ami will honor the work of the synagogue's founding rabbi, B. Charles Herring, and his wife Barbara.

This recent surge in synagogues honoring their spiritual leaders prompted the Arizona Jewish Historical Society to present the "Year of the Rabbi" on May 6, an evening devoted to recognizing 11 Valley rabbis who, by serving the local Jewish community for 18 years or longer, are "community builders," says AJHS Executive Director Risa Mallin.

"We felt like it was a wonderful opportunity for the community to understand not only what these rabbis have done for each of their congregations," but also what they've done toward building the local Jewish and general community, says Mallin.

AJHS is in the process of interviewing all of the rabbis for its oral history collection, which presents a record of the Valley's development told by those who helped form it.

After the program, the rabbis' names will be displayed on a plaque on the wall of the Cutler_Plotkin Jewish Heritage Center in Phoenix and the rabbis will each receive a copy of his or her interview transcripts, Mallin says.

The evening program will include a short presentation on each of the rabbis and a kosher fish dinner, underwritten by Ray Silverman and Chaparral Suites. Cost is $22 and reservations are required.

Following are the 11 rabbis being recognized for their work in building the Valley's Jewish community.

Rabbi Emeritus Maynard Bell
Temple Solel, Paradise Valley
(1977-2002)

Where did you grow up
Boston

What was your first impression of the Valley?
I liked the desert ambiance, the informality and the lack of pretense. It had a growing Jewish population and it was a chance to create or shape something new.

What's your favorite place to visit in the Valley?
The Central Phoenix core and the older parts of town which have more history and a greater ethnic and socio-economic mix, the Tempe/ASU area and the Scottsdale Civic Center area.

What is the most important change you've seen in the Phoenix Jewish community?
The community has more than doubled in size and in the number of challenges. Temple Solel was really the first east-side congregation to recognize and successfully program for the burgeoning Jewish population in Scottsdale/Paradise Valley.

What would you like to see happen in the local Jewish community in the future?
I would like to see this community become more rooted (which is inevitable in any case), vastly improve its giving culture, generate enough ways and means to service a burgeoning Jewish population, and plan ahead of change instead of in response to it.

Rabbi William C. Berk
Temple Chai, Phoenix
(1983-present)

Where did you grow up?
San Bernardino, Calif.

What was your first impression of the Valley?
My first impression of the Valley was very positive. I was overwhelmed by the opportunities - especially the opportunities to be a "Jewish pioneer," to help build a blossoming Jewish community. A few things were unusual. I remember walking into a giant supermarket (Smittys) and seeing a sign -"Please check your guns."

What's your favorite place to visit in the Valley?
I love the wild places, all the great hiking - I especially love the Superstition Mountains.

What is the most important change you've seen in the Phoenix Jewish community?
I suppose the most important change was the enormous growth I witnessed around the Valley and in my own synagogue. At Temple Chai, I responded by trying to stay true to who we were, to keep our vision of what a synagogue should be, to not get overly involved with the "edifice complex," and to experiment with ways of making a larger community feel small. One of our greatest successes in this area was the creation of our Shalom Center. Temple Chai's Shalom Center helps people feel like they are part of a community that cares. It goes a long way to replicating the kind of organic connectedness that Jews had in tightly-knit European communities.

What would you like to see happen in the local Jewish community in the future?
I would like to see Jews work together and respect each other and respect each others' Judaism. I would like to see revitalized synagogues attracting people hungry for meaning and grounding. I would like to see our day schools grow. I would like to see more Jews involved in fearless Jewish learning.

Rabbi Mark J. Bisman
Har Zion Congregation, Scottsdale
(1983-present)

Where did you grow up?
Houston, Texas

What was your first impression of the Valley?
Before coming to the Valley, I spent 10 years as the rabbi of a synagogue in Lincoln, Neb., where houses didn't have walls around them and there was some general socializing with your neighbors. When I moved here, I was surprised to see these walls that isolate people from their neighbors and I thought we needed more Midwesterners to bring Midwest openness values to the Valley.

What's your favorite place to visit in the Valley?
Scottsdale Center for the Arts, the Ina Levine Jewish Community Campus and Camelback Mountain.

What is the most important change you've seen in the Phoenix Jewish community?
The biggest achievement has been the ability as a community to construct the Jewish community campus, which was attempted many times. We have an increase in day schools, we've got a high school. Those were all things that were, in some sense, big dreams that seemed impossible. We are at the moment harvesting some serious communal planning that's gone on. The state's been helpful with the scholarship tuition organization so now that funds have been generated, it's been possible for people to think about a day school education who didn't think about it before. There has also been a strengthening of the community's Jewish day school programs.

What would you like to see happen in the local Jewish community in the future?
We need to address the unmet needs in the corners of the Valley, which includes the Tri-City area, the Sun City area and the West side of Phoenix. The center of the Jewish community has moved from Central Phoenix to Scottsdale and people who don't think they're at the center of what's going on are always feeling like the community doesn't care that much about them. I think that there's still more to be done in trying to give the broader Jewish community a sense of common purpose so that everybody feels that we're really all in this together.

Rabbi B. Charles Herring
Temple Kol Ami, Scottsdale
(1989-2004)
Temple Beth Israel, Phoenix
(1968-1988)

Where did you grow up?
Pittsburgh, Penn.

What was your first impression of the Valley?
It was overwhelming. I interviewed in seven cities - this was the first - and I couldn't get it out of my mind. The beauty was so astonishing and it was so small.

What's your favorite place to visit in the Valley?
My temple.

What is the most important change you've seen in the Phoenix Jewish community?
The growth and the diversity of the Jewish community - Temple Kol Ami is the response to that. Thirty-five years ago, there was no Jewish community where Temple Kol Ami is and today it's the center of Jewish life.

What would you like to see happen in the local Jewish community in the future?
A positive relation between the board of the federation and the rabbis in town who are, in fact, the chief leaders of the Jewish community.

Rabbi Bonnie Koppell
Temple Beth Sholom, Chandler
(1987-present)

Where did you grow up?
Brooklyn, N.Y.

What was your first impression of the Valley?
Love at first sight. I am highly sensitive to the cold weather and was thrilled to find someplace so physically comfortable for me. My husband expressed it well, two weeks after our arrival, when he said "There's nothing that's not better here." We moved in July and folks kept telling us, "Wait a couple of months, it will be wonderful." Our response (was), "We love it now."

What's your favorite place to visit in the Valley?
Unfortunately my schedule does not allow me to get out much. I enjoy hiking and was inspired by a recent visit to the Desert Botanical Gardens. I am quite content to sit in my backyard and read.

What is the most important change you've seen in the Phoenix Jewish community?
The biggest change I have observed is the tremendous growth in the population. Temple Beth Sholom has addressed this challenge by moving to a larger property where we can accommodate more folks and to a location that is more accessible for our members. My priority is to maintain the genuine spirit of community and caring with which this congregation has always been blessed, even as we incorporate newcomers into the fold.

What would you like to see happen in the local Jewish community in the future?
I would like to see a greater sharing of resources so that every person who wishes to participate in Jewish life is able to do so, regardless of their financial status.

Rabbi Barton Lee
Hillel ASU Jewish Student Center, Tempe
(1972-present)

Where did you grow up?
San Antonio, Texas

What was your first impression of the Valley?
Beautiful desert, warm weather, pretty coeds

What's your favorite place to visit in the Valley?
South Mountain Park

What is the most important change you've seen in the Phoenix Jewish community?
The most important change in the Valley is that there is less young leadership training with concomitant experience in local agencies. I have spoken to our new federation director and look forward to working on new initiatives to recruit and train new leaders for all our agencies and institutions. On campus, the biggest change is that in the early years people came to Hillel to experience Shabbat dinners like they had at home. Now many kids come to Hillel and to our home on Shabbat to learn what an experience of Shabbat might be like.

What would you like to see happen in the local Jewish community in the future?
That every Jew would make some steps toward Jewish involvement and tzedekah so that we can have the funds and people to do the substantive and creative things necessary to build this Jewish community.

Rabbi Zalman Levertov
Chabad of Arizona
(1977-present)

Rabbi Emeritus David Pinkwasser
Temple Emanuel of Tempe
(1977-1997)

Where did you grow up?
Brooklyn, N.Y.

What was your first impression of the Valley?
My first impression of the Valley was that it was clean and pretty. No trash on the streets like New York and all of the homes had manicured yards. Everything in the neighborhoods matched.

What's your favorite place to visit in the Valley?
South Mountain. I like to hike and bike on the south side and drive up Central Avenue to the Dobbins Lookout for the view.

What is the most important change you've seen in the Phoenix Jewish community?
One great change is that the Jewish community has moved from the downtown area to the north (Scottsdale/Paradise Valley). The movement of synagogues, the JCC and Jewish businesses reflects this. The make-up of the population has changed over the last 30 years. Rather than Jewish/Jewish couples marrying and becoming affiliated with synagogues, many couples have intermarried, but still want to affiliate. It was my job to make them feel comfortable in the synagogue environment and let them know that there was a place for them.

What would you like to see happen in the local Jewish community in the future?
I would like to see a Jewish campus in the tri-city area that could service the Jewish population of this part of the Valley. There are not as many Jews as there are in Scottsdale, but there is still a major Jewish population with thousands of families. A large facility, supported by the community would be a great asset.

Rabbi Albert Plotkin
Temple Beth Israel
(1955-1991)
Temple Gan Elohim, Glendale
(present)
Jewish Community of Sedona
(1991-present)

Where did you grow up?
South Bend, Ind.

What was your first impression of the Valley?
I came from Spokane, Wash., where it was 10 below and I got to Phoenix and it was 75 - I thought it was a Garden of Eden. I fell in love with it. I had come here in 1951 for a meeting of the Western Association of Reform Rabbis and I was so impressed, I said to my dear wife of blessed memory, if I should ever have the opportunity of coming here, I'd run. I loved Arizona the day I arrived and I'm still in love with it.

What's your favorite place to visit in the Valley?
The Biltmore - that's my hangout, I exercise there; I belong to the tennis club.

What is the most important change you've seen in the Phoenix Jewish community?
The growth of the synagogue. I just responded by helping out new congregations (such as Temple Gan Elohim and the Jewish Community of Sedona).

What would you like to see happen in the local Jewish community in the future?
Greater unity. Working together, building more schools, adult education schools, creating a much more Jewish atmosphere in the community.

Rabbi David Rebibo
Beth Joseph Congregation, Phoenix
(1965-present)
Phoenix Hebrew Academy
(1965-present)
Greater Phoenix Vaad Hakashruth
(1965-present)

Rabbi Herbert Silberman
Beth El Congregation, Phoenix
(1977-1995)
Har Zion Congregation
(1988-present)

Where did you grow up?
Brooklyn, N.Y.

What was your first impression of the Valley?
A very exciting and hot place. Coming from a big city, I thought that Phoenix would be a nothing little western town, but I was rudely awakened to see it was a metropolis.

What's your favorite place to visit in the Valley?
McCormick Ranch is very pleasant, with its peaceful lakes and walkways.

What is the most important change you've seen in the Phoenix Jewish community?
First, the size - it's exploded, it's gotten much more diverse. I've seen a particular sense of parochialism rather than community. I don't think the institutions - synagogues, JCC, other organizations - really have one focal point, trying to serve the community at large. Previously there was a closer integration of leadership and I think that may have dissipated over the last few years. I think that previously there were meetings between federation, JCC and rabbis a few times a year to share ideas and concerns and directions. I'm not sure that still exists today.

What would you like to see happen in the local Jewish community in the future?
My hope would be that there could be some effort by the leaders including rabbis, executive directors and so on, to meet regularly and share the concerns and plans to create a more cohesive Jewish community.

Details

What: Annual meeting, "Year of the Rabbi" presentation
Who: Arizona Jewish Historical Society
When: 7 p.m. Thursday, May 6
Where: Chaparral Suites, 5001 N. Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale
Cost: $22, includes kosher fish dinner
Call: 602-241-7870

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