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May 7, 2004/Iyar 16 5764, Vol. 56, No. 33
A few parting words
BARRY COHEN
Editor
In two weeks, my wife Jennifer and I will depart for Oklahoma City, where I will serve as rabbi of Temple B'nai Israel. How quickly six years have passed. When I arrived here in June of 1998 to serve as assistant rabbi of Temple Beth Israel, I had no idea that my congregational experience would be an emotional roller coaster; at times, disheartening and discouraging, at other times exciting and enlivening. I could not anticipate that less than two years later, I would think outside the box and shift careers and learn journalism at Jewish News of Greater Phoenix.
Timing is everything, and the time must have been right for me to become an editor of a Jewish newspaper. I have absolutely no regrets. In the past four years, I have grown as a rabbi, a professional, but most importantly, as a person.
When I moved to Phoenix, many people told me that that after seven years, I would achieve "native status." While I didn't make it to seven, I feel that as I depart the sunny Southwest for the nation's tornado alley, I have enough experience in the Valley to share some parting remarks:
- I look forward to moving to a city where cinder block walls do not subdivide neighbors into cookie-cutter housing units.
- So what if 83,000 Jews live in the Valley? Until we express to newcomers that joining organizations and affiliating with synagogues is not an option but an expectation, we will remain a second-tier Jewish community.
- We need to be careful about pledging allegiance to President George Bush. True, he is one of the strongest presidential supporters Israel has ever known. But Bush is a radical conservative who opposes nearly every social, economic, religious and constitutional ideal American Jews have embraced for decades. We need not assume his Democratic rival will not be as strong a friend to Israel and will not effectively defend us against terror. At least John Kerry fought in Vietnam; George Bush used connections to sit behind a desk.
- Just because I think critically about our president does not mean I am a left-wing liberal.
- I have used Jewish News' editorial pages to inform, challenge and engender debate. Thank you for responding in kind by writing so many letters to the editor that we could not publish them all.
- Thank you for helping me become a better rabbi. By covering the Valley's Jewish community, I obtained a better understanding of Judaism's expressions than I ever could as a congregational rabbi.
- Thank you for helping me become a better communal leader; I will be well prepared serving a congregation that expects its rabbi to be comfortable under the public spotlight.
- I will miss Jewish News' staff and the friendships I have made.
Looking back, I hope you disagreed with me more than you agreed with me, and I hope I engendered some constructive controversy.
But please remember, I have only wished you the best.
Contact the writer at barry_cohen@jewishaz.com.
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