March 25, 2005/Adar II 14 5765, Volume 57, No. 30
New Jewish cemetery dedicated in Phoenix
BENJAMIN LEATHERMAN
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 Ray Perlman, left, and Gerald Webner are founders of Mount Sinai Cemetery, a new Jewish cemetery in Phoenix. Photo by Mark Gluckman |
The road to success proved rocky, but after 18 years of hard work and chutzpah, the co-founders of Mount Sinai cemetery in north Phoenix saw their dream come to fruition when the facility held its official opening and dedication on March 20.
Both Webner and Perlman spoke about their arduous undertaking in front of more than 50 members of the local Jewish community, including several local rabbis and other dignitaries, all of whom gathered under the cemetery's copper-colored outdoor chapel.
"When we bought the land, we had no money, no plans, and we thought it was going to be easy, no problem," said Webner, a local real estate investor. "Then the planning started and I felt something like Noah when God told him to build him an ark."
Other obstacles faced along the way, Webner added, included various permit problems, and the remoteness of the site, located near the intersection of 68th Street and Pinnacle Peak Road, with a lack of access to roads and basic utilities.
When the project began, the fact that the local Jewish community was not yet sizeable enough to support such a facility was also a hindrance, but an increase in both the Jewish population and urban sprawl over the years helped make it viable.
Webner cited the assistance of high-profile community members such as Dr. Ethan Bindelglas and Jerry Hirsch, outgoing owner of Rawhide Western Town, as a key to Mount Sinai's realization.
Webner also took time to memorialize the late Harold Grossman, who passed away earlier this month. He described the decision by Grossman's wife Jean to inter the cherished philanthropist at the cemetery as "tremendously significant."
Perlman, owner and funeral director of Sinai Mortuary, said the opening of this facility is an indication of how far Phoenix has come since he and his wife moved here more than 35 years ago.
"In 1969, Phoenix was at the top of the list of the places in the world I did not want to live," he said. "I always felt it was cultural wasteland and certainly not a Jewish Mecca, (that it was) a tough place to raise children, but we stayed."
The event included the unveiling of a small monument made of black granite.
Aaron Scholar, executive director of the Bureau of Jewish Education, provided those attending an historical perspective on the evolution of Judaic cemeteries, customs and rituals.
Leesa Morrison, director of the Arizona Department of Liquor Licenses and Control, read official greetings from Gov. Janet Napolitano, and George Weisz, executive assistant to Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, awarded the title of "Friend of Phoenix" to the cemetery on behalf of Gordon, who was unable to attend due to a strained voice.
The latter document describes Mount Sinai as a "beautiful and very meaningful consecrated ground, which will help ensure that the dreams, the visions, and the memories of members of the Jewish community shall always endure in a cherished resting place."
Weisz added that although other options are available for Jewish interment in the Valley - such as Temple Beth Israel Memorial Cemetery, Beth El Memorial Park, Garden of Shalom at Phoenix Memorial Park, and portions of Green Acres Cemetery - Mount Sinai's sole focus on members of the Jewish community will help enhance the work of the other facilities as well as providing generations of native Arizonan Jews the opportunity to be buried with their families.
"It used to be one of our biggest exports in Arizona was caskets," he said. "You would come to Arizona, you would retire here from Chicago or New York, and you'd always want to be buried back with your family, back in your home."
Sandy Rife, Mount Sinai's development coordinator, said numerous rabbis were consulted to ensure that every aspect of the 22-acre cemetery, located amidst the mountainous high desert environs of the northeast Valley, conforms to Judaic laws and customs and satisfies the correct burial standards for every denomination of Judaism.
Amenities include three hand-washing stations and cement walkways between rows, averting the disrespecting of the dead by walking upon their graves.
The cemetery is also made up of several areas for various denominations, among them the Abraham section for those of Orthodox faith.
Burial vaults have also been pre-dug to allow burials to take place within 24 hours. Perlman said in the past, members of the Jewish community wanting a funeral for their loved ones within that space of time often had to deal with cemeteries that weren't able to accommodate such short timing.
"Those drawbacks are now over with," he said. "We as Jews, our laws and rules, can be respected in this community."
Benjamin Leatherman is a Tempe freelance writer.