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April 8, 2005/Adar II 28 5765, Volume 57, No. 32
Arizona Jews spend a day at the Legislature
DEBORAH SUSSMAN SUSSER
Associate Editor
More than 100 people ate deli sandwiches with Arizona lawmakers and other elected officials on March 31 at the annual Arizona Jewish Community's Day at the Legislature.
The event, which was co-sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Councils of the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix and the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, offered constituents the chance to meet legislators, attend committee hearings and visit the floor of both the House and the Senate.
Michelle Steinberg, director of the Phoenix JCRC, pronounced the event "a wonderful opportunity for constituents to meet with their legislators to advocate for the issues that affect the local community."
In the morning, visitors and legislators mingled in the lobby of the Arizona State Capitol building, where several groups, including Hadassah, the American Jewish Committee and the Jewish Community Foundation, had set up an organizational showcase.
The highlight of the day was clearly lunch, which was held in a second-floor conference room in the Capitol's executive tower and featured Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne as keynote speaker.
Other speakers included Adam Schwartz, executive vice-president of the Greater Phoenix federation; Bruce Ash, past chairman of the Southern Arizona federation; Anita Kellman and Robert Mautner, chairpersons of the JCRC in Tucson and Phoenix, respectively; and George Weisz, the JCRC government relations chairman and senior assistant to Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon.
Seated around tables with members of the Jewish community who included Rabbi Robert Kravitz of the American Jewish Committee, Rabbi Andrew Straus of Temple Emanuel and Rabbi Shmuel Tiechtel of Chabad at Arizona State University, the legislators simultaneously ate their lunches and fielded questions.
Rep. Russell Jones, a freshman Republican from Dist. 24, discussed with Straus a bill under consideration that would further protect pharmacists who refuse to fill a prescription - for the so-called "morning-after pill," for example - for religious or ethical reasons.
After allowing that he was somewhat ambivalent on the subject, Jones said, "People should have the fundamental right to say 'no.'"
"To providing information?" Straus asked.
"To filling the prescription," Jones replied.
"I think it was a very good and important day," Straus said later of the event. "Especially in our state, where the Mormon community and the fundamentalist Christian community are so strong, it is vitally important that we ensure the voice of the Jewish community will be heard."
At other tables, legislators took the time to catch up with one another. According to Steinberg, the day was an unusually busy one for them, which is why many of them left immediately after eating and before the keynote address by Horne.
Schwartz, who kicked off the lunch program, emphasized the diversity of the Jewish community in Phoenix, which, according to a recent study, is one of the largest in the country and is growing at a more rapid rate than the general community. Citing the federation's Mitzvah Day and Literacy Project, Schwartz said that "involvement and participation in broader life is a moral and ethical call that we all must heed."
Former Tucson federation chairman Ash brought up the issue of immigration, remarking that "none of us here who represent the Jewish community are far from this experience ourselves." He also mentioned health care issues, such as general access to health care and the aging population, as being of special importance to Jews.
Tucson JCRC chairwoman Kellman spoke about the importance of living generously and then introduced Mautner, her counterpart in Phoenix, who explained the JCRC's role in educating the Jewish community on public issues. Specifically, Mautner mentioned the JCRC's role in hate crime legislation, Holocaust reparations tax exemption, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and immigration.
Horne emphasized that the Jewish tradition of scholarship informs what he does on a daily basis, and told the story of his own family: Horne's father, a Polish Jew and student of history and current affairs, predicted in 1938 that the Germans would either "go broke or take Poland." He moved his family from Poland to Canada immediately.
Weisz spoke of his own long-time commitment to both government and the Jewish community. As a college student in 1969, Weisz began taking green bagels down to the Capitol on St. Patrick's Day. He continues the tradition today, and because of it, "I'm known as the Jewish leprechaun," he joked.
After lunch, several members of the community, including Mautner, Steinberg and Kravitz, walked over to the Arizona State Senate and observed the proceedings from seats in the balcony. They were introduced to the Senate by Sen. Barbara Leff, R.-Dist. 11, who is Jewish, and who apologized for missing lunch, noting that "as everyone knows," the food at Jewish events is always good.
Following the introductions, Sen. Ron Gould, R.-Dist. 3, delivered the session's opening prayer, a tradition that, according to Steinberg, is standard in both the Senate and the House. That the prayer was offered in the name of Jesus Christ was, according to Steinberg, also not unusual.
Kravitz noted later that on the occasions he has been asked to open a session, he has offered not a prayer but a thought for the day.
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