Phoenix garners praise
LENI REISS
Senior Contributing Editor
Phoenix, are you blushing? Were your ears ringing?
Your name kept coming up throughout the 67th General Assembly of UJA Federations of North America last month in Jerusalem. And it was all good stuff.
Conrad Giles of Detroit, president of the Council of Jewish Federations, said he has "a warm spot in my heart for Phoenix, and that's no pun intended." Giles, whose brother-in-law Howard Schwartz and his wife, Brenda, live in the Valley, called the Phoenix area "a community that is sure to prosper under the strong leadership of (federation Executive Vice President) Art Paikowsky."
"In my view," Giles said, "Phoenix has got to be one of the leaders in developing communities in the Western region. It is not happenstance that Elaine Schreiber has been chosen as regional chair (of CJF). She is a strong leader, and she continues to contribute the sense of spirituality and Jewish knowledge that she did when she was federation president."
An article in an issue of the Jerusalem Post that was circulated during the G.A. reported on a gathering of alumni of Hebrew University and made special mention of Craig Weiss of Phoenix and Erica Burech from Ohio, who had met in the spring of 1994 at what was then called the Rothberg School for Overseas Students. Currently enrolled at Ulpan Akiva in Netanya to brush up on their Hebrew, the couple plan to marry next August and settle in Israel.
Chapparal High School graduate Adam Glasser, now a junior at the University of Rochester, was one of 50 college students from throughout the United States who were selected to participate in "Do the Write Thing," a program sponsored by the World Zionist Organization and the Jewish Agency to strengthen ties with Israel. Adam's parents are Mitchell and Debra Glasser.
At a press conference for the unveiling of Birthright Israel, an initiative to send every Jewish youth in the world between the ages of 15 and 26 on an educational trip to Israel, founding chairman Charles Bronfman, international chair of the G.A., credited Phoenix as one of the communities doing "a great job" getting its teens to the Jewish state.
"When we talk about ideal communities," he said, "Phoenix is one of them that is ahead of the curve."
After the media event, Bronfman told Jewish News how impressed he had been with the local Young Leadership group he had met with during a recent visit to the Valley. And his wife, Andrea, added that she had given up a morning walk to join her husband at the meeting, and was happy she did. "What a great group of young people," she said.
The Phoenix contingent to the G.A. included Fred Zeidman, Rabbi David Rebibo, Elaine Schreiber, Irwin and Shari Kanefsky and Susan Hughson (co-chair of the Valley federation's women's campaign) and her daughter, Rachel. The venue, outside of the United States for the first time, provided the opportunity for the more than 3,000 delegates from the U.S. and Canada to interact with Israelis and others.
"Sometimes we Americans are too insular," Hughson observed. "There is a whole world of Jews who feel the same love of Israel, and it was special to meet them and sense our shared concerns."
Zeidman, the Phoenix federation's assistant executive vice president, said his participation in the G.A. "took on a very personal meaning" for him.
"I had time to meet with those who we have helped and also with those individuals who still need our help." He specifically mentioned a visit to Kiryat Malachi, the Valley's Partnership 2000 twin community.
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