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April 16, 1999/30 Nisan 5759, Vol. 51, No. 29
Valley Jews need place to call home
MARTY LATZ
Special to Jewish News
The sky today is gray, overcast and threatening. The temperature hovers in the low 50s, coat weather for this cold-weather transplant. And I'm sitting in the sunroom of my parents' home in Minneapolis, feeling warm and cozy, surrounded by an array of family photographs.
Grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins. But the majority are of my immediate family. My mom on the beach wearing '60s-style pointy glasses with a 2- and a 3-year-old (me and my brother). My sister and her husband at their wedding. My younger brother in Jerusalem. And my dad in costume in a Temple Israel variety show.
Yesterday, my older brother and I, along with my 11 week-old nephew, drove around to some of our old haunts. The house where we grew up. Our high school - now expanded but still with the same senior steps and students practicing "Guys and Dolls."
And the Minneapolis Jewish Community Center. Our entire family spent a lot of time there. Jewish youth group meetings for my siblings. Basketball for me. I even remember going to my first production of "Fiddler On The Roof" in its auditorium.
It was about a 10-minute ride from our house in Golden Valley to St. Louis Park, location of the JCC in the geographic center of the Minneapolis Jewish community. It was the hub of our community's non-religious activities.
The new Valley of the Sun Jewish Community Center will be at 40th Street and Shea Boulevard, in Phoenix, just off the Squaw Peak Parkway. The plans look great. An outdoor pool. An indoor gym and health club. Plenty of office space for communal organizations. And a modern design that will fill both practical needs and design standards.
Steve Hilton, the co-founder of Monterey Homes, has been working on this project for a while; seven years ago he and others offered some land at Bell and Scottsdale roads for a new JCC.
While that location ultimately did not work out, Hilton and the VSJCC Capital Campaign Chair Lanny Lahr now are raising dollars and generating support to open the 40th and Shea location in two years, if not sooner.
Let's be frank - we need this JCC, and we need it now. While synagogues and temples fill religious needs, JCCs play a different role. Our new JCC can be our social, cultural and educational center.
It's especially critical for youngsters growing up in largely non-Jewish neighborhoods. They need a place to connect and interact socially, to learn in a non-religious setting about our special character as a people. They need to know there are Jews like them throughout our Valley, even though there may be relatively few in their schools.
And don't underestimate the importance of athletic facilities. My siblings got involved in Jewish youth groups, but I chose an alternate route and became active in high school sports. During the off-season, I bonded with fellow Jewish athletes from around the Minneapolis community at the JCC.
The JCC also will house the offices of many of our community agencies and provide a convenient meeting place for Jews living in northeast Phoenix and north Scottsdale.
A JCC will provide a home-away-from-home for all - young and old, religious and non-religious, athletic and intellectual. It's past time a new one is built. So don't hesitate when Steve or Lanny call. Help all of us out. We can't do it alone. We can - and must - do it together.
See you at the ground-breaking.
Marty Latz is a Valley attorney and negotiation consultant. Send comments to mlatz@negot.com.
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